Right from the start, I was completely surprised that any school anywhere has ever allow them.
When I was in school they were banned as being "Drug Paraphernalia". Even back then, that was a little bit ridiculous (not that they were banned, but that they were labeled drug paraphernalia). Nothing as disruptive as a phone should be allowed in school at any time whilst school is in session. I can't think of one legitimate education reason why kids should use cell phones whilst class is in session, nor should they rely on them during breaks. I think a school day without a cell phone could only be a good thing.
If there is some sort of emergency situation where a phone is needed, it should be left up front with the teacher.
People accustomed to holding down prestigious jobs
You know, I've had several occasions to bump up against Indian IT services... and on all occasions, it was impossible not to notice that at the start of the contract you might have gotten a couple of intelligent people with an actual skillset, and that as time went on you got utter morons who could do nothing but follow a script.
There's usually one really smart guy in the group and a dozen who don't know what they're doing. Usually the smart guy is sent overseas to the client to act as a local contact and at that point the idiots get left alone at home without the smart guy holding their hands and correcting them.
It would be much more useful if they sent one of the idiots and left the smart guy to supervise the ones left behind.
From the sound of things, India and China are not happy with each other over some border issues. We might all be soon breathing in the fallout of two billion freshly vaporized potential H1Bs if they decide to swap nukes.
China thinks that every piece of land that a Chinese citizen has ever set foot belongs to China and is historically Chinese. China and India ARE both mature enough not to nuke each other over a barely habitable stretch of mountains though.
The early chat bots - and I mean EARLY, as in 'about as likely to pass a Turing test as a passage from your preferred dictionary' - had people seeking therapy from them.
I would think a therapist chat bot would be an extra easy one to pass a Turing test.
All you have to do is program it to respond to every comment with "And how does that make you feel?" and no one will know they're not talking to a real-live therapist.
That's fine... that's my non-shifting price point for a video card. You can always get a "good enough" video card for $100... that logic has held true for 20 years.
I believe you may have misconstrued the problem with Bitcoin. It's not so much the volatility of fiat currencies... I mean of bitcoin. Whatever. One could just as easily argue that the USD (or whatever other fiat currency one prefers) is ridiculously volatile relative to bitcoin.
No, Bitcoin is the volatile one, not USD, because USD remains relatively stable against all other currencies such as GBP, the Euro, or the Yen. Bitcoin fluctuates wildly against all of them... and it is the odd one out... bitcoin IS the one wildly swinging compared to the others.
The reason it matters is that you'd be silly to purchase anything with bitcoin at the moment, not just because of the charges involved ($20... has to be a fairly big purchase before $20 charge becomes negligible), but also because with bitcoin going up so much, what buys you a burger today will buy you a supersized combo meal tomorrow. A Ford Festiva today or an Aston Martin next week.
At the moment bitcoin is an investment instrument, not a usable currency. That doesn't mean it always will be. It will stabilize eventually... the question is- will it pop before stabilizing or will it plateau gracefully. No-one really knows. Once it's stable- it could be a meaningful exchange for large purchases... fees will probably be too much to use on a trip to Tesco for a bag of mushy peas- but if you're exchanging a million dollar transaction between two major corporations *cough drug dealers* then a $20 fee is chump change.
I am trying to estimate the pop. I have my hard guess, and it seems like it might climb to that but then it drops.
So maybe just maybe. That said I don't own any but I expect ether to climb when bitcoin falls so that's my plan.
I've wondered about that too. How many people will transfer their money to Ether when Bitcoin falls. Would be nice to be invested before that happens. I don't think we'll ever see Bitcoin completely collapse, but I think there will be a huge drop at some point where it loses half or more of it's value over a period of days. (and then stabilize).
Bitcoin is for gambling with wealth. I think a lot of people are now viewing it as a get-rich-quick scheme. Sure, there are some serious investors in it, and some legitimate money gains by some people; but it doesn't create wealth. (Quite the opposite, since it takes wealth to mine). For one person to get $1,000,000 in bitcoin, other people must collectively give up $1,000,000.
All these people getting rich are doing so at the expense of other people who join later.
By a select few with large amounts who can manipulate things to cash out together at a certain point. This will leave everyone else holding the bag so to speak and the cycle will repeat as large groups left over try to recoup losses from the first group by doing the same thing.
It's harder for the big guys to get out (with a large % of their money) than the little guys. If you've got one bitcoin, you can sell it at any time. If you've got a few thousand bitcoin, you have to sell them slowly over a long period of time, or your sale of them will cause the price to drop dramatically and you get less of your "value" from the coins.
Show of hands if you are tired of the bitcoin stories?
I'm actually not... the responses to the stories are tiresome. It's the same over and over again from both lovers and haters of the coin. I am fascinated by how Bitcoin is doing though.
It just keeps everyone perpetually in poverty, debt slaves to the state, with no hope or drive to move forward. Communism doesn't work. Communism without workers would be even worse, stripping people of their meaning on top of their earnings.
The solution to automation is not to do it. "Because we can doesn't mean we should".
Right now, this is true. I think it's way too early for UBI. However, in the future as more and more jobs go away, as automation takes over, there will be a point where UBI makes sense. When a large enough % of the people are permanently unemployed and unemployable a move towards a complex socialist state may be the way forward. I'm not talking totalitarian regimes or single-party communism; but maybe there is a time when a state-run economy is the only way forward.
We're not there yet, any move there will be as big a disaster as it was in the 20th Century. 100 years... 200 years from now... who knows, the world might have to move in that direction out of necessity. It wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing depending on how it is run.
Bob pays Alice $20 for sex. Alice then goes to Joe and pays Joe $20 for sex. Joe pays Sally $20 for sex. Sally pays Bob $20 for sex.
The circle of prostitution is complete. Everyone has been paid $20 to spend on the goods and services that automation provides.
This sounds a bit like a perpetual motion machine... only it's a different kind of motion. What jobs are people going to do when robot AI is better at prostitution?
The women's outfits were no more revealing than what you would see on high-street in the day. Very short, but not showing too much up top. Certainly going for a "sexy" look, but nothing extreme.
I don't think Kirk ever nailed them. He kissed a bunch of them, and fell in love with them... sure... but there was little to no suggestion that he managed to actually boink them.
JJ Treks are good movies, but terrible Star Trek..
They weren't even "good movies" to be honest. Certainly not Star Trek, but even if you rebadged it something else like "Star Voyage" they were still pretty bad films with terrible dialogue, ridiculous plots, and poorly directed.
The first "JJ Trek" film was OK compared to the other two he made. The other two were just dire.
Oh, I see. You just don't have a fucking clue. Where the fuck is the porn (parody or otherwise) in Reservoir Dogs, True Romance or Hateful Eight?
I think he is talking about the writing style. Tarantino's plots may not have "porn" in them, but they're really poorly written and the story is about as relevant as a story from a porn parody.
Tarantino and JJ Abrams are the two worse "big name" producers in Hollywood. Abrams is king of the cheesy and unrealistic. No matter how big a budget he has his pictures always have a very "cheap" feel to them. They feel like cheap acting and production... almost like bad fanfics (even when he is doing something "original".
I think your observation of Tarantino is spot on; although, I would add that he also has long stretches of mundane boringness in his flicks. Stretches where the characters talk about something really mundane, that has no bearing on the plot, for what feels like hours.
So Tarantino/Abrams together would produce a really boring film that feels cheap and non-immersive, where people talk about crap like folding laundry for 30 minute stretches followed by a bunch of random violence that has nothing to do with the plot.
I'll pass... sounds even worse than the last 3 Trek films.
I ordered an iced coffee at McDonalds recently after hearing everyone say this, and it was gross. Much too watery. Maybe the hot coffee is better, but don't try ordering something that takes more than hitting a button to make.
As much as there is to complain about with Starbucks, I've never had a problem with the quality of the coffee or the training of the staff.
I tried their hot coffee a few months back and found it just as bad as it's always been- the only difference is they gave it a fancier name.
Also, beware Starbucks in a store/hotel or at the airport. They charge more, sometimes much more, than the already-excessive "standard" price and provide few or no amenities. Of course, at the airport, you may have no alternative.
They're also counting on a bunch of business travelers who will be expensing their brew and getting their money back.
LOL. Just pop a Jet-Alert pill. That's effectively.04 cents per 100mg pill of caffeine. DONE!!
Wouldn't work for me. I actually don't experience any effect from caffeine*, I actually frequently drink a cup of coffee right before bed because the warm drink helps me get ready to sleep like some drink a cup of warm milk when they were kids. I drink coffee because I like coffee- not because I want caffeine.
*I suspect a lot of people's caffeine experience is psychosomatic anyway. Give them a cup of decaf and not tell them and besides the nasty taste, they wouldn't notice a difference and "act" more alert.
Slashdot Mirror
Right from the start, I was completely surprised that any school anywhere has ever allow them.
When I was in school they were banned as being "Drug Paraphernalia". Even back then, that was a little bit ridiculous (not that they were banned, but that they were labeled drug paraphernalia). Nothing as disruptive as a phone should be allowed in school at any time whilst school is in session. I can't think of one legitimate education reason why kids should use cell phones whilst class is in session, nor should they rely on them during breaks. I think a school day without a cell phone could only be a good thing.
If there is some sort of emergency situation where a phone is needed, it should be left up front with the teacher.
And how does that make you feel?
You know, I've had several occasions to bump up against Indian IT services ... and on all occasions, it was impossible not to notice that at the start of the contract you might have gotten a couple of intelligent people with an actual skillset, and that as time went on you got utter morons who could do nothing but follow a script.
There's usually one really smart guy in the group and a dozen who don't know what they're doing. Usually the smart guy is sent overseas to the client to act as a local contact and at that point the idiots get left alone at home without the smart guy holding their hands and correcting them.
It would be much more useful if they sent one of the idiots and left the smart guy to supervise the ones left behind.
From the sound of things, India and China are not happy with each other over some border issues. We might all be soon breathing in the fallout of two billion freshly vaporized potential H1Bs if they decide to swap nukes.
China thinks that every piece of land that a Chinese citizen has ever set foot belongs to China and is historically Chinese. China and India ARE both mature enough not to nuke each other over a barely habitable stretch of mountains though.
> No one is doing that
Oh yes they are; some people are really strange.
The early chat bots - and I mean EARLY, as in 'about as likely to pass a Turing test as a passage from your preferred dictionary' - had people seeking therapy from them.
I would think a therapist chat bot would be an extra easy one to pass a Turing test.
All you have to do is program it to respond to every comment with "And how does that make you feel?" and no one will know they're not talking to a real-live therapist.
For one person to get $1,000,000 in bitcoin, other people must collectively give up $1,000,000.
All these people getting rich are doing so at the expense of other people who join later.
Just like Gold and Silver right?
That's absolutely true, however, spread out over many generations.
That's fine... that's my non-shifting price point for a video card. You can always get a "good enough" video card for $100... that logic has held true for 20 years.
I believe you may have misconstrued the problem with Bitcoin. It's not so much the volatility of fiat currencies... I mean of bitcoin. Whatever. One could just as easily argue that the USD (or whatever other fiat currency one prefers) is ridiculously volatile relative to bitcoin.
No, Bitcoin is the volatile one, not USD, because USD remains relatively stable against all other currencies such as GBP, the Euro, or the Yen. Bitcoin fluctuates wildly against all of them... and it is the odd one out... bitcoin IS the one wildly swinging compared to the others.
The reason it matters is that you'd be silly to purchase anything with bitcoin at the moment, not just because of the charges involved ($20... has to be a fairly big purchase before $20 charge becomes negligible), but also because with bitcoin going up so much, what buys you a burger today will buy you a supersized combo meal tomorrow. A Ford Festiva today or an Aston Martin next week.
At the moment bitcoin is an investment instrument, not a usable currency. That doesn't mean it always will be. It will stabilize eventually... the question is- will it pop before stabilizing or will it plateau gracefully. No-one really knows. Once it's stable- it could be a meaningful exchange for large purchases... fees will probably be too much to use on a trip to Tesco for a bag of mushy peas- but if you're exchanging a million dollar transaction between two major corporations *cough drug dealers* then a $20 fee is chump change.
Yeah... I had the same gut feeling about 10k. And it did slump slightly after hitting 10K, but not far and immediate rebounded back.
$25 might be the next psychological barrier... but yeah... if it passes $25 I'd start getting nervous before 50 and 100.
I'll wait until I can purchase it for $100.
I am trying to estimate the pop. I have my hard guess, and it seems like it might climb to that but then it drops.
So maybe just maybe. That said I don't own any but I expect ether to climb when bitcoin falls so that's my plan.
I've wondered about that too. How many people will transfer their money to Ether when Bitcoin falls. Would be nice to be invested before that happens. I don't think we'll ever see Bitcoin completely collapse, but I think there will be a huge drop at some point where it loses half or more of it's value over a period of days. (and then stabilize).
Gold and Silver are for maintaining wealth.
Bitcoin is for gambling with wealth. I think a lot of people are now viewing it as a get-rich-quick scheme. Sure, there are some serious investors in it, and some legitimate money gains by some people; but it doesn't create wealth. (Quite the opposite, since it takes wealth to mine). For one person to get $1,000,000 in bitcoin, other people must collectively give up $1,000,000.
All these people getting rich are doing so at the expense of other people who join later.
By a select few with large amounts who can manipulate things to cash out together at a certain point. This will leave everyone else holding the bag so to speak and the cycle will repeat as large groups left over try to recoup losses from the first group by doing the same thing.
It's harder for the big guys to get out (with a large % of their money) than the little guys. If you've got one bitcoin, you can sell it at any time. If you've got a few thousand bitcoin, you have to sell them slowly over a long period of time, or your sale of them will cause the price to drop dramatically and you get less of your "value" from the coins.
Show of hands if you are tired of the bitcoin stories?
I'm actually not... the responses to the stories are tiresome. It's the same over and over again from both lovers and haters of the coin. I am fascinated by how Bitcoin is doing though.
It just keeps everyone perpetually in poverty, debt slaves to the state, with no hope or drive to move forward. Communism doesn't work. Communism without workers would be even worse, stripping people of their meaning on top of their earnings.
The solution to automation is not to do it. "Because we can doesn't mean we should".
Right now, this is true. I think it's way too early for UBI. However, in the future as more and more jobs go away, as automation takes over, there will be a point where UBI makes sense. When a large enough % of the people are permanently unemployed and unemployable a move towards a complex socialist state may be the way forward. I'm not talking totalitarian regimes or single-party communism; but maybe there is a time when a state-run economy is the only way forward.
We're not there yet, any move there will be as big a disaster as it was in the 20th Century. 100 years... 200 years from now... who knows, the world might have to move in that direction out of necessity. It wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing depending on how it is run.
Prostitution. At least for the time being.
So everyone is going to be a prostitute?
Bob pays Alice $20 for sex.
Alice then goes to Joe and pays Joe $20 for sex.
Joe pays Sally $20 for sex.
Sally pays Bob $20 for sex.
The circle of prostitution is complete. Everyone has been paid $20 to spend on the goods and services that automation provides.
This sounds a bit like a perpetual motion machine... only it's a different kind of motion. What jobs are people going to do when robot AI is better at prostitution?
Cattlestar Galactica, a story about humanities last hold, running away from an army of superior robot cattle.
The women's outfits were no more revealing than what you would see on high-street in the day. Very short, but not showing too much up top. Certainly going for a "sexy" look, but nothing extreme.
I don't think Kirk ever nailed them. He kissed a bunch of them, and fell in love with them... sure... but there was little to no suggestion that he managed to actually boink them.
JJ Treks are good movies, but terrible Star Trek..
They weren't even "good movies" to be honest. Certainly not Star Trek, but even if you rebadged it something else like "Star Voyage" they were still pretty bad films with terrible dialogue, ridiculous plots, and poorly directed.
The first "JJ Trek" film was OK compared to the other two he made. The other two were just dire.
Oh, I see. You just don't have a fucking clue. Where the fuck is the porn (parody or otherwise) in Reservoir Dogs, True Romance or Hateful Eight?
I think he is talking about the writing style. Tarantino's plots may not have "porn" in them, but they're really poorly written and the story is about as relevant as a story from a porn parody.
Tarantino and JJ Abrams are the two worse "big name" producers in Hollywood. Abrams is king of the cheesy and unrealistic. No matter how big a budget he has his pictures always have a very "cheap" feel to them. They feel like cheap acting and production... almost like bad fanfics (even when he is doing something "original".
I think your observation of Tarantino is spot on; although, I would add that he also has long stretches of mundane boringness in his flicks. Stretches where the characters talk about something really mundane, that has no bearing on the plot, for what feels like hours.
So Tarantino/Abrams together would produce a really boring film that feels cheap and non-immersive, where people talk about crap like folding laundry for 30 minute stretches followed by a bunch of random violence that has nothing to do with the plot.
I'll pass... sounds even worse than the last 3 Trek films.
I ordered an iced coffee at McDonalds recently after hearing everyone say this, and it was gross. Much too watery. Maybe the hot coffee is better, but don't try ordering something that takes more than hitting a button to make.
As much as there is to complain about with Starbucks, I've never had a problem with the quality of the coffee or the training of the staff.
I tried their hot coffee a few months back and found it just as bad as it's always been- the only difference is they gave it a fancier name.
If your living room is like the waiting room at Grand Central Terminal, then I guess Starbucks qualifies.
Well... I have been trying to divert the subway terminal to my bathroom instead of my living room, but we can't all live the high life.
Also, beware Starbucks in a store/hotel or at the airport. They charge more, sometimes much more, than the already-excessive "standard" price and provide few or no amenities. Of course, at the airport, you may have no alternative.
They're also counting on a bunch of business travelers who will be expensing their brew and getting their money back.
LOL. Just pop a Jet-Alert pill. That's effectively .04 cents per 100mg pill of caffeine. DONE!!
Wouldn't work for me. I actually don't experience any effect from caffeine*, I actually frequently drink a cup of coffee right before bed because the warm drink helps me get ready to sleep like some drink a cup of warm milk when they were kids. I drink coffee because I like coffee- not because I want caffeine.
*I suspect a lot of people's caffeine experience is psychosomatic anyway. Give them a cup of decaf and not tell them and besides the nasty taste, they wouldn't notice a difference and "act" more alert.