I think the main reason that the priorities are placed that way is because when you see violence in a movie or a game you know that it is *simulated* violence. However, when you see 2 people having sex, you know that that's not simulated, it's two people really having sex. I don't necessarily agree with it, but that is an important difference. It's too easy to just say "Oh people are so sick, they'd rather watch a murder than sex", when a much more accurate statement would be "People would rather watch a fake murder than real sex." Also, explaining that the violence on the screen is fake and no one gets hurt is much easier with children than explaining that yes the people on screen were naked and rubbing against each other, but no they probably don't like each other, they just need to pay tuition.
Personally, I like watching both fake violence and real sex. Best of both worlds I say.
Your analogy is deeply flawed. A better one would be:
Say, ten years after you build your house, I copy your innovative design in building my own house. You've benefited from your design for years, now it's public domain and we should all get to build houses using the same design.
To which I would certainly agree. Sound very reasonable, doesn't it?
Re:Do we really want this?
on
Shocking Clothing
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Did you even read the article??
The jacket has to be unlocked and charged up by holding down a button before it can harm anyone. That takes care of your automatic discharge. Add to that the *visible* arcs of electricity and the loud buzzing noise associated with said arcs, and I think that pretty much covers any sort of warning required by law.
I've found in my years of repairing pc's that the majority of software problems have their root cause in hardware. A bad stick of memory, corrupt hard drive sectors, overheating components, cosmic radiation causing bit flips-all of these things cause random, bizarre errors. It's pretty easy to tell the difference too. Software errors are repeatable. The exact same situation should produce the exact same error. So all I'm trying to say is that I doubt we will ever reach the point that computers won't crash, because at some point there has to be interaction with the physical world. And no matter how perfect your program is, it's not going to survive a two year old stuffing pennies into the back of the power supply.
Ah, a thinly veiled insult. How nice. Can't we just exchange pedantries without stooping to such sophmoronics?
Indeed we can. All I was attempting to point out was that your use of the definition from Merriam-Websters dictionary should not *convince me* of anything. I retract the thinly veiled insult, but my point remains: Dictionary definitions are annoying as hell, and usually useless, in the context of a scientific or historical discussion.
Nothing you have said refutes my original point. While the definition of the second may have its origin according to the length of the day, it's *current* definition has nothing to do with the length of Earth's day. A second remains a second no matter where you are, and this is true also for hours, and minutes. It is true, as you said that the day was once the basic unit of measurement. This is no longer true and has not been true for many years. The second is now the basic unit of measurement for time, and it's length is based upon a physical constant. And so minutes, and hours are also based on physical constants that remain the same no matter where you are in the universe.
A second is *defined* to be the 1/86,400th part of a Day
Actually that's not quite correct anymore. Look at the link you provided, or anyplace else where the SI units are spelled out. The second is the SI's basic unit of time, and is defined thusly:
The second is the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom.
That's the *current* definition of a second, not the historical definition that you were quoting. So, an hour represents 33,093,474,372,000 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom, and is no longer defined according to the length of the day. This is a good thing, considering that an Earth day is a bit less than 24 hours long. While useful for writing high school term papers, the definition from Merriam-Webster is not the ultimate source in science.
An hour is an hour, regardless of where you are in the universe (relativistic effects aside). Days and years vary with the planet you're on. So if you want to compare the Martian day to the Earth day, you could say that a Martian day equals 1.0256945 Earth days. Just please don't ever use the words Earth hour or Earth minute ever again. Unless, that is, the reigning body of mars decided to create a new system of measuring time based upon the martian day as a base unit. If that ever happens, I would hope they have the sense to not use the same units (hours, days, etc.) Perhaps Marklars? Have you got the time? Sure, it's Marklar Marklar's past Marklar.
Now I know who to blame for that horrible frame nesting experience of 1997. 12 frames deep, with a blink tag and a java applet loading over a 14.4 baud connection from Japan. I've been scarred ever since. I think I have grounds for a lawsuit against SBC.
Admiral Rickover, who was placed in charge of creating the Navy's nuclear program was pretty much given a free hand in picking who he wanted to have working for him. His job interview tended to be a bit extreme, like hiding in the closet and jumping out at candidates to see how they would react, throwing things, insulting them. The one I remember hearing about the most was of a young midshipman who was about to graduate from the Academy and wanted to go into the nuclear submarine program. After sitting down for the interview, Adm. Rickover looked him straight in the eye, and said "Son, you have 30 seconds to piss me off." The midshipman sat there for a little bit, then noticed a glass model of the U.S.S. Nautilus sitting on the Admirals desk. He picked it up and smashed it to the floor. The Admiral stood up and yelled out "Dammit, that *pissed* me off! You've got the job."
Basically the whole point was to see how people would react under stress. Kinda important when dealing with a nuclear reactor 300 meters beneath the sea.
Nothings makes me smile more than seeing a child tell you exactly why everything in a movie is incorrect or physically impossible. I suggest getting them started with:
I think I remember (perhaps from that Neal Stephenson WIRED article?) about a fat copper cable that folks were putting around Africa, on land, which I think was called Ring Around Africa.
I believe they were calling it the "Ring of Fire" and it was Lucent who was putting most of it up. But I haven't heard anything on that in a couple of years.
About two years ago I created my own bootable CD that contained the Cab files for Windows 95, 98, 98SE and ME, along with scripts for unattended installs for each of them. This CD has saved me countless of hours. Can't really do the same for 2000 and XP, more's the pity. I also made a second CD that contained a full install of Internet Explorer 6 for all OS versions. It's amazing how many problems you can fix in Windows just be installing the latest version of IE. I also carry around of set of floppy disks with me:
Maxblast - Maxtor tool for copying hard drives, works with other brands too. I prefer this to Ghost. Powermax, SeaDiag, HDDiag, WD Lifeguard - Various manufacturers HD diagnostic disks Offline NT password and reg editor - Need I say more?
Hehe, suckers! I haven't had any problems with the one I got off ebay last week! 24/7 porn and pay-per-view, and it's all free! I'm glad I didn't get tricked like any of those guys.
I had a math teacher at the Naval Academy that specialized in donut-shaped mathematics. I bet he's calling up all his math friends right now and yelling at them "See! I told you I wasn't wasting my time!" He did have a really cool poster of the earth if it were shaped like a donut and he spent several class periods describing what the gravity and climate would be like on such a world.
Unless, of course, you believe that Saddam only poses a threat to his own people, so why should we care?
Um, you really think that Saddam poses a threat to the U.S.? I've followed the administration's incredibly weak attempts to convince us that he does, but I still don't see it.
I think you missed the point. Sarcasm doesn't seem to travel well over the net. What the previous poster was trying to say was "For those of you who don't believe that Saddam is any threat to us, you can't deny that he is tyrant and a threat to his *own people*. Stop being so selfish and start giving a rat's ass about the rest of the world. Any world without megalomaniacal tyrants like Saddam is a better place, for everyone." At least that's what I took the poster to mean.
Dell wants to stop including double-button mice as standard hardware on its Dimension line of desktops, and will start this practice later this quarter, as reported on Yahoo. Says Dell's product marketing: "We would like to see customers migrate away from double-button mice as quickly as possible, because there are better alternative technologies out there... like alt-clicking, or holding down the single button. At some point, you've got to face the facts. Our customers just can't handle the complexity of two buttons, and neither can our interns. What's that? Copying Apple? A damnable lie sir, a slander!" They plan to educate their customers about more effectively using the single button god gave them, and to quit asking so many questions.
Hah, try transcribing "Huckleberry Finn", or any Dr. Seuss, or better yet, try "Feersum Endjinn" by Iain M. Banks. I'd love to see what a transcriber would do to that one. Given the amount of made-up words in literature, catching and correcting the mistakes a transcriber commits would make it less than useless.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, I'll keep on using Winrar. It'll probably be able to read them both in a month.
I think the main reason that the priorities are placed that way is because when you see violence in a movie or a game you know that it is *simulated* violence. However, when you see 2 people having sex, you know that that's not simulated, it's two people really having sex. I don't necessarily agree with it, but that is an important difference. It's too easy to just say "Oh people are so sick, they'd rather watch a murder than sex", when a much more accurate statement would be "People would rather watch a fake murder than real sex." Also, explaining that the violence on the screen is fake and no one gets hurt is much easier with children than explaining that yes the people on screen were naked and rubbing against each other, but no they probably don't like each other, they just need to pay tuition.
Personally, I like watching both fake violence and real sex. Best of both worlds I say.
1800 cubic feet? Thats a damn small apartment...assuming an 8 foot ceiling, thats only a 15 x 15 foot space. And I thought my apartment was small...
Your analogy is deeply flawed. A better one would be:
Say, ten years after you build your house, I copy your innovative design in building my own house. You've benefited from your design for years, now it's public domain and we should all get to build houses using the same design.
To which I would certainly agree. Sound very reasonable, doesn't it?
Did you even read the article??
The jacket has to be unlocked and charged up by holding down a button before it can harm anyone. That takes care of your automatic discharge. Add to that the *visible* arcs of electricity and the loud buzzing noise associated with said arcs, and I think that pretty much covers any sort of warning required by law.
Indeed we can. All I was attempting to point out was that your use of the definition from Merriam-Websters dictionary should not *convince me* of anything. I retract the thinly veiled insult, but my point remains: Dictionary definitions are annoying as hell, and usually useless, in the context of a scientific or historical discussion.
Nothing you have said refutes my original point. While the definition of the second may have its origin according to the length of the day, it's *current* definition has nothing to do with the length of Earth's day. A second remains a second no matter where you are, and this is true also for hours, and minutes. It is true, as you said that the day was once the basic unit of measurement. This is no longer true and has not been true for many years. The second is now the basic unit of measurement for time, and it's length is based upon a physical constant. And so minutes, and hours are also based on physical constants that remain the same no matter where you are in the universe.
Actually that's not quite correct anymore. Look at the link you provided, or anyplace else where the SI units are spelled out. The second is the SI's basic unit of time, and is defined thusly:
That's the *current* definition of a second, not the historical definition that you were quoting. So, an hour represents 33,093,474,372,000 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom, and is no longer defined according to the length of the day. This is a good thing, considering that an Earth day is a bit less than 24 hours long. While useful for writing high school term papers, the definition from Merriam-Webster is not the ultimate source in science.
Basically the whole point was to see how people would react under stress. Kinda important when dealing with a nuclear reactor 300 meters beneath the sea.
BadAstronomy.com
I believe they were calling it the "Ring of Fire" and it was Lucent who was putting most of it up. But I haven't heard anything on that in a couple of years.
For me the phone is a useless expense, except for data.
You might be surprised at the number of non-deaf people this applies to as well.
Digital Plumber
Electron Wrangler
High Priests of the Binary Church
iDoctor
About two years ago I created my own bootable CD that contained the Cab files for Windows 95, 98, 98SE and ME, along with scripts for unattended installs for each of them. This CD has saved me countless of hours. Can't really do the same for 2000 and XP, more's the pity. I also made a second CD that contained a full install of Internet Explorer 6 for all OS versions. It's amazing how many problems you can fix in Windows just be installing the latest version of IE. I also carry around of set of floppy disks with me:
Maxblast - Maxtor tool for copying hard drives, works with other brands too. I prefer this to Ghost.
Powermax, SeaDiag, HDDiag, WD Lifeguard - Various manufacturers HD diagnostic disks
Offline NT password and reg editor - Need I say more?
Time Bandits is on DVD, I bought it last week, at Wal-Mart no less.
(stolen quotes from IMDB)
Oh, the Pope warned me never to trust the CIA!
If Da Vinci was alive today, he'd be eating microwave sushi, naked, in the back of a Cadillac with the both of us.
How's my driving?!? 1-800-I'm-gonna-fuckin'-die!
God, I miss Communism. The Red threat... people were scared... the agency had some respect and I got laid every night.
Check out the rest.
I had a math teacher at the Naval Academy that specialized in donut-shaped mathematics. I bet he's calling up all his math friends right now and yelling at them "See! I told you I wasn't wasting my time!" He did have a really cool poster of the earth if it were shaped like a donut and he spent several class periods describing what the gravity and climate would be like on such a world.
Um, you really think that Saddam poses a threat to the U.S.? I've followed the administration's incredibly weak attempts to convince us that he does, but I still don't see it.
I think you missed the point. Sarcasm doesn't seem to travel well over the net. What the previous poster was trying to say was "For those of you who don't believe that Saddam is any threat to us, you can't deny that he is tyrant and a threat to his *own people*. Stop being so selfish and start giving a rat's ass about the rest of the world. Any world without megalomaniacal tyrants like Saddam is a better place, for everyone." At least that's what I took the poster to mean.