Space exploration (and science in general) is more political in the US than most other countries.
It's plenty political in other countries too. One of the reasons the ESA accomplishes so little/goes in circles is that (for political reasons) the ESA spends money in it's member nations in proportion to the contributions. In the same vein, that's why China has the slow motion program it does - just big enough to claim that they are A Real Spacefaring Nation and to fuel domestic propaganda.
ESA tends to stick to past long term commitments though. When an administration changes in the US NASA is frequently told to stop what they have been working on and focus on something new.
2017 iPhone SE - last one with a audio jack which fits neatly in a normal shirt pocket. Just replaced the battery on mine in December at an Apple Store for $29. No intention to get another iPhone for the next ~3-4 years.
It's not just Apples either. I have an LG because it has replacable batteries- bought a couple of extra batteries (in case they're hard to find in the future) and I fully intend to hold onto my LG for several years too. None of the phone manufacturers are really innovating anymore- and many are taking features away.
Everyone is racing to have the thinnest phone and slightest bezel and they're willing to sacrifice functionality to do it.
It's probably complicated to calculate and the statistic at the top of this thread might be skewed. For example:
What if your cellphone bill includes a music streaming service? You're paying for phone service- not music (although clearly a cut of your bill is going to entertainment); I know a lot of services in Europe include music streaming as part of the package- if the phone bill isn't included as part of the entertainment package the statistic is flawed.
You could also say what of Amazon Prime? If you get most of your TV watching from Amazon Prime the statistic at the top probably isn't counting you for spending any money on entertainment via TV. Clearly, part of Amazon's budget from prime goes to funding TV though.
In America, that $107 billion on cable is higher than it would be in the UK. Most of America is covered by expensive monopolistic cable companies- your bill would be lower in the UK, and many people in UK don't even have "cable". It's not as all-pervasive as in the US.
If you browse to the main page and look up at your tab, it reads "Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters" so it's still there.
Ahh yes- the title of the page, I see that now.
There's also a big difference between the phrasing you've used and what Slashdot is purporting to be. I've always read the phrase as that the news for nerds is the stuff that matters, at least to nerds.
Honestly, I've always thought it meant both "News For Nerds" and "Stuff that Matters" not, the explanation you gave above... but I really don't know, you could be right. I guess CmdrTaco is the only one who could explain what he meant by that phrase.
As for "what matters" that would be subjective and every person would give a different account. What I do know is that I've been coming to Slashdot for over a decade (maybe closer to two decades now- I'm not sure when I started- this isn't my first account); in all that time there has always been stuff that wasn't just "News for Nerds"- so non Nerd stuff has always happened.
Watching RPG's gettting rebranded MMO's in the 90's to stick drm server lock into them and charge a subscription was annoying,
Which is exactly why I avoided the MMOs and stuck with the games that weren't (and still do).
the fact that the public fell all over themselves to pay money for software they didn't own or control incentivized the entire industry to code games in a way that the public never controls the game. Watching Team fortress 2 going from paid product to f2p microtransaction ridden game was pretty much the death knell for game ownership. Now that even fucking starcraft 2 is in on it.
Sad place where PC gaming and software ownership (aka windows 10 as a service we definitely are in an idiocracy) ended up due to the masses getting internet.
And, I've resisted that too. I do use steam now because there is very little choice- so I guess I don't own my games- but I held out as long as I could until there really wasn't any games left that you didn't need steam for. I still won't buy any denuvo games because I don't want to have to be online to play (I don't have the option to be online all the time- my ISP is spectrum so I only have internet connection about 80% of the time).
Too this day- I have never bought any "in app purchase". I've bought a couple of DLCs- but only when the cost seemed justified- where the product actually changed the game play and was a significant amount of work involved.
Does it actually say "News for Nerds" anywhere on the website anymore? Maybe I've missed it, but I don't recall seeing that for a long time- and wasn't the phrasing actually something like "News for Nerds and News that Matters?" - or am I thinking of another site?
This probably isn't "News for Nerds" - but it could be argued that it is "News that Matters" (you could probably also argue that it doesn't matter... but that's a subjective decision). Playing devils advocate- you could say that a former world-power with nuclear capabilities arresting a spy of a current world super power, also with nuclear capabilities, is "news that matters". (you could also say it doesn't matter- I won't judge).
Is someone who plays a game more of a "mindless zombie" than someone who watches TV?
I'm not saying either activity is probably very healthy if overdone- but surely, playing games where you think and interact is less "mindless zombie" than watching TV where you don't interact at all.
We expect to see charges brought against all executive level officers at Abine and class actions are already in the works. Prosecutors have asked the judge to prevent any sale of stock by executives and they are not permitted to leave the country.
Meh- just don't use the company and let it die. Punish them with your wallet. I don't want incompetence to be considered a crime in most cases. Everyone has a moment of incompetence.
China continues to surpass the US in all capabilities, from space exploration to manufacturing to financial management. The US would do well to learn from China's successes, and in particular the success of China's brand of communism.
China's brand of communism is exactly what makes any success they may have "not worth it". Doesn't matter how many planetary bodies they land on, or how cheaply they can make an iPhone; it's not worth the oppressive lifestyle of living under the paw of an evil Winnie the Pooh.
It's a real shame that the US won't work with China. The ESA does, but NASA is barred from doing so and it's a loss for everyone.
In a way it might actually be for the best though. Everyone was kind of following the US lead for the longest time, but now have realized that the US isn't really committed and that there are other opportunities, other players, we are starting to see things move more quickly again.
Space exploration (and science in general) is more political in the US than most other countries. Cooperating with the US on long term missions can be tricky because potentially every 4 years you have a new executive leader in charge and the executive leader is for some reason in charge of what scientific missions can and will be done and can tear up past agreements and contracts.
Although usually the West more aligns politically and socially with the US, and so the US ideally would be the science partner for the West- the political instability of American Science funding being tied to which political party is in charge might mean China is a better (more stable) partner for long term science cooperations despite their messed up political and social systems.
It's gizmodo. The them, "nazis" mean people politically to the right of Marx and Lenin.
No, it means people who believe in the political and social ideals of the Nazi party from the German Reich such as social Darwinism, and nationalism. The vast majority of people are politically to the right of Marx and Lenin; but the vast majority of people are NOT Nazis.
Nazis approved of asserting the rights of their nation over others, they saw it as a legitimate survival of the fittest. They believed in promoting people from their nation and keeping people to be perceived of other nations and races out of their lands. The rich were rich because they were better. They believed in ultimate authority from the top- and believed journalists and lower level politicians should not question the ultimate leader. They believed in the inferiority of other races and people who had certain religious beliefs.
All the above does apply to some people in the US today (I won't get political and name names), but it certainly is not a majority of people, nor even a majority of people right of Lenin.
It does though. The swastika was never in widespread use in Europe, so after the war it disappeared again. But to this day the German army displays the Schwarzes Kreuz, which is a combination of the Balkenkreuz used by the Nazis, and the cross pattée (also used by some extreme right wing groups), and very similar in appearance to both. Why? Because it is a very common symbol in the west, used before time out of mind - not just in Germany - and not considered to be tainted by Nazi use.
Not widespread, but it wasn't unknown either. One of the Scandinavian countries, I think Finland but not sure, had the Swastika on their planes before, during, and for sometime after the Nazi rule in Germany. There are examples of Swastikas used in patterns and designs in Europe prior Nazi use too.
So yeah, it wasn't common before the Nazis (not like, say the star, cross, or moon symbols) but it did have some limited usage that it can't enjoy anymore.
I would have called it Frosty the Snowman, because the object looks like Frosty the Snowman to me... and how cool would that be to have a space object named that?
I'm with you... watching other people play games has always seemed pretty boring to me. My kids do it though. As others have pointed out- it's similar to watching others play sports (although the major difference is, you could easily play a video game yourself at any time... a sport usually requires participation of other people, plus having the physical ability to do it yourself).
With that said- people do all sorts of things that are boring to me. To each his/her own, be it: the stamp collector, the person who eats ludicrously hot peppers for the sensation of being in pain, people who watch golf, people who watch cooking shows, people who memorise entire train schedules to places they have no intention to go, or even people who watch films produced by JJ Abrams.
This is another chapter in the saga of export-grade cryptography.
Potentially, a more amusing one to watch though. If tech professionals can't agree what exactly AI is- I will find it amusing to watch politicians try.
In for all the "I have a car so public transportation does nothing for me" comments.
I live in a mid-sized city with very little public transportation (might as well be none)... so it really does do nothing for me.:)
That said, public transportation helps everyone even car drivers in cities that have functioning public transportation by: a) Driving up desirability of location- thus helping your property value b) Removing congestion from the streets. c) slowing the deterioration of roadways meaning less frequent need to repave and delay your trip in.
Public Transportation may cost more to run than governments recoup but it's a net win if you figure in all the fringe benefits.
I think that is because of a lack of planned development; not because developers design them that way. Suburban sprawl is not planned by cities... it just happens when cities and counties don't regulate growth.
Trump demands an orange mode with walled borders on the chrome to honor his superior presidency.
When I was a kid my Dad had a monitor that was an "orangescreen". It had nice thick bezels (walls), as did everything then. They did used to exist. Not all greenscreens were green.
Nice strawman, but the first operating systems did not have GUIs. Light backgrounds are murder on the eyes.
For some people. I don't find it murder on my eyes- but, I'm In a well lit room. If you're in a dark room with little ambient lighting, then dark backgrounds may indeed be better.
The brightness of the backgrounds changed because where we use devices (and who uses devices has changed).
Slashdot Mirror
It's plenty political in other countries too. One of the reasons the ESA accomplishes so little/goes in circles is that (for political reasons) the ESA spends money in it's member nations in proportion to the contributions. In the same vein, that's why China has the slow motion program it does - just big enough to claim that they are A Real Spacefaring Nation and to fuel domestic propaganda.
ESA tends to stick to past long term commitments though. When an administration changes in the US NASA is frequently told to stop what they have been working on and focus on something new.
2017 iPhone SE - last one with a audio jack which fits neatly in a normal shirt pocket.
Just replaced the battery on mine in December at an Apple Store for $29.
No intention to get another iPhone for the next ~3-4 years.
It's not just Apples either. I have an LG because it has replacable batteries- bought a couple of extra batteries (in case they're hard to find in the future) and I fully intend to hold onto my LG for several years too. None of the phone manufacturers are really innovating anymore- and many are taking features away.
Everyone is racing to have the thinnest phone and slightest bezel and they're willing to sacrifice functionality to do it.
But not really half of the entertainment market.
It's probably complicated to calculate and the statistic at the top of this thread might be skewed. For example:
What if your cellphone bill includes a music streaming service? You're paying for phone service- not music (although clearly a cut of your bill is going to entertainment); I know a lot of services in Europe include music streaming as part of the package- if the phone bill isn't included as part of the entertainment package the statistic is flawed.
You could also say what of Amazon Prime? If you get most of your TV watching from Amazon Prime the statistic at the top probably isn't counting you for spending any money on entertainment via TV. Clearly, part of Amazon's budget from prime goes to funding TV though.
In America, that $107 billion on cable is higher than it would be in the UK. Most of America is covered by expensive monopolistic cable companies- your bill would be lower in the UK, and many people in UK don't even have "cable". It's not as all-pervasive as in the US.
If you browse to the main page and look up at your tab, it reads "Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters" so it's still there.
Ahh yes- the title of the page, I see that now.
There's also a big difference between the phrasing you've used and what Slashdot is purporting to be. I've always read the phrase as that the news for nerds is the stuff that matters, at least to nerds.
Honestly, I've always thought it meant both "News For Nerds" and "Stuff that Matters" not, the explanation you gave above... but I really don't know, you could be right. I guess CmdrTaco is the only one who could explain what he meant by that phrase.
As for "what matters" that would be subjective and every person would give a different account. What I do know is that I've been coming to Slashdot for over a decade (maybe closer to two decades now- I'm not sure when I started- this isn't my first account); in all that time there has always been stuff that wasn't just "News for Nerds"- so non Nerd stuff has always happened.
"Cold" war, you insensitive clod? Goddam global warming denier.
The world was colder during the cold war. Global warming hadn't reached current levels yet. WWIII is going to be blisteringly hot.
Watching RPG's gettting rebranded MMO's in the 90's to stick drm server lock into them and charge a subscription was annoying,
Which is exactly why I avoided the MMOs and stuck with the games that weren't (and still do).
the fact that the public fell all over themselves to pay money for software they didn't own or control incentivized the entire industry to code games in a way that the public never controls the game. Watching Team fortress 2 going from paid product to f2p microtransaction ridden game was pretty much the death knell for game ownership. Now that even fucking starcraft 2 is in on it.
Sad place where PC gaming and software ownership (aka windows 10 as a service we definitely are in an idiocracy) ended up due to the masses getting internet.
And, I've resisted that too. I do use steam now because there is very little choice- so I guess I don't own my games- but I held out as long as I could until there really wasn't any games left that you didn't need steam for. I still won't buy any denuvo games because I don't want to have to be online to play (I don't have the option to be online all the time- my ISP is spectrum so I only have internet connection about 80% of the time).
Too this day- I have never bought any "in app purchase". I've bought a couple of DLCs- but only when the cost seemed justified- where the product actually changed the game play and was a significant amount of work involved.
Yeah but this is "news for nerds" and not NPR.
Does it actually say "News for Nerds" anywhere on the website anymore? Maybe I've missed it, but I don't recall seeing that for a long time- and wasn't the phrasing actually something like "News for Nerds and News that Matters?" - or am I thinking of another site?
This probably isn't "News for Nerds" - but it could be argued that it is "News that Matters" (you could probably also argue that it doesn't matter... but that's a subjective decision). Playing devils advocate- you could say that a former world-power with nuclear capabilities arresting a spy of a current world super power, also with nuclear capabilities, is "news that matters". (you could also say it doesn't matter- I won't judge).
mindless zombies
Is someone who plays a game more of a "mindless zombie" than someone who watches TV?
I'm not saying either activity is probably very healthy if overdone- but surely, playing games where you think and interact is less "mindless zombie" than watching TV where you don't interact at all.
How do we know he's not a real spy? The Russians would have poisoned him.
You can't get a corpse to talk and give away information in exchange for freedom. He'll only be poisoned after he has sung.
We expect to see charges brought against all executive level officers at Abine and class actions are already in the works. Prosecutors have asked the judge to prevent any sale of stock by executives and they are not permitted to leave the country.
Meh- just don't use the company and let it die. Punish them with your wallet. I don't want incompetence to be considered a crime in most cases. Everyone has a moment of incompetence.
We know you mean Republicans. It's not like you're shy about this sort of thing.
Not at all. Most Republicans are not even close to Nazi-ism.
And now all maps in China will reflect the moon has historically been part of Chinese territory.
You joke, but that is essentially how modern day China thinks. They have the imperialist tendencies or pre 1920s Europe.
China continues to surpass the US in all capabilities, from space exploration to manufacturing to financial management. The US would do well to learn from China's successes, and in particular the success of China's brand of communism.
China's brand of communism is exactly what makes any success they may have "not worth it". Doesn't matter how many planetary bodies they land on, or how cheaply they can make an iPhone; it's not worth the oppressive lifestyle of living under the paw of an evil Winnie the Pooh.
It's a real shame that the US won't work with China. The ESA does, but NASA is barred from doing so and it's a loss for everyone.
In a way it might actually be for the best though. Everyone was kind of following the US lead for the longest time, but now have realized that the US isn't really committed and that there are other opportunities, other players, we are starting to see things move more quickly again.
Space exploration (and science in general) is more political in the US than most other countries. Cooperating with the US on long term missions can be tricky because potentially every 4 years you have a new executive leader in charge and the executive leader is for some reason in charge of what scientific missions can and will be done and can tear up past agreements and contracts.
Although usually the West more aligns politically and socially with the US, and so the US ideally would be the science partner for the West- the political instability of American Science funding being tied to which political party is in charge might mean China is a better (more stable) partner for long term science cooperations despite their messed up political and social systems.
what did you find...? Missing somthing...?
The original script for the movie "Iron Sky".
It's gizmodo. The them, "nazis" mean people politically to the right of Marx and Lenin.
No, it means people who believe in the political and social ideals of the Nazi party from the German Reich such as social Darwinism, and nationalism. The vast majority of people are politically to the right of Marx and Lenin; but the vast majority of people are NOT Nazis.
Nazis approved of asserting the rights of their nation over others, they saw it as a legitimate survival of the fittest. They believed in promoting people from their nation and keeping people to be perceived of other nations and races out of their lands. The rich were rich because they were better. They believed in ultimate authority from the top- and believed journalists and lower level politicians should not question the ultimate leader. They believed in the inferiority of other races and people who had certain religious beliefs.
All the above does apply to some people in the US today (I won't get political and name names), but it certainly is not a majority of people, nor even a majority of people right of Lenin.
It does though. The swastika was never in widespread use in Europe, so after the war it disappeared again. But to this day the German army displays the Schwarzes Kreuz, which is a combination of the Balkenkreuz used by the Nazis, and the cross pattée (also used by some extreme right wing groups), and very similar in appearance to both. Why? Because it is a very common symbol in the west, used before time out of mind - not just in Germany - and not considered to be tainted by Nazi use.
Not widespread, but it wasn't unknown either. One of the Scandinavian countries, I think Finland but not sure, had the Swastika on their planes before, during, and for sometime after the Nazi rule in Germany. There are examples of Swastikas used in patterns and designs in Europe prior Nazi use too.
So yeah, it wasn't common before the Nazis (not like, say the star, cross, or moon symbols) but it did have some limited usage that it can't enjoy anymore.
If you ask a random person what Thule means, you will find that
... most of them think it's a company that makes roof racks and Kayak racks for cars.
I would have called it Frosty the Snowman, because the object looks like Frosty the Snowman to me... and how cool would that be to have a space object named that?
I'm with you... watching other people play games has always seemed pretty boring to me. My kids do it though. As others have pointed out- it's similar to watching others play sports (although the major difference is, you could easily play a video game yourself at any time... a sport usually requires participation of other people, plus having the physical ability to do it yourself).
With that said- people do all sorts of things that are boring to me. To each his/her own, be it: the stamp collector, the person who eats ludicrously hot peppers for the sensation of being in pain, people who watch golf, people who watch cooking shows, people who memorise entire train schedules to places they have no intention to go, or even people who watch films produced by JJ Abrams.
This is another chapter in the saga of export-grade cryptography.
Potentially, a more amusing one to watch though. If tech professionals can't agree what exactly AI is- I will find it amusing to watch politicians try.
In for all the "I have a car so public transportation does nothing for me" comments.
I live in a mid-sized city with very little public transportation (might as well be none)... so it really does do nothing for me. :)
That said, public transportation helps everyone even car drivers in cities that have functioning public transportation by:
a) Driving up desirability of location- thus helping your property value
b) Removing congestion from the streets.
c) slowing the deterioration of roadways meaning less frequent need to repave and delay your trip in.
Public Transportation may cost more to run than governments recoup but it's a net win if you figure in all the fringe benefits.
Our stupid developers keep building wider cities.
I think that is because of a lack of planned development; not because developers design them that way. Suburban sprawl is not planned by cities... it just happens when cities and counties don't regulate growth.
Trump demands an orange mode with walled borders on the chrome to honor his superior presidency.
When I was a kid my Dad had a monitor that was an "orangescreen". It had nice thick bezels (walls), as did everything then. They did used to exist. Not all greenscreens were green.
Nice strawman, but the first operating systems did not have GUIs. Light backgrounds are murder on the eyes.
For some people. I don't find it murder on my eyes- but, I'm In a well lit room. If you're in a dark room with little ambient lighting, then dark backgrounds may indeed be better.
The brightness of the backgrounds changed because where we use devices (and who uses devices has changed).