See all those sites you visit with a facebook like button. Those images are usually served from facebook, not the site you're visiting.
If facebook ever goes down for an extended period of time, it would probably halt half the internet (which may be a good thing).
I remember it used to be the case that you had to want 10-20 seconds for adserve....facebook.com to timeout before blockbuster.com would respond at all.
Yeah, so ridiculous, it's what happened for the last 6 decades and still happens in Europe.
Compleeetely impossible... riiiiight!
I can't speak for the pay adjustments, but the vacation allowance in Europe does not come courtesy of corporation goodwill. European countries mandate minimal vacation days (e.g., Germany requires 24 work days paid vacation or about 5 weeks by US standards).
Consider the fact that your government confiscates ever greater amounts of your pay and savings via inflation. There is a reason that real income peaked while hours worked per family bottomed in 1971.
I do not believe that inflation has been particularly notable in United States. United States is number 35 right before France and Canada. Unless you can demonstrate that other countries do not suffer from similar inflation, I do not see your point
Everyone is subject to inflation, but in some places average salary is adjusted to compensate for that fact. Apparently, it hasn't been the case in US for the last few decades.
It wouldn't matter who's the temporary president anyway. President's come and go. All the big businesses and secret gov't agencies are there long before and long afterwards.
Very good point, thank you
There was a fascinating article about Obama's administration frantically working on legal framework/rules for the drone strikes before the election, just in case Romney came to power (they couldn't trust someone else with power to kill). They have now stopped working on it.
I wonder what is the plan for 4 years down the line? Repeal the two-term presidential limits? Sometimes it's almost like they don't realize that any new power they acquire will be available to the other side when it comes into control instead of them.
Terrorism is a specific danger to national security. Everyone agrees to fight terrorism using whatever means available.
Not it is not! It is not a specific threat at all - contrary to the tired phrase, the post-9/11 world is the same as the pre-9/11 world
TSA has never caught a terrorist in 11+ years (a couple idiots got tackled by passengers, that's about it)
Is there any definitive proof that terrorism attempts or risks have gone up even a little bit since the 90s? Besides the 100X increased the funding to various anti-terrorism agencies?
Well, how did it get those records? What are the records? What means is it using to get more records? Think a little.
I think this quote from the article sums up the attitude of our friendly government agencies
(regarding the need to purge records of the innocent people during the intelligence data gathering):
But they didn't always know who was innocent. A person might seem innocent today, until new details emerge tomorrow.
A lot of people will "agree in the name of national security" that they won't fight it.
Who cares about "a lot of people", the Constitution certainly does not turn on popular opinion
There will be _someone_ to fight it -- most likely ACLU. Now all we need is for courts (particularly the supreme court) to start doing their job properly.
What I'm waiting for is when Home Depot's competitor has a camera scanning the Home Depot parking lot and sending you a coupon for 15% off their store before you even walk into Home Depot.
Yes, because an urgent email from [hardware store] providing me with 15% discount will totally stop me in my tracks right before I enter Home Depot.
Unless they are also going to blindfold and kidnap their customers at the parking lot to make sure these customers make the right choice.
When you have hundreds if not thousands of highly educated minds bent on squeezing out the very last drop of speed to facilitate an activity which is right up there with spamming in terms of societal benefit, well it strikes me as a tremendous and tragic waste.
It is only sad that people are working to squeeze more speed from the transmission speed
The truly tragic part is that people get an edge by buying server rooms closer to the stock market to win a few picoseconds
That's like paying $100 bucks to the dealer to be able to see other guy's hand in a poker game.
If it needs quick transmission of information, then it does reflect reality.
Oh it reflects reality, alright. But it is detached from the companies whose stocks the market is supposed to represent
It reacts to other people buying/selling -- a few flash crashes have already demonstrated that. One faulty algorithm accidentally dumps lots of stocks and the entire market goes into a tailspin (with no actual cause)
Don't hype it too much, you're unnecessarily raising the expectations of new players.
For someone used to modern video games, it's just not that good.
The game is absolutely excellent. It cannot be hyped too much
For someone used to mindlessly clicking on enemies and having the storyline delivered via cut-scenes, the game may not be too good. But if you are willing to read for the story, you should be fine even today
Also, while I am at it, there is a high-res mod available. That may be useful to today's gamer.
If you enjoy reading and enjoy gaming and haven't played the original Planescape Torment, go do so right now.
Yes! That cannot be emphasized enough.
I've played it through twice and still have loads of quests and factions and NPCs I wasn't able to find/join/experience. And I'm still searching for another answer for the question, both in the game and in real life, that you encounter again and again: "What can change the nature of a man?"
I have played through a couple of times (second time with a walk-through), but I am still trying to figure out why the "current" incarnation is not forgetting everything with every death anymore. You can lead a dialog with Nordom towards that question, even, but I couldn't get any suggestions out of him.
Planescape was such a wonderful game because there was a lot of interesting dialog (I believe all but 4 situations in the entire game could potentially be resolved without fighting, by bluff/threats/etc)
The game probably failed (commercially) because it required a lot of reading. What are the chances they will risk doing that again?
47 million on food stamps, average welfare spending per poor household is HIGHER than median income
[Citation needed]
That seems unlikely, as median income is (so far) above the poverty line (42K, I think vs 14-18K poverty line, depending on number of children). I doubt that the welfare offered exceeds the poverty line by a factor of two, which is what you seem to be claiming. It is even less likely that the average welfare per household did.
I just read a story about an illegal immigrant getting a free kidney transplant
[Citation needed]
How would an illegal immigrant have insurance?
If you are in America and not getting money for nothing you are a moron now
Lose your job, go below the poverty line and you could get money for nothing too! You wouldn't like it thought.
Welfare spending in 2012 has exceeded $1 Trillion.
The economy had collapsed recently and unemployment is high. There are more people needing welfare than in other years (say, before the last implosion). The number of $ means nothing without considering current unemployment rates, overall inflation, etc.
As soon as Steamboat Mickey is in the public domain I'm going to burn that shit on billions of DVDs and just sell it on the street.
What _is_ this worth to Disney, exactly?
The Mickey character is presumably trademarked -- so how much money are they making from the Steamboat Mickey cartoons? Does anyone know?
1) When the invaders come, roll over and become their slaves.
2) When the invaders come, kill them all.
I am almost certain that the saying refers to wars that are motivated as pre-emptive strikes.
Fighting back against invaders is more of a "fighting for freedom" than a "fighting for peace"
This is the only sensible position I've seen on this subject. If you're concerned about what Facebook will do with information concerning you (note: not "your" information), then don't give it to them.
I respectfully disagree. The information is mine (posts are copyrighted, surely?) and there should be some degree of control over that information. By that logic -- "if you are concerned with what Google may do with your emails, don't open a Gmail account". "If you are concerned with what a physician may do with your medical history, don't go to a doctor" "If you are concerned with what bank may do with your money, do not give bank any of your money"
Also, I am concerned about what other users give to facebook about me. Sometimes simply creating the account is enough to give away a crapload of information. I never understood people who have the time to go through and mark things like "I know this person because I worked with them at X" on Facebook. They are literally working for Facebook with no benefit to them.
They still put CSS on DVDs. That doesn't mean it does anything to protect anything.
Sure it does. Or something does, anyway.
Whatever they put on DVDs protects at least a third of them from properly playing in my (windows) laptop DVD drive.
It may not deter copying, but it sure does something
What happens when corporations can no longer exploit global wage differences?
You mean when corporation cannot exploit global wage differences any futher than they already do?
They will demand more tax breaks or incentives for the good of the economy.
Take the Hulu example, (or CD's), Hulu seemed great, until people realized the piratebay was still better.
Hulu is my favorite mystery.
They gained brand recognition, decided to deploy a paid account option... but the paid accounts are still forced into watching commercials every 7 minutes (so all you gain is a larger catalog).
Moving to internet streaming away from cable tv was to avoid the intelligence-insulting commercials.
Oh and one final nit to pick....why is the GOG guys getting screwed on prices?
I suggest you just buy games as they go on sale. GOG regularly does half-price sales and that's when I get most of the games in my collection. It's not like they are going anywhere (and its not like I have any time to play them anyway:).
Slashdot Mirror
See all those sites you visit with a facebook like button. Those images are usually served from facebook, not the site you're visiting.
If facebook ever goes down for an extended period of time, it would probably halt half the internet (which may be a good thing).
I remember it used to be the case that you had to want 10-20 seconds for adserve....facebook.com to timeout before blockbuster.com would respond at all.
Yeah, so ridiculous, it's what happened for the last 6 decades and still happens in Europe.
Compleeetely impossible... riiiiight!
I can't speak for the pay adjustments, but the vacation allowance in Europe does not come courtesy of corporation goodwill.
European countries mandate minimal vacation days (e.g., Germany requires 24 work days paid vacation or about 5 weeks by US standards).
Consider the fact that your government confiscates ever greater amounts of your pay and savings via inflation. There is a reason that real income peaked while hours worked per family bottomed in 1971.
I do not believe that inflation has been particularly notable in United States. United States is number 35 right before France and Canada. Unless you can demonstrate that other countries do not suffer from similar inflation, I do not see your point
Everyone is subject to inflation, but in some places average salary is adjusted to compensate for that fact. Apparently, it hasn't been the case in US for the last few decades.
It wouldn't matter who's the temporary president anyway. President's come and go. All the big businesses and secret gov't agencies are there long before and long afterwards.
Very good point, thank you
There was a fascinating article about Obama's administration frantically working on legal framework/rules for the drone strikes before the election, just in case Romney came to power (they couldn't trust someone else with power to kill). They have now stopped working on it.
I wonder what is the plan for 4 years down the line? Repeal the two-term presidential limits? Sometimes it's almost like they don't realize that any new power they acquire will be available to the other side when it comes into control instead of them.
Terrorism is a specific danger to national security. Everyone agrees to fight terrorism using whatever means available.
Not it is not! It is not a specific threat at all - contrary to the tired phrase, the post-9/11 world is the same as the pre-9/11 world
TSA has never caught a terrorist in 11+ years (a couple idiots got tackled by passengers, that's about it)
Is there any definitive proof that terrorism attempts or risks have gone up even a little bit since the 90s? Besides the 100X increased the funding to various anti-terrorism agencies?
Well, how did it get those records? What are the records? What means is it using to get more records? Think a little.
I think this quote from the article sums up the attitude of our friendly government agencies (regarding the need to purge records of the innocent people during the intelligence data gathering):
But they didn't always know who was innocent. A person might seem innocent today, until new details emerge tomorrow.
A lot of people will "agree in the name of national security" that they won't fight it.
Who cares about "a lot of people", the Constitution certainly does not turn on popular opinion
There will be _someone_ to fight it -- most likely ACLU. Now all we need is for courts (particularly the supreme court) to start doing their job properly.
Next feature: If you want explicit results, you have to submit an example image of what you are searching for.
What I'm waiting for is when Home Depot's competitor has a camera scanning the Home Depot parking lot and sending you a coupon for 15% off their store before you even walk into Home Depot.
Yes, because an urgent email from [hardware store] providing me with 15% discount will totally stop me in my tracks right before I enter Home Depot.
Unless they are also going to blindfold and kidnap their customers at the parking lot to make sure these customers make the right choice.
When you have hundreds if not thousands of highly educated minds bent on squeezing out the very last drop of speed to facilitate an activity which is right up there with spamming in terms of societal benefit, well it strikes me as a tremendous and tragic waste.
It is only sad that people are working to squeeze more speed from the transmission speed
The truly tragic part is that people get an edge by buying server rooms closer to the stock market to win a few picoseconds
That's like paying $100 bucks to the dealer to be able to see other guy's hand in a poker game.
If it needs quick transmission of information, then it does reflect reality.
Oh it reflects reality, alright. But it is detached from the companies whose stocks the market is supposed to represent
It reacts to other people buying/selling -- a few flash crashes have already demonstrated that. One faulty algorithm accidentally dumps lots of stocks and the entire market goes into a tailspin (with no actual cause)
In the world of high-frequency stock trading, every millisecond is money
Always good to be reassured that the market reflects the intrinsic value of the companies instead of behaving as a high-tech casino.
Don't hype it too much, you're unnecessarily raising the expectations of new players.
For someone used to modern video games, it's just not that good.
The game is absolutely excellent. It cannot be hyped too much
For someone used to mindlessly clicking on enemies and having the storyline delivered via cut-scenes, the game may not be too good. But if you are willing to read for the story, you should be fine even today
Also, while I am at it, there is a high-res mod available. That may be useful to today's gamer.
If you enjoy reading and enjoy gaming and haven't played the original Planescape Torment, go do so right now.
Yes! That cannot be emphasized enough.
I've played it through twice and still have loads of quests and factions and NPCs I wasn't able to find/join/experience. And I'm still searching for another answer for the question, both in the game and in real life, that you encounter again and again: "What can change the nature of a man?"
I have played through a couple of times (second time with a walk-through), but I am still trying to figure out why the "current" incarnation is not forgetting everything with every death anymore. You can lead a dialog with Nordom towards that question, even, but I couldn't get any suggestions out of him.
The game probably failed (commercially) because it required a lot of reading. What are the chances they will risk doing that again?
47 million on food stamps, average welfare spending per poor household is HIGHER than median income
[Citation needed]
That seems unlikely, as median income is (so far) above the poverty line (42K, I think vs 14-18K poverty line, depending on number of children). I doubt that the welfare offered exceeds the poverty line by a factor of two, which is what you seem to be claiming. It is even less likely that the average welfare per household did.
I just read a story about an illegal immigrant getting a free kidney transplant
[Citation needed]
How would an illegal immigrant have insurance?
If you are in America and not getting money for nothing you are a moron now
Lose your job, go below the poverty line and you could get money for nothing too! You wouldn't like it thought.
Welfare spending in 2012 has exceeded $1 Trillion.
The economy had collapsed recently and unemployment is high. There are more people needing welfare than in other years (say, before the last implosion). The number of $ means nothing without considering current unemployment rates, overall inflation, etc.
As soon as Steamboat Mickey is in the public domain I'm going to burn that shit on billions of DVDs and just sell it on the street.
What _is_ this worth to Disney, exactly?
The Mickey character is presumably trademarked -- so how much money are they making from the Steamboat Mickey cartoons? Does anyone know?
we have come to a stage where pretty much everything we do is getting richer the rich ... pushing for lower salaries and less benefits
That process has a natural stopping point.
What happens when everyone except the top-1% is below the poverty line?
1) When the invaders come, roll over and become their slaves.
2) When the invaders come, kill them all.
I am almost certain that the saying refers to wars that are motivated as pre-emptive strikes.
Fighting back against invaders is more of a "fighting for freedom" than a "fighting for peace"
The "right not to be punched in the face" would harm health?
As they say,
"Fighting for peace" is roughly equivalent to "Screwing for virginity"
This is the only sensible position I've seen on this subject. If you're concerned about what Facebook will do with information concerning you (note: not "your" information), then don't give it to them.
I respectfully disagree. The information is mine (posts are copyrighted, surely?) and there should be some degree of control over that information. By that logic --
"if you are concerned with what Google may do with your emails, don't open a Gmail account".
"If you are concerned with what a physician may do with your medical history, don't go to a doctor"
"If you are concerned with what bank may do with your money, do not give bank any of your money"
Also, I am concerned about what other users give to facebook about me. Sometimes simply creating the account is enough to give away a crapload of information. I never understood people who have the time to go through and mark things like "I know this person because I worked with them at X" on Facebook. They are literally working for Facebook with no benefit to them.
They still put CSS on DVDs. That doesn't mean it does anything to protect anything.
Sure it does. Or something does, anyway.
Whatever they put on DVDs protects at least a third of them from properly playing in my (windows) laptop DVD drive.
It may not deter copying, but it sure does something
What happens when corporations can no longer exploit global wage differences?
You mean when corporation cannot exploit global wage differences any futher than they already do?
They will demand more tax breaks or incentives for the good of the economy.
Take the Hulu example, (or CD's), Hulu seemed great, until people realized the piratebay was still better.
Hulu is my favorite mystery.
They gained brand recognition, decided to deploy a paid account option... but the paid accounts are still forced into watching commercials every 7 minutes (so all you gain is a larger catalog).
Moving to internet streaming away from cable tv was to avoid the intelligence-insulting commercials.
Oh and one final nit to pick....why is the GOG guys getting screwed on prices?
I suggest you just buy games as they go on sale. :).
GOG regularly does half-price sales and that's when I get most of the games in my collection. It's not like they are going anywhere (and its not like I have any time to play them anyway