Looks like ol' Alex got "Jocelyn Bell-ed". Any of you who don't know what that means, google for her. She got screwed out of a Nobel Prize for discovering pulsars even though she did all the work for it as a grad student. *sigh*
Perhaps you've heard of childhood obesity. I hear it's a gigantic problem. Obesity overtook smoking as the number one preventable cause of death in the US. So, yes, games are great, I love my Gamecube more than I care to admit...but exercise is good for kids. I'm sure a compromise between videogames and athletic activity can be struck.
CS Lewis is famous for his Christian writings. He's well-known for that, and it's also evident in the morality in Chronicles of Narnia. That's why Christians love him. The "magic" in Narnia is more magic in the Christian "let me heal and protect you" sense than the dark art sense like in Harry Potter. From what I remember, anyways. I might be remembering things incorrectly.
I'll risk my karma and post as "grungebox." No AC for me!
It's weird how we Americans hate porn so much more than violent media. I know when I was 5, my dad let me watch Die Hard on video since it was all violence and no sex. That seems inherently backwards when I reflect upon his thinking. I mean, violence is not a natural, productive extension of human behavior. Sex is. No, I'm not riding against GTA or something (especially since the package is clearly marked M for Mature), since escapist violence has its place as entertainment as well.
Here are the popular arguments I hear (and the responses) against kids seeing porn: 1) They'll become rapists Answer: Rape is widely viewed as being linked to violence rather than sexual gratification. It's a crime of power. Even if rape is linked to sexual needs, the personal threshold to commit such an atrocity is probably linked to either inherent psychological detriments or a desensitized state of being regarding violent acts, which probably has more to do with 9-year-olds playing GTA than 9-year-olds reading Playboy. 2) Kids will become addicted to porn like drugs Answer: Stop watching Jerry Falwell. Porn has no chemical dependency, and if a child wishes to explore what they're born with, who is it harming? They're not going to go blind 3) Date rapes are about getting some, not violence. Kids will feel a need for sex if they're exposed to porn, and they'll get it one way or another Answer: This relates to the answer to 1), but also has a separate argument. The contention that seeing porn -> needing sex is tenuous, and is hardly more persuasive than "not seeing porn -> curiousity/forbidden fruit -> needing sex". If you've never seen a person naked, the appeal is heightened in hormonally-charged situations such as dates. Frankly, the idea of something being banned for kids only makes them more interested. Ask George Bush Sr. and his oh-so-successful War on Drugs. 4) Children become densensitized to sex, making sex less enjoyable. Answer: Okay, that's a legitimate concern, and I'd be willing to agree. However, that hardly warrants the extremely unconstitutional methods proposed by current anti-porn legislation. Perhaps schools ought actively engage in sexual discourse, but that ain't happening in this lifetime.
I'm sure there are some holes in the arguments. No pun intended.
I'm about to enter graduate school at Rice, specializing in nanoscience (like you can specialize in that broad an area!)...it's good to know I won't be grey goo-ed one day while in the lab.
I'm going into EE at Rice for grad school in the fall, planning to specialize in nanoengineering. Rice is one of the few schools I know of (actually, the only one) that has a center to analyze social effects of nanoscience. Anyways, some other Rice links:
Sorry, I couldn't find any sites about how nanoscience is going to kill us all:)
People sometimes do this out of anger...
on
eBay Fraud Vigilantes
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
A while ago some people were auctioning off CD's with all the cartoons from Homestar Runner on eBay. Some fans got pissed at the people selling the CD's and overbid them to millions of dollars. I've seen it happen to people trying to sell CD's of Penny Arcade strips as well.
...the excess people can work at the local Chut-Nee-Mart. Just imagine Johnny American saying "Thank you, come again." Maybe he has a degree from CalTech (not Calcutta Technical Institute, in this case).
Seriously, though, this seems like a bad idea. Someone above mentioned the earnings differential. Sure, you'll be okay in India, but you'll have nothing if you come back stateside. Also, it seems like bad news to go where a) there are already tons of hard-working programmers readily available from pretty good (and more importantly, rigorous) schools like the various IIT's in India and b) the jobs are right now (what happens if India realy DOES get saturated?).
I do like the idea of simply cutting people's wages here and hiring domestic workers. I know if I were at risk of being laid off, I'd be willing to take a sizable paycut to avoid unemployment.
Good job, genius. Ian Holm is the guy who played Bilbo in the trilogy. Ian McKellen played Gandalf. I know it's hard to grasp that more than one person in the world can be named "Ian," so I sympathize with your idiocy.
The PS2 had over 13 months (well, 13 months and a day) lead time over its competitors. That's a long time to build a user base. Also, the PS2 was a big technological leap from the PS1, while the DS seems more gimmicky than anything else. It doesn't/probably won't have the same momentum going for it as the PS2 did entering its launch date. You make a good point, but I'm not inclined to agree with you.
Wow...what great analysis. Mods? Where are you? Mod this guy +1 Insightful! The PS1 is an old system that no longer has games made for it, dude. That's also a poor analogy, since the N-Gage has better graphics than the GBA yet the latter is far more popular. Maybe games and name brands are important too?
The GBA was never intended to be a GCN in your hands. It's between a SNES and PS1 in terms of graphics power, and it does that just fine. If you judge handhelds as their own market, the GBA has fantastic graphics.
That being said, I also wouldn't rush to crown Sony just yet. Nintendo has had the handheld market for years, first because of Mario and then because of Pokemon. Now, it has the added bonus of GCN connectivity, an unfortunate necessity in games like Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles but a pleasant side bonus for other games such as Zelda, Metroid Prime, Splinter Cell, etc...
Remember the Game Gear? Or its innovative yet poorly received cousin the Nomad? Sega had a brand name (Sonic) at the time, something Sony doesn't really have to the same degree. I think the PSP will target your market, people who want high-end portable graphics, but there are lots of kids who like Pokemon and Mario just fine in 2D form.
I have a hunch the PSP will be almost as big a flop as the N-Gage, but that's largely a guess then educated prognosticating.
I know many Americans resent programming jobs going to India. A decade ago, did Indian engineers/programmers resent America for forcing them to leave to find jobs in a land far from home?
Some of my cousins in India tell me that those tech center jobs, such as Dell Tech Support, are actually prestigious in India. Is a tech center job really considered a job to brag about, even though in the US tech support people aren't really admired, to say the least?
"Which is correct as the plural of LEGO: 'Lego' or 'Legos'? Neither, actually. The word 'LEGO', when used as a noun, should only refer to the company that makes the product. Otherwise 'LEGO' is supposed to be used as an adjective. Thus, when referring to the pieces, neither 'lego' nor 'legos' is correct... rather one should say: 'LEGO bricks' or 'LEGO pieces' or whatever (using LEGO as an adjective -- and one should really capitalize all of the letters, and put the little 'circle-R' symbol after it ((R))). This is all a matter of protecting the trademark of 'LEGO' for the company (using it otherwise degenerates the strength of the trademark). This is not to say that I use the word correctly 100% of the time... but that's the answer to the question (it's always fun/painful to read the near-flame-wars that start at slashdot.org over this topic... and generally, both sides are wrong)."
Wow, what if martian rocks contained some sort of magnetic component and the scientists studying those rocks wanted to analyze them in a practical, rational manner? Would that be magmatism magnetism pragmatism?
Maybe those rocks are the results of primitive Martian interplanetary weapons tests. After all, they have to make sure mere rocks can make it here before they send plasma-nuclear-hyper-transmogrifying-death bombs, right?
Oh geez, I better load up on duct tape if the fucking Martians are coming.
There is a Kate Rose in Evangelion. Her name is Asuka Langley. Kate Rose rolls off the tongue better, could probably sell better as an action figure, and pleases the studio putting up the 100 mil.
And, on top of it all, the name change isn't definite. It's probably a temporary thing stuck on by the Weta guys/gals. I doubt they've decided on names this far in advance when there isn't even a script to speak of as far as I know. So, don't cry just yet, Tyrdium. They may keep Asuka as Asuka.
Slashdot Mirror
Looks like ol' Alex got "Jocelyn Bell-ed". Any of you who don't know what that means, google for her. She got screwed out of a Nobel Prize for discovering pulsars even though she did all the work for it as a grad student. *sigh*
Perhaps you've heard of childhood obesity. I hear it's a gigantic problem. Obesity overtook smoking as the number one preventable cause of death in the US. So, yes, games are great, I love my Gamecube more than I care to admit...but exercise is good for kids. I'm sure a compromise between videogames and athletic activity can be struck.
CS Lewis is famous for his Christian writings. He's well-known for that, and it's also evident in the morality in Chronicles of Narnia. That's why Christians love him. The "magic" in Narnia is more magic in the Christian "let me heal and protect you" sense than the dark art sense like in Harry Potter. From what I remember, anyways. I might be remembering things incorrectly.
It's weird how we Americans hate porn so much more than violent media. I know when I was 5, my dad let me watch Die Hard on video since it was all violence and no sex. That seems inherently backwards when I reflect upon his thinking. I mean, violence is not a natural, productive extension of human behavior. Sex is. No, I'm not riding against GTA or something (especially since the package is clearly marked M for Mature), since escapist violence has its place as entertainment as well.
Here are the popular arguments I hear (and the responses) against kids seeing porn:
1) They'll become rapists
Answer: Rape is widely viewed as being linked to violence rather than sexual gratification. It's a crime of power. Even if rape is linked to sexual needs, the personal threshold to commit such an atrocity is probably linked to either inherent psychological detriments or a desensitized state of being regarding violent acts, which probably has more to do with 9-year-olds playing GTA than 9-year-olds reading Playboy.
2) Kids will become addicted to porn like drugs
Answer: Stop watching Jerry Falwell. Porn has no chemical dependency, and if a child wishes to explore what they're born with, who is it harming? They're not going to go blind
3) Date rapes are about getting some, not violence. Kids will feel a need for sex if they're exposed to porn, and they'll get it one way or another
Answer: This relates to the answer to 1), but also has a separate argument. The contention that seeing porn -> needing sex is tenuous, and is hardly more persuasive than "not seeing porn -> curiousity/forbidden fruit -> needing sex". If you've never seen a person naked, the appeal is heightened in hormonally-charged situations such as dates. Frankly, the idea of something being banned for kids only makes them more interested. Ask George Bush Sr. and his oh-so-successful War on Drugs. 4) Children become densensitized to sex, making sex less enjoyable.
Answer: Okay, that's a legitimate concern, and I'd be willing to agree. However, that hardly warrants the extremely unconstitutional methods proposed by current anti-porn legislation. Perhaps schools ought actively engage in sexual discourse, but that ain't happening in this lifetime.
I'm sure there are some holes in the arguments. No pun intended.
I'm about to enter graduate school at Rice, specializing in nanoscience (like you can specialize in that broad an area!)...it's good to know I won't be grey goo-ed one day while in the lab.
Then, of course, I got your joke. Man...I have this inner troll that just wants to flamebait out.
Smalley's Group (he and Curl discovered Buckyballs)
:)
Halas's Nanophotonics Group
CNST at Rice
Vicki Colvin's Intro to Nanoscience
Sorry, I couldn't find any sites about how nanoscience is going to kill us all
A while ago some people were auctioning off CD's with all the cartoons from Homestar Runner on eBay. Some fans got pissed at the people selling the CD's and overbid them to millions of dollars. I've seen it happen to people trying to sell CD's of Penny Arcade strips as well.
...the excess people can work at the local Chut-Nee-Mart. Just imagine Johnny American saying "Thank you, come again." Maybe he has a degree from CalTech (not Calcutta Technical Institute, in this case).
Seriously, though, this seems like a bad idea. Someone above mentioned the earnings differential. Sure, you'll be okay in India, but you'll have nothing if you come back stateside. Also, it seems like bad news to go where
a) there are already tons of hard-working programmers readily available from pretty good (and more importantly, rigorous) schools like the various IIT's in India and
b) the jobs are right now (what happens if India realy DOES get saturated?).
I do like the idea of simply cutting people's wages here and hiring domestic workers. I know if I were at risk of being laid off, I'd be willing to take a sizable paycut to avoid unemployment.
Nice try, but you gotta do a little more to get mod points :)
For $1000, that had better be good. How much do you people spend to build your own cabinet?
Good job, genius. Ian Holm is the guy who played Bilbo in the trilogy. Ian McKellen played Gandalf. I know it's hard to grasp that more than one person in the world can be named "Ian," so I sympathize with your idiocy.
The PS2 had over 13 months (well, 13 months and a day) lead time over its competitors. That's a long time to build a user base. Also, the PS2 was a big technological leap from the PS1, while the DS seems more gimmicky than anything else. It doesn't/probably won't have the same momentum going for it as the PS2 did entering its launch date. You make a good point, but I'm not inclined to agree with you.
Wow...what great analysis. Mods? Where are you? Mod this guy +1 Insightful! The PS1 is an old system that no longer has games made for it, dude. That's also a poor analogy, since the N-Gage has better graphics than the GBA yet the latter is far more popular. Maybe games and name brands are important too?
That being said, I also wouldn't rush to crown Sony just yet. Nintendo has had the handheld market for years, first because of Mario and then because of Pokemon. Now, it has the added bonus of GCN connectivity, an unfortunate necessity in games like Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles but a pleasant side bonus for other games such as Zelda, Metroid Prime, Splinter Cell, etc...
Remember the Game Gear? Or its innovative yet poorly received cousin the Nomad? Sega had a brand name (Sonic) at the time, something Sony doesn't really have to the same degree. I think the PSP will target your market, people who want high-end portable graphics, but there are lots of kids who like Pokemon and Mario just fine in 2D form.
I have a hunch the PSP will be almost as big a flop as the N-Gage, but that's largely a guess then educated prognosticating.
The astronomer is from a group called JIVE? That's whack, yo.
Is she in the hackers hall of fame? Perhaps Matthew Lillard as well? Where are AcidBurn and ZeroCool when you need 'em?
I know many Americans resent programming jobs going to India. A decade ago, did Indian engineers/programmers resent America for forcing them to leave to find jobs in a land far from home?
Some of my cousins in India tell me that those tech center jobs, such as Dell Tech Support, are actually prestigious in India. Is a tech center job really considered a job to brag about, even though in the US tech support people aren't really admired, to say the least?
or the fact that the reporter misspelled it as "WMD" in the second to last paragraph...
So does that mean we finally found them?
"Which is correct as the plural of LEGO: 'Lego' or 'Legos'?
Neither, actually. The word 'LEGO', when used as a noun, should only refer to the company that makes the product. Otherwise 'LEGO' is supposed to be used as an adjective. Thus, when referring to the pieces, neither 'lego' nor 'legos' is correct... rather one should say: 'LEGO bricks' or 'LEGO pieces' or whatever (using LEGO as an adjective -- and one should really capitalize all of the letters, and put the little 'circle-R' symbol after it ((R))). This is all a matter of protecting the trademark of 'LEGO' for the company (using it otherwise degenerates the strength of the trademark). This is not to say that I use the word correctly 100% of the time... but that's the answer to the question (it's always fun/painful to read the near-flame-wars that start at slashdot.org over this topic... and generally, both sides are wrong)."
"Crikey! It looks like we got us 'ere another Martian rock! Dange'! Dange'!"
I don't suppose Carine or Bruno brought a baby along, did they?
Wow...that was awful. -1, sucky jokex0r
Oh geez, I better load up on duct tape if the fucking Martians are coming.
And, on top of it all, the name change isn't definite. It's probably a temporary thing stuck on by the Weta guys/gals. I doubt they've decided on names this far in advance when there isn't even a script to speak of as far as I know. So, don't cry just yet, Tyrdium. They may keep Asuka as Asuka.
What do you think they'll call Pen-pen?