Hello. I guess I'm a rare example of the male gender since I don't follow the brain-dead rituals of ingesting toxins (alcohol, nicotine, etc). Almost a year ago I turned 21... And I haven't had a single alcoholic beverage in probably three years (the last time was some wine at a family dinner).
I also do not drive. I'll take rides from time to time, but I do not drive... Don't even have a license. Statistically, driving is almost like playing Russian roulette. Humans are such geniuses! Let's drive around in little metal boxes at lethal speeds... a few feet away from each other! Brilliant! Not to mention the fact that people here in the US will drive rather than walk or bike a few blocks... even with the extremely high costs of insurance and gasoline. Oh, and driving isn't exactly exercise. I bike a mere 10-20 miles a month, but I'd hate to think what sort of shape I'd be in if I didn't bike at all...
Anyway, the neat thing is when all the other people ingest toxins, or drive six blocks instead of walking/biking, and then die off early, guess what? They're doing the rest of us a favor. By dying off early, they'll consume less of the limited resources of planet Earth. So go on... be brain-dead and smoke, drink. Don't forget to drive your metal instruments of death around, too. Because when you die, the planet can stop wasting its finite resources on you.;)
I agree with you completely, KFG. In fact, unfair mods is one of the reasons I check your user page pretty often, since usually your lowest modded posts are the best.;)
Whenever I hear any of the higher elements mentioned, I think of a pretty insane conspiracy theory out there. I don't expect to be modded informative for this, but I think the story is worth a couple funny mods.;)
I learned about this by watching an interview on a "Sightings"-like show where someone claimed to have worked at "Area 51" years ago.
His story was that UFO sightings are due to experimental antigravity aircraft that the military is testing out. He claimed that these craft created an antigravity field using some quantity of element 115... and he also claimed that element 115 was extraterrestrial in origin. Some pretty whacky stuff, entertaining.
Every time I see another article about the shuttle here, I remember when I first heard the news. It was like hearing a close friend had died (namely the US Space Program).
I hope this foam brush thing works, but I also hope that they don't have to use it in LEO as an emergency repair. I really, really hope that what happened with Columbia was just extremely unlucky, and not business as usual with the shuttles.
I think the interesting this is other countries are starting to enter the space race. I hope someone plans a manned Mars mission or something, anything, to really spark some interest. Oh I know, manned spaceflight is too risky, not needed, blah blah. Yeah well, guess what, humans inevitably die. I'm sure that, given the choice, many humans would rather die pushing the boundaries of exploration and discovery than dying safely on earth in their beds.
Earth isn't going to be here forever. The more we learn about surviving places other than on Earth, the better chance we have of outliving this little blue dot we call home.
I always love the description for the security holes in IE on Windows Update. They usually say something about a remote attacker being able to take control of the computer, even if IE isn't used. That sounds like a bug in Windows to me, not IE... but I suppose it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.
Oh well. At least there is Firebird... tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking, type-ahead find... Makes being stuck on Windows a little more tolerable.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons they are so quick to actually obey the law regarding patents; it won't make them look as bad when they decide enforce their own patents if they can shown that they, too, obey patents.
It's kind of interesting, in a morbid sort of way, that due to patents, copyright, DMCA, etcetera, innovations made in the past wouldn't be possible with the laws we have today. For example, others here have often pointed out how under current laws, no one could have reversed engineered the IBM-PC to build clones.
It's beginning to look like innovation in the computer industry will be replaced by stagnation. At least, that's how I see it, and I hope I am mistaken.
(Referencing the bug in which the AI controlling the CGIed Uruk-hai, in attempting to cause the most damage with the fewest casualties, turn around and ran away from the scene on the first take. That would make for a lousy campaign.)
Eh, wrong. Just google around and you'll find several interviews with crew members of the massive dev team who explained that this is sort of a rumor that has been twisted around a bit.
What happened was that the CGI monsters did not have good enough vision to see where the enemies were. Therefore, while it looked like they were running away, they were in fact looking for people to fight. They simply couldn't see anyone to fight, so started wandering around aimlessly.
A few tweaks to the AI cleared this problem right up. While it is funny to imagine any vast army running away in fear, it's not exactly what happened with massive. I know you were just joking and it was funny, too, just not accurate. Sorry for the nitpick.
Pretty much everyone has their own area of expertise, but elitists in any field should not be tolerated...
It's a lot easier to get an elitist attitude than it is to be patient with others, but understand this: while a person may look like an idiot to you for not knowing this isn't a legit update, that same person might think you are an idiot in is world of expertise, and you very well might be.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "In my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him."
If this was true for him, isn't it a thousand times more true for the rest of us?
eBay is full of scammers. I'm not even going to bother with links, just go to eBay and search for just about anything, and you'll see users with feedback in the negatives with reasons such as "this guy is a scammer" and "he never paid me" and "I hope this user is banned" etcetera...
If eBay does have all this user data, then why the hell aren't they using it to stop the scammers sooner? After a friend of mine got burned by selling a laptop to a bidder that used a stolen paypal account, I watched this scammer buy (steal) TWO MORE $1500 LAPTOPS before he lost his account.
So really, eBay. Stop the scammers. We'd all like that a lot. Besides, it's not like any privacy zealots use eBay; you can see anyone's buying/selling history just by clicking around in the feedback.
Let's hope we don't make a neural net CPU like SKYNET, because, let's be honest here, SKYNET is pretty dumb:
1) It has an obvious preference for the dramatic... For example, rather than having the original Terminator simply walk over and kill Sarah Connor when she is stuck in an overturned vehicle, it instead has the Terminator commandeer a semi and attempt to run her over. Brilliant!
2) It doesn't believe in rushing into a kill as quickly as cyborg-ly possible, but instead has its Terminators advance slowly on the hapless victim.
3) Despite all these logical fallacies in SKYNET's programming, it is able to use automated factories to conduct research and development at a level beyond humans, in order to: build Terminators. Oh yeah, and master time travel.
So, let us hope that if we ever built a SKYNET, it wouldn't be stupid enough to conquer time, and then have no idea what the next logical step is.
Ah, yes. I suppose it would be, since almost all available antibiotics promote resistant strains.
Except, however, the one form of antibiotic that is frowned upon by professionals. Let me introduce you to colloidal silver. It's a suspension of silver particles in water... and guess what? It has been shown to kill germs including bacteria, viruses, yeast, mold, fungus and parasites, many of which are resistant to antibiotics.
I know many of you are saying "snake oil" right now, but I've used the stuff to cure ear infections, and it works a lot faster and at a much lower price than antibiotics.
I'll admit that, in reality, I sometimes feel small urges to take "shortcuts" over curbs and over... heh... people... but those urges are so easy to suppress, and I am sure I've played this game a *LOT* more than most people. Perhaps being 21 and unemployed has something to do with it... heh...
Gaming is really my only source of income ( when the economy isn't totally fucked, I can sell MMORPG items/accounts for decent money ).
In fact, I've played so many games that, often times when I go outside and see clouds or a sunset, I think "Damn... I'm surprised my GeForce3 can do this, oh... that's right, reality doesn't run on my computer."
Heh. I'm actually not kidding, I have thought that before. At any rate, despite all those mental lapses in how I perceive reality... I have no criminal record. I am not a violent person. In fact, I am sure playing violent video games is a form of venting any violent tendencies I may have.
So, despite what all the blame shifters would like to believe, gaming doesn't make us all crazy.
But, at least in the United States, lack of public interest and the cost will. I think space.com's article on why we need a space program was very insightful.
I also think that this is one those times where my sig fits in nicely.
I just saw the the standard "some sad news, $name died" troll yesterday while metamoding... and it was Edward Teller's name. So you mean, for once this troll was true?! Now I have to question the vitality of Stephen King, BSD, and our own Wil Wheaton!
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I also do not drive. I'll take rides from time to time, but I do not drive... Don't even have a license. Statistically, driving is almost like playing Russian roulette. Humans are such geniuses! Let's drive around in little metal boxes at lethal speeds... a few feet away from each other! Brilliant! Not to mention the fact that people here in the US will drive rather than walk or bike a few blocks... even with the extremely high costs of insurance and gasoline. Oh, and driving isn't exactly exercise. I bike a mere 10-20 miles a month, but I'd hate to think what sort of shape I'd be in if I didn't bike at all...
Anyway, the neat thing is when all the other people ingest toxins, or drive six blocks instead of walking/biking, and then die off early, guess what? They're doing the rest of us a favor. By dying off early, they'll consume less of the limited resources of planet Earth. So go on... be brain-dead and smoke, drink. Don't forget to drive your metal instruments of death around, too. Because when you die, the planet can stop wasting its finite resources on you. ;)
I agree with you completely, KFG. In fact, unfair mods is one of the reasons I check your user page pretty often, since usually your lowest modded posts are the best. ;)
I learned about this by watching an interview on a "Sightings"-like show where someone claimed to have worked at "Area 51" years ago.
His story was that UFO sightings are due to experimental antigravity aircraft that the military is testing out. He claimed that these craft created an antigravity field using some quantity of element 115... and he also claimed that element 115 was extraterrestrial in origin. Some pretty whacky stuff, entertaining.
I hope this foam brush thing works, but I also hope that they don't have to use it in LEO as an emergency repair. I really, really hope that what happened with Columbia was just extremely unlucky, and not business as usual with the shuttles.
I think the interesting this is other countries are starting to enter the space race. I hope someone plans a manned Mars mission or something, anything, to really spark some interest. Oh I know, manned spaceflight is too risky, not needed, blah blah. Yeah well, guess what, humans inevitably die. I'm sure that, given the choice, many humans would rather die pushing the boundaries of exploration and discovery than dying safely on earth in their beds.
Earth isn't going to be here forever. The more we learn about surviving places other than on Earth, the better chance we have of outliving this little blue dot we call home.
I think my sig fits in nicely here.
Oh well. At least there is Firebird... tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking, type-ahead find... Makes being stuck on Windows a little more tolerable.
It's kind of interesting, in a morbid sort of way, that due to patents, copyright, DMCA, etcetera, innovations made in the past wouldn't be possible with the laws we have today. For example, others here have often pointed out how under current laws, no one could have reversed engineered the IBM-PC to build clones.
It's beginning to look like innovation in the computer industry will be replaced by stagnation. At least, that's how I see it, and I hope I am mistaken.
My favorite N-Gage slam is this one.
While I enjoyed the graphic novel in Max Payne, I kind of hope it is a little less melodramatic this time around.
Get this one instead. It is 26MB zipped. The quality of the 9MB file is not pretty.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2002-09 -20&res=l
Eh, wrong. Just google around and you'll find several interviews with crew members of the massive dev team who explained that this is sort of a rumor that has been twisted around a bit.
What happened was that the CGI monsters did not have good enough vision to see where the enemies were. Therefore, while it looked like they were running away, they were in fact looking for people to fight. They simply couldn't see anyone to fight, so started wandering around aimlessly.
A few tweaks to the AI cleared this problem right up. While it is funny to imagine any vast army running away in fear, it's not exactly what happened with massive. I know you were just joking and it was funny, too, just not accurate. Sorry for the nitpick.
I'm sure Nintendo is pretty happy being second place in the global market.
It's a lot easier to get an elitist attitude than it is to be patient with others, but understand this: while a person may look like an idiot to you for not knowing this isn't a legit update, that same person might think you are an idiot in is world of expertise, and you very well might be.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "In my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him."
If this was true for him, isn't it a thousand times more true for the rest of us?
If eBay does have all this user data, then why the hell aren't they using it to stop the scammers sooner? After a friend of mine got burned by selling a laptop to a bidder that used a stolen paypal account, I watched this scammer buy (steal) TWO MORE $1500 LAPTOPS before he lost his account.
So really, eBay. Stop the scammers. We'd all like that a lot. Besides, it's not like any privacy zealots use eBay; you can see anyone's buying/selling history just by clicking around in the feedback.
Then again, there are plenty of funny quotes to go around.
Hell, just check this poll and you'll see a good summary of the intro modded up in various posts.
Thanks moderators. Next time, can you please develop a sense of humor before modding me down into oblivion?
1) It has an obvious preference for the dramatic... For example, rather than having the original Terminator simply walk over and kill Sarah Connor when she is stuck in an overturned vehicle, it instead has the Terminator commandeer a semi and attempt to run her over. Brilliant!
2) It doesn't believe in rushing into a kill as quickly as cyborg-ly possible, but instead has its Terminators advance slowly on the hapless victim.
3) Despite all these logical fallacies in SKYNET's programming, it is able to use automated factories to conduct research and development at a level beyond humans, in order to: build Terminators. Oh yeah, and master time travel.
So, let us hope that if we ever built a SKYNET, it wouldn't be stupid enough to conquer time, and then have no idea what the next logical step is.
Except, however, the one form of antibiotic that is frowned upon by professionals. Let me introduce you to colloidal silver. It's a suspension of silver particles in water... and guess what? It has been shown to kill germs including bacteria, viruses, yeast, mold, fungus and parasites, many of which are resistant to antibiotics.
I know many of you are saying "snake oil" right now, but I've used the stuff to cure ear infections, and it works a lot faster and at a much lower price than antibiotics.
You can even make your own.
Kick ass. Now that's why we need a space program!
...welcome our repetitive "can this be used to make a space elevator?" posts.
Gaming is really my only source of income ( when the economy isn't totally fucked, I can sell MMORPG items/accounts for decent money ).
In fact, I've played so many games that, often times when I go outside and see clouds or a sunset, I think "Damn... I'm surprised my GeForce3 can do this, oh... that's right, reality doesn't run on my computer."
Heh. I'm actually not kidding, I have thought that before. At any rate, despite all those mental lapses in how I perceive reality... I have no criminal record. I am not a violent person. In fact, I am sure playing violent video games is a form of venting any violent tendencies I may have.
So, despite what all the blame shifters would like to believe, gaming doesn't make us all crazy.
I also think that this is one those times where my sig fits in nicely.
Their take on the N-Gage: http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2003/20030822l. gif
I just saw the the standard "some sad news, $name died" troll yesterday while metamoding... and it was Edward Teller's name. So you mean, for once this troll was true?! Now I have to question the vitality of Stephen King, BSD, and our own Wil Wheaton!
This is an alternative patch for desktop users. ;)