Actually, the ACLU kind of has a lot on their plate these days, what with trying to stop Ashcroft from spying on everyone and locking them up in Gitmo without even being charged and all...
A few shows on widescreen: Crossing Jordan Enterprise Jay Leno (might not count; that's HDTV) Prob a few more, but since I don't watch TV much...
It'll take a lot more than showing Enterprise in widescreen format to get me to be a regular watcher. Like if they air it in grope-o-vision of something...
I hear you, bro. Back when Tron came out, my friends and I were stupid middle schoolers. We got the brilliant idea to play "tron light cycles" with our bikes. Yeah, that's right, we'd ride crazy and try to cut each other off. Well, sure enough, I succeeded in "killing" one of my friends which caused him to go flying over the handlebars of his bike and crashing to the ground. We had to carry him home he was so banged up. His mom was not very happy when she saw us walk in carrying him and when we told her how it happened she got mucho pissedo (that's Spanish for "very upset" for you non-bilingual types out there).
I really don't understand why you feel you need some piece of software to keep track of your nutritional information. I use pencil and paper and it works fine for me. There are countless websites that list the macronutrient and caloric data for a wide range of foods. Isn't that all you really need? Dieting and nutrition isn't complicated. The bookeeping should be simple. Why do you need a specially-designed piece of software?
Does anybody else dislike most of this bonus material? It seems like waste of money and a gimmick to me.
I happen to agree. The only "extras" that I've ever really enjoyed were *some* of the ones on The Matrix DVD (the original DVD release). And even during that some of the commentary got a little much. What I've noticed is that although the commentary starts off paralleling and explaining what we're seeing on the screen, very soon it diverges into pointless discussion only tangentally related to the movie. I find myself screaming "Just shut up a minute and talk about THIS scene!" when one of my favorite scenes in the movie appears. Of course, they simply ignore me and continue to babble about god-knows what. I wonder if it might be useful to allow any one person only a limited time to add their commentary. Maybe they get a third of the movie to talk about. Then at the 1/3 mark, they get booted and replaced by some other people who add their own commentary.
The documentaries and interviews always seem rather contentless and full of people who take themselves too seriously, talk too much about inconsequential things, and go on self-importantly in a self-promotion about how wonderful their movie is, and all the people in it.
I hestitated before citing The Matrix as an example of a DVD where the extras are good because I clearly remember the part in the commentary where they are discussing Laurence Fishburne jumping from roof to roof. The SPFX guy comments that "Laurence kicks holy ass" and the other guy adds "Well, you're the one who made him look good" or some other self-congratualtory shit like that. Man, I thought that was really a smack in the face to L.F. It's as though they are saying that his presence and acting is completely inconsequential and the only reason he comes off as cool in the movie is because of their fancy CGI. Hey fellas, no one is saying that Keanu "kicks holy ass" even though you gave him even superior SPFX powers. Why do you suppose that is?
I've gotten so sick of the DVD extras that I really don't even watch them anymore when I rent something from the video store. In some cases, they are so bad that I actually wish I had never seen them. When I find out how much of an idiot or braggard the director/producer/star/etc is, it tends to ruin my opinion of the movie.
He doesn't like Grand Theft Auto, but he scoffs when asked if he thinks video game violence is tied to real world violence.
One thing I've never understood is how the "videogames cause violence", "TV causes violence", "movies cause violence", etc crowd can explain that somehow all these things -- which are available to the entire world -- only seem to cause violence here in the US? Does anyone know what their answer is?
Not to be condensending but those Schaum's outline series books really suck. They are poorly written and, as you've noticed, are not highly regarded for quality. You could write the publisher and notify them of the errors but, frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if they fail to act on them. I can only guess that you chose Schaum's because they are cheap as dirt. If price is an issue, I recommend you look into books by Dover Publications. They also provide cheap textbooks on mathematics but they are actually quality materials. They are used in many college courses. No one uses Schaum's.
But without math, you can't hack,...
I'm a big supporter of mathematics but even I would have to question this statement. I cannot see why most hackers would need an understanding of conic sections -- the chapter that you appear to be working on currently. Basic logic skills is very useful for coding, of course. But you can learn that even in philosophy or just sitting still and thinking about every day issues.
I'm not sure if you understand my point or not. If so, your reply isn't really responding to it (at least the first half of your reply). It's going off about the fact that politians lie and we all have the right to speak our mind and so forth. Well, I happen to agree with all that. I'm not complaining about people speaking their opinions -- I'm complaining about those opinions being part of the story summary.
I come to slashdot to read the comments primarily because I DO want to hear what others are thinking. But I don't want those opinions embedded in the story summary, regardless of whether they are from submitters or slashdot editors. That's all I'm saying. I don't see how you can think "Yeah, that'll happen as soon as Ashcroft becomes Islamic" is a valuable contribution to the story summary. It actually has very little to do with the summary -- it's a childish little comment the submitter "sneaked in".
I realize this article is about physical likenesses but what about using someone's voice? Can Stephen Hawking sue all those cheezy voice-synthesizer games in the 80s for using his voice without his express written permission?
Yeah, sure--that'll happen about as soon as Ashcroft converts to Islam.
Can we please have the submitters refrain from making editorial comments in their story submissions? Please use the Comments section like everyone else. We get enough of being told what to believe from the mass media. We don't need it on slashdot, too.
I don't know -- reading the article didn't fill me with lots of confidence in the accuracy of this story. The whole tone seemed awfully biased to be a 'reputable' source. Can anyone else confirm this information from an alternate news source?
Fuck the resume addition. I'd become a spammer bounty hunter just so I could walk around in that cool Boba/Jango Fett armor all the time. Can you imagine the look on one of those "grow your penis" spammers when you bust down his door wearin' that shit?
Man, slashdot would have to create an entirely new icon for all the geeks that would submit their bounty-hunter-armor-custom-mods.
This penguin is driving his car in the desert and it breaks down. After walking down the highway for miles, he's able to find a gas station that will tow his car in and fix it up. The mechanic warns Mr. Penguin (maybe it's Tux?) that it'll take awhile.
Penguin is dying of thirst. After all, he doesn't like being in the desert in the first place, let alone walking for miles. He finds an ice cream shop and orders a big bowl of vanilla ice cream. Man is it good. He's just gobbling it up like crazy -- getting it all over his face and everything. He finishes up his desert and goes back to the shop, still looking a mess.
The mechanic looks up from the car, sees the penguin and says "Looks like you blew a seal."
Penguin points to his mouth and says "No, no, this is just ice cream!"
So, if it's not 100%, they just give it another arbitrary number to feed to the media?
Yeah, that was my reaction on reading the summary as well (god forbid I read the article). Just for once I'd love to see some members of the media really hold NASA's feet to the fire and ask some really tough questions in the press conference. Like "How did you come at that confidence value?" And if the NASA spokesperson hims and haws and doesn't give a solid reason, then the reporter ought to point out that if there is so much uncertainty in the accuracy of the confidence, maybe the answer itself isn't really 70-80% accurate.
The problem is that the media has settled in to a nice, comfortable role of transcribing press conferences mindlessly and reporting them verbatim to an equally mindless public. Where the hell has investigative reporting gone? Surely the cause of the disaster is beyond the ability of most news outlets to investigate for themselves but they should certainly be able to ask some tough questions and pass NASA's explanation through a sanity check.
I realize I'm going a bit off topic here, but I'm really getting sick of the crap in the media. The 'authorities' are just throwing out random numbers knowing that no one is going to bother to question them. The sad thing is that once those numbers are 'out there', they become accepted simply due to their familiarity.
When I first saw the heading "How Would You Move Mount Fuji?" I assumed this was an Ask Slashdot question. Finally, I said to myself, an Ask Slashdot question that can't be answered by a google search. Then I realized it was a book review. (sigh) Oh well, one can dream, can't one?
I still remember thinking what's the big deal. Revolution, Shemzolution. This thing will never take off.
Don't feel bad. Bill Gates said the same thing and according to Peter Jennings (and any other talking head that gets a chance to interview him), Gates is one of the smartest men in the world. I mean, he's got all that money, right? Surely he deserves it all for his visionary thinking. If a super-genius could make a mistake, then you shouldn't be so hard on yourself for making the same mistake.
I remember hearing one interviewer on a radio talk show ask Gates: "Mr Gates, everyone is wondering: how did you write the Internet?" and good ol' Billy didn't bother to correct the man but gave some vague answer about how the Internet would make information available to everyone (provided they purchase a valid copy of Windows, of course).
When he messed around with the Earth's rotation to save Lois Lane, he got lazy and messed it up by a tiny bit. Now look whats happened, we're off by a couple seconds now.
Yeah, and the worst part is that he's in no condition to change it back now!:)
Yes, i know that was tasteless. Forgive me: it's another lonely Friday night here in my parent's basement.
I wouldn't be so quick to suggest tampering with the earth's rotation. I recently saw a very intellectual documentary about what can happen if the earth's core ever stops rotating. Birds would fall from the sky, people with pacemakers would keel over dead, and entire football stadiums would be electrocuted by superstorms. All sorts of crazy shit that you wouldn't expect happens when crazy scientists start messing around with the earth's rotation.
They're buying your personal information so they can either use it to fill your mailbox with their junk or everyone's junk. There's no other reason for them not to do rebates at the POS/cash register.
Are you crazy? There's a big reason: most people are so damn lazy and/or disorganized that they never send in their rebate. If companies gave the rebate right there at the cash register without the customer doing anything, they would HAVE TO pay out the bucks. I'd be interested in seeing statistics on how many rebate offers actually get sent in by consumers. I bet it's a fairly low percentage. It's brilliant: the company gets to advertise a low price for their product but, in actuality, they rarely have to make that big a sacrifice.
I haven't talked to my "wife to be" about the engagement ring yet (touchy topic),...
A few people have already said something along these lines, but let me make it a bit more explicit. If this topic gets her emotional than perhaps you'd better do whatever the hell she wants. She clearly cares about this issue and I don't think you are doing yourself a service by researching something behind her back. That is, unless you feel equally passionate about the subject of engagement rings (however, most guys don't). At the very least should be discussing this openly with her. I think she's going to be mucho pissedo (that's Spanish for "very upset") that you are soliciting the opinions of a bunch of online geeks that you've never met before sitting down with her and having a very heart-to-heart talk about this. Remember, if there is one thing that women want, it's to be the #1 priority in your life. She wants you to listen to her opinions and feelings. Not to tell her there are "better ways".
Personally, I would discuss the wedding ring issue with your girlfriend RIGHT NOW and make sure she's at least open to options. If she's not, then drop it. Do what she wants. If she is open to new ideas, THEN start to do your research, perhaps getting her to help you. I don't know your girlfriend but most women would not be pleased to find out that you've done all this research on ring alternatives without even discussing the idea with her first.
He sounds like a great coach. I wish we had more people like this in charge of youth sports today rather than the "victory at any cost" mentality that is so pervasive. Personally, I would have found advice like that much more inspirational and motivational than the typical crap that high school coaches feed impressionable young minds today.
Yes, different people will have different sets of genes, but with gen-eng, it will be possible to move from any one type to any other, ie "upward mobility" will be possible for everyone, which is infinitely preferable to what we have now where people are stuck with the gene's they're born with.
Actually, upward mobility *is* possible for everyone. It's called working hard to better yourself -- regardless of your genetics. Look, I'll grant that genetics certainly make a lot of things easier. But one factor that people seem to forget is motivation. I've seen people who have had things easy throughout their teenage years because of their genetics. These can be those genius kids that always got 100s on the math tests without even paying attention in class. Or it can be those natural athletes that were always the stars even though they didn't seem to try so hard at practice. But how many of those actually achieved success as adults? Oftentimes, these people never learn how to push themselves because it wasn't necessary in their youth. By the time they grow up and enter a much bigger pond ("the world") they finally come up against challenges that require a lot of effort. But they are simply incapable of generating signficant effort at that point in their life -- they don't have experience doing so. Meanwhile, the above-average people who had to work hard for everything all their life are still improving and are able to compete in the new, larger environment.
While genetic engineering will probably play some role in determining who is successful and who is not, I think it is naive to downplay the effect of nuture over nature in determining the ultimate course of a human being. Even in a world were genetic engineering is rampant, those who cannot afford the modifications will be able to compete. They'll have to work their asses off, but they will be able to do it. Don't underestimate the power of the human spirit and determination.
Slashdot Mirror
Isn't that what the EFF and ACLU are for?
Actually, the ACLU kind of has a lot on their plate these days, what with trying to stop Ashcroft from spying on everyone and locking them up in Gitmo without even being charged and all...
GMD
A few shows on widescreen: Crossing Jordan Enterprise Jay Leno (might not count; that's HDTV) Prob a few more, but since I don't watch TV much...
It'll take a lot more than showing Enterprise in widescreen format to get me to be a regular watcher. Like if they air it in grope-o-vision of something...
Check it out!
I hear you, bro. Back when Tron came out, my friends and I were stupid middle schoolers. We got the brilliant idea to play "tron light cycles" with our bikes. Yeah, that's right, we'd ride crazy and try to cut each other off. Well, sure enough, I succeeded in "killing" one of my friends which caused him to go flying over the handlebars of his bike and crashing to the ground. We had to carry him home he was so banged up. His mom was not very happy when she saw us walk in carrying him and when we told her how it happened she got mucho pissedo (that's Spanish for "very upset" for you non-bilingual types out there).
Ah, memories...
GMD
I really don't understand why you feel you need some piece of software to keep track of your nutritional information. I use pencil and paper and it works fine for me. There are countless websites that list the macronutrient and caloric data for a wide range of foods. Isn't that all you really need? Dieting and nutrition isn't complicated. The bookeeping should be simple. Why do you need a specially-designed piece of software?
GMD
Does anybody else dislike most of this bonus material? It seems like waste of money and a gimmick to me.
I happen to agree. The only "extras" that I've ever really enjoyed were *some* of the ones on The Matrix DVD (the original DVD release). And even during that some of the commentary got a little much. What I've noticed is that although the commentary starts off paralleling and explaining what we're seeing on the screen, very soon it diverges into pointless discussion only tangentally related to the movie. I find myself screaming "Just shut up a minute and talk about THIS scene!" when one of my favorite scenes in the movie appears. Of course, they simply ignore me and continue to babble about god-knows what. I wonder if it might be useful to allow any one person only a limited time to add their commentary. Maybe they get a third of the movie to talk about. Then at the 1/3 mark, they get booted and replaced by some other people who add their own commentary.
The documentaries and interviews always seem rather contentless and full of people who take themselves too seriously, talk too much about inconsequential things, and go on self-importantly in a self-promotion about how wonderful their movie is, and all the people in it.
I hestitated before citing The Matrix as an example of a DVD where the extras are good because I clearly remember the part in the commentary where they are discussing Laurence Fishburne jumping from roof to roof. The SPFX guy comments that "Laurence kicks holy ass" and the other guy adds "Well, you're the one who made him look good" or some other self-congratualtory shit like that. Man, I thought that was really a smack in the face to L.F. It's as though they are saying that his presence and acting is completely inconsequential and the only reason he comes off as cool in the movie is because of their fancy CGI. Hey fellas, no one is saying that Keanu "kicks holy ass" even though you gave him even superior SPFX powers. Why do you suppose that is?
I've gotten so sick of the DVD extras that I really don't even watch them anymore when I rent something from the video store. In some cases, they are so bad that I actually wish I had never seen them. When I find out how much of an idiot or braggard the director/producer/star/etc is, it tends to ruin my opinion of the movie.
GMD
He doesn't like Grand Theft Auto, but he scoffs when asked if he thinks video game violence is tied to real world violence.
One thing I've never understood is how the "videogames cause violence", "TV causes violence", "movies cause violence", etc crowd can explain that somehow all these things -- which are available to the entire world -- only seem to cause violence here in the US? Does anyone know what their answer is?
GMD
Not to be condensending but those Schaum's outline series books really suck. They are poorly written and, as you've noticed, are not highly regarded for quality. You could write the publisher and notify them of the errors but, frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if they fail to act on them. I can only guess that you chose Schaum's because they are cheap as dirt. If price is an issue, I recommend you look into books by Dover Publications. They also provide cheap textbooks on mathematics but they are actually quality materials. They are used in many college courses. No one uses Schaum's.
But without math, you can't hack,...
I'm a big supporter of mathematics but even I would have to question this statement. I cannot see why most hackers would need an understanding of conic sections -- the chapter that you appear to be working on currently. Basic logic skills is very useful for coding, of course. But you can learn that even in philosophy or just sitting still and thinking about every day issues.
GMD
I'm not sure if you understand my point or not. If so, your reply isn't really responding to it (at least the first half of your reply). It's going off about the fact that politians lie and we all have the right to speak our mind and so forth. Well, I happen to agree with all that. I'm not complaining about people speaking their opinions -- I'm complaining about those opinions being part of the story summary.
I come to slashdot to read the comments primarily because I DO want to hear what others are thinking. But I don't want those opinions embedded in the story summary, regardless of whether they are from submitters or slashdot editors. That's all I'm saying. I don't see how you can think "Yeah, that'll happen as soon as Ashcroft becomes Islamic" is a valuable contribution to the story summary. It actually has very little to do with the summary -- it's a childish little comment the submitter "sneaked in".
GMD
I realize this article is about physical likenesses but what about using someone's voice? Can Stephen Hawking sue all those cheezy voice-synthesizer games in the 80s for using his voice without his express written permission?
GMD
Yeah, sure--that'll happen about as soon as Ashcroft converts to Islam.
Can we please have the submitters refrain from making editorial comments in their story submissions? Please use the Comments section like everyone else. We get enough of being told what to believe from the mass media. We don't need it on slashdot, too.
My request is directed towards editors, as well.
GMD
I don't know -- reading the article didn't fill me with lots of confidence in the accuracy of this story. The whole tone seemed awfully biased to be a 'reputable' source. Can anyone else confirm this information from an alternate news source?
GMD
Fuck the resume addition. I'd become a spammer bounty hunter just so I could walk around in that cool Boba/Jango Fett armor all the time. Can you imagine the look on one of those "grow your penis" spammers when you bust down his door wearin' that shit?
Man, slashdot would have to create an entirely new icon for all the geeks that would submit their bounty-hunter-armor-custom-mods.
GMD
The Tim Schaeffer LucasArts games could be made into very interesting movies. Day Of The Tentacle, ...
Doesn't Japan already have a shitload of those tentacle movies? Don't tell me you want a live-action version too?
GMD
I saw AOTC in IMAX, and it completely sucked.
Actually, you can remove the "in IMAX" from the sentence and it's still true.
GMD
This penguin is driving his car in the desert and it breaks down. After walking down the highway for miles, he's able to find a gas station that will tow his car in and fix it up. The mechanic warns Mr. Penguin (maybe it's Tux?) that it'll take awhile.
Penguin is dying of thirst. After all, he doesn't like being in the desert in the first place, let alone walking for miles. He finds an ice cream shop and orders a big bowl of vanilla ice cream. Man is it good. He's just gobbling it up like crazy -- getting it all over his face and everything. He finishes up his desert and goes back to the shop, still looking a mess.
The mechanic looks up from the car, sees the penguin and says "Looks like you blew a seal."
Penguin points to his mouth and says "No, no, this is just ice cream!"
That's the joke! Laugh, damn you!
GMD
So, if it's not 100%, they just give it another arbitrary number to feed to the media?
Yeah, that was my reaction on reading the summary as well (god forbid I read the article). Just for once I'd love to see some members of the media really hold NASA's feet to the fire and ask some really tough questions in the press conference. Like "How did you come at that confidence value?" And if the NASA spokesperson hims and haws and doesn't give a solid reason, then the reporter ought to point out that if there is so much uncertainty in the accuracy of the confidence, maybe the answer itself isn't really 70-80% accurate.
The problem is that the media has settled in to a nice, comfortable role of transcribing press conferences mindlessly and reporting them verbatim to an equally mindless public. Where the hell has investigative reporting gone? Surely the cause of the disaster is beyond the ability of most news outlets to investigate for themselves but they should certainly be able to ask some tough questions and pass NASA's explanation through a sanity check.
I realize I'm going a bit off topic here, but I'm really getting sick of the crap in the media. The 'authorities' are just throwing out random numbers knowing that no one is going to bother to question them. The sad thing is that once those numbers are 'out there', they become accepted simply due to their familiarity.
GMD
When I first saw the heading "How Would You Move Mount Fuji?" I assumed this was an Ask Slashdot question. Finally, I said to myself, an Ask Slashdot question that can't be answered by a google search. Then I realized it was a book review. (sigh) Oh well, one can dream, can't one?
GMD
I still remember thinking what's the big deal. Revolution, Shemzolution. This thing will never take off.
Don't feel bad. Bill Gates said the same thing and according to Peter Jennings (and any other talking head that gets a chance to interview him), Gates is one of the smartest men in the world. I mean, he's got all that money, right? Surely he deserves it all for his visionary thinking. If a super-genius could make a mistake, then you shouldn't be so hard on yourself for making the same mistake.
I remember hearing one interviewer on a radio talk show ask Gates: "Mr Gates, everyone is wondering: how did you write the Internet?" and good ol' Billy didn't bother to correct the man but gave some vague answer about how the Internet would make information available to everyone (provided they purchase a valid copy of Windows, of course).
GMD
When he messed around with the Earth's rotation to save Lois Lane, he got lazy and messed it up by a tiny bit. Now look whats happened, we're off by a couple seconds now.
Yeah, and the worst part is that he's in no condition to change it back now! :)
Yes, i know that was tasteless. Forgive me: it's another lonely Friday night here in my parent's basement.
GMD
I wouldn't be so quick to suggest tampering with the earth's rotation. I recently saw a very intellectual documentary about what can happen if the earth's core ever stops rotating. Birds would fall from the sky, people with pacemakers would keel over dead, and entire football stadiums would be electrocuted by superstorms. All sorts of crazy shit that you wouldn't expect happens when crazy scientists start messing around with the earth's rotation.
GMD
They're buying your personal information so they can either use it to fill your mailbox with their junk or everyone's junk. There's no other reason for them not to do rebates at the POS/cash register.
Are you crazy? There's a big reason: most people are so damn lazy and/or disorganized that they never send in their rebate. If companies gave the rebate right there at the cash register without the customer doing anything, they would HAVE TO pay out the bucks. I'd be interested in seeing statistics on how many rebate offers actually get sent in by consumers. I bet it's a fairly low percentage. It's brilliant: the company gets to advertise a low price for their product but, in actuality, they rarely have to make that big a sacrifice.
GMD
I haven't talked to my "wife to be" about the engagement ring yet (touchy topic),...
A few people have already said something along these lines, but let me make it a bit more explicit. If this topic gets her emotional than perhaps you'd better do whatever the hell she wants. She clearly cares about this issue and I don't think you are doing yourself a service by researching something behind her back. That is, unless you feel equally passionate about the subject of engagement rings (however, most guys don't). At the very least should be discussing this openly with her. I think she's going to be mucho pissedo (that's Spanish for "very upset") that you are soliciting the opinions of a bunch of online geeks that you've never met before sitting down with her and having a very heart-to-heart talk about this. Remember, if there is one thing that women want, it's to be the #1 priority in your life. She wants you to listen to her opinions and feelings. Not to tell her there are "better ways".
Personally, I would discuss the wedding ring issue with your girlfriend RIGHT NOW and make sure she's at least open to options. If she's not, then drop it. Do what she wants. If she is open to new ideas, THEN start to do your research, perhaps getting her to help you. I don't know your girlfriend but most women would not be pleased to find out that you've done all this research on ring alternatives without even discussing the idea with her first.
GMD
He sounds like a great coach. I wish we had more people like this in charge of youth sports today rather than the "victory at any cost" mentality that is so pervasive. Personally, I would have found advice like that much more inspirational and motivational than the typical crap that high school coaches feed impressionable young minds today.
GMD
Yes, different people will have different sets of genes, but with gen-eng, it will be possible to move from any one type to any other, ie "upward mobility" will be possible for everyone, which is infinitely preferable to what we have now where people are stuck with the gene's they're born with.
Actually, upward mobility *is* possible for everyone. It's called working hard to better yourself -- regardless of your genetics. Look, I'll grant that genetics certainly make a lot of things easier. But one factor that people seem to forget is motivation. I've seen people who have had things easy throughout their teenage years because of their genetics. These can be those genius kids that always got 100s on the math tests without even paying attention in class. Or it can be those natural athletes that were always the stars even though they didn't seem to try so hard at practice. But how many of those actually achieved success as adults? Oftentimes, these people never learn how to push themselves because it wasn't necessary in their youth. By the time they grow up and enter a much bigger pond ("the world") they finally come up against challenges that require a lot of effort. But they are simply incapable of generating signficant effort at that point in their life -- they don't have experience doing so. Meanwhile, the above-average people who had to work hard for everything all their life are still improving and are able to compete in the new, larger environment.
While genetic engineering will probably play some role in determining who is successful and who is not, I think it is naive to downplay the effect of nuture over nature in determining the ultimate course of a human being. Even in a world were genetic engineering is rampant, those who cannot afford the modifications will be able to compete. They'll have to work their asses off, but they will be able to do it. Don't underestimate the power of the human spirit and determination.
GMD