This makes no sense. If Online voting is introduced 8 years before 75%, let alone 100%, of the UK's population is online, How are the other 25+% going to vote?
Nowhere does the first statement say ONLY on-line voting. I don't see any indication that people cannot vote the normal way from what the prediction said.
Coolio and the Red Hot Chili Peppers did not agree to the parodies he did of their songs ("Amish Paradise" [parody of "Gangster's Paradise"] and "The Flintstones" [parody primarily of "Suck My Kiss"]). Coolio's people made threats, but those were as empty as Jack Valenti's rants.
And as Al said of Coolio's anger over the parody, "It didn't stop him cashing the cheque." Or don't you watch MTV "Rockumentaries"?
Actually, first, it was VH-1.
Second, I've long been of the opinion that Coolio gave Wierd Al permission to do the parody, or at least his people did, and just realized it wouldn't be "cool" to own up to it, considering the attitutes of most of those in the rap industry. So he denied it all, but they never did anything but cash the checks.
Well, the big point from this research may be that the only person needed to "donate" the stem cells may be the exact person needing the treatment. If every adult human being has these stem cells, then there is the possibility for a person to grow cells (or organs or such) from their very own cells, with their very own DNA.
This not only avoids most of the ethical problems completely, it should eliminate any worries about rejection of the new cells, since there isn't a difference between them and the ones already there.
I hope this turns out to be true, this would be so huge for curing diseases, reparing damage caused by accidents or neglect, and in general really helping to increase human longevity.
And what happens when the machine gets old and you want to make way for new games? Video cabinets can be re-used. Slap a new mobo in there and put a new marquee up and you're good to go. Not so with pinball machines. There's no practical way to gut one and upgrade it to a new machine. You can do it, but it costs way more in labor than just buying the new machine outright.
That was one of the goals of Williams' Pinball 2000 system. You could swap out all of the parts easily, to turn it from one pinball to another in just a few minutes. The entire playfield came out as one piece, and the processor and ROMs were on cards, and could also be changed rapidly.
There was a pinball construction set, IIRC, for the C-64, maybe someone's done like for the PC? With the speed of processors this should be a piece of cake, these days.
It's a pinball construction set like has never been done before. It uses VBScript (yes, I know) to do logic and other such, and can do just about anything a real pinball table can do. And if you want proof that's the case, they've got a version of PinMAME designed especially to link up with Visual Pinball (VPinMAME), and there are dozens of real tables that you can download, pick up the ROMs, and play on Visual Pinball. Not only old classics like Defender, Gorgar, Space Invaders, and Mr. and Mrs. Pac-Man pinball games, but newer ones, including the best two of all time, The Addams Family and Twilight Zone. Both nearly as good as playing the real machine.
The Bells are not finishing off the independent DSL providers. Some providers are going under because they are not making money!
Sure. That's why DirecTVDSL, who used to be Telocity, who took over my old Phoenix Networks DSL connection, after finally making an arrangement with SBC/Ameritech here in the Chicago Suburbs so that SBC would provide them access to provide DSL again in the area still hasn't hooked me up - 4 1/2 months after making the arrangement. Why? Because SBC STILL has not done their part, connecting my line. Not 4 1/2 weeks, 4 1/2 MONTHS. The arrangement was finalized late August, and I received a letter at the beginning of September, stating the agreement was reached, and they would be hooking up old Northpoint customers again.
Of course, I couldn't even go with SBC directly for DSL, they claimed it wasn't available in my area, and apparently they're refusing to hook it up for SBC to try and convince other people that's the case. (Sure, even though I had DSL for about 6 months without problems under Northpoint)
Of course there is going to be a low adoption rate - especially when they're refusing to hook people up!
TW2002? I would have to disagree... sure TW2002 had more features, but I always felt the simplicity of Trade Wars 1000 made for a better game. That, and I used to have so much fun when there would be a 99% sale on planets when logging in, and go around making planets until the max number was reached... then finding ones hidden in dead end sectors months later with production up to high levels and fighters sitting and waiting...
Though the scramble to be the first to log on after maintenance run to defeat the Cabal was a bit obnoxious.
(I also wish I could find a copy of Power Struggle...)
For the longest time TAG had the overwhelming presence in the 517 area code. It was probably '91 or so that Renegade really started to show up. I found it disappointing, because I preferred TAG boards to Renegade - perhaps that was just because I associated Renegade with annoying kiddies trying to run 'Elite' boards and running them for seemingly two purposes - to talk about how cool GWAR was and playing LORD.
*sigh* - I was a regular user on The Gamer's Forum and Abacus... such memories...
Second, I think we can't deny that we've changed our environment significantly, particularly in the area of foodstuffs and radiation.
Don't neglect the affect of environmental pollution on development. Certain types of pollutants have been shown to act very similarly to estrogens in the body, and areas with high concentrations of these types of pollution are showing higher incidences of infertility among male animals - especially amphibians - along with increased percentages of females being born, and higher rates of hermaphrodism.
Now, if pollution can have that sorts of effects on animals, there's no reason to believe that it can't be doing similar things to humans, whether it be increased genital defects and more cases of transsexuality (which is almost definately on the rise), or autism, or cancer, or asthma, or whatever.
1.Most webrings were poorly maintained, at best, and filled with broken links.
Agreed - that was always an annoyance to me. Quite often, in the pre-Yahoo WebRing! days, I would use it for looking at pages for certain topics. Some rings would be in great shape, with active Webring maintainers, and 404's and broken sites would not last long.
Others seemed like they were started by someone on a whim, then completely ignored.
3.Why the hell do we need 50 Linux webrings?! "Linux Users," "Linux Lovers," "The *Official* Linux Webring," "The Unofficial Linux Webring"... sheesh!
I wonder how many of the duplicate rings for any one topic were due to a person being denied a spot in another ring due to not having a good enough site to become part of the ring. Either that, or wanting the power of being the "maintainer" - those people were just as responsible for #1.
I still have a fond memory of WebRing. I also was temporarily part of EUROPa, and then a part of the original WebRing, before all the various rings, and the random page I went to for being added to the ring happened to have information on a personal topic that has, in many ways, changed my entire life. I would have probably gotten things taken care of without stumbling across the WebRing... eventually. But I will never forget the Ring, nor the person who's page I found myself at...
I didn't realize how addicting M:TG was until recently. I hadn't played the game in three years - however, suddenly, without warning, I got the urge to play again. I did a little reading, looking around at the new card sets (everything since Urza's Legacy is new to me), and next thing I knew, I had all my cards out (and thats a LOT of cards), and was at a local shop playing and spending $40 to buy packs my first week back. (And realizing again how out of place I feel at first, a 27-yr old girl walking into a shop full of 14-22 yr old boys).
However, I don't think that dedicating one's life to gaming is the best use of one's life
While I would agree that dedicating your life to game surely isn't as productive as it could be, plenty of people already do it. Just to games that make them money and entertain people. Basketball, hockey, tennis, chess, all games... yet all have plenty of people that have dedicated their lives to playing and mastering them.
The only difference as to whether it's "acceptable" or not seems to be whether you can make enough money to live off of by playing the game. (which means that Magic: The Gathering is starting to get close, because of the significant prizes for the Pro Tour, $25,000 for a first place showing at an event.)
It's not the game that's addicting. It's the enjoyment that the person gets out of it that's the addiction, and that can come from ANYTHING - computer games, video games, role playing, M:TG - anything that gives them enjoyment.
I guess it's that if you find your games the most enjoyable, you get addicted to them. If you find your job the most enjoyable, then you're just being a hard worker. A lawyer that spends 80 hours a week working because she likes it is a good lawyer. A person that spends 40 hours a week gaming because she likes it is "addicted" and has problems. (that's how they try and paint it)
It could be worse - some people turn to alcohol, drugs, or gambling, all much, much, MUCH more destructive than games or work. (except for maybe M:TG - that can do a number on your bank account that can match many drugs)
There were 4 there at the Barrington 30 that were showing Monsters, Inc. Two of the big ones (14 & 16, I think), and then two of the smaller ones. I know, because I saw it both Friday and Saturday night (with different friends each night), and happened to catch it only in the two smaller screens (numbers 7 and 12). P'ed me off, I really wanted to see it in the big ones, on the digital projector.
It also makes a lot more sense if you think of a "spy" as a cell of spies - when you attempt something in the city, you don't have one spy trying to do everything, but a group, a network, handling everything necessary. Can you imagine what a group of 10 spies could pull off? Taking down the city walls doesn't seem quite so absurd then.
First of all, CtP (Call to Power) was just Activision's bastardized version of Civ - I've always been a big civ fan, and I bought CtP as soon as it came out - and after the first day I had it, never, ever touched it again. It was not created by the Civ or Civ II teams, and while the first CtP had Civilization in it's title (due to the legal status of the name), CtP II doesn't.
As far as the Civ II/Civ III differences, yes, there are a LOT.
- AI is much improved. AI empires can spread and develop very fast, especially at the beginning of the game, and if you're located near them, they'll try and pin you in fast. The AI also is much better with the military. No longer does it send in a few random units, but large groups of stronger ones, using the terrain to it's advantage, and picking where it attacks more carefully.
- World sizes can vary by a lot. The smallest world is, I believe, 80x80. The largest that comes in the standard setup is 180x180 - and you can use the included editor to change that up to 255x255. And the amount of tech development varies based on the world size - the larger the world, the more science is needed for the same advances, to keep people from going through advances too quickly.
- And in that vein, advances seem to come more slowly. You can actually field armies of swordsmen, of horsemen and catapults, of knights, before they're all obsolete. In every Civ II game I played, a lot of those units were almost obsolete before I could build the first one.
- Trade is important now. Caravans were removed, fortunately, as they were obnoxious. But because resources are required for certain units, you'll need to either find, or trade for them.
- They've actually removed quite a bit. You no longer replace settlers (now workers) with engineers later on that can radically alter the terrain. Also, no supermarkets to create incredibly huge cities. A number of other advances and units are gone, and I believe the total number of wonders has shrunk.
- 16 civs can play on the world, at least on the largest maps.
- The other civs now no longer gang up on you - they'll ally with you against other civs, and such. It's no longer them vs. you.
All in all, it's definately a different game. As far as playing strategy goes, there's a bigger difference between Civ 2/Civ 3 then there was between Civ/Civ 2.
I discovered the same thing. I started my first game of Civ III on a huge map, with 16 civs. My Persiam civ started right near the French, Babylonians, and Zulus. It wasn't long before I was cornered in with only 6 cities and no room to expand, and started getting beat up pretty badly by the Babylonians.
My second game I started near the Zulus, Babylonians, and Aztecs. This time, they all teamed up and declared war on me. I was fighting them off, somewhat, then they razed two of my cities, and I gave up again.
The AI is incredibly efficient at getting their civ built up at the beginning, and they attack in larger groups of stronger units. I was never a big military player in Civ II until the modern age, and that's going to HAVE to change, I can tell.
$5,000,000,000 has a LOT of zeroes behind it. This money could fund a LOT of other scientific endeavours that are just as important as this one (important in the sense that knowledge is important).
As important as this could all be, you are very correct.
How much money did the gov't approve for nanotechnology? I think $400 million or so, maybe less.
If all of this money for the particle accelerator was funneled into developing nanotech, it surely could help push things much farther along. I feel the development of nanotech is much more important than the accelerator at this time - the accelerator can be built later on for cheaper if other technologoies are built up now.
I've seen a word that describes this pretty well: a Capitalacy. It's like a Democracy, the power is in the hands of the "people". However, instead of being 1 person = 1 vote, it's 1$ = 1 vote.
Unfortunately, it's starting to look more and more like this...
Starting to? This has been going on for a LONG time. The people with the money have been influencing the politicians since, well, at least prohibition. They're just being less and less secret about it as time goes on, because the public doesn't seem to care that their rights and safety are irrelevant when pitted against a large campaign donation. After all, if the public did care, they'd start voting for other people.
Besides, if it doesn't cause problems that the government (notably the republican party) would LOOSEN food safety standards*, then what are they going to do when they let a computer company continue to walk all over everyone?
* See "Fast Food Nation" for interesting facts, such as that about half of all ground beef produced by the big meat packing houses are contaminated with a dangerous strain of E. Coli that is transferred through feces (yes, that does mean there is shit in many of the burgers/tacos you eat), and that after significant donations from the meat industry, congress prevented them from requiring simple tests for this contaminant, which would save many lives, and cost maybe a penny per pound in the grand scheme of things.
Well, it works for FPS games for a while, at least... I bought it and used it quite frequently for Q2/Q3 play, and after a weekend of practice, became very, very good at using it for movement and various other functions.
However, when I went to use it with SC3K a couple months ago (after having the thing for maybe 6 months), I found the sensors for rotation were broken. And I never even got to play a game where I could make use of them.:(
Oh well, I still use it for most of my gaming. 24 hotkeys for Diablo II at my fingertips - I don't even have them all programmed (I still have 2 free slots). Has to be 10 times easier then dealing with the keyboard. ---
Why does the Doctor is FF look so much more real than the heroine? Because he has textures of age and living life that cover up the fact that his skin looks plastic-like.
True - good call. But take the fact that they could make that image of the Doctor so incredibly realistic - sure, they have more to do yet, but how much more, really? ---
But the CG in this movie looks absolutely AMAZING. I dont think I have ever seen people rendered so realistically.
Go check out the "Virtual You" article at the Discover Magazine web site for a still image that is truly photorealistic quality. I've showed the print magazine to people who have had trouble believing that the picture is computer generated, and not a real person. (I submitted the article here, but it was turned down:( ) ---
ust wait until Joe Blow dicovers that his favorite US pr0n site has been shut down on authority of Saudi Arabian decency laws.
The second something like that happens it's easy to force them to decide if they really want to allow it to happen. Just find some people from another country where discussion of Christianity is illegal, and try to have ALL Christian web sites shut down on the basis of the other country's laws.
Should take all of about 5 seconds for the gov't to decide that we're not going to allow other countries to dictate what can be posted on the internet in the US. ---
While you're at it, work with them to solve the traveling salesman and halting problems. Also, run them through the process of creating a 1 GHz processor from materials available from the nearest part - make sure that the processors they make are improved from commercially avaliable ones. Teaching them how to break into any government system in 60 seconds or less may also provide useful experience they can make use of later in life.
Oh yeah, get world peace and eliminating hunger in there also.
Slashdot Mirror
This makes no sense. If Online voting is introduced 8 years before 75%, let alone 100%, of the UK's population is online, How are the other 25+% going to vote?
Nowhere does the first statement say ONLY on-line voting. I don't see any indication that people cannot vote the normal way from what the prediction said.
Coolio and the Red Hot Chili Peppers did not agree to the parodies he did of their songs ("Amish Paradise" [parody of "Gangster's Paradise"] and "The Flintstones" [parody primarily of "Suck My Kiss"]). Coolio's people made threats, but those were as empty as Jack Valenti's rants.
And as Al said of Coolio's anger over the parody, "It didn't stop him cashing the cheque." Or don't you watch MTV "Rockumentaries"?
Actually, first, it was VH-1.
Second, I've long been of the opinion that Coolio gave Wierd Al permission to do the parody, or at least his people did, and just realized it wouldn't be "cool" to own up to it, considering the attitutes of most of those in the rap industry. So he denied it all, but they never did anything but cash the checks.
Well, the big point from this research may be that the only person needed to "donate" the stem cells may be the exact person needing the treatment. If every adult human being has these stem cells, then there is the possibility for a person to grow cells (or organs or such) from their very own cells, with their very own DNA.
This not only avoids most of the ethical problems completely, it should eliminate any worries about rejection of the new cells, since there isn't a difference between them and the ones already there.
I hope this turns out to be true, this would be so huge for curing diseases, reparing damage caused by accidents or neglect, and in general really helping to increase human longevity.
And what happens when the machine gets old and you want to make way for new games? Video cabinets can be re-used. Slap a new mobo in there and put a new marquee up and you're good to go. Not so with pinball machines. There's no practical way to gut one and upgrade it to a new machine. You can do it, but it costs way more in labor than just buying the new machine outright.
That was one of the goals of Williams' Pinball 2000 system. You could swap out all of the parts easily, to turn it from one pinball to another in just a few minutes. The entire playfield came out as one piece, and the processor and ROMs were on cards, and could also be changed rapidly.
There was a pinball construction set, IIRC, for the C-64, maybe someone's done like for the PC? With the speed of processors this should be a piece of cake, these days.
Hehe - there is. It's called Visual Pinball, located at http://www.randydavis.com/vp/.
It's a pinball construction set like has never been done before. It uses VBScript (yes, I know) to do logic and other such, and can do just about anything a real pinball table can do. And if you want proof that's the case, they've got a version of PinMAME designed especially to link up with Visual Pinball (VPinMAME), and there are dozens of real tables that you can download, pick up the ROMs, and play on Visual Pinball. Not only old classics like Defender, Gorgar, Space Invaders, and Mr. and Mrs. Pac-Man pinball games, but newer ones, including the best two of all time, The Addams Family and Twilight Zone. Both nearly as good as playing the real machine.
The Bells are not finishing off the independent DSL providers. Some providers are going under because they are not making money!
Sure. That's why DirecTVDSL, who used to be Telocity, who took over my old Phoenix Networks DSL connection, after finally making an arrangement with SBC/Ameritech here in the Chicago Suburbs so that SBC would provide them access to provide DSL again in the area still hasn't hooked me up - 4 1/2 months after making the arrangement. Why? Because SBC STILL has not done their part, connecting my line. Not 4 1/2 weeks, 4 1/2 MONTHS. The arrangement was finalized late August, and I received a letter at the beginning of September, stating the agreement was reached, and they would be hooking up old Northpoint customers again.
Of course, I couldn't even go with SBC directly for DSL, they claimed it wasn't available in my area, and apparently they're refusing to hook it up for SBC to try and convince other people that's the case. (Sure, even though I had DSL for about 6 months without problems under Northpoint)
Of course there is going to be a low adoption rate - especially when they're refusing to hook people up!
TW2002? I would have to disagree... sure TW2002 had more features, but I always felt the simplicity of Trade Wars 1000 made for a better game. That, and I used to have so much fun when there would be a 99% sale on planets when logging in, and go around making planets until the max number was reached... then finding ones hidden in dead end sectors months later with production up to high levels and fighters sitting and waiting...
Though the scramble to be the first to log on after maintenance run to defeat the Cabal was a bit obnoxious.
(I also wish I could find a copy of Power Struggle...)
For the longest time TAG had the overwhelming presence in the 517 area code. It was probably '91 or so that Renegade really started to show up. I found it disappointing, because I preferred TAG boards to Renegade - perhaps that was just because I associated Renegade with annoying kiddies trying to run 'Elite' boards and running them for seemingly two purposes - to talk about how cool GWAR was and playing LORD.
*sigh* - I was a regular user on The Gamer's Forum and Abacus... such memories...
Second, I think we can't deny that we've changed our environment significantly, particularly in the area of foodstuffs and radiation.
Don't neglect the affect of environmental pollution on development. Certain types of pollutants have been shown to act very similarly to estrogens in the body, and areas with high concentrations of these types of pollution are showing higher incidences of infertility among male animals - especially amphibians - along with increased percentages of females being born, and higher rates of hermaphrodism.
Now, if pollution can have that sorts of effects on animals, there's no reason to believe that it can't be doing similar things to humans, whether it be increased genital defects and more cases of transsexuality (which is almost definately on the rise), or autism, or cancer, or asthma, or whatever.
1.Most webrings were poorly maintained, at best, and filled with broken links.
... sheesh!
Agreed - that was always an annoyance to me. Quite often, in the pre-Yahoo WebRing! days, I would use it for looking at pages for certain topics. Some rings would be in great shape, with active Webring maintainers, and 404's and broken sites would not last long.
Others seemed like they were started by someone on a whim, then completely ignored.
3.Why the hell do we need 50 Linux webrings?! "Linux Users," "Linux Lovers," "The *Official* Linux Webring," "The Unofficial Linux Webring"
I wonder how many of the duplicate rings for any one topic were due to a person being denied a spot in another ring due to not having a good enough site to become part of the ring. Either that, or wanting the power of being the "maintainer" - those people were just as responsible for #1.
I still have a fond memory of WebRing. I also was temporarily part of EUROPa, and then a part of the original WebRing, before all the various rings, and the random page I went to for being added to the ring happened to have information on a personal topic that has, in many ways, changed my entire life. I would have probably gotten things taken care of without stumbling across the WebRing... eventually. But I will never forget the Ring, nor the person who's page I found myself at...
I didn't realize how addicting M:TG was until recently. I hadn't played the game in three years - however, suddenly, without warning, I got the urge to play again. I did a little reading, looking around at the new card sets (everything since Urza's Legacy is new to me), and next thing I knew, I had all my cards out (and thats a LOT of cards), and was at a local shop playing and spending $40 to buy packs my first week back. (And realizing again how out of place I feel at first, a 27-yr old girl walking into a shop full of 14-22 yr old boys).
However, I don't think that dedicating one's life to gaming is the best use of one's life
While I would agree that dedicating your life to game surely isn't as productive as it could be, plenty of people already do it. Just to games that make them money and entertain people. Basketball, hockey, tennis, chess, all games... yet all have plenty of people that have dedicated their lives to playing and mastering them.
The only difference as to whether it's "acceptable" or not seems to be whether you can make enough money to live off of by playing the game. (which means that Magic: The Gathering is starting to get close, because of the significant prizes for the Pro Tour, $25,000 for a first place showing at an event.)
THANK YOU.
It's not the game that's addicting. It's the enjoyment that the person gets out of it that's the addiction, and that can come from ANYTHING - computer games, video games, role playing, M:TG - anything that gives them enjoyment.
I guess it's that if you find your games the most enjoyable, you get addicted to them. If you find your job the most enjoyable, then you're just being a hard worker. A lawyer that spends 80 hours a week working because she likes it is a good lawyer. A person that spends 40 hours a week gaming because she likes it is "addicted" and has problems. (that's how they try and paint it)
It could be worse - some people turn to alcohol, drugs, or gambling, all much, much, MUCH more destructive than games or work. (except for maybe M:TG - that can do a number on your bank account that can match many drugs)
The (one) Other auditorium?
There were 4 there at the Barrington 30 that were showing Monsters, Inc. Two of the big ones (14 & 16, I think), and then two of the smaller ones. I know, because I saw it both Friday and Saturday night (with different friends each night), and happened to catch it only in the two smaller screens (numbers 7 and 12). P'ed me off, I really wanted to see it in the big ones, on the digital projector.
Oh well.
It also makes a lot more sense if you think of a "spy" as a cell of spies - when you attempt something in the city, you don't have one spy trying to do everything, but a group, a network, handling everything necessary. Can you imagine what a group of 10 spies could pull off? Taking down the city walls doesn't seem quite so absurd then.
As far as the Civ II/Civ III differences, yes, there are a LOT.
- AI is much improved. AI empires can spread and develop very fast, especially at the beginning of the game, and if you're located near them, they'll try and pin you in fast. The AI also is much better with the military. No longer does it send in a few random units, but large groups of stronger ones, using the terrain to it's advantage, and picking where it attacks more carefully.
- World sizes can vary by a lot. The smallest world is, I believe, 80x80. The largest that comes in the standard setup is 180x180 - and you can use the included editor to change that up to 255x255. And the amount of tech development varies based on the world size - the larger the world, the more science is needed for the same advances, to keep people from going through advances too quickly.
- And in that vein, advances seem to come more slowly. You can actually field armies of swordsmen, of horsemen and catapults, of knights, before they're all obsolete. In every Civ II game I played, a lot of those units were almost obsolete before I could build the first one.
- Trade is important now. Caravans were removed, fortunately, as they were obnoxious. But because resources are required for certain units, you'll need to either find, or trade for them.
- They've actually removed quite a bit. You no longer replace settlers (now workers) with engineers later on that can radically alter the terrain. Also, no supermarkets to create incredibly huge cities. A number of other advances and units are gone, and I believe the total number of wonders has shrunk.
- 16 civs can play on the world, at least on the largest maps.
- The other civs now no longer gang up on you - they'll ally with you against other civs, and such. It's no longer them vs. you.
All in all, it's definately a different game. As far as playing strategy goes, there's a bigger difference between Civ 2/Civ 3 then there was between Civ/Civ 2.
My second game I started near the Zulus, Babylonians, and Aztecs. This time, they all teamed up and declared war on me. I was fighting them off, somewhat, then they razed two of my cities, and I gave up again.
The AI is incredibly efficient at getting their civ built up at the beginning, and they attack in larger groups of stronger units. I was never a big military player in Civ II until the modern age, and that's going to HAVE to change, I can tell.
$5,000,000,000 has a LOT of zeroes behind it. This money could fund a LOT of other scientific endeavours that are just as important as this one (important in the sense that knowledge is important).
As important as this could all be, you are very correct.
How much money did the gov't approve for nanotechnology? I think $400 million or so, maybe less.
If all of this money for the particle accelerator was funneled into developing nanotech, it surely could help push things much farther along. I feel the development of nanotech is much more important than the accelerator at this time - the accelerator can be built later on for cheaper if other technologoies are built up now.
I've seen a word that describes this pretty well: a Capitalacy. It's like a Democracy, the power is in the hands of the "people". However, instead of being 1 person = 1 vote, it's 1$ = 1 vote.
Unfortunately, it's starting to look more and more like this...
Starting to? This has been going on for a LONG time. The people with the money have been influencing the politicians since, well, at least prohibition. They're just being less and less secret about it as time goes on, because the public doesn't seem to care that their rights and safety are irrelevant when pitted against a large campaign donation. After all, if the public did care, they'd start voting for other people.
Besides, if it doesn't cause problems that the government (notably the republican party) would LOOSEN food safety standards*, then what are they going to do when they let a computer company continue to walk all over everyone?
* See "Fast Food Nation" for interesting facts, such as that about half of all ground beef produced by the big meat packing houses are contaminated with a dangerous strain of E. Coli that is transferred through feces (yes, that does mean there is shit in many of the burgers/tacos you eat), and that after significant donations from the meat industry, congress prevented them from requiring simple tests for this contaminant, which would save many lives, and cost maybe a penny per pound in the grand scheme of things.
Well, it works for FPS games for a while, at least... I bought it and used it quite frequently for Q2/Q3 play, and after a weekend of practice, became very, very good at using it for movement and various other functions.
:(
However, when I went to use it with SC3K a couple months ago (after having the thing for maybe 6 months), I found the sensors for rotation were broken. And I never even got to play a game where I could make use of them.
Oh well, I still use it for most of my gaming. 24 hotkeys for Diablo II at my fingertips - I don't even have them all programmed (I still have 2 free slots). Has to be 10 times easier then dealing with the keyboard.
---
Why does the Doctor is FF look so much more real than the heroine? Because he has textures of age and living life that cover up the fact that his skin looks plastic-like.
True - good call. But take the fact that they could make that image of the Doctor so incredibly realistic - sure, they have more to do yet, but how much more, really?
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But the CG in this movie looks absolutely AMAZING. I dont think I have ever seen people rendered so realistically.
:( )
Go check out the "Virtual You" article at the Discover Magazine web site for a still image that is truly photorealistic quality. I've showed the print magazine to people who have had trouble believing that the picture is computer generated, and not a real person. (I submitted the article here, but it was turned down
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So does that mean if they know exactly how many they've produced, then they won't have the slightest clue where they are?
Or is it that they won't know if they've produced the chip or not until they sell it?
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ust wait until Joe Blow dicovers that his favorite US pr0n site has been shut down on authority of Saudi Arabian decency laws.
The second something like that happens it's easy to force them to decide if they really want to allow it to happen. Just find some people from another country where discussion of Christianity is illegal, and try to have ALL Christian web sites shut down on the basis of the other country's laws.
Should take all of about 5 seconds for the gov't to decide that we're not going to allow other countries to dictate what can be posted on the internet in the US.
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While you're at it, work with them to solve the traveling salesman and halting problems. Also, run them through the process of creating a 1 GHz processor from materials available from the nearest part - make sure that the processors they make are improved from commercially avaliable ones. Teaching them how to break into any government system in 60 seconds or less may also provide useful experience they can make use of later in life.
Oh yeah, get world peace and eliminating hunger in there also.
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