And 25 years ago, according to some old articles in Newsweek (and a few other places) Global Cooling was the new coming disaster.
It seems to me it was more like 30 years ago. Yes, then it was global cooling (the next ice age) and nuclear winter that were the hot, er, cool topics. I work with some of the so-called scientists who were once warning about a new ice age and are now claiming that global warming is caused by mankind, so I'm very suspicious of their conclusions. Having "Scientist" in one's job title doesn't make it true (or make one smart either).
You should go study some anthropology (and maybe also some psychology). There are and have always been a lot of people practicing all sorts of what's called "Permanent Body Modification" stuff. Also, there are and have been are lot of cultures in which an enlarged is or was considered a sign of beauty, power, social status, sexual desirability, or whatnot.
I am admittedly light on anthropology, but I have studied psychology. If you have evidence of a culture that venerates large anuses, I'd appreciate a link (and I'm sure my manager would too). On the hole, er, I mean whole, I think you're taking this discussion way too seriously.:) Perhaps your unfettered, objective views could use the addition of a little humor?
But that size thing doesn't really matter. It's the picture as such that matters. Most people don't even have a clue at all about possible sizes of such parts of human anatomy. It is stretchable by nature/design/function,after all.
IIRC, the person,ahem, behind the goatse site was practicing rectal expansion, which is something I've not heard of prior or since. Nature will not produce an anus any larger than what is needed to pass normal traffic. I can't recall anyone trying to make their mouths or nostrils larger. It's just plain weird.
Besides, that "head" size assessment of yours is rather exagerated as well . ..
Hey, what do you have against people with small heads, Mister Objective-view? That's a little judgemental isn't it?:)
But at the same time I also completely fail to understand what was so shocking about it. I mean: the goatse.cx picture was nothing more than a somewhat unusual display of human anatomy that 50% of the human population shares in almost exactly the same way, and the other 50% in a very similar way.
I hate to break this to you, but most people don't really have a rectal orifice big enough to accommodate their head.
But then again, I have not been raised in "bible haunted" America and compared to the average religious bigot - be (s)he Muslim, Christian, Jew, or whatever - I have a very much more objective view of many other things as well...
Heh, that's just begging for a punch line, but I'm not going there.:)
It is deeply disturbing to me that people imagine that starting a business gives them arbitrary powers of surveillance and coercion in that sphere.
I'm sitting on the fence in this discussion, but you bring up an interesting point. Are they really doing anything new? In a fancy clothier's shop, an attendant will be near you while in the fitting room (even if not directly observing you) and know what garments you have. Shopkeepers have always observed shoppers otherwise.
I suppose if you don't approve of the cameras, you could always try on the clothes right next to the rack. As long as you don't take off your underwear, you shouldn't be violating any indecent exposure laws. What the heck - people try on shoes right in front of God and everybody, right? After a few of us boomers start undressing in the shopping area, the cameras should be removed from the fitting rooms in no time. Problem solved.
The Palladium/NGSCB project was canceled and the team dismantled a while back.
Whoa! Now, suddenly it's total denial. There was even a grisly dismantling of the people involved. Obviously a stealth project. Could it get any worse?:)
Hmm. Impossible to pronounce - probably an attempt at security through obfuscation. Or maybe they found out they couldn't trademark "palladium" . . . no, wait, a company that can trademark "windows" could trademark anything. Okay, it's Microsoft, they're obviously up to no good.:)
Be nice if their a government agency that was totally devoted to fighting spam.
It would be nice if there was a government agency totally devoted to fighting mosquitos and another one totally devoted to giving me money. We already have an entire branch of government that should be devoted to protecting us from spam, and it is called the legislative branch (Congress for short). Unfortunately, they allowed themselves to be bought off by a number of mass-mailers that include Microsoft with the totally toothless CAN-SPAM act of 2003.
The act basically allows any company to email you as long as there is an opt-out provision. That opt-out may even include you sending a snail-mail letter and paying the postage. Or, if the opt-out link only works between 3:00 AM and 3:01 AM, that is also okay. If it takes two hours to work your way through the opt-out process or multiple replies, that is also okay. We have the best government that money can buy.
MS's sticker for computers is for compatability, not quality (in other words is it made from stuff on the windows hardware list). A quality sticker can be very helpful, if they bother to do serious testing.
And why would you think that an MS sticker on a peripheral would mean anything other than "fees paid"? If the "quality" of approved peripheral products matches the quality of MS software, that's not saying anything.
Personally, I can't blame them too much. 3rd Party products do cut into their profits. I mean, why would I show someone else how to make my lunch when they're going to be eating half of it?
I haven't seen anyone making third-party consoles. OTOH, if you're trying to sell an 8MB flash memory for $24 like Sony, that's laughable. For that money, you can get a 256MB USB flash drive. Sony doesn't even include a memory card with its console, and that's a very sad joke, especially when it has a history of not being able to keep stores stocked with "peripherals" (like memory cards).
As I understand the model, they should try everything possible to get the hardware in your hands so that you will buy more games.
Good thinking, but that's not the way MS thinks. MS has grown a monopolist midset from its PC software business. If they actually try to implement this lock-out scheme, it will be the death-knell of the XBox.
This would seem like a fair way to cover some of the huge manufacturing costs of these next-gen consoles.
What, by charging inflated prices for equipment? I've got a better idea. If console makers want to sell peripherals, they should make sure they have the best product. It's like Sony's PS(2) controllers. I learned my lesson by buying cheaper controllers - they aren't worth the money, so now I buy the real thing. Sony doesn't lose anything.
The console companies should absolutely not lock out third-party peripherals and addons: Take things like Codebreaker (and that other half-baked Gameshark thing). There is a symbiotic relationship that benefits the console maker, and if the console or game makers kill it, they will have fewer game sales. My reflexes aren't what they were a few decades ago, and there are some game franchises (007, etc.) I won't buy if they don't work with these addons.
The bottom line is that if there is a market for third-party products, it is because the console makers are not satisfying that market. MS, Sony, et al, need to concern themselves with their core product and ask themselves why they aren't fulfilling their customers' needs - not how to deny their customers what they want.
This will force MadCatz to start putting out quality accessories, and not crappy controllers that break 2 weeks after you buy them.
It won't force MadCatz to do anything except pay money to Microsoft and charge more for their products. If you know their stuff is crap, don't buy it in any case. A MS hologram isn't going to make it any better. If you think otherwise, I suggest you go look at all the dead Compaqs and Emachines with a MS sticker on them.
Women are still underrepresented in the top levels of government and industry.
Maybe most women are too ethical to stoop to the level it takes to get those jobs? Two female executives at Enron, Sharon Watkins and Lynn Brewer were whistle-blowers on the shady dealings. It's gotta be hard for an honest person to get the top job in today's kickback-fueled corpocracy.
Scrap the shuttle. Move the money to private industry (ala Burt Ruttan, Scaled Composites, etc.)
Who do you think builds the shuttle and stack components? Hint: It's not NASA; it's Rockwell, Morton Thiokol, Pratt & Whitney, etc. NASA puts out an RFP for a project, selects one of the resulting designs and pays the private contractor(s) to build it. If you just dump the money on private industry, all you'll get is rich CEOs partying in the Bahamas.
In 5 years, we'll all be in space just like the airline industry made air travel fast, safe, and affordable!
Wonderful. Let's discuss the bankruptcy record and past and recent government bailouts of the airline industry. Then there's United Airlines which just dumped its pension obligations on the American taxpayers while its CEO got $1.1 million. That's a great model to follow.
Sure, you can patch it - if you know how. Not everyone is a C programmer.
I believe the point is that even C programmers can't patch Windows, no matter how much they'd like to. You have to have the source code and the ability to build it to do that. Not everyone is a plumber. Would you rather have plumbing you can try to fix if you want or plumbing that can only be modified by an accredited plumbing updater on their schedule? You can teach yourself both C and plumbing - it's about choice and the freedom to modify or fix what you own.
i ask again why should i show any more respect to the pope then i do towards any other human being
You never asked why you should respect the Pope. There are many popes in the early history of the church that do not deserve respect. I suggested you should respect someone who has spent his life trying to do what's right, whether you agree or not. Why do you disrespect the Pope more than other human beings? Because of the title and your different faith, or do you normally label all old men as "evil"?
i respect people because of what they do, not because what they are called
See above.
if you tell the people that it is forbidden to use condoms it is just evil
No, it isn't. You and I may agree that it's not a very popular solution, but his church's beliefs offer an alternative: a monogamous marriage with no extra-marital sex. It may not be fun for the promiscuous, but it works for others (and any member of that church should be following its rules). And condoms don't help IV drug users.
he lets his believers croak at aids
I doubt there are many Catholic frogs. See above.
there are countrys where half of the adult population will die of aids in a few years if the rate of infection stays the same
There are countries like Niger where more than half the population will die a lot sooner than from aids if something isn't done, and that something is just a little food. You prattle on about a preventable disease while people are starving to death through no fault of their own. It seems you have more interest in condoms and aids rather than the welfare of people in developing countries.
Drop the shuttle, burn up the ISS, and start reaching for the stars from scratch.
Darned tootin', I agree. Same for those pesky Wright brothers - they'll never get anywhere with that bicyclioplane thing. Torch it all, and start fresh. (That was sarcasm for anyone who might really be wondering.)
Ya learn something every day - thanks. I had always thought the shuttle pilot was just a backup for the landing computers, but that's not true. It appears that the landing computers give up control at 25 miles out.
Lets not be hurling random processed debris into what could be a very delicately balanced mass reaction chamber, when we have not got clue one as to what the short or long term effects might be.
Yes, gotta be careful with those saturated fats. Then we'd have to start hurling periodic doses of Lipitor.:)
So atheists don't have respect for anyone or anything? I'm not a Catholic, but I can respect people who live their lives trying to do good.
he has very dangerous opinions on important things like aids and prevention
imho those stances are inhuman if you consider what is happening in the developing countrys
Are you in Niger handing out food? No? Why not? You must be evil.
the impression i got was that of a nasty old man when i saw the first pictures of him.
Your perceptions, like your philosophy, seem shallow.
there is an optical similarity between Palpatine and this Benedict
they both have this evil look
Perhaps one's visage is less important than one's actions, and I delicately skirt Godwin's rule here. Ratzinger was drafted into Axis forces and subsequently deserted while being a vocal critic of the regime. The penalty, if caught, was death. I would say he looks worn down by time and events that most of us will gladly never experience. He has admitted his time is short, like his namesake. If you can't show some respect, then just leave it alone.
Slashdot Mirror
And 25 years ago, according to some old articles in Newsweek (and a few other places) Global Cooling was the new coming disaster.
It seems to me it was more like 30 years ago. Yes, then it was global cooling (the next ice age) and nuclear winter that were the hot, er, cool topics. I work with some of the so-called scientists who were once warning about a new ice age and are now claiming that global warming is caused by mankind, so I'm very suspicious of their conclusions. Having "Scientist" in one's job title doesn't make it true (or make one smart either).
You should go study some anthropology (and maybe also some psychology). There are and have always been a lot of people practicing all sorts of what's called "Permanent Body Modification" stuff. Also, there are and have been are lot of cultures in which an enlarged is or was considered a sign of beauty, power, social status, sexual desirability, or whatnot.
I am admittedly light on anthropology, but I have studied psychology. If you have evidence of a culture that venerates large anuses, I'd appreciate a link (and I'm sure my manager would too). On the hole, er, I mean whole, I think you're taking this discussion way too seriously. :) Perhaps your unfettered, objective views could use the addition of a little humor?
But that size thing doesn't really matter. It's the picture as such that matters. Most people don't even have a clue at all about possible sizes of such parts of human anatomy. It is stretchable by nature/design/function,after all.
IIRC, the person ,ahem, behind the goatse site was practicing rectal expansion, which is something I've not heard of prior or since. Nature will not produce an anus any larger than what is needed to pass normal traffic. I can't recall anyone trying to make their mouths or nostrils larger. It's just plain weird.
Besides, that "head" size assessment of yours is rather exagerated as well . . .
Hey, what do you have against people with small heads, Mister Objective-view? That's a little judgemental isn't it? :)
But at the same time I also completely fail to understand what was so shocking about it. I mean: the goatse.cx picture was nothing more than a somewhat unusual display of human anatomy that 50% of the human population shares in almost exactly the same way, and the other 50% in a very similar way.
I hate to break this to you, but most people don't really have a rectal orifice big enough to accommodate their head.
But then again, I have not been raised in "bible haunted" America and compared to the average religious bigot - be (s)he Muslim, Christian, Jew, or whatever - I have a very much more objective view of many other things as well...
Heh, that's just begging for a punch line, but I'm not going there. :)
It is deeply disturbing to me that people imagine that starting a business gives them arbitrary powers of surveillance and coercion in that sphere.
I'm sitting on the fence in this discussion, but you bring up an interesting point. Are they really doing anything new? In a fancy clothier's shop, an attendant will be near you while in the fitting room (even if not directly observing you) and know what garments you have. Shopkeepers have always observed shoppers otherwise.
I suppose if you don't approve of the cameras, you could always try on the clothes right next to the rack. As long as you don't take off your underwear, you shouldn't be violating any indecent exposure laws. What the heck - people try on shoes right in front of God and everybody, right? After a few of us boomers start undressing in the shopping area, the cameras should be removed from the fitting rooms in no time. Problem solved.
The Palladium/NGSCB project was canceled and the team dismantled a while back.
Whoa! Now, suddenly it's total denial. There was even a grisly dismantling of the people involved. Obviously a stealth project. Could it get any worse? :)
Palladium is now called NGSCB.
Hmm. Impossible to pronounce - probably an attempt at security through obfuscation. Or maybe they found out they couldn't trademark "palladium" . . . no, wait, a company that can trademark "windows" could trademark anything. Okay, it's Microsoft, they're obviously up to no good. :)
Be nice if their a government agency that was totally devoted to fighting spam.
It would be nice if there was a government agency totally devoted to fighting mosquitos and another one totally devoted to giving me money. We already have an entire branch of government that should be devoted to protecting us from spam, and it is called the legislative branch (Congress for short). Unfortunately, they allowed themselves to be bought off by a number of mass-mailers that include Microsoft with the totally toothless CAN-SPAM act of 2003.
The act basically allows any company to email you as long as there is an opt-out provision. That opt-out may even include you sending a snail-mail letter and paying the postage. Or, if the opt-out link only works between 3:00 AM and 3:01 AM, that is also okay. If it takes two hours to work your way through the opt-out process or multiple replies, that is also okay. We have the best government that money can buy.
MS's sticker for computers is for compatability, not quality (in other words is it made from stuff on the windows hardware list). A quality sticker can be very helpful, if they bother to do serious testing.
And why would you think that an MS sticker on a peripheral would mean anything other than "fees paid"? If the "quality" of approved peripheral products matches the quality of MS software, that's not saying anything.
Personally, I can't blame them too much. 3rd Party products do cut into their profits. I mean, why would I show someone else how to make my lunch when they're going to be eating half of it?
I haven't seen anyone making third-party consoles. OTOH, if you're trying to sell an 8MB flash memory for $24 like Sony, that's laughable. For that money, you can get a 256MB USB flash drive. Sony doesn't even include a memory card with its console, and that's a very sad joke, especially when it has a history of not being able to keep stores stocked with "peripherals" (like memory cards).
As I understand the model, they should try everything possible to get the hardware in your hands so that you will buy more games.
Good thinking, but that's not the way MS thinks. MS has grown a monopolist midset from its PC software business. If they actually try to implement this lock-out scheme, it will be the death-knell of the XBox.
This would seem like a fair way to cover some of the huge manufacturing costs of these next-gen consoles.
What, by charging inflated prices for equipment? I've got a better idea. If console makers want to sell peripherals, they should make sure they have the best product. It's like Sony's PS(2) controllers. I learned my lesson by buying cheaper controllers - they aren't worth the money, so now I buy the real thing. Sony doesn't lose anything.
The console companies should absolutely not lock out third-party peripherals and addons: Take things like Codebreaker (and that other half-baked Gameshark thing). There is a symbiotic relationship that benefits the console maker, and if the console or game makers kill it, they will have fewer game sales. My reflexes aren't what they were a few decades ago, and there are some game franchises (007, etc.) I won't buy if they don't work with these addons.
The bottom line is that if there is a market for third-party products, it is because the console makers are not satisfying that market. MS, Sony, et al, need to concern themselves with their core product and ask themselves why they aren't fulfilling their customers' needs - not how to deny their customers what they want.
This will force MadCatz to start putting out quality accessories, and not crappy controllers that break 2 weeks after you buy them.
It won't force MadCatz to do anything except pay money to Microsoft and charge more for their products. If you know their stuff is crap, don't buy it in any case. A MS hologram isn't going to make it any better. If you think otherwise, I suggest you go look at all the dead Compaqs and Emachines with a MS sticker on them.
Lexmark? I believe they lost that case.
If only we'd gotten Elizabeth Dole instead of G. W. Bush. The world would likely be a different, and better, place.
Women are still underrepresented in the top levels of government and industry.
Maybe most women are too ethical to stoop to the level it takes to get those jobs? Two female executives at Enron, Sharon Watkins and Lynn Brewer were whistle-blowers on the shady dealings. It's gotta be hard for an honest person to get the top job in today's kickback-fueled corpocracy.
Scrap the shuttle. Move the money to private industry (ala Burt Ruttan, Scaled Composites, etc.)
Who do you think builds the shuttle and stack components? Hint: It's not NASA; it's Rockwell, Morton Thiokol, Pratt & Whitney, etc. NASA puts out an RFP for a project, selects one of the resulting designs and pays the private contractor(s) to build it. If you just dump the money on private industry, all you'll get is rich CEOs partying in the Bahamas.
In 5 years, we'll all be in space just like the airline industry made air travel fast, safe, and affordable!
Wonderful. Let's discuss the bankruptcy record and past and recent government bailouts of the airline industry. Then there's United Airlines which just dumped its pension obligations on the American taxpayers while its CEO got $1.1 million. That's a great model to follow.
Sure, you can patch it - if you know how. Not everyone is a C programmer.
I believe the point is that even C programmers can't patch Windows, no matter how much they'd like to. You have to have the source code and the ability to build it to do that. Not everyone is a plumber. Would you rather have plumbing you can try to fix if you want or plumbing that can only be modified by an accredited plumbing updater on their schedule? You can teach yourself both C and plumbing - it's about choice and the freedom to modify or fix what you own.
i ask again why should i show any more respect to the pope then i do towards any other human being
You never asked why you should respect the Pope. There are many popes in the early history of the church that do not deserve respect. I suggested you should respect someone who has spent his life trying to do what's right, whether you agree or not. Why do you disrespect the Pope more than other human beings? Because of the title and your different faith, or do you normally label all old men as "evil"?
i respect people because of what they do, not because what they are called
See above.
if you tell the people that it is forbidden to use condoms it is just evil
No, it isn't. You and I may agree that it's not a very popular solution, but his church's beliefs offer an alternative: a monogamous marriage with no extra-marital sex. It may not be fun for the promiscuous, but it works for others (and any member of that church should be following its rules). And condoms don't help IV drug users.
he lets his believers croak at aids
I doubt there are many Catholic frogs. See above.
there are countrys where half of the adult population will die of aids in a few years if the rate of infection stays the same
There are countries like Niger where more than half the population will die a lot sooner than from aids if something isn't done, and that something is just a little food. You prattle on about a preventable disease while people are starving to death through no fault of their own. It seems you have more interest in condoms and aids rather than the welfare of people in developing countries.
Drop the shuttle, burn up the ISS, and start reaching for the stars from scratch.
Darned tootin', I agree. Same for those pesky Wright brothers - they'll never get anywhere with that bicyclioplane thing. Torch it all, and start fresh. (That was sarcasm for anyone who might really be wondering.)
Ya learn something every day - thanks. I had always thought the shuttle pilot was just a backup for the landing computers, but that's not true. It appears that the landing computers give up control at 25 miles out.
Would be any takers if NASA were to auction the space returned garbage on ebay ?
That depends. I'd bid on a burned out circuit breaker or something like that, but forget the wool socks that were worn for three months.
Lets not be hurling random processed debris into what could be a very delicately balanced mass reaction chamber, when we have not got clue one as to what the short or long term effects might be.
Yes, gotta be careful with those saturated fats. Then we'd have to start hurling periodic doses of Lipitor. :)
why should i show respect?
i'm a atheist
So atheists don't have respect for anyone or anything? I'm not a Catholic, but I can respect people who live their lives trying to do good.
he has very dangerous opinions on important things like aids and prevention imho those stances are inhuman if you consider what is happening in the developing countrys
Are you in Niger handing out food? No? Why not? You must be evil.
the impression i got was that of a nasty old man when i saw the first pictures of him.
Your perceptions, like your philosophy, seem shallow.
there is an optical similarity between Palpatine and this Benedict they both have this evil look
Perhaps one's visage is less important than one's actions, and I delicately skirt Godwin's rule here. Ratzinger was drafted into Axis forces and subsequently deserted while being a vocal critic of the regime. The penalty, if caught, was death. I would say he looks worn down by time and events that most of us will gladly never experience. He has admitted his time is short, like his namesake. If you can't show some respect, then just leave it alone.