http://www.markfickett.com/stu... is the summary chart, showing the standard deviations of the d20s by brand/model. (Lower is better)
By that review: Crystal Castle the worst Wiz dice next-worst Koplow and Chessex about the same, with Koplow averaging slightly better, but one of the five Chessex dice was substantially better than all the Koplows
Gamescience clearly "wins", averaging below 0.1. This is better than ALL the other dice, and all 3 GS dice were individually better than all other dice, aside from the one Chessex exceptionally good die (which still wasn't as good as the best GS die).
Personally, I think the anonymity of people in massive cities is the source of many of the problems of city life.
A lot of urbanites poo-pooh the closed-minded clannishness of small town life, but part of the VALUE of this life (I live in a MN town of 1500) is that people know each other. They know each others' families, they know their histories.
If you're an asshole, people know it and will remember it. So you make SURE you don't act like an asshole. Cities? You'll likely never see that person again, so who gives a shit?
"... some observers worry that students pursuing profitable degrees in engineering or business would get better repayment terms than those studying to become nurses or teachers..."
And that sounds completely REASONABLE.
TAANSTAFL, people. I know you really want a giant grant so you can get that PhD in Russian Literature but you know what? To live, you need money. To have money, you need to have a job. Life is work, and work is (usually) shit. If you're staggeringly lucky, you get to do something you love for pay. More often, you rationalize whatever enjoyment you can out of what gig you can get.
But you're simply not entitled to do what you want, and have someone else pay for it. I'm sorry if your parents never taught you that. We can talk all day long about the bullshit costs of colleges, and I'll entirely agree with you. My dad? Full ride as a football player in 1955 to the U of MN, this was noted in the paper as worth $300/year. I went to the same school in 1986-1990, and my college education cost about $3600-$4500 annually as I recall. My son going to the same school this year, it's about $25k/year.
Using RoI calculators on the web, my dad's tuition this year would be $2600. Mine would be $9800. That's absolute horse shit, and personally I suspect at least part of it has to do with ample grants and easy loans since the mid 1980s. Clearly, it's not going to teachers.
Maybe I'm just becoming increasingly cynical in my old age, but this article reads like a slashvertisement.
Taking the time to look up DAVID SCHELTEMA and CHIP and Next Thing, either a) he's a committed hobbyist who out of altruism spends the majority of his time promoting projects that he genuinely feels are superior in dozens, scores, perhaps even HUNDREDS of articles for more than a year across nearly every conceivable media form from magazines to blogs to twitter, or b) he's a paid shill (or investor) in this project.
It's not illegal, so Obama needs to shut the fuck up about what's 'patriotic'.
The government writes the rules; if they're too stupid to write rules that aren't gameable, they're idiots.
If our corporate taxes are so high (the highest statutory rate in the industrialized world, and nearly the highest effective rate (2nd to New Zealand)) that businesses are driven to shenanigans like this (which certainly wasn't cost- or challenge-free for the company), then clearly our tax rate is too high.
It's TRUE globalization, kids; not only will companies go overseas to find cheaper workers if there's no added value to having some lazy American do the work, companies will go overseas if the savings found in moving offset the relative inconvenience of having their hq elsewhere.
...since they'd removed the cuffs, and she asked them to re-cuff him to she could take the much-ballyhoo'd picture? Surely being re cuffed induced some of his "suffering"?
For those countering the suspicion that surrounded this kid's actions with "why would he possibly put himself through this? What did he have to gain?"...there's 15 million reasons for you.
"I think the worst peace is better than the greatest war victory." Ridiculous, and the sort of banal nonsense statement that can only come from someone who hasn't really understood what it's like to be oppressed.
Good, I'm delighted they're finally doing that. 1) serious research into living, working, traveling into space will only come when it's militarily significant
2) even better if the primary sphere of conflict between great powers moves off earth; rather than a hair-trigger annihilatory balance here, better by far that the meaningful fight takes place out there and that whoever loses is so out-matched by the result that there's no point in fighting here on earth.
Mystery Science Theater began its run in the Twin Cities, I believe it was on channel 23? later on Saturday mornings, in the late 80s.
I had the good fortune to work briefly in high school with Trace Beaulieu (he was Lex Luthor), after which I'd heard about this new thing he was doing.
OK, so, is Slashdot a tech-news page or just trying to be Gawker?
The story here is that personally-identifying information was sent to 12 organizations. One of those organizations was a gun magazine (because they were one of the 12 that requested the info).
Editor 101 quiz, which of these headlines is more informative, and which is just polemic clickbait: "Georgia Gives Personal Data of 6 Million Voters To Georgia GunOwner Magazine" or "Georgia Gives Personal Data of 6 Million Voters To 12 Organizations" ?
If we're going to go the polemic route, why not just go all the way? The Governor of GA is a Republican, you could instead re-title this: "Republican Governor's office hands citizen data to Gun Magazine"?
Is less great as a patronizing quasi-leftist spokesman, practically militant about things he believes are true and utterly uncomprehending that people might disagree with him (they're all just stupid-heads anyway).
Because KS's position on these has always been: we're simply providing a venue, a digital orange-crate for them to stand on and hawk their projects.
Don't look at me because I've thought the entire KS thing is ridiculous Pollyanna'ish bullshit from the start. It might have been well-intentioned, and there are almost certainly valid projects that are what they seem, but it was bound to turn into a "money/gullible people" Separation Engine.
First, yes, on the face of it this should be a UN sort of question. But in the same sense that the UN is unlikely to adopt a US law, the US is cantankerous about adopting UN agreements since many of them are so patently political and over-reaching. Let's also remember that the UN is fundamentally NOT 'democratic' so really, their "resolutions" have no inherent moral value more than US fiat anyway.
Second, as a matter of practicality, the US is technologically the most likely power to GET there, so it would make sense that insofar as US law is concerned, it's hashed out. In fact, the resolution of these property rights at least in regards to US courts and jurisdictions, probably makes it even MORE likely that a private venture would be willing to commit the $ to be earlier even than national space programs (again, pretty much only US firms are anywhere close to that capability).
Thirdly, also as a matter of practicality: *nobody* can enforce jack in space. It's going to be the Wild West to some degree (if you can wreck someone else's stuff and NOT BE RECORDED DOING SO, you'll get away with it almost automatically) until an actual police force could be put in place. And guess which power that's likely to be? Hint: it won't be the UN.
The USs tech advantage is most pronounced in combat aircraft and subs. Enabling a tech that cheaply hunts/kills subs substantially attacks that advantage.
Not that it would stop development if DARPA didn't do it, but this tech probably has the largest potential to harm the US of any country. Considering our sieve-like computer security and that apparently every advanced tech the US develops seems to be almost instantly aped by China and/or Russia, DARPA's essentially doing research for them.
Is there ever a downside to predicting that the sky is falling? I'm absolutely serious. If you say the "cry wolf" effect, it's pretty clear that isn't happening here yet?
Because you're right, they are described as CAUSING violence.
Yet, humans are intrinsically violent creatures.
Watch two infants at play. If one takes something from the other, the FIRST reaction is to strike, or bite, or claw each other. This is the basic functioning of our brain.
What we (hopefully) learn as we mature and socialize is to repress these violent urges. Yet simultaneously our (USA) society seems to discourage maturation and encourage a sort of 'eternal adolescence'... simultaneously desensitizing children (males, in particular) to not only constantly-viewed violence but experienced, (virtually) acted-out violent behaviors.
Then we cry about how 'violent' society is getting, while (in fact) violent crime rates have been falling steadily nationwide since what, 1990?
The number of people that will pay $1 "because it's pretty much just pocket change" to get what, 3 more turns of a stupid flash game? is absolutely staggering.
IIRC the guy that COPIED Kandy Krush and was ordered to cease & desist after something like a handful of months was pulling in $hundreds$ of 000's monthly in just that short time.
And people think "democracy" has a chance in hell?
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.markfickett.com/stu... is the summary chart, showing the standard deviations of the d20s by brand/model.
(Lower is better)
By that review:
Crystal Castle the worst
Wiz dice next-worst
Koplow and Chessex about the same, with Koplow averaging slightly better, but one of the five Chessex dice was substantially better than all the Koplows
Gamescience clearly "wins", averaging below 0.1. This is better than ALL the other dice, and all 3 GS dice were individually better than all other dice, aside from the one Chessex exceptionally good die (which still wasn't as good as the best GS die).
Personally, I think the anonymity of people in massive cities is the source of many of the problems of city life.
A lot of urbanites poo-pooh the closed-minded clannishness of small town life, but part of the VALUE of this life (I live in a MN town of 1500) is that people know each other. They know each others' families, they know their histories.
If you're an asshole, people know it and will remember it. So you make SURE you don't act like an asshole. Cities? You'll likely never see that person again, so who gives a shit?
"... some observers worry that students pursuing profitable degrees in engineering or business would get better repayment terms than those studying to become nurses or teachers..."
And that sounds completely REASONABLE.
TAANSTAFL, people.
I know you really want a giant grant so you can get that PhD in Russian Literature but you know what? To live, you need money. To have money, you need to have a job. Life is work, and work is (usually) shit. If you're staggeringly lucky, you get to do something you love for pay. More often, you rationalize whatever enjoyment you can out of what gig you can get.
But you're simply not entitled to do what you want, and have someone else pay for it. I'm sorry if your parents never taught you that. We can talk all day long about the bullshit costs of colleges, and I'll entirely agree with you. My dad? Full ride as a football player in 1955 to the U of MN, this was noted in the paper as worth $300/year.
I went to the same school in 1986-1990, and my college education cost about $3600-$4500 annually as I recall.
My son going to the same school this year, it's about $25k/year.
Using RoI calculators on the web, my dad's tuition this year would be $2600.
Mine would be $9800.
That's absolute horse shit, and personally I suspect at least part of it has to do with ample grants and easy loans since the mid 1980s. Clearly, it's not going to teachers.
Maybe I'm just becoming increasingly cynical in my old age, but this article reads like a slashvertisement.
Taking the time to look up DAVID SCHELTEMA and CHIP and Next Thing, either a) he's a committed hobbyist who out of altruism spends the majority of his time promoting projects that he genuinely feels are superior in dozens, scores, perhaps even HUNDREDS of articles for more than a year across nearly every conceivable media form from magazines to blogs to twitter, or b) he's a paid shill (or investor) in this project.
Man who has spent his life as an academic or government functionary claims the only way something will be accomplished is...through the government.
News at 11?
Did someone in Ankara misunderstand when someone told them that pretty nearly everyone in the US cheers for Turkey this Thursday?
It's not illegal, so Obama needs to shut the fuck up about what's 'patriotic'.
The government writes the rules; if they're too stupid to write rules that aren't gameable, they're idiots.
If our corporate taxes are so high (the highest statutory rate in the industrialized world, and nearly the highest effective rate (2nd to New Zealand)) that businesses are driven to shenanigans like this (which certainly wasn't cost- or challenge-free for the company), then clearly our tax rate is too high.
It's TRUE globalization, kids; not only will companies go overseas to find cheaper workers if there's no added value to having some lazy American do the work, companies will go overseas if the savings found in moving offset the relative inconvenience of having their hq elsewhere.
...since they'd removed the cuffs, and she asked them to re-cuff him to she could take the much-ballyhoo'd picture? Surely being re cuffed induced some of his "suffering"?
For those countering the suspicion that surrounded this kid's actions with "why would he possibly put himself through this? What did he have to gain?"...there's 15 million reasons for you.
"I think the worst peace is better than the greatest war victory."
Ridiculous, and the sort of banal nonsense statement that can only come from someone who hasn't really understood what it's like to be oppressed.
"It's like millions of voices cried out, and were suddenly joyous"
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Twin+citi...
Give me a break. There may be many 'twin cities' in the US, but there's a single metro area referred commonly, nationally, to as "The Twin Cities".
Google it, pedant.
Good, I'm delighted they're finally doing that.
1) serious research into living, working, traveling into space will only come when it's militarily significant
2) even better if the primary sphere of conflict between great powers moves off earth; rather than a hair-trigger annihilatory balance here, better by far that the meaningful fight takes place out there and that whoever loses is so out-matched by the result that there's no point in fighting here on earth.
Mystery Science Theater began its run in the Twin Cities, I believe it was on channel 23? later on Saturday mornings, in the late 80s.
I had the good fortune to work briefly in high school with Trace Beaulieu (he was Lex Luthor), after which I'd heard about this new thing he was doing.
OK, so, is Slashdot a tech-news page or just trying to be Gawker?
The story here is that personally-identifying information was sent to 12 organizations. One of those organizations was a gun magazine (because they were one of the 12 that requested the info).
Editor 101 quiz, which of these headlines is more informative, and which is just polemic clickbait:
"Georgia Gives Personal Data of 6 Million Voters To Georgia GunOwner Magazine"
or
"Georgia Gives Personal Data of 6 Million Voters To 12 Organizations"
?
If we're going to go the polemic route, why not just go all the way? The Governor of GA is a Republican, you could instead re-title this:
"Republican Governor's office hands citizen data to Gun Magazine"?
...was a great host of a children's science show.
Is less great as a patronizing quasi-leftist spokesman, practically militant about things he believes are true and utterly uncomprehending that people might disagree with him (they're all just stupid-heads anyway).
"kickstarter recommended them"
Did they?
Because KS's position on these has always been: we're simply providing a venue, a digital orange-crate for them to stand on and hawk their projects.
Don't look at me because I've thought the entire KS thing is ridiculous Pollyanna'ish bullshit from the start. It might have been well-intentioned, and there are almost certainly valid projects that are what they seem, but it was bound to turn into a "money/gullible people" Separation Engine.
" I came here to avoid that news. Moreover, I came here to avoid certain discussions about Guns, Islam, The Administration and Refugees."
Turtling doesn't make it go away.
A few answers to your question:
First, yes, on the face of it this should be a UN sort of question. But in the same sense that the UN is unlikely to adopt a US law, the US is cantankerous about adopting UN agreements since many of them are so patently political and over-reaching. Let's also remember that the UN is fundamentally NOT 'democratic' so really, their "resolutions" have no inherent moral value more than US fiat anyway.
Second, as a matter of practicality, the US is technologically the most likely power to GET there, so it would make sense that insofar as US law is concerned, it's hashed out. In fact, the resolution of these property rights at least in regards to US courts and jurisdictions, probably makes it even MORE likely that a private venture would be willing to commit the $ to be earlier even than national space programs (again, pretty much only US firms are anywhere close to that capability).
Thirdly, also as a matter of practicality: *nobody* can enforce jack in space. It's going to be the Wild West to some degree (if you can wreck someone else's stuff and NOT BE RECORDED DOING SO, you'll get away with it almost automatically) until an actual police force could be put in place. And guess which power that's likely to be? Hint: it won't be the UN.
The USs tech advantage is most pronounced in combat aircraft and subs. Enabling a tech that cheaply hunts/kills subs substantially attacks that advantage.
Not that it would stop development if DARPA didn't do it, but this tech probably has the largest potential to harm the US of any country. Considering our sieve-like computer security and that apparently every advanced tech the US develops seems to be almost instantly aped by China and/or Russia, DARPA's essentially doing research for them.
Yeah, cut'n'paste took almost a whole second!
Anti global-warming-alarmist posts on Slashdot usually get modded down to -1, oblivion. Did not disappoint.
Is there ever a downside to predicting that the sky is falling?
I'm absolutely serious. If you say the "cry wolf" effect, it's pretty clear that isn't happening here yet?
http://whatreallyhappened.com/...
A (Not Quite) Complete List Of Things Supposedly Caused By Global Warming
(all of these actually linked on the above-noted page)
Acne , Longer plane flights , agricultural land increase , Afghan poppies destroyed , Africa devastated Africa in conflict , African aid threatened , African summer frost , aggressive weeds , More Toxic Poison Ivy , air pressure changes , airport malaria , Agulhas current , Alaska reshaped , moves , allergy season longer , alligators in the Thames , Alps melting , Amazon a desert , American dream end , amphibians breeding earlier (or not) , anaphylactic reactions to bee stings , ancient forests dramatically changed , animals head for the hills , animals shrink , Antarctic grass flourishes , Antarctic ice grows , Antarctic ice shrinks , Antarctic sea life at risk , anxiety treatment , algal blooms , archaeological sites threatened , Arab Spring , Arctic bogs melt , Arctic in bloom , Arctic ice free , Arctic ice melt faster , Arctic lakes disappear , Arctic tundra to burn , Arctic warming (not) Atlantic less salty , Atlantic more salty , atmospheric circulation modified , attack of the killer jellyfish , avalanches reduced , avalanches increased , Baghdad snow , Bahrain under water , bananas grow , barbarisation , beer shortage , beetle infestation , bet for $10,000 , better beer , big melt faster , billion dollar research projects , billion homeless , billions face risk , billions of deaths , bird distributions change , bird loss accelerating , birds shrinking , bird strikes , bird visitors drop , birds confused , birds decline (Wales) , birds driven north , birds return early , bittern boom ends , blackbirds stop singing , blackbirds threatened , Black Hawk down , blood contaminated , blue mussels return , bluetongue , brain eating amoebae , brains shrink , bridge collapse (Minneapolis) , Britain one big city , Smaller loaves of Bread , Britain Siberian , brothels struggle , brown Ireland , bubonic plague , budget increases , Buddhist temple threatened , building collapse , building season extension , bushfires , business opportunities , business risks , butterflies move north, camel deaths , cancer deaths in England , cannibalism , cannibalism again , caterpillar biomass shift , cave paintings threatened , childhood insomnia Cholera , circumcision in decline , cirrus disappearance , civil unrest , cloud increase , coast beauty spots lost , cockroach migration , coffee threatened , cold climate creatures survive , cold spells (Australia) , cold wave (India) , computer models , conferences , conflict , conflict with Russia , consumers foot the bill , coral bleaching , coral fish suffer , coral reefs dying , coral reefs grow , coral reefs shrink , coral reefs twilight , Cabbage Shortage , cost of trillions , cougar attacks , crabgrass menace , cradle of civilisation threatened , creatures move uphill , crime increase , crocodile sex , crops devastated , crumbling roads, buildings and sewage systems , curriculum change , cyclones (Australia) , danger to kid's health , Darfur , Dartford Warbler plague , death rate increase (US) , deaths to reach 6 million , Dengue hemorrhagic fever , depression , desert advance , desert retreat , destruction of the environment , disappearance of coastal cities , disasters , diseases move from animals to humans , diseases move north , dog disease , Dolomites collapse , dozen deadly diseases , Drop in birth rates , drought , ducks and geese decline , dust bowl in the corn belt , early marriages , early spring , earlier pollen season , Earth biodiversity crisis , Earth dying , Earth even hotter , Earth light dimming , Earth lopsided , Earth melting , Earth morbid fever , Earth on fast track , Earth past point of no return , Earth slowing down , Earth spins faster\
"...a deception that began in 2013 and carried on until the spring of this year..."
So it began in 1983, and continues today.
That's what I find so interesting.
Because you're right, they are described as CAUSING violence.
Yet, humans are intrinsically violent creatures.
Watch two infants at play. If one takes something from the other, the FIRST reaction is to strike, or bite, or claw each other. This is the basic functioning of our brain.
What we (hopefully) learn as we mature and socialize is to repress these violent urges. Yet simultaneously our (USA) society seems to discourage maturation and encourage a sort of 'eternal adolescence' ... simultaneously desensitizing children (males, in particular) to not only constantly-viewed violence but experienced, (virtually) acted-out violent behaviors.
Then we cry about how 'violent' society is getting, while (in fact) violent crime rates have been falling steadily nationwide since what, 1990?
The number of people that will pay $1 "because it's pretty much just pocket change" to get what, 3 more turns of a stupid flash game? is absolutely staggering.
IIRC the guy that COPIED Kandy Krush and was ordered to cease & desist after something like a handful of months was pulling in $hundreds$ of 000's monthly in just that short time.
And people think "democracy" has a chance in hell?
OK this is a little off topic, but what the funk is "...with positivism..."?
Maybe you meant "happily" or "is pleased"?
Is editor just a synonym here for 'monkey trained to cut, paste, and hit 'post to page'"?