The article says that less than half a dozen individuals were found to be accessing inappropriate material. That's out of over 8,000 individuals who work at MDA - one memo was sent out to address the problem.
I've changed apartments twice in the last year. When Padmapper was using Craigslist, it worked brilliantly and I loved it. Now that it doesn't, I was forced to go back to Craigslist proper, as the other rental sites don't have nearly the same volume of listings, making Padmapper pretty much useless.
That was disappointing to me, but I guess Craigslist won if they kept me coming back. I wish they could find a way to play nice.
That reply was directed at a troll that I wasn't interested in feeding. I'm not sure what you're getting at with regard to people living near lakes, but I'll try to give my own argument for why this research station is important, based upon my layman's understanding of the science.
There is a need for long term longitudinal studies on environmental pollutants and how they affect freshwater ecosystems. Canada has huge freshwater reserves, and with world supplies of fresh water constantly falling, it makes sense to keep our eye on how such systems respond to external stresses, whether that be phosphates (the most commonly cited result from that station), acidification, excreted hormones, heavy metals, or otherwise. If only a single policy change comes out of such studies, leading to (for example) decreased energy and resource use for water treatment, increases in freshwater fish stocks, a greater understanding of which filter plants should be used in artificial wetlands, or (heaven forbid) a higher standard of living for communities living near such ecosystems, then I'd call it a success. Any of those could potentially lead to decreased spending in the future.
Might I be wrong? Yes, clearly! But $2 million per year is a relatively small amount, and I trust that the scientists who actually use data from this research station know what they're talking about. I'm clearly no scientist, but I think I do a pretty good job of reading sources objectively.
I'm not a blind ideologue, and I understand that budgets are limited. I just have a hard time justifying shuttering such a reputable research station while spending $140 million on commemorating the War of 1812 - that's just an example, everyone has their own target for wasteful spending. Granted your priorities may not be mine; I hope I've done at least somewhat of a decent job at "articulating why the science is needed" and why I think this is worthy of federal spending.
Thanks so much for the respectful and constructive reply. I'd try to type up a coherent response about long-term economic risks associated with short-term cuts to environmental research, but that might be too much of a strain on my less than half a brain.
I'm a supporter of SETI in principle, though I can't say I've ever supported it materially (other than a brief run at SETI@home when I was in university). Unfortunately I think it's simply a matter of priorities during economic downturn.
Up here in Canada, we have a program that also costs $2 million a year - the Experimental Lakes Area research station - and it's getting its funding cut by the federal government. It's upsetting to me, as I see valid science being disregarded in the name of fiscal responsibility.
That aside, the SETI program is likely to run, in one form or another, for the entirety of human existence. It may get shut down periodically, but this is not a question that's going to go away. Ever. Perhaps when our collective economies rejig themselves to be less focused on growth and more on sustainability, we can find room for a relatively cheap, pure science initiative. Until then, either donate directly to those initiatives you find appealing, or take whatever action you can at the ballot box. Or both, if you're feeling less apathetic than most of us!
Slightly off-topic, but to avoid making Toronto even more of the center of the Canadian universe than it already is...
The Globe & Mail is only a Toronto newspaper insofar as it's published in Toronto and is utterly obsessed with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It would be much more appropriate to label it a national newspaper, as it's read and distributed throughout Canada, and attempts (not always successfully) to provide a balanced perspective from all regions.
This is a side story. My first email address was on Ottawa freenet circa 1994. At the time I was massively into Pratchett's Discworld series, and I had found mention somewhere of a fold-out wall map of Discworld. Not understanding exactly how the world was supposed to work, I managed to hunt down Pratchett's email address (I'm afraid I don't have a clue where I found it) and sent him a note asking if he knew where such a map was available in Canada.
Two days later, he wrote back telling me he wasn't really sure, but let me know of a few shops he knew of in America that sold Discworld merchandise and thanked me for reading. I printed that email out (the first email I ever printed) and put it in a box for safekeeping. It's still there.
I constantly harass my friends to stop contacting me via facebook (which I enjoy for other reasons) and just use email instead. I can keep all my messages centralized, filed, and secured. The FB messaging service is, of course, a complete joke. But even if it was brilliantly designed and my privacy fears allayed, what happens when FB disappears and the next big thing comes along? Are all those messages gone? Will there be a way to export them in an open format? Somehow I doubt it.
Email is a fundamental part of the internet, and I don't see it going anywhere. At least, I damn well hope it doesn't - because as you point out, the alternative is frightening.
In Canada we reached just over 61% turnout in the federal election in 2011, which was a slight rise from a historically low 59% in 2008. With the way our first past the post system works, that meant the Conservative Party of Canada became government with only about 40% of the total vote - working out to just 5-6 million people out of a country of 35 million.
Getting people to vote is extremely important, yes. But having a voting system that is fair and accurately represents voter preference is also necessary.
Re:Long term support, removal of security, etc
on
Diablo III Released
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· Score: 2
Unfortunately as I learned last week when I bought a copy of Diablo II from the Blizzard store, that's not always the case; D2 isn't supported under OSX 10.7 and above. That's not Blizzard's fault, as it was Apple who removed support for PowerPC applications, but it's an exception to your argument.
The idea that it's beneficial for every player on a hockey team to be same-handed shows quite an ignorance of the game. There is a left-wing position and a right-wing, and being able to either protect the puck from a defender, and/or have the best possible angle to shoot on net, depends very much on whether the player shoots left or right. This is further complicated by players who choose to shoot left despite being right-handed (see this blog post here, I couldn't find a better source)
The results of the study are interesting, and make somewhat intuitive sense, but they should be careful not to generalize to too great a degree.
That there should be canned responses from Conservative MPs is no surprise. Harper has put such a stranglehold on government communications (he what, tripled the number of communications staff?) that MPs no longer have the ability to present their individual views to their constituents.
This bill is going to be introduced, debate is going to be limited again based on the argument that it's been discussed previously, it will be passed through the House and the Senate, and there's really nothing we can do about it.
I think our American neighbours would be surprised to learn how much relative power the Prime Minister has over his government, compared to their President. When that power is exercised, it's virtually unstoppable, and it's terrifying.
"as it attempts to beat the likes of Apple and Google"
A strange choice of words. I think "as it attempts to compete with the likes of..." would be more accurate and desirable - the last thing the technology market needs these days is a single, clearcut winner (at least, if you're a consumer). That aside, as a Canadian I'd like to see RIM survive on its own and if this helps to shake things up then it's a welcome move; I don't fancy the thought of the Samsung chaebol gaining even more power than it already has.
Well then it's a good thing they're only hoping to go as far as Jupiter, where "the zodiacal light is 30 times fainter than at Earth". But don't take my word for it, try reading the article.
Maybe dining on lobsters and imported cognac while up to 3.5 million of his citizens died of starvation. If that doesn't count, then I'm not sure what does.
The famine occurred only just after he took power, so I guess you can argue that the blame is on Kim Il Sung and years of juche ideology. But make no mistake, Kim Jong Il was not a naive little boy trapped by circumstance. He was an egocentric sociopath who lived a life of luxury as his country struggled in abject poverty.
I agree completely that this isn't welcome, but don't underestimate the degree to which Kim Jong Un has been integrated into the power structure. Although from April 2009, there's an excellent article on Foreign Policy about the efforts to get him and his allies into key posts.
Having lived in Korea for almost six years (but since moved away) this news is disturbing and unsettling. While I don't predict anything drastic like a war, Kim Jong Un is going to have to prove himself to the people. If that means sinking another ship like the Cheonan, or shelling another island, or worse... then everyone on the peninsula should be prepared.
After watching the video, I think you're right about the objectives. I guess the player will be given a list of scenes to capture like: - Wounded friendly soldier - Exploding fuel depot - Civilian hostage
However that will mean a) the player will be more or less aware of what to look for prior to the mission, and b) stifle much creativity. Your suggestion that it involve investigative journalism through some sort of dialogue system is a good one. This could mean branching and dynamic missions, and enable the player to choose whether to be, for example, a sensationalist journalist or a more hardline reporter. Unfortunately I doubt this will be the case.
Games generally need some kind of scoring mechanic to keep players playing. If this game moves ahead, then it would require a system that scores the report based on objective criteria - the only other option would be to have a gaming community score reports (but with a niche game, and a troll-ridden community, this seems unfeasible).
So what gets the most points? Shooting video of soldiers fighting hard for their country? Or getting insider shots of blatant war crimes? Perhaps civilians cowering in fear, or mass graves? The kind of shots that a true war correspondent would want are not the kind that are suited to a game.
A clever concept, but impossible to judge the success of the player to any meaningful degree. It's more likely to be a dialogue-driven story game, with bits of running around, making "moral" choices, and shooting video that's edited together for nothing more than the pleasure of the gamer. I applaud the originality, but I'm skeptical of its appeal.
This comes as no surprise to me, having worked and studied in Korea for over five years. There was virtually no way to access any online services - buying tickets, posting comments on news sites and the ubiquitous online cyber-cafes, online gaming - without a government ID number. As foreigners, we are issued an Alien Registration Card (ARC) which ostensibly does the same thing, however in my experience this never worked. Perhaps that was a blessing in disguise, as it meant I didn't put myself in a position to be easily tracked.
That all aside, the mad cow protests of 2008 exemplify why the government wants to do this. Inflammatory comments on cyber-cafes fueled a ridiculous campaign of misinformation that led to the shutting down of downtown Seoul for months on end (not to mention riot police, water cannons, abuse of foreigners, etc). This all stems from the National Security Law, designed to prevent discussion of communist ideals, and support for the DPRK. The acceptance of that law has led to gradual acceptance of further but unrelated restrictions on free speech.
The most depressing aspect of this is that most South Koreans who I know don't see this as a problem. As long as they continue to achieve economic progress, lack of civil liberties is little more than an inconvenience. I hope the attitudes of this generation will change, but only time will tell.
No mod points, but wanted to acknowledge your post. You're a few pages away from a pretty decent sci-fi short story! That said, you and I both know that Hollywood doesn't have the balls to make such a movie. Sad, ain't it.
I have a Motorola Spice, which is a relatively budget smartphone that works well enough for its price. However my biggest complaint is that Skype doesn't work on it (and from what I've read, a number of other Motorola phones). It installs, it loads, and it even allows me to receive calls - but my voice is completely muted. The response from Skype is that this *may* be addressed in a future update.
Is this the fault of Skype or of Motorola? Or both? I support the idea of Android, or at least I want to. But there must be at least some level of standards in place.
There's a difference between "owning the game" and "owning the service". There are terms of service for WoW and other online games; this comes with the territory when you're playing a game that involves interacting with other players. You can't simply do anything you want, as you actions have effects on others. I don't want players to be botting their way to the level cap or harvesting resources, it has a negative effect on my experience in the game by removing a social aspect, inflating the economy, and cheapening my experience.
Here's an imperfect analogy: you buy a soccer ball. You have the right to deflate it, paint it orange, and put spikes and nails on it if you want. But that doesn't give you the right to bring that hard spikey orange ball to my amateur league soccer games.
For anyone who hasn't seen The King of Kong, a documentary about shooting for the world record in Donkey Kong, I highly recommend it. It's a bit disturbing to see what goes on in the minds of these types of gamers, and at some points it's hard to believe it's a documentary. However it's an excellent movie, and a lot of fun.
That said, it's easy to criticize someone like this. But hey, we all have our hobbies and talents right?
Slashdot Mirror
The article says that less than half a dozen individuals were found to be accessing inappropriate material. That's out of over 8,000 individuals who work at MDA - one memo was sent out to address the problem.
This is not news.
I've changed apartments twice in the last year. When Padmapper was using Craigslist, it worked brilliantly and I loved it. Now that it doesn't, I was forced to go back to Craigslist proper, as the other rental sites don't have nearly the same volume of listings, making Padmapper pretty much useless.
That was disappointing to me, but I guess Craigslist won if they kept me coming back. I wish they could find a way to play nice.
That reply was directed at a troll that I wasn't interested in feeding. I'm not sure what you're getting at with regard to people living near lakes, but I'll try to give my own argument for why this research station is important, based upon my layman's understanding of the science.
There is a need for long term longitudinal studies on environmental pollutants and how they affect freshwater ecosystems. Canada has huge freshwater reserves, and with world supplies of fresh water constantly falling, it makes sense to keep our eye on how such systems respond to external stresses, whether that be phosphates (the most commonly cited result from that station), acidification, excreted hormones, heavy metals, or otherwise. If only a single policy change comes out of such studies, leading to (for example) decreased energy and resource use for water treatment, increases in freshwater fish stocks, a greater understanding of which filter plants should be used in artificial wetlands, or (heaven forbid) a higher standard of living for communities living near such ecosystems, then I'd call it a success. Any of those could potentially lead to decreased spending in the future.
Might I be wrong? Yes, clearly! But $2 million per year is a relatively small amount, and I trust that the scientists who actually use data from this research station know what they're talking about. I'm clearly no scientist, but I think I do a pretty good job of reading sources objectively.
I'm not a blind ideologue, and I understand that budgets are limited. I just have a hard time justifying shuttering such a reputable research station while spending $140 million on commemorating the War of 1812 - that's just an example, everyone has their own target for wasteful spending. Granted your priorities may not be mine; I hope I've done at least somewhat of a decent job at "articulating why the science is needed" and why I think this is worthy of federal spending.
Thanks so much for the respectful and constructive reply. I'd try to type up a coherent response about long-term economic risks associated with short-term cuts to environmental research, but that might be too much of a strain on my less than half a brain.
I'm a supporter of SETI in principle, though I can't say I've ever supported it materially (other than a brief run at SETI@home when I was in university). Unfortunately I think it's simply a matter of priorities during economic downturn.
Up here in Canada, we have a program that also costs $2 million a year - the Experimental Lakes Area research station - and it's getting its funding cut by the federal government. It's upsetting to me, as I see valid science being disregarded in the name of fiscal responsibility.
That aside, the SETI program is likely to run, in one form or another, for the entirety of human existence. It may get shut down periodically, but this is not a question that's going to go away. Ever. Perhaps when our collective economies rejig themselves to be less focused on growth and more on sustainability, we can find room for a relatively cheap, pure science initiative. Until then, either donate directly to those initiatives you find appealing, or take whatever action you can at the ballot box. Or both, if you're feeling less apathetic than most of us!
Slightly off-topic, but to avoid making Toronto even more of the center of the Canadian universe than it already is...
The Globe & Mail is only a Toronto newspaper insofar as it's published in Toronto and is utterly obsessed with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It would be much more appropriate to label it a national newspaper, as it's read and distributed throughout Canada, and attempts (not always successfully) to provide a balanced perspective from all regions.
And a cool guy.
This is a side story. My first email address was on Ottawa freenet circa 1994. At the time I was massively into Pratchett's Discworld series, and I had found mention somewhere of a fold-out wall map of Discworld. Not understanding exactly how the world was supposed to work, I managed to hunt down Pratchett's email address (I'm afraid I don't have a clue where I found it) and sent him a note asking if he knew where such a map was available in Canada.
Two days later, he wrote back telling me he wasn't really sure, but let me know of a few shops he knew of in America that sold Discworld merchandise and thanked me for reading. I printed that email out (the first email I ever printed) and put it in a box for safekeeping. It's still there.
What a thrill for a 14 year old kid!
Exactly right.
I constantly harass my friends to stop contacting me via facebook (which I enjoy for other reasons) and just use email instead. I can keep all my messages centralized, filed, and secured. The FB messaging service is, of course, a complete joke. But even if it was brilliantly designed and my privacy fears allayed, what happens when FB disappears and the next big thing comes along? Are all those messages gone? Will there be a way to export them in an open format? Somehow I doubt it.
Email is a fundamental part of the internet, and I don't see it going anywhere. At least, I damn well hope it doesn't - because as you point out, the alternative is frightening.
In Canada we reached just over 61% turnout in the federal election in 2011, which was a slight rise from a historically low 59% in 2008. With the way our first past the post system works, that meant the Conservative Party of Canada became government with only about 40% of the total vote - working out to just 5-6 million people out of a country of 35 million.
Getting people to vote is extremely important, yes. But having a voting system that is fair and accurately represents voter preference is also necessary.
Unfortunately as I learned last week when I bought a copy of Diablo II from the Blizzard store, that's not always the case; D2 isn't supported under OSX 10.7 and above. That's not Blizzard's fault, as it was Apple who removed support for PowerPC applications, but it's an exception to your argument.
The idea that it's beneficial for every player on a hockey team to be same-handed shows quite an ignorance of the game. There is a left-wing position and a right-wing, and being able to either protect the puck from a defender, and/or have the best possible angle to shoot on net, depends very much on whether the player shoots left or right. This is further complicated by players who choose to shoot left despite being right-handed (see this blog post here, I couldn't find a better source)
The results of the study are interesting, and make somewhat intuitive sense, but they should be careful not to generalize to too great a degree.
That there should be canned responses from Conservative MPs is no surprise. Harper has put such a stranglehold on government communications (he what, tripled the number of communications staff?) that MPs no longer have the ability to present their individual views to their constituents.
This bill is going to be introduced, debate is going to be limited again based on the argument that it's been discussed previously, it will be passed through the House and the Senate, and there's really nothing we can do about it.
I think our American neighbours would be surprised to learn how much relative power the Prime Minister has over his government, compared to their President. When that power is exercised, it's virtually unstoppable, and it's terrifying.
"as it attempts to beat the likes of Apple and Google"
A strange choice of words. I think "as it attempts to compete with the likes of..." would be more accurate and desirable - the last thing the technology market needs these days is a single, clearcut winner (at least, if you're a consumer). That aside, as a Canadian I'd like to see RIM survive on its own and if this helps to shake things up then it's a welcome move; I don't fancy the thought of the Samsung chaebol gaining even more power than it already has.
Well then it's a good thing they're only hoping to go as far as Jupiter, where "the zodiacal light is 30 times fainter than at Earth". But don't take my word for it, try reading the article.
Maybe dining on lobsters and imported cognac while up to 3.5 million of his citizens died of starvation. If that doesn't count, then I'm not sure what does.
The famine occurred only just after he took power, so I guess you can argue that the blame is on Kim Il Sung and years of juche ideology. But make no mistake, Kim Jong Il was not a naive little boy trapped by circumstance. He was an egocentric sociopath who lived a life of luxury as his country struggled in abject poverty.
I agree completely that this isn't welcome, but don't underestimate the degree to which Kim Jong Un has been integrated into the power structure. Although from April 2009, there's an excellent article on Foreign Policy about the efforts to get him and his allies into key posts.
Having lived in Korea for almost six years (but since moved away) this news is disturbing and unsettling. While I don't predict anything drastic like a war, Kim Jong Un is going to have to prove himself to the people. If that means sinking another ship like the Cheonan, or shelling another island, or worse... then everyone on the peninsula should be prepared.
After watching the video, I think you're right about the objectives. I guess the player will be given a list of scenes to capture like:
- Wounded friendly soldier
- Exploding fuel depot
- Civilian hostage
However that will mean a) the player will be more or less aware of what to look for prior to the mission, and b) stifle much creativity. Your suggestion that it involve investigative journalism through some sort of dialogue system is a good one. This could mean branching and dynamic missions, and enable the player to choose whether to be, for example, a sensationalist journalist or a more hardline reporter. Unfortunately I doubt this will be the case.
Games generally need some kind of scoring mechanic to keep players playing. If this game moves ahead, then it would require a system that scores the report based on objective criteria - the only other option would be to have a gaming community score reports (but with a niche game, and a troll-ridden community, this seems unfeasible).
So what gets the most points? Shooting video of soldiers fighting hard for their country? Or getting insider shots of blatant war crimes? Perhaps civilians cowering in fear, or mass graves? The kind of shots that a true war correspondent would want are not the kind that are suited to a game.
A clever concept, but impossible to judge the success of the player to any meaningful degree. It's more likely to be a dialogue-driven story game, with bits of running around, making "moral" choices, and shooting video that's edited together for nothing more than the pleasure of the gamer. I applaud the originality, but I'm skeptical of its appeal.
This comes as no surprise to me, having worked and studied in Korea for over five years. There was virtually no way to access any online services - buying tickets, posting comments on news sites and the ubiquitous online cyber-cafes, online gaming - without a government ID number. As foreigners, we are issued an Alien Registration Card (ARC) which ostensibly does the same thing, however in my experience this never worked. Perhaps that was a blessing in disguise, as it meant I didn't put myself in a position to be easily tracked.
That all aside, the mad cow protests of 2008 exemplify why the government wants to do this. Inflammatory comments on cyber-cafes fueled a ridiculous campaign of misinformation that led to the shutting down of downtown Seoul for months on end (not to mention riot police, water cannons, abuse of foreigners, etc). This all stems from the National Security Law, designed to prevent discussion of communist ideals, and support for the DPRK. The acceptance of that law has led to gradual acceptance of further but unrelated restrictions on free speech.
The most depressing aspect of this is that most South Koreans who I know don't see this as a problem. As long as they continue to achieve economic progress, lack of civil liberties is little more than an inconvenience. I hope the attitudes of this generation will change, but only time will tell.
No mod points, but wanted to acknowledge your post. You're a few pages away from a pretty decent sci-fi short story! That said, you and I both know that Hollywood doesn't have the balls to make such a movie. Sad, ain't it.
I have a Motorola Spice, which is a relatively budget smartphone that works well enough for its price. However my biggest complaint is that Skype doesn't work on it (and from what I've read, a number of other Motorola phones). It installs, it loads, and it even allows me to receive calls - but my voice is completely muted. The response from Skype is that this *may* be addressed in a future update.
Is this the fault of Skype or of Motorola? Or both? I support the idea of Android, or at least I want to. But there must be at least some level of standards in place.
... can be found here
There's a difference between "owning the game" and "owning the service". There are terms of service for WoW and other online games; this comes with the territory when you're playing a game that involves interacting with other players. You can't simply do anything you want, as you actions have effects on others. I don't want players to be botting their way to the level cap or harvesting resources, it has a negative effect on my experience in the game by removing a social aspect, inflating the economy, and cheapening my experience.
Here's an imperfect analogy: you buy a soccer ball. You have the right to deflate it, paint it orange, and put spikes and nails on it if you want. But that doesn't give you the right to bring that hard spikey orange ball to my amateur league soccer games.
I'm just replying for the love of this post. One of my favourite movies of all time. Well done :D
For anyone who hasn't seen The King of Kong, a documentary about shooting for the world record in Donkey Kong, I highly recommend it. It's a bit disturbing to see what goes on in the minds of these types of gamers, and at some points it's hard to believe it's a documentary. However it's an excellent movie, and a lot of fun.
That said, it's easy to criticize someone like this. But hey, we all have our hobbies and talents right?