I hear they're working on a new gum as well, but they're not ready to talk about it yet, because when the gum decides that it's going to taste like blueberry, they person who's chewing it will turn blue and swell up until he/she is a big sphere, and needs to be rolled away to a special hospital staffed by singing midgets.
Back in the 1970's, when I was in elementary school (K-6) we were taught the metric system, and were told that we'd be switching over in the not too distant future. I used to see public service announcements in between the cartoons that helped educate us on the matter. I heard about gas stations getting pumps with both liter and gallon oriented displays.
Yet here I am, 20 years later, and almost everything is still in gallons, miles, pounds, etc. Sure, most of the consumer goods (food, shampoo, etc) come with both types of units, and once in a blue moon I'll see a road sign with kilometers next to miles, but overall I'm very disappointed with the situation.
If we're going to change, then we might as well do it well. The best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it. Similarly, I think that the best way to switch units is just to universally do it and let everyone adapt. Humans are pretty smart animals. I think we can switch systems if we really need to.
This rating system has four valuations; for sex, nudity, violence, and language.
This will fail to satisfy, for example, a hard-core materialist that doesn't want his kids viewing content with supernatural overtones, or a vegetarian extremist who wants to filter out content which glorifies the eating of animal flesh.
Furthermore, whatever the "language" rating/component will be, I have no doubt that it will be ridiculous in some way. Recently I saw Star Trek IV on the SF channel, and while they let "hell" get through, they censored "dumbass" (i.e. "double dumbass on you!!!"). This serves as an example of how stupid language valuations always turn out to be. Another example of this is the fact that for every "evil" word one finds in a language valuation, there's another word (often with more syllables) which means the same thing but isn't regarded as "evil". Does anyone have specific information on how the "Language" rating will work?
I suppose what it comes down to is that these four areas (sex, nudity, violence, language) represent the neuroses of segments of the population that are large enough to form a voting block that must be pandered to.
If I were Microsoft, I would put some engineers into developing a lean, mean, and stable version of Windows to compete in specialized high-intensity systems. The normal (allegedly) bloated version would continue to be marketed to those with more general needs/desires.
Obviously I'm not Microsoft, but if they did such a thing, it might do a lot to maintain their market dominance.
Hopefully this will help show the legislature the folly of these export restrictions. If you won't allow certain things to be exported, then the enterprising individuals will develop them outside the country, and the some of the prestige of "America's technological leadership" will dwindle.
God knows the legislature doesn't act on real issues, but if we can make this a PR issue, then things might actually change.
Do you think that TV shows like "The Real World" and "Road Rules" are a sign of the changing face of television? Do you see them as serving the interests of today's youth, or as more of a crass manipulative sort of thing? Has MTV ever approached you about working on one of these shows? Do you think there is a market for these sorts of shows outside MTV?
This will help law enforcement officials catch people who break laws. Since there are absolutely no unjust laws in this nearly-perfect country of ours, this cannot be anything but good. People who oppose this must therefore be evil criminals who would like nothing better than to kill you and your family. Any whining about "selective enforcement" and suppressing people that law enforcement doesn't like is pure paranoid rubbish. The police never, ever do things like that. And even if they did, the judicial system is full of flawless judges who always side with the rights of the people and not the interests of the state, and thus will always come to the rescue of any possible victims (which won't exist because the police are so nice).
But my greatest hope is that this action will help reduce the amount of paranoia that people have towards the government. Once people observe the (always nice) police enforce the (always just) laws of our (never self-serving) government, maybe they won't be so suspicious, and will come to realize that everything the government does is in the best interest if the people. And if they don't realize it, then maybe the wiretaps will help the government find them so that they can give them the psychiatric help that they so obviously need.
Down with variation of default scores!
on
Wired on Slashdot
·
· Score: 1
>>> The fact that some posts default to a higher score than others is ludicrous... At least Rob should allow us to turn off these kinds of "smart" rankings.
Yeah, I agree. I used to have my "display full post" threshold at 2 (replies with a score of 1 or less only displayed headers), but I got sick of reading mediocre posts by people whose default scores were 2. Recenlty I cranked this number up to 3, which lets me skip those mediocre yet higher-scored-than-average posts, but now I'm missing posts that got to 2 on their own merit (unless I start looking through the threads).
Sure, it's not the end of the world or anything, but it kind of sucks.
1. E. Terrell ( not published notarized, 1979 ) " The Proof of Fermat's Last Theorem: The Revolution in Mathematical Thought " Outlines the significance of the need for a thorough understanding of the Concept of Quantification and the Concept of the Common Coefficient. These principles, as well many others, were found to maintain an unyielding importance in the Logical Analysis of Exponential Equations in Number Theory.
Do you see fragmentation in the Linux distribution market to be a good, bad, or neutral thing? Do you think that the "media frenzy" over Linux tends to harm other worthy OS projects like the BSDs and BeOS? Do you think that big business's entry into the Linux market will change the gift-culture aspects of Linux, or will the businesses in question adapt to Linux? Or both? What do you think is in store for humanity in terms of relations between governments, businesses, and individuals? Do you think that we should actively pursue colonization of other planets in our star system at this time, and if not, then when?
1. Government increases monitoring of citizens. 2. Citizens become paranoid, resentful about Government. 3. Government becomes worried about resentful paranoid Citizens. 4. Government increases monitoring of citizens.
This should probably be remedied, before it explodes.
> I woke up this morning, and my rights hadn't vanished.
In this country (USA), your rights don't vanish overnight. They are slowly, gradually eroded through small steps meant to punish the various unpopular villians-of-the-day like casual drug users, deadbeat dads, foreign terrorists, child pornographers, flag burners, beerhall politicians, gun owners, religious fanatics, and the like.
Do me a favor. Go and read the Bill of Rights (those are the first ten amendments to the Constitution), then tell me how many of those rights are still protected by the US government. If it helps, there are some web sites "run by paranoids with tinfoil hats" which contain some uncomfortable truths about these things, which may shed some light on the matter. I don't have time to compile a good list in this message, but perhaps some of my fellow slashdotters can provide some tasty examples.
While I haven't been around here very long and may very well have failed to notice any historical tendency towards BSD-bashing, something tells me that the people who are doing so right now are the same dickless wonders who have been posting lame-ass shit about Linux lately.
Apparently now that Slashdot is getting exposure in the mainstream media, every pointy-headed cretin with a computer has been drawn here to try to spoil things. This is an unfortunate indication of the state of our species' gene pool.
Slashdot Mirror
Yet here I am, 20 years later, and almost everything is still in gallons, miles, pounds, etc. Sure, most of the consumer goods (food, shampoo, etc) come with both types of units, and once in a blue moon I'll see a road sign with kilometers next to miles, but overall I'm very disappointed with the situation.
If we're going to change, then we might as well do it well. The best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it. Similarly, I think that the best way to switch units is just to universally do it and let everyone adapt. Humans are pretty smart animals. I think we can switch systems if we really need to.
This will fail to satisfy, for example, a hard-core materialist that doesn't want his kids viewing content with supernatural overtones, or a vegetarian extremist who wants to filter out content which glorifies the eating of animal flesh.
Furthermore, whatever the "language" rating/component will be, I have no doubt that it will be ridiculous in some way. Recently I saw Star Trek IV on the SF channel, and while they let "hell" get through, they censored "dumbass" (i.e. "double dumbass on you!!!"). This serves as an example of how stupid language valuations always turn out to be. Another example of this is the fact that for every "evil" word one finds in a language valuation, there's another word (often with more syllables) which means the same thing but isn't regarded as "evil". Does anyone have specific information on how the "Language" rating will work?
I suppose what it comes down to is that these four areas (sex, nudity, violence, language) represent the neuroses of segments of the population that are large enough to form a voting block that must be pandered to.
Insert "moderator on crack" comment here.
Obviously I'm not Microsoft, but if they did such a thing, it might do a lot to maintain their market dominance.
God knows the legislature doesn't act on real issues, but if we can make this a PR issue, then things might actually change.
Hmmmm....
Insert Katz flame here.
I'll stick with my standard looking PCs with their cheap parts.
The 16th Amendment was merely proclaimed to be ratified.
Thank you for your attention.
But my greatest hope is that this action will help reduce the amount of paranoia that people have towards the government. Once people observe the (always nice) police enforce the (always just) laws of our (never self-serving) government, maybe they won't be so suspicious, and will come to realize that everything the government does is in the best interest if the people. And if they don't realize it, then maybe the wiretaps will help the government find them so that they can give them the psychiatric help that they so obviously need.
Yeah, I agree. I used to have my "display full post" threshold at 2 (replies with a score of 1 or less only displayed headers), but I got sick of reading mediocre posts by people whose default scores were 2. Recenlty I cranked this number up to 3, which lets me skip those mediocre yet higher-scored-than-average posts, but now I'm missing posts that got to 2 on their own merit (unless I start looking through the threads).
Sure, it's not the end of the world or anything, but it kind of sucks.
Fermat's Last Theorem: The Revolution in Mathematical Thought "
Outlines the significance of the need for a thorough understanding
of the Concept of Quantification and the Concept of the Common
Coefficient. These principles, as well many others, were found to
maintain an unyielding importance in the Logical Analysis of
Exponential Equations in Number Theory.
No shit. This has "crackpot" written all over it.
I look forward to reading your responses.
2. Citizens become paranoid, resentful about Government.
3. Government becomes worried about resentful paranoid Citizens.
4. Government increases monitoring of citizens.
This should probably be remedied, before it explodes.
In this country (USA), your rights don't vanish overnight. They are slowly, gradually eroded through small steps meant to punish the various unpopular villians-of-the-day like casual drug users, deadbeat dads, foreign terrorists, child pornographers, flag burners, beerhall politicians, gun owners, religious fanatics, and the like.
Do me a favor. Go and read the Bill of Rights (those are the first ten amendments to the Constitution), then tell me how many of those rights are still protected by the US government. If it helps, there are some web sites "run by paranoids with tinfoil hats" which contain some uncomfortable truths about these things, which may shed some light on the matter. I don't have time to compile a good list in this message, but perhaps some of my fellow slashdotters can provide some tasty examples.
Apparently now that Slashdot is getting exposure in the mainstream media, every pointy-headed cretin with a computer has been drawn here to try to spoil things. This is an unfortunate indication of the state of our species' gene pool.
Although if he can keep it in production for 3000 years, maybe he should get involved...