Yup. Just ask the Canaanites. Or the Sodomites. Or the city fathers of Gamorrah. Or Jericho.
A moral system that glorifies a sociopathic, genocidal tyrant that's all too willing to use orbital bombardment on two bronze age cities, saving only the family that was willing to grovel to him sufficiently.... and that is also willing to drown an entire PLANET simply because the inhabitants of said planet weren't grovelling to him sufficiently... is beneath my contempt.
but insiders say he is unhappy with Groove's products forming a crucial part of the Total Information Awareness project. Read all about it at the NYTimes (Free Registration required)."
This has to be one of the most commonly misused and manipulated figures in the game industry. The Sims has made a huge amount of money.... selling the same game repeatedly to the same people.
It isn't a 'huge game.' You just can't do anything without any of the dozen or so expansion packs.... so the small number of people who actually DO like it, (who can understand why?) have pumped a huge amount of money into it.
It's the most amazingly dull, pointless, stupid and lame game in history. Even using a cheat doesn't make the offline version interesting.
One of the advantages gays have is being 'on their own turf' so to speak. They already have a pretty good understanding of their preferred partner... because they themselves are one.
What I'm looking for is the 'geek guy's guide to meeting geek girls that are ACTUALLY IN THE SAME FREAKIN CITY INSTEAD OF HALFWAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY!!!!'
:)~
Re:U.S. may suffer.. Citizens will survive..
on
Giant Sucking Noise
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· Score: 1
Which is of course irrelevant if you aren't trying to sneak across the border in the middle of the night, either to get work without papers, or sneak something illegal across the border.
Let's talk about LEGAL entry into and employment within the country, shall we?
It's just freakin ironic that I hear all these people from other countries bitching about how isolationist, jingoist, racist and bigoted the US is.... but they never mention how tightly they control their own markets to keep foreign workers out of anything but the lowest paying jobs. (Like the service industry or manual labor... which they're only too happy to give to those brown people don't you know.... well except for putting them at the front desk....) It's also nauseating to hear them talking about how much more qualified they are because they got an advanced degree.... at an american college. You know what? If my government had packed me up and sent me off to college, gratis? I probably would have finished. However, like a huge number of american technical workers.... I had to do it myself. My parents? Helped out where they could... which wasn't a whole lot. My government assistance? Loans. Which have to be paid back WITH INTEREST. Survival at the time? Had to work. Which of course took time and effort and concentration away from my studies.
As things stand now... 'they' pretty much have to be reasonably sure you're guilty of a crime before tracking you. It's way too much of a pain in the ass to do it casually. (You have to set up camera/ocr survelliance, reference the state DMV database, etc...)
With something like this? The entire process can be easily automated.
Every time someone calls you paranoid about privacy violations.... remember: You're only 'too boring for them to worry about' when monitoring and survelliance are a pain in the ass. Once it becomes quick, easy and automated? You're a target.
Do I have anything to hide? Legally, morally or ethically? No. Do I want a religious fanatic with a history of behavior that most of us would call 'mentally unstable' and entirely too much political influence, (read: our current Attorney General) to be watching every step I make? No. Do I want someone watching my purchasing habits so that they can avoid the precautions I've taken to get away from their advertising? No. Do I want someone's lawyer to go over my buying habits for perfectly legal activities that he might be able to use against me? (Well of COURSE he must have been responsible for the accident your honor!!!! Look.... he's stopped at a liquor store twice in the past MONTH!!!! He must have been drunk and THAT'S why my client jumped the median and hit him head on!!!!) No.
Paranoia is only unjustified if you're more trouble than going after you is worth. Advances like this dramatically reduce the amount of trouble you are.
Yep. Can't resist the arrogant smartass comment about the Pledge of Allegiance, can you? Have a cookie.
This, (I would assume...) from the smartass that made the original comment? Hi pot...
Yes... I'll make 'smartass comments' whenever religious fanatics rewrite history and think they're above secular law. While I'm at it... I think I'll 'hide behind my rights.' (Another idiotic catch phrase the fundamentalists are rather fond of, particularly in regards to people excercising free speech.)
The problem is, from the description the company is ACTIVELY concealing it.
'Here's a contract... don't worry about those blank pages at the end... Yes we know our copy is several pages longer... don't sweat it. It's nothing you need to worry about...'
I'd argue that it's fraud... even if it isn't actually illegal to do it's likely not legally enforceable... but spammers don't care about such technicalities.
You missed the reference. There's a Bill Cosby routine where he's reenacting the Biblical character Noah talking to God about the flood, and God tells him to build an ark with these dimensions in cubits, and Noah responds "Riiiiight. What's a cubit."
...at which point God responds with 'Uh... let's see... a cubit... I used to know what a cubit was...'
Sheesh these kids today.
I'm still confused as to why the parent is talking about cubits. I mean... this is a unit nobody's used for... what.... 1500 years? Give or take?
Here's a thought....
Non-technical journalist heard 'qbit' and wrote out the nearest term he could think of maybe?
US policy didn't force the germans to paint the Hindenberg with rocket fuel. (Nitrocellulose and aluminum flakes.)
Current misconceptions about the Hindenberg are a direct result of the coverup of the real cause by the germans. Later tests of parts left over from the Graf Hindenberg II? Revealed that the nitrocellulose had had a flame retardant added to it, and bronze flakes were used instead of aluminum. They knew what had caused the problem and let people think it was the hydrogen.
Um... it's easy. You record it. People do it with sound and video capture cards all the time. To make it easily useable you have to encode it into a format that the computer can read, but that's it... and the only impact the original signal has on the process is on the quality of the end result. (Digital video and sound are usually encoded at a higher bitrate/resolution. You could do the same thing with analog, but since you can't compress an analog signal the file ends up being HUGE. Generally unworkably so.)
The storage medium is irrelevant. The fact that you're recording onto magnetic a magnetic medium is also irrelevant. Magnetic != Digital. Audio tapes are analog... as are the strips on credit cards. Both are magnetic. DAT's are digital and magnetic. (Although if I remember right they can also be used to store analog data... it's just that nobody ever does because it's a waste of expensive tape.) CD's are digital and are non-magnetic.
If you have a 'digital' signal, (which really isn't... at least not completely) you're converting it to analog before your TV will even notice it's there.
TV is an analog signal. Even HDTV and 'digital cable' are only psudeo-digital... and even then the signal has to be converted to pure analog before it can be used by about 98% of the televisions in the world. What exactly do you think that set-top box of yours is doing?
Why should MSFT be allowed to take their competitor's product, alter it so that it will no longer be compatible with the original, and then rerelease it under the same name?
So what exactly would you call it? Iron was virtually unknown during that period... (Tutankhamun was buried with an iron dagger... but it was just about the only one in Egypt...) It definitely wasn't the steel age either.... and most people had moved past stone.
Also since the morality and fantasy referred to in the OP aren't themselves original to the period, but are in fact copied from older stories going back to Sumeria and possibly earlier... the morality in question is clearly 'bronze age' if not 'stone age.'
I believe the poster is referring to the jewish Old Testament, written from around 200 BC out to 900-1000 BC for the earliest parts.... and the later New Testament used by the christians, written around AD 350. Both date ranges are firmly in the bronze age.
I'd still stick with a PVR tho... especially one with a network connection.
Don't bitch about 'piracy' when it's something you broadcast... and don't bitch about adskipping either. I pay good money for cable, dammit I'm not going to sit through stupid commercials if I don't have to.;)
Yeah... Hydroelectric's green allright.... it's so green that it's decimated native salmon and steelhead runs.
'Green' power generally isn't. Hydrogen has the potential to be, if we can find a source that doesn't require traditional energy sources to make it work... but most of the time green technology is a damn lie. It shifts the environmental burden, it doesn't eliminate it. Solar cells? Horribly inefficient and terribly polluting to produce. Hydroelectric? Butchers aquatic life and adds pollutants to the rivers. Wind? Again, limited, inefficient and frequently hazardous to local wildlife.
I have no problem with alternative energy.... and encourage it. But let's be realistic here and not fall for the propaganda. 'Green' technology is just as polluting as fossil fuel tech... and occasionally more so. At least petroleum tech is honest about it.
Ok... there's one slight problem with this. It's collectively called the Laws of Thermodynamics.
Yes, hydrogen can be separated out of water with electrical current. However... what you're doing is using electricity to break the chemical bonds between the hydrogen and the oxygen. In short...
You're running a fuel cell in reverse.
So now you use the hydrogen you got through this wonderful technique to power a fuel cell... what do you suppose your energy efficiency is?
Pretty damned close to zero.
'Ok it isn't any more efficient than petroleum... hell it's much less efficient. But it's GREEN it's so much CLEANER!!!!' (Can you tell I've had this discussion before?;)) Yet Another Slight Problem: Where do you people think the energy comes from to make the electricity to separate out the hydrogen from water in the first place?
Oh yeah... a coal burning power plant. Or a hydroelectric plant. Or a nuclear plant. Or any other classical energy producing technology.
A while back people were discussing a subterranean source of hydrogen, which would be a real boon... but until we find out a bit more about that and figure out how to use it, hydrogen is no real improvement unfortunately.
We carry around pressurized cannisters of nasty little petroleum distillates like isobutane... and most of us carry them in our front pants pockets. So not only do we carry them, we carry them next to our genitals.
That having been said... I'm wondering how these cannisters work. Hydrogen itself is safe, but the problem has been that it leaks. Bad.
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A moral system that glorifies a sociopathic, genocidal tyrant that's all too willing to use orbital bombardment on two bronze age cities, saving only the family that was willing to grovel to him sufficiently.... and that is also willing to drown an entire PLANET simply because the inhabitants of said planet weren't grovelling to him sufficiently... is beneath my contempt.
Grow UP humans!
Is it just me? Or is the irony here almost toxic?
This has to be one of the most commonly misused and manipulated figures in the game industry. The Sims has made a huge amount of money.... selling the same game repeatedly to the same people.
It isn't a 'huge game.' You just can't do anything without any of the dozen or so expansion packs.... so the small number of people who actually DO like it, (who can understand why?) have pumped a huge amount of money into it.
It's the most amazingly dull, pointless, stupid and lame game in history. Even using a cheat doesn't make the offline version interesting.
Yeah... that is the problem with using the net as a dating/meeting people tool isn't it?
One of the advantages gays have is being 'on their own turf' so to speak. They already have a pretty good understanding of their preferred partner... because they themselves are one.
What I'm looking for is the 'geek guy's guide to meeting geek girls that are ACTUALLY IN THE SAME FREAKIN CITY INSTEAD OF HALFWAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY!!!!'
Let's talk about LEGAL entry into and employment within the country, shall we?
It's just freakin ironic that I hear all these people from other countries bitching about how isolationist, jingoist, racist and bigoted the US is.... but they never mention how tightly they control their own markets to keep foreign workers out of anything but the lowest paying jobs. (Like the service industry or manual labor... which they're only too happy to give to those brown people don't you know.... well except for putting them at the front desk....) It's also nauseating to hear them talking about how much more qualified they are because they got an advanced degree.... at an american college. You know what? If my government had packed me up and sent me off to college, gratis? I probably would have finished. However, like a huge number of american technical workers.... I had to do it myself. My parents? Helped out where they could... which wasn't a whole lot. My government assistance? Loans. Which have to be paid back WITH INTEREST. Survival at the time? Had to work. Which of course took time and effort and concentration away from my studies.
Hypocricy isn't attractive.
As things stand now... 'they' pretty much have to be reasonably sure you're guilty of a crime before tracking you. It's way too much of a pain in the ass to do it casually. (You have to set up camera/ocr survelliance, reference the state DMV database, etc...)
With something like this? The entire process can be easily automated.
Every time someone calls you paranoid about privacy violations.... remember: You're only 'too boring for them to worry about' when monitoring and survelliance are a pain in the ass. Once it becomes quick, easy and automated? You're a target.
Do I have anything to hide? Legally, morally or ethically? No. Do I want a religious fanatic with a history of behavior that most of us would call 'mentally unstable' and entirely too much political influence, (read: our current Attorney General) to be watching every step I make? No. Do I want someone watching my purchasing habits so that they can avoid the precautions I've taken to get away from their advertising? No. Do I want someone's lawyer to go over my buying habits for perfectly legal activities that he might be able to use against me? (Well of COURSE he must have been responsible for the accident your honor!!!! Look.... he's stopped at a liquor store twice in the past MONTH!!!! He must have been drunk and THAT'S why my client jumped the median and hit him head on!!!!) No.
Paranoia is only unjustified if you're more trouble than going after you is worth. Advances like this dramatically reduce the amount of trouble you are.
This, (I would assume...) from the smartass that made the original comment? Hi pot...
Yes... I'll make 'smartass comments' whenever religious fanatics rewrite history and think they're above secular law. While I'm at it... I think I'll 'hide behind my rights.' (Another idiotic catch phrase the fundamentalists are rather fond of, particularly in regards to people excercising free speech.)
Off a track, not very. On a crowded street? Even more rarely.
By the way... (OT) 'under God, indivisible...' Make up your mind and pick one.
'Here's a contract... don't worry about those blank pages at the end... Yes we know our copy is several pages longer... don't sweat it. It's nothing you need to worry about...'
I'd argue that it's fraud... even if it isn't actually illegal to do it's likely not legally enforceable... but spammers don't care about such technicalities.
Sheesh these kids today.
I'm still confused as to why the parent is talking about cubits. I mean... this is a unit nobody's used for... what.... 1500 years? Give or take?
Here's a thought....
Non-technical journalist heard 'qbit' and wrote out the nearest term he could think of maybe?
Current misconceptions about the Hindenberg are a direct result of the coverup of the real cause by the germans. Later tests of parts left over from the Graf Hindenberg II? Revealed that the nitrocellulose had had a flame retardant added to it, and bronze flakes were used instead of aluminum. They knew what had caused the problem and let people think it was the hydrogen.
Ok... just notice the v. part. My bad.
Friends don't let friends post before their fifth cup of coffee I guess.....
Not to totally nitpick or anything.... but the bold part would in fact make this a verb... ;)
The storage medium is irrelevant. The fact that you're recording onto magnetic a magnetic medium is also irrelevant. Magnetic != Digital. Audio tapes are analog... as are the strips on credit cards. Both are magnetic. DAT's are digital and magnetic. (Although if I remember right they can also be used to store analog data... it's just that nobody ever does because it's a waste of expensive tape.) CD's are digital and are non-magnetic.
If you have a 'digital' signal, (which really isn't... at least not completely) you're converting it to analog before your TV will even notice it's there.
TV is an analog signal. Even HDTV and 'digital cable' are only psudeo-digital... and even then the signal has to be converted to pure analog before it can be used by about 98% of the televisions in the world. What exactly do you think that set-top box of yours is doing?
It's called rebranding and it's illegal.
They got smacked. Get over it.
Also since the morality and fantasy referred to in the OP aren't themselves original to the period, but are in fact copied from older stories going back to Sumeria and possibly earlier... the morality in question is clearly 'bronze age' if not 'stone age.'
I believe the poster is referring to the jewish Old Testament, written from around 200 BC out to 900-1000 BC for the earliest parts.... and the later New Testament used by the christians, written around AD 350. Both date ranges are firmly in the bronze age.
I'd still stick with a PVR tho... especially one with a network connection.
Don't bitch about 'piracy' when it's something you broadcast... and don't bitch about adskipping either. I pay good money for cable, dammit I'm not going to sit through stupid commercials if I don't have to. ;)
And if so... do they REALLY think we're that stupid?
By the way... I'm from Portland. I'm quite familiar with the arguments, and while oceanic fishing is a problem, the dams are as well.
'Green' power generally isn't. Hydrogen has the potential to be, if we can find a source that doesn't require traditional energy sources to make it work... but most of the time green technology is a damn lie. It shifts the environmental burden, it doesn't eliminate it. Solar cells? Horribly inefficient and terribly polluting to produce. Hydroelectric? Butchers aquatic life and adds pollutants to the rivers. Wind? Again, limited, inefficient and frequently hazardous to local wildlife.
I have no problem with alternative energy.... and encourage it. But let's be realistic here and not fall for the propaganda. 'Green' technology is just as polluting as fossil fuel tech... and occasionally more so. At least petroleum tech is honest about it.
Yes, hydrogen can be separated out of water with electrical current. However... what you're doing is using electricity to break the chemical bonds between the hydrogen and the oxygen. In short...
You're running a fuel cell in reverse.
So now you use the hydrogen you got through this wonderful technique to power a fuel cell... what do you suppose your energy efficiency is?
Pretty damned close to zero.
'Ok it isn't any more efficient than petroleum... hell it's much less efficient. But it's GREEN it's so much CLEANER!!!!' (Can you tell I've had this discussion before? ;)) Yet Another Slight Problem: Where do you people think the energy comes from to make the electricity to separate out the hydrogen from water in the first place?
Oh yeah... a coal burning power plant. Or a hydroelectric plant. Or a nuclear plant. Or any other classical energy producing technology.
A while back people were discussing a subterranean source of hydrogen, which would be a real boon... but until we find out a bit more about that and figure out how to use it, hydrogen is no real improvement unfortunately.
We carry around pressurized cannisters of nasty little petroleum distillates like isobutane... and most of us carry them in our front pants pockets. So not only do we carry them, we carry them next to our genitals.
That having been said... I'm wondering how these cannisters work. Hydrogen itself is safe, but the problem has been that it leaks. Bad.