The people who come up with ideas like military lasers are actually smart enough to have thought of things like mirrored surfaces on enemy missiles. They wouldn't have put all that time, effort, and money into the project if it could be stopped by such a simple countermeasure.
Kinda like NASA people are smart and put lots of money into a ballpoint space pen that can write while upsidedown or in zero-g? The Russians used pencils, and saved a mint.
Smart people can still overlook things. In fact smart people can do downright dumb things. Nobody's perfect.
CS isn't computer programming. CS is computer science....And bridge building isn't engineering, but that doesn't mean I don't want engineers involved in the design and overseeing that bridge.
Computer programming and software development is a skill, that to be done properly requires computer science knowledge. Not everyone on your team needs to know the theory of design, but if no one does you're in trouble. Make no mistake computer engineering is a skill worthy of specialisation.
Sleep disorders are awful. I have sleep apnea. I sleep each night with a mask pumping me up with positive pressure (look up CPAP) since otherwise I'm continually choking in my sleep (and therefore never get to the REM states required for rest).
So anyway before I was diagnosed I had some real experience with the effects of sleep deprivation. (Even though I'd sleep I'd wake up unrested as if I'd had none). Thankfully my condition is under control (and though I hate the treatment walking around like a zombie is a worse alternative).
If this drug does what is claimed, and if people can use it sensibly, it could be a very good thing. If it just masks symptoms it's uselss. Like anything empowering if misused by idiot monkies who want to extend their working day to 48 hours we'll all suffer for it.
I skinned my knee. I know I skinned my knee. I can see it. I'm looking right at it. I just cleaned the darn thing. Yet it still smarts like hell.
Why can't I turn off the darn pain receptors?
Because the pain will deter you from doing it again. Skinning your knee once is no big deal. Skin it 100 times in a short timespan and it's a very big deal.
Pain is part of what makes you human. There are certainly flaws to the human body, but pain isn't one of them.
As for sleep, we don't even UNDERSTAND why we need sleep. We do know you end up not functioning correctly without it, so there was probably an evolutionary reason that sleep was/is useful.
I think you'd want to more fully understand something before seeking to modify it.
He berates and exploits the nerd to get him to do his fucking job
If you don't see the problem with this statement, I hope you're never a manager. If you need to berate and exploit someone to get them to do their "fucking job" you're an idiot. You also start with the assumption that "people are, by and large, lazy and ungrateful shits".
You've shown you have no respect for the individual and that he hasn't got a hope in hell of being happy working for you. (Yes happier people are generally more productive so it's in your best interest that he's not a clock watching wage slave that hates his job). His only incentive to do anything is not to get fired. He'll never do anything positive for the company of his own accord and he'll either get good at fooling you into thinking he's doing work and has potential or you'll sack him (Ever seen Office Space?)
People who do the wrong thing need to be warned not berated, and have you ever heard of positive reenforcement? Being an asshole boss and justifying it by saying this is how the world work's is a sign that you're the lazy and ungrateful shit.
And this nonesense is what gets rated as insightful on/. these days. Makes me sick.
Unfortunately that's most software houses. Just try and start a campaign on/. to boycott computer games. That's like starting a campaign to outlaw the use of fishing rods at a fisherman's convention.
It's called a DISTRACTION. Honestly all they've done here is prove the people can get distracted, and that if the situation is emmotive the person is likely to pay more attention and get more distracted. ie. Sex and violence gets our attention.
What next? A study to prove the smell of food can make you hungry? A study to prove that being shot in the head can be harmful to your health? A study to prove that sunshine makes you feel warm?
Call me old fashioned but I believe that when you find evidence that invalidates or modifies a theory, you REVISE your text book instead of throwing it away. I don't really think we want to throw away the entire body of astronomical evidence over this one. Apart from that policy putting the human race back quite a bit, that'd upset me quite a bit given that I spent 2 1/2 years studying astronomy.
Besides you don't want to set a precedent for your cowboy president to throw away all books on evolution because some small flaw is found in one part of the theory.
The Olymp?c (can't use the word after all or I'd be breaking the law) ideal has obviously gone down the toilet. It's become a cynical excercise in money making. The atheletes take drugs, the committee is corrupt, "sponsors" sue businesses into oblivion. Media accounts are strictly controlled and censored to the point where the atheletes can't post pictures, audio or video.
Yet people still watch this crud. Isn't it time to vote with your feet (or rather your tele remotes)? The more garbage people put up with from big business, the more garbage they can expect.
Screw or be screwed is an ethic too. He perceives he's being screwed, and finds a way to counter-screw. Never mind the fact that it'll wind him up in jail eventually, that just makes him stupid. He's got an ethic, just not one you'd approve of.
Reminds me of the quote "The problem with 'An eye for an eye' is that eventually everyone ends up blind".
You accuse me of installing cracked software. Then when I point out you're wrong (and that I virus checked) you attack me for finding a workaround to an important business problem WITHOUT asking where I got the patch.
The source was TRUSTED, it just wasn't Microsoft. I'm not about to risk my job to solve a single business problem.
Oh and one more thing, last I heard most people ran code on their computer that didn't come from Microsoft. Do you think that's a bad idea too?
How about you actually try and work out what someone's done before you blast them for doing the wrong thing? This is just making you look immature and petty.
The software I installed was NOT cracked. I would never EVER installed cracked software on a Bank computer and if you said that about me in person I'd sue you for defamation.
I installed a Microsoft update from a source other than Microsoft, and virus checked it to boot. Last time I checked that was still legal.
Get your facts straight before you type in your little messages.
So I don't think 35 years is really enough time. I'd say more like 300 years. At least in that much time one could hope for salvation from radically new technological advances such as anti-gravity or really really frickin powerful lasers in space.
Guaranteed way to not have innovation for 275+ years is to have an event in 300 years (not that we'd be able to predict that far in future).
If it isn't likely to happen in the lifetime of the politician that's in office, it isn't going to happen. Sad but true.
Okay let me spell it out for you. In "real life" you do something and there are consequences, good or bad. (eg. you go to the pub and make a new friend). Once your game ends, or the company pulls the plug on your virtual world, very little translates back to the real world.
If you go out and learn to fish you learn all the aspects of fishing and actually have real experiences as opposed to simulated - you get wet and smell fish. You learn an actual usable skill. Whereas even the best simulations are somewhat simplified and few if any gaming skills are going to translate to being able to do something for real (I sure as hell wouldn't get behind the controls of an F16 just because I can do it in a computer game).
Again if you spent an inordinate amount of time in your "real life" on a hobby that had nothing to do with computers people would still tell you there's an inbalance. If you keep yourself entertained doing ANY one thing, and neglect other aspects of your life, its called ADDICTION.
If you don't understand what I'm saying by now, I don't think there's much point. I promise you there is no anti-gaming propaganda consipiracy.
That's cool. It currently works for my own purposes. I haven't actually had any interest in the tool yet, and it is a programmer's tool rather than a user tool. If I had interest I'd consider improving it.
Here's a shameless plug for you. Here's my code for converting Java Swing or AWT to HTML and CSS. It's primitive, but it may be useful to someone. It should be easy to modify this to convert any running Swing/AWT application from Java to HTML/CSS. Oh and of course its GPL.
Whereas I'd argue that there is _no_ such thing as a separate "online life". Whatever you do, whatever you fill your time with, _is_ a part of your "real life". Whether you spent two hours getting plastered at the (RL) pub, or watching soccer, or mowing the lawn, or walking the dog, or whatever, it _is_ an hour of your "real life" and it _is_ something you did in "real life".
You obviously really don't get it and that's worrying. Let me put it this way. Today I waged major battles in the South Pacific and in Africa. I flew planes, launched rockets, threw grenades and fired guns. I flew an F16 and crashed in the Balkans several times. I'm not injured, I'm not mentally scarred and I feel no remorse for for shooting people in the head.
Why? BECAUSE IT WASN'T REAL. It was a freaking game. There was no pain, there were no consequences, I got no fitter and no more injured.
There is a very distinct difference between "real life" and virtual. What I did above I did in my VIRTUAL life. What did I do in my real life? I caught the train to and from work and played A FEW GAMES on my laptop. I also played games a little when I got home. It's a good thing too. I would never EVER want to kill anyone in real life, and hope that I'm never put in a position where I feel I need to. I consider war abhorent.
If I didn't understand and appreciate the difference between these things I'd stop. Your approach and inability to make the distinction between real life and games is a classic example of why some people are prone to do the things that got done at Columbine. Get a grip man!
I don't understand why people ridicule online life and view it as some trivial sideshow to "real" life. The history of human existence shows that people have a penchant for taking many things seriously. Many of these activities reside far outside the realm of pragmatic, utilitarian life. Whether it's being a sports fan, a serious gardener, a breeder of dogs, an avid golfer, a sailboat owner, or any of a thousand other activities, people can become quite immersed.
Two things:
1) When the dog breeder stops going away for weekends, and starts dressing their dog and talking to it like a human being, they get plenty of ridicule. Same with sports fans that get so obsessed they riot, or that sail boat owner that won't even talk to their wife and kids and is about to lose his job (but hangs on to it JUST barely...so he can buy parts for the boat). No one's going to ridicule you for playing an online game occassionally. But when you start to shun friends and family and get obsessed you can rightly expect to be called a twit.
2) There is some feeling that because there is no tangible physical real-world gain, it's all just a waste of time. This is largely a point of view issue. Some see more abstract things as worthwhile. Others don't. But most people would agree that if you've got a great "online" life and a terrible real life, it's time to stop the escapism for long enough to give your real life a go.
Or maybe most parents think the ratings are nonsense. I wonder what the game "cops and robbers" would have been rated before the dawn of the Internet.
People are just getting damn stupid lately. To blame video games for their lack of ability to explain to their children the difference between a game and reality is just an attempt to dodge responsibility.
I don't know about you, but I grew up playing and watching whatever I wanted. I watched the Omen trilogy at about age 8. I didn't suddenly decide the devil was out to get me or start excorising people.
It is actually possible to teach your children the difference between reality and fantasy/fiction without forcing them to grow up more quickly than they should.
Slashdot Mirror
The people who come up with ideas like military lasers are actually smart enough to have thought of things like mirrored surfaces on enemy missiles. They wouldn't have put all that time, effort, and money into the project if it could be stopped by such a simple countermeasure.
Kinda like NASA people are smart and put lots of money into a ballpoint space pen that can write while upsidedown or in zero-g? The Russians used pencils, and saved a mint.
Smart people can still overlook things. In fact smart people can do downright dumb things. Nobody's perfect.
CS isn't computer programming. CS is computer science. ...And bridge building isn't engineering, but that doesn't mean I don't want engineers involved in the design and overseeing that bridge.
Computer programming and software development is a skill, that to be done properly requires computer science knowledge. Not everyone on your team needs to know the theory of design, but if no one does you're in trouble. Make no mistake computer engineering is a skill worthy of specialisation.
Sleep disorders are awful. I have sleep apnea. I sleep each night with a mask pumping me up with positive pressure (look up CPAP) since otherwise I'm continually choking in my sleep (and therefore never get to the REM states required for rest).
So anyway before I was diagnosed I had some real experience with the effects of sleep deprivation. (Even though I'd sleep I'd wake up unrested as if I'd had none). Thankfully my condition is under control (and though I hate the treatment walking around like a zombie is a worse alternative).
If this drug does what is claimed, and if people can use it sensibly, it could be a very good thing. If it just masks symptoms it's uselss. Like anything empowering if misused by idiot monkies who want to extend their working day to 48 hours we'll all suffer for it.
I skinned my knee. I know I skinned my knee. I can see it. I'm looking right at it. I just cleaned the darn thing. Yet it still smarts like hell.
Why can't I turn off the darn pain receptors?
Because the pain will deter you from doing it again. Skinning your knee once is no big deal. Skin it 100 times in a short timespan and it's a very big deal.
Pain is part of what makes you human. There are certainly flaws to the human body, but pain isn't one of them.
As for sleep, we don't even UNDERSTAND why we need sleep. We do know you end up not functioning correctly without it, so there was probably an evolutionary reason that sleep was/is useful.
I think you'd want to more fully understand something before seeking to modify it.
He berates and exploits the nerd to get him to do his fucking job
/. these days. Makes me sick.
If you don't see the problem with this statement, I hope you're never a manager. If you need to berate and exploit someone to get them to do their "fucking job" you're an idiot. You also start with the assumption that "people are, by and large, lazy and ungrateful shits".
You've shown you have no respect for the individual and that he hasn't got a hope in hell of being happy working for you. (Yes happier people are generally more productive so it's in your best interest that he's not a clock watching wage slave that hates his job). His only incentive to do anything is not to get fired. He'll never do anything positive for the company of his own accord and he'll either get good at fooling you into thinking he's doing work and has potential or you'll sack him (Ever seen Office Space?)
People who do the wrong thing need to be warned not berated, and have you ever heard of positive reenforcement? Being an asshole boss and justifying it by saying this is how the world work's is a sign that you're the lazy and ungrateful shit.
And this nonesense is what gets rated as insightful on
Unfortunately that's most software houses. Just try and start a campaign on /. to boycott computer games. That's like starting a campaign to outlaw the use of fishing rods at a fisherman's convention.
You're talking rubbish. If your boat is US registered they certainly can and do regulate your use of spectrum in International Waters.
a ritime.html
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/io/m
Well if you're US registered, they still have a hold of you in International Waters.
a ritime.html
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/io/m
It's called a DISTRACTION. Honestly all they've done here is prove the people can get distracted, and that if the situation is emmotive the person is likely to pay more attention and get more distracted. ie. Sex and violence gets our attention.
What next? A study to prove the smell of food can make you hungry? A study to prove that being shot in the head can be harmful to your health? A study to prove that sunshine makes you feel warm?
Call me old fashioned but I believe that when you find evidence that invalidates or modifies a theory, you REVISE your text book instead of throwing it away. I don't really think we want to throw away the entire body of astronomical evidence over this one. Apart from that policy putting the human race back quite a bit, that'd upset me quite a bit given that I spent 2 1/2 years studying astronomy.
Besides you don't want to set a precedent for your cowboy president to throw away all books on evolution because some small flaw is found in one part of the theory.
Thanks for the laugh. I know that sounds sarcastic, but I'm serious. You made me chuckle and I thank you for it.
The Olymp?c (can't use the word after all or I'd be breaking the law) ideal has obviously gone down the toilet. It's become a cynical excercise in money making. The atheletes take drugs, the committee is corrupt, "sponsors" sue businesses into oblivion. Media accounts are strictly controlled and censored to the point where the atheletes can't post pictures, audio or video.
Yet people still watch this crud. Isn't it time to vote with your feet (or rather your tele remotes)? The more garbage people put up with from big business, the more garbage they can expect.
2 * 0 = 0
Screw or be screwed is an ethic too. He perceives he's being screwed, and finds a way to counter-screw. Never mind the fact that it'll wind him up in jail eventually, that just makes him stupid. He's got an ethic, just not one you'd approve of.
Reminds me of the quote "The problem with 'An eye for an eye' is that eventually everyone ends up blind".
Yeah and think about it, that's 2 years without sex...that must be a record too....Oh no wait this is /.
You accuse me of installing cracked software. Then when I point out you're wrong (and that I virus checked) you attack me for finding a workaround to an important business problem WITHOUT asking where I got the patch.
The source was TRUSTED, it just wasn't Microsoft. I'm not about to risk my job to solve a single business problem.
Oh and one more thing, last I heard most people ran code on their computer that didn't come from Microsoft. Do you think that's a bad idea too?
How about you actually try and work out what someone's done before you blast them for doing the wrong thing? This is just making you look immature and petty.
I just thought I'd reply to the non-sarcastic, relevant parts of your argument. Here it is...below this line:
The software I installed was NOT cracked. I would never EVER installed cracked software on a Bank computer and if you said that about me in person I'd sue you for defamation.
I installed a Microsoft update from a source other than Microsoft, and virus checked it to boot. Last time I checked that was still legal.
Get your facts straight before you type in your little messages.
So I don't think 35 years is really enough time. I'd say more like 300 years. At least in that much time one could hope for salvation from radically new technological advances such as anti-gravity or really really frickin powerful lasers in space.
Guaranteed way to not have innovation for 275+ years is to have an event in 300 years (not that we'd be able to predict that far in future).
If it isn't likely to happen in the lifetime of the politician that's in office, it isn't going to happen. Sad but true.
Okay let me spell it out for you. In "real life" you do something and there are consequences, good or bad. (eg. you go to the pub and make a new friend). Once your game ends, or the company pulls the plug on your virtual world, very little translates back to the real world.
If you go out and learn to fish you learn all the aspects of fishing and actually have real experiences as opposed to simulated - you get wet and smell fish. You learn an actual usable skill. Whereas even the best simulations are somewhat simplified and few if any gaming skills are going to translate to being able to do something for real (I sure as hell wouldn't get behind the controls of an F16 just because I can do it in a computer game).
Again if you spent an inordinate amount of time in your "real life" on a hobby that had nothing to do with computers people would still tell you there's an inbalance. If you keep yourself entertained doing ANY one thing, and neglect other aspects of your life, its called ADDICTION.
If you don't understand what I'm saying by now, I don't think there's much point. I promise you there is no anti-gaming propaganda consipiracy.
That's cool. It currently works for my own purposes. I haven't actually had any interest in the tool yet, and it is a programmer's tool rather than a user tool. If I had interest I'd consider improving it.
Here's a shameless plug for you. Here's my code for converting Java Swing or AWT to HTML and CSS. It's primitive, but it may be useful to someone. It should be easy to modify this to convert any running Swing/AWT application from Java to HTML/CSS. Oh and of course its GPL.
r ter.html
http://www.progsoc.uts.edu.au/~sammy/javaGUIConve
Whereas I'd argue that there is _no_ such thing as a separate "online life". Whatever you do, whatever you fill your time with, _is_ a part of your "real life". Whether you spent two hours getting plastered at the (RL) pub, or watching soccer, or mowing the lawn, or walking the dog, or whatever, it _is_ an hour of your "real life" and it _is_ something you did in "real life".
You obviously really don't get it and that's worrying. Let me put it this way. Today I waged major battles in the South Pacific and in Africa. I flew planes, launched rockets, threw grenades and fired guns. I flew an F16 and crashed in the Balkans several times. I'm not injured, I'm not mentally scarred and I feel no remorse for for shooting people in the head.
Why? BECAUSE IT WASN'T REAL. It was a freaking game. There was no pain, there were no consequences, I got no fitter and no more injured.
There is a very distinct difference between "real life" and virtual. What I did above I did in my VIRTUAL life. What did I do in my real life? I caught the train to and from work and played A FEW GAMES on my laptop. I also played games a little when I got home. It's a good thing too. I would never EVER want to kill anyone in real life, and hope that I'm never put in a position where I feel I need to. I consider war abhorent.
If I didn't understand and appreciate the difference between these things I'd stop. Your approach and inability to make the distinction between real life and games is a classic example of why some people are prone to do the things that got done at Columbine. Get a grip man!
I don't understand why people ridicule online life and view it as some trivial sideshow to "real" life. The history of human existence shows that people have a penchant for taking many things seriously. Many of these activities reside far outside the realm of pragmatic, utilitarian life. Whether it's being a sports fan, a serious gardener, a breeder of dogs, an avid golfer, a sailboat owner, or any of a thousand other activities, people can become quite immersed.
Two things:
1) When the dog breeder stops going away for weekends, and starts dressing their dog and talking to it like a human being, they get plenty of ridicule. Same with sports fans that get so obsessed they riot, or that sail boat owner that won't even talk to their wife and kids and is about to lose his job (but hangs on to it JUST barely...so he can buy parts for the boat). No one's going to ridicule you for playing an online game occassionally. But when you start to shun friends and family and get obsessed you can rightly expect to be called a twit.
2) There is some feeling that because there is no tangible physical real-world gain, it's all just a waste of time. This is largely a point of view issue. Some see more abstract things as worthwhile. Others don't. But most people would agree that if you've got a great "online" life and a terrible real life, it's time to stop the escapism for long enough to give your real life a go.
Or maybe most parents think the ratings are nonsense. I wonder what the game "cops and robbers" would have been rated before the dawn of the Internet.
People are just getting damn stupid lately. To blame video games for their lack of ability to explain to their children the difference between a game and reality is just an attempt to dodge responsibility.
I don't know about you, but I grew up playing and watching whatever I wanted. I watched the Omen trilogy at about age 8. I didn't suddenly decide the devil was out to get me or start excorising people.
It is actually possible to teach your children the difference between reality and fantasy/fiction without forcing them to grow up more quickly than they should.