I don't subscribe to Facebook and Twitter, and I feel pretty confident in saying that I never will. Facebook would be just one more web site I have to visit, and Twitter... I can't even imagine a use for it in my life.
I didn't set out to declare with no evidence that one number was larger than the other. By saying "I call bullshit", I was expressing my doubt that the "fact" he'd just pulled out of some bovine's ass was correct; it's what the expression means. I presented grounds for reasonable doubt and asked for evidence, so whining that I didn't prove he was wrong doesn't make him right.
we have more musicians alive now than have lived before, PERIOD.
I call bullshit. OK, the world population has literally quadrupled since then, so that might make you right in spite of yourself. But 100 years ago, lots of people who didn't even own a piano still learned how to play one. Plus there were all the people who played fiddle or harmonica or acoustic guitar, or played in the kind of band that Sousa wrote music for (a large enough market that sheet music was big business). Also, someone who played piano (etc.) would continue to play it for most of their lives, contrasted with your typical modern "rock band" musician who gives it up by the time he hits 30 (or even 20). Just because most of your friends at school are "in a band" doesn't mean that's typical of the whole population.
14. sticks n. Informal
a. A remote area; backwoods: moved to the sticks.
b. A city or town regarded as dull or unsophisticated.
- The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language
If I want to play cards, I can do it everywhere, with my friends for example. No need to throw away large sums of money in the process.
But for some people that's part of the entertainment: the actual risk involved. Kind of like the difference between playing a car-racing game on your GameBox and actually racing cars.
There are plenty of people who know that the odds are against them but gamble for entertainment and because "you can't win if you don't play". Considering the amount of below-conscious-level manipulation that's involved in marketing porn, gambling is no less informed consent.
I live in a pretty moralistic part of the country, and I'd say there's far more taboo to porn than to gambling. The state and a whole bunch of First Nations are involved in gambling, with outlets on every corner and casinos increasingly scattered wherever there are displaced Natives to be found. It's almost respectable, and generally tolerated. But porn is usually confined to bricks-and-mortar ghettos and the internet. Think of this way: Which do you think would raise more eyebrows at the office, someone announcing that he's going to Vegas to play cards, or announcing that he's going to Vegas to hire hookers?
Microsoft is the 800-ton godzilla of the technology industry, with a lot of advertising dollars and other forms of influence to throw around. Of course reviewers are going to pull their punches. There's also the problem that most reviewers are not typical users; they're technology fans, who will be more impressed by teh shiney than Joe Secretary, Suzie Manager, or Pat Homemaker - who mostly just want to do stuff with their computers - would be.
Frank De Winne of the EU is the first "European" commander (and all the Russian commanders don't count) in the same sense that people from the United States are "Americans" while people from Canada, Panama, Chile, etc. are not. It's not geographically accurate, but it's culturally/politically meaningful.
If they're going to charge a metered rate for data, and since they already offer a zero-usage data rate for "stupidphones", how about offering the same option for voice? They charge extra for using lots of voice capacity, but offer no discount for not using it. The cheapest iPhone 3G voice plan is for more voice minutes than I use in a year. (I'm over 40, so I grew up without the ability to talk to my friends and family every few hours, and I'm not about to change just because I can. And since I like to understand people when I do talk to them - and vice versa - I usually use a landline for that.) I got a used iPhone EDGE with the cheapest Pick Your Plan rate, and even still my "remaining balance" creeps higher and higher every month, as I'm forced to buy voice minutes that I have no use for, just to get the data that I want and use throughout the day and evening. Or better yet: dump the phony distinction between voice and data, and charge people for whatever network usage they run up each month.
Boulders falling from cliffs kill people under normal conditions. Ebola viruses kill people under normal conditions. Et cetera. Lots of things - including things that stupid people had nothing to do with - are inherently unsafe.
The Peace Prize committee generally gives awards for either of two reasons:
1) As a backward-looking life-time achievement award for someone who has a long history or some key game-changing accomplishment on their resume. e.g. Mother Theresa, Elie Weisel, Jimmy Carter, Mandela/de Klerk.
2) As a forward-looking attempt to focus global attention on something/someone/somewhere, and to endorse ongoing efforts to (hopefully) accomplish something. e.g. Arafat/Peres/Rabin, Aung San Suu Kyi, Wangari Muta Maathai, Gore et al.
This is an example of the latter. Is it political? Of course it is; the Peace Prize has always been political.
Whoever developed the pressure-sensitive password idea should be required to sit at the Help Desk and reset people's passwords when they can't get logged in using it.
A password also tied to key pressure has got to be one of the most out-of-touch-with-reality ideas I've read all day. (And I've been editing Wikipedia.) As if ordinary users didn't have a difficult enough time dealing with foggy memories, poor finger coordination, and the inability to see what characters they've already typed! Implement this, and I will be spending all of my time helping users get logged in to our computers, rather than 1/3 of it.
Anyone who can't write a coherent 500-word (or thereabouts) essay shouldn't be allowed into a university such as MIT. Period. Requiring it is kind of like setting a minimum GPA or test score: an easy way to quickly cull a bunch of idiots from the applicant pool.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't subscribe to Facebook and Twitter, and I feel pretty confident in saying that I never will. Facebook would be just one more web site I have to visit, and Twitter... I can't even imagine a use for it in my life.
I didn't set out to declare with no evidence that one number was larger than the other. By saying "I call bullshit", I was expressing my doubt that the "fact" he'd just pulled out of some bovine's ass was correct; it's what the expression means. I presented grounds for reasonable doubt and asked for evidence, so whining that I didn't prove he was wrong doesn't make him right.
I call bullshit. OK, the world population has literally quadrupled since then, so that might make you right in spite of yourself. But 100 years ago, lots of people who didn't even own a piano still learned how to play one. Plus there were all the people who played fiddle or harmonica or acoustic guitar, or played in the kind of band that Sousa wrote music for (a large enough market that sheet music was big business). Also, someone who played piano (etc.) would continue to play it for most of their lives, contrasted with your typical modern "rock band" musician who gives it up by the time he hits 30 (or even 20). Just because most of your friends at school are "in a band" doesn't mean that's typical of the whole population.
14. sticks n. Informal
a. A remote area; backwoods: moved to the sticks.
b. A city or town regarded as dull or unsophisticated.
- The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language
Phrase Sticks "rural place" is 1905, from sticks in slang sense of "trees" (cf. backwoods).
- Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
...because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and dog gone it, people like me!
But for some people that's part of the entertainment: the actual risk involved. Kind of like the difference between playing a car-racing game on your GameBox and actually racing cars.
There are plenty of people who know that the odds are against them but gamble for entertainment and because "you can't win if you don't play". Considering the amount of below-conscious-level manipulation that's involved in marketing porn, gambling is no less informed consent.
I live in a pretty moralistic part of the country, and I'd say there's far more taboo to porn than to gambling. The state and a whole bunch of First Nations are involved in gambling, with outlets on every corner and casinos increasingly scattered wherever there are displaced Natives to be found. It's almost respectable, and generally tolerated. But porn is usually confined to bricks-and-mortar ghettos and the internet. Think of this way: Which do you think would raise more eyebrows at the office, someone announcing that he's going to Vegas to play cards, or announcing that he's going to Vegas to hire hookers?
Microsoft is the 800-ton godzilla of the technology industry, with a lot of advertising dollars and other forms of influence to throw around. Of course reviewers are going to pull their punches. There's also the problem that most reviewers are not typical users; they're technology fans, who will be more impressed by teh shiney than Joe Secretary, Suzie Manager, or Pat Homemaker - who mostly just want to do stuff with their computers - would be.
Global Thermonuclear War?
Yes, but he'd have to be English.
Frank De Winne of the EU is the first "European" commander (and all the Russian commanders don't count) in the same sense that people from the United States are "Americans" while people from Canada, Panama, Chile, etc. are not. It's not geographically accurate, but it's culturally/politically meaningful.
If they're going to charge a metered rate for data, and since they already offer a zero-usage data rate for "stupidphones", how about offering the same option for voice? They charge extra for using lots of voice capacity, but offer no discount for not using it. The cheapest iPhone 3G voice plan is for more voice minutes than I use in a year. (I'm over 40, so I grew up without the ability to talk to my friends and family every few hours, and I'm not about to change just because I can. And since I like to understand people when I do talk to them - and vice versa - I usually use a landline for that.) I got a used iPhone EDGE with the cheapest Pick Your Plan rate, and even still my "remaining balance" creeps higher and higher every month, as I'm forced to buy voice minutes that I have no use for, just to get the data that I want and use throughout the day and evening. Or better yet: dump the phony distinction between voice and data, and charge people for whatever network usage they run up each month.
The only way a Windows Launch Party Pack would be fun is if it included a large quantity of alcohol.
Boulders falling from cliffs kill people under normal conditions. Ebola viruses kill people under normal conditions. Et cetera. Lots of things - including things that stupid people had nothing to do with - are inherently unsafe.
There's one in the Batcave.
You don't recharge it. You use it for a thousand years, then throw it into a landfill. Or a nearby star.
The Peace Prize committee generally gives awards for either of two reasons:
1) As a backward-looking life-time achievement award for someone who has a long history or some key game-changing accomplishment on their resume. e.g. Mother Theresa, Elie Weisel, Jimmy Carter, Mandela/de Klerk.
2) As a forward-looking attempt to focus global attention on something/someone/somewhere, and to endorse ongoing efforts to (hopefully) accomplish something. e.g. Arafat/Peres/Rabin, Aung San Suu Kyi, Wangari Muta Maathai, Gore et al.
This is an example of the latter. Is it political? Of course it is; the Peace Prize has always been political.
I have a sig? That must have happened several years ago. How do I turn that off?
The best boss I ever had (hi, Carl!) had a question he would ask about any proposed new tech: "What is the problem for which this is the solution?"
Whoever developed the pressure-sensitive password idea should be required to sit at the Help Desk and reset people's passwords when they can't get logged in using it.
A password also tied to key pressure has got to be one of the most out-of-touch-with-reality ideas I've read all day. (And I've been editing Wikipedia.) As if ordinary users didn't have a difficult enough time dealing with foggy memories, poor finger coordination, and the inability to see what characters they've already typed! Implement this, and I will be spending all of my time helping users get logged in to our computers, rather than 1/3 of it.
There are people who read /. without sigs disabled?
Yeah, well I'm working on an OS that'll be 129 bits!
If it were up to the RIAA, artists wouldn't be allowed to stream their own urine.
Anyone who can't write a coherent 500-word (or thereabouts) essay shouldn't be allowed into a university such as MIT. Period. Requiring it is kind of like setting a minimum GPA or test score: an easy way to quickly cull a bunch of idiots from the applicant pool.