Another thing that the American public is confused about, is the difference between the way science uses the word "theory," and the colloquial use of the word. In other words, most Americans think "theory" means "hypothesis." They hear "the theory of evolution" as "the hypothesis of evolution" because they have that idiom, "it's just a theory," (meaning mere speculation), at the front of their minds. This gives rise to specious arguments, even from otherwise intelligent people, such as, "Gravity is just a theory, too!" Better to explain the difference between an hypothesis and a theory, if you're going to say anything at all.
Even if you show them that what they believe is bullshit, they still choose to believe it. Just look at religions all over the world.
Look, this is true, and there's a very good reason for that. The way our brains have evolved has made magical thinking inevitable. I'm sure I don't have to reiterate the current science, which most of you have already read/heard. Even those of us who consider ourselves rational, and most definitely not superstitious, are susceptible to magical thinking at times. I'm an atheist - have been since childhood - and yet I find myself, on those occasions when I buy a lottery ticket, asking the gods to please let me win. And isn't simply buying a lottery ticket an example of magical thinking? It's less a choice than an evolutionary trait. Nonetheless, more education, especially for the young, cannot hurt. I'm all for it.
How about that, so does my bank. I'm only allowed to use letters and numbers. I forget what the length limit is, but yeah, short for that kind of simple password. I have much better passwords for forums.
allsorts asks, "Why?" The only thing I can can come up with is they're too lazy to write the regex.
I've been railing about this for years, but since we're on passwords: Password Manager. They've had a decent one in OS X (Keychain) since at least 2002, which is how far back my saved passwords go. Since I began using it, and began creating unique and complicated passwords for each account, I've never had an account compromised. The only one I worry about is my bank with it's enforced simplicity.
Well yeah, sorta. The salt we mine was deposited by water, but of course that water originally got its salt (and every other mineral) from run-off. Salt's ultimate origin is from land. But, mined salt (rock salt) was deposited long before the oceans were polluted, and pollution is O.P.'s concern. Whether or not that's a valid concern is another matter...
You couldn't pay me to use Windows 8 (unless it was a lot of money), so why the fuck do you think I would want it for free with crapware installed on it?
It would be nice to have a free copy to install on my Mac, just in case I ever found a need to use it. It seems like I wanted Windows to do something at one point... Of course, if it's a crippled copy, probably better to just pirate it. Which really isn't worth the trouble if I think about it. Eh, nevermind.
What a shame they used a computer to create fake papers! My god, one-hundred and twenty! Incidentally, did you know eating bananas prevents cancer? Yes! I read it in a study. Thank god people are producing thousands upon thousands of real studies!
I, too, was trying to tease out the tech angle of this story. But "news for nerds" covers a lot of nonsense, doesn't it? And what could be nerdier than VHS tape? There, I think I made it relevant.
"...people who engage in internet trolling are characterized by personality traits that fall in the so-called Dark Tetrad: Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), psychopathy (the lack of remorse and empathy), and sadism (pleasure in the suffering of others)."
Thank god science is here to explain these things!
I didn't stop getting cable because of the price, it was mainly due to being sick of commercials and the fact that the little programming I enjoy is all online now. Money just wasn't ever a factor for me when doing this is my point.
What he said. The truth is, I never had cable TV for those reasons, and this: Remember, the deal was commercials = free TV. Cable started out with no commercials (yes, it did - except for the network channels), but they slowly began adding them in, until now, where there are more commercials on cable channels than on network television. Of course, TV watchers are a docile group to begin with...
"It's possible that you might still save money now by cutting off your cable. But if you plan to watch a lot of TV over the Internet, don't expect to save money forever.'"
You certainly won't save any money by adding cable.
Over the long term, it is certain that everyone, unless they meet with an accident or one of the less common diseases, will die of cancer, heart attack, or stroke. You will not die of old age. Choosing not to smoke may delay the inevitable, but will not prevent it.
Quit smoking if you care at all about the risks of illness and disability that smoking causes. Or accept that you are a nicotine junkie and that you are lying to yourself about your habit because you can't face withdrawal.
Or, start using electronic cigarettes. You can keep the enjoyment of nicotine, (which is not harmful), without inhaling smoke, (which is harmful). If you really enjoy tobacco, there are other forms of tobacco that are much, much less harmful and better tasting: cigars, pipe smoking, and snus or chew. And they are far less harmful because you're not inhaling huge clouds of smoke into your lungs, all day, everyday. Pipe smokers, for instance, have the same mortality rate as non-smokers. Oh, those warnings that say these other tobacco products aren't safer alternatives to cigarettes? The government lies to us sometimes.
What I'm wondering is why I never even heard of peanut allergy when I was in school. It doesn't show up on the N-Gram radar until the mid-1980's. Is it really a new phenomena, a kind of epidemic? Or have people only recently become more aware of it?
Yet another justification for buying only (mostly) pre-1970 automobiles. Your new car is not only unattractive, but looks like every other car on the road, is useless for love-making, (if you ever wondered how people did it - bench seats, kids), and now, you don't even control it.
Look, it's just a fancy, science-y way of (preemptively) saying, "anything that gets you high, anything enjoyable, is illegal." That is the basis of all of our drug law. They came up with all this "safety" jive when racism went out of fashion, and because they can't say what they really mean, which is that, "we don't want to see people enjoying things we don't enjoy." It's the puritan ethic.
Seriously? Why should the fact that some people like to get high have any bearing on other uses of drugs? Puritan attitudes are what's keeping certain drugs from being researched. If some people didn't have this deep-seated need to prevent others from enjoying themselves, this would be a non-issue. What you favor is small government when it comes to your concerns, and big government for these other people who just can't seem to conform to your idea of a proper lifestyle without a little coercion. And, uh, why exactly do you think street drugs are sometimes less than pure, or, as you put it, "mixed with a bunch of crap?" Since you seem to live in Britain, where alcohol prohibition is not part of its history, I'll tell you something you may not be aware of - during alcohol prohibition in the U.S., alcohol was "mixed with a bunch of crap" and sold to people. That's a rare problem nowadays, isn't it? Maybe it's time for people to change their attitudes, and for government to get out of the business of regulating which substances are politically correct, and which aren't?
I've never heard of a base jumper who robbed his mother to get money to buy a parachute.
That may be because parachutes are legal. Let's ban them, let the black market gear up to manufacture them at exorbitant prices, and see how it goes. If nothing else, I'm sure we'll see headlines about poorly made illegal parachutes killing our youth.
Like a lot of people, you confuse the cause and effect. People steal and "hurt" others due to the artificial scarcity and the resulting prices created by prohibition. After all, no one thinks they will get hooked. But, once that happens, the symptoms of withdrawal are so unpleasant that one is motivated to do almost anything to avoid them. If a shot of heroin were a couple of dollars, available 24/7, where would the problem be? And it's worth pointing out here that the vast majority of drug users, like the vast majority of alcohol users, never become problem users - abusers, if you will. If the cost of heroin were not artificially inflated by prohibition (or excessive taxation), the hundred-dollar-a-day habit would be a four-dollar-a-day habit. Since opiates do not impair the user, (another common misconception), these people would have no trouble holding down jobs if heroin were cheaply and easily available. In short, the problem is not the drugs themselves, nor your so-called "druggies," but rather prohibition. A study of alcohol prohibition, and what went on during that time, is very instructive.
Slashdot Mirror
Another thing that the American public is confused about, is the difference between the way science uses the word "theory," and the colloquial use of the word. In other words, most Americans think "theory" means "hypothesis." They hear "the theory of evolution" as "the hypothesis of evolution" because they have that idiom, "it's just a theory," (meaning mere speculation), at the front of their minds. This gives rise to specious arguments, even from otherwise intelligent people, such as, "Gravity is just a theory, too!" Better to explain the difference between an hypothesis and a theory, if you're going to say anything at all.
Even if you show them that what they believe is bullshit, they still choose to believe it.
Just look at religions all over the world.
Look, this is true, and there's a very good reason for that. The way our brains have evolved has made magical thinking inevitable. I'm sure I don't have to reiterate the current science, which most of you have already read/heard. Even those of us who consider ourselves rational, and most definitely not superstitious, are susceptible to magical thinking at times. I'm an atheist - have been since childhood - and yet I find myself, on those occasions when I buy a lottery ticket, asking the gods to please let me win. And isn't simply buying a lottery ticket an example of magical thinking? It's less a choice than an evolutionary trait. Nonetheless, more education, especially for the young, cannot hurt. I'm all for it.
How about that, so does my bank. I'm only allowed to use letters and numbers. I forget what the length limit is, but yeah, short for that kind of simple password. I have much better passwords for forums.
allsorts asks, "Why?" The only thing I can can come up with is they're too lazy to write the regex.
I've been railing about this for years, but since we're on passwords: Password Manager. They've had a decent one in OS X (Keychain) since at least 2002, which is how far back my saved passwords go. Since I began using it, and began creating unique and complicated passwords for each account, I've never had an account compromised. The only one I worry about is my bank with it's enforced simplicity.
This just in: All salt is sea salt.
Well yeah, sorta. The salt we mine was deposited by water, but of course that water originally got its salt (and every other mineral) from run-off. Salt's ultimate origin is from land. But, mined salt (rock salt) was deposited long before the oceans were polluted, and pollution is O.P.'s concern. Whether or not that's a valid concern is another matter...
So wait, my car will be on a hundred meter tether to my router? [rimshot]
You couldn't pay me to use Windows 8 (unless it was a lot of money), so why the fuck do you think I would want it for free with crapware installed on it?
It would be nice to have a free copy to install on my Mac, just in case I ever found a need to use it. It seems like I wanted Windows to do something at one point... Of course, if it's a crippled copy, probably better to just pirate it. Which really isn't worth the trouble if I think about it. Eh, nevermind.
It's always kinda blown my mind that Windows users never seem to have an install disc. And if anyone needs it, it's Windows users.
What a shame they used a computer to create fake papers! My god, one-hundred and twenty! Incidentally, did you know eating bananas prevents cancer? Yes! I read it in a study. Thank god people are producing thousands upon thousands of real studies!
I don't know, I was watching my roommate play with his prison sim game and now it all makes sense. Clearly, the dude playing our sim is also a sadist.
I, too, was trying to tease out the tech angle of this story. But "news for nerds" covers a lot of nonsense, doesn't it? And what could be nerdier than VHS tape? There, I think I made it relevant.
"...people who engage in internet trolling are characterized by personality traits that fall in the so-called Dark Tetrad: Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), psychopathy (the lack of remorse and empathy), and sadism (pleasure in the suffering of others)."
Thank god science is here to explain these things!
I didn't stop getting cable because of the price, it was mainly due to being sick of commercials and the fact that the little programming I enjoy is all online now. Money just wasn't ever a factor for me when doing this is my point.
What he said. The truth is, I never had cable TV for those reasons, and this: Remember, the deal was commercials = free TV. Cable started out with no commercials (yes, it did - except for the network channels), but they slowly began adding them in, until now, where there are more commercials on cable channels than on network television. Of course, TV watchers are a docile group to begin with...
"It's possible that you might still save money now by cutting off your cable. But if you plan to watch a lot of TV over the Internet, don't expect to save money forever.'"
You certainly won't save any money by adding cable.
Rape? He's accused of being kind of a dick in bed, (definitely no pun intended), which is somehow illegal in Sweden.
Great! Now, instead of having one choice for high-speed (haha) internet, I'll only have one choice for high-speed (haha) internet.
Over the long term, it is certain that everyone, unless they meet with an accident or one of the less common diseases, will die of cancer, heart attack, or stroke. You will not die of old age. Choosing not to smoke may delay the inevitable, but will not prevent it.
Quit smoking if you care at all about the risks of illness and disability that smoking causes. Or accept that you are a nicotine junkie and that you are lying to yourself about your habit because you can't face withdrawal.
Or, start using electronic cigarettes. You can keep the enjoyment of nicotine, (which is not harmful), without inhaling smoke, (which is harmful). If you really enjoy tobacco, there are other forms of tobacco that are much, much less harmful and better tasting: cigars, pipe smoking, and snus or chew. And they are far less harmful because you're not inhaling huge clouds of smoke into your lungs, all day, everyday. Pipe smokers, for instance, have the same mortality rate as non-smokers. Oh, those warnings that say these other tobacco products aren't safer alternatives to cigarettes? The government lies to us sometimes.
...as far as literary constructs...
Yet, science students wonder why they're forced to take a couple of English courses. It polishes down some of those rough, nerdy edges, is why.
What I'm wondering is why I never even heard of peanut allergy when I was in school. It doesn't show up on the N-Gram radar until the mid-1980's. Is it really a new phenomena, a kind of epidemic? Or have people only recently become more aware of it?
Yet another justification for buying only (mostly) pre-1970 automobiles. Your new car is not only unattractive, but looks like every other car on the road, is useless for love-making, (if you ever wondered how people did it - bench seats, kids), and now, you don't even control it.
Look, it's just a fancy, science-y way of (preemptively) saying, "anything that gets you high, anything enjoyable, is illegal." That is the basis of all of our drug law. They came up with all this "safety" jive when racism went out of fashion, and because they can't say what they really mean, which is that, "we don't want to see people enjoying things we don't enjoy." It's the puritan ethic.
What does you local fire chief being a moron have to do with drug policy?
He's pointing out that, if you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Hope that's enough to go on.
Seriously? Why should the fact that some people like to get high have any bearing on other uses of drugs? Puritan attitudes are what's keeping certain drugs from being researched. If some people didn't have this deep-seated need to prevent others from enjoying themselves, this would be a non-issue. What you favor is small government when it comes to your concerns, and big government for these other people who just can't seem to conform to your idea of a proper lifestyle without a little coercion. And, uh, why exactly do you think street drugs are sometimes less than pure, or, as you put it, "mixed with a bunch of crap?" Since you seem to live in Britain, where alcohol prohibition is not part of its history, I'll tell you something you may not be aware of - during alcohol prohibition in the U.S., alcohol was "mixed with a bunch of crap" and sold to people. That's a rare problem nowadays, isn't it? Maybe it's time for people to change their attitudes, and for government to get out of the business of regulating which substances are politically correct, and which aren't?
I've never heard of a base jumper who robbed his mother to get money to buy a parachute.
That may be because parachutes are legal. Let's ban them, let the black market gear up to manufacture them at exorbitant prices, and see how it goes. If nothing else, I'm sure we'll see headlines about poorly made illegal parachutes killing our youth.
Like a lot of people, you confuse the cause and effect. People steal and "hurt" others due to the artificial scarcity and the resulting prices created by prohibition. After all, no one thinks they will get hooked. But, once that happens, the symptoms of withdrawal are so unpleasant that one is motivated to do almost anything to avoid them. If a shot of heroin were a couple of dollars, available 24/7, where would the problem be? And it's worth pointing out here that the vast majority of drug users, like the vast majority of alcohol users, never become problem users - abusers, if you will. If the cost of heroin were not artificially inflated by prohibition (or excessive taxation), the hundred-dollar-a-day habit would be a four-dollar-a-day habit. Since opiates do not impair the user, (another common misconception), these people would have no trouble holding down jobs if heroin were cheaply and easily available. In short, the problem is not the drugs themselves, nor your so-called "druggies," but rather prohibition. A study of alcohol prohibition, and what went on during that time, is very instructive.