Schwarzenegger has never run in a fair election. Even if you ignore this fact, most of his standpoints on policy aren't even close to Bush's. Conservatism and Liberalism in California are both qualitatively distinct from their East-coast and Southern counterparts and it is because of this cultural difference that I think we'd be better off on our own.
I'm using California as an example since I live here. But when a country is as ideologically divided as it is now, isn't it better for the regions with different beliefs to break off from the stifling repression of the central authority? I say this with the caveat that actions like the previous Civil War were necessary due to necessity of stopping the injustice of slavery. Other than issues such as that, however, isn't it best for a large geographic region at odds with a stifling ruling power to determine its own destiny?
"The mission is to rout [Merkey], to find [him] and bring [him] to justice[...] Or, as I explained to the [people of Slashdot] in Western terms, to smoke [him] out of [his] caves, to get [him] running so we can get [him]."
Good one. Because the/. moderation system is irritating, I should blame poachers. No, I think not. Aggression is, and should rightfully be, directed at the source.
This is where we disagree. I don't see the usefulness in aggresively criticising a system I dislike. I found it much more useful to undertake constructive criticism of such systems. In my experience, this ends up being the shortest path to an eventual solution.
This joke was old since the day it was first concieved. Let it die. Don't mod it up, and metamod these stupid moderators into the ground.
You know, just because you've had a bad day...
On the other hand, why don't you direct some of that aggression against more deserving people, like gorilla poachers in the jungles of Africa for example.
I forgot to mention in my previous post that Apple specifically references this capability on the imac in the context of replacing faulty components, and not in the context of upgrading to newer hardware. While this capability is certainly a good thing, there is reason to believe that you may void the warranty on your machine if you upgrade or replace a vital component on the machine (such as the power-supply or CPU) as opposed to having a licensed Apple technician do it. Overall, I still have to cite the clear advantages of PC or PowerPC towers in this area.
While this is a step in the right direction, I believe my previous argument still stands. If I want to replace the mainboard on an imac with an upgraded mainboard, say, from a dual-processor mac tower, then there is nothing to facilitate my doing this. In part, this is because of a lack of standardization in hardware specifications in macs, though this is getting better. However, in the imacs specifically, I believe there is still too much that the user cannot do in terms of taking their machine apart and upgrading it for it to compare favorably with PCs. That aside, if I were choosing a computer based solely upon how well it matches my Scandinavian furniture, then I would most certainly buy an imac.
Here's an Article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune with (I believe) some new info on the matter:
The search for extraterrestrial life has ended at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The department on Thursday fired a computer programmer who admitted to using a state-owned computer server to process data for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence project, run by the University of California at Berkeley.
Charles E. Smith, 63, told administrators he didn't think loading the SETI software on the server was much of a problem because he ran the program only on weekends and on weekdays between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., when the server wasn't being used, according to a disciplinary report.
Department director Tom Hayes disagreed.
``I understand his desire to search for intelligent life in outer space, because obviously he doesn't find it in the mirror in the morning,'' Hayes said. ``I think that people can be comfortable that security has beamed this man out of our building.''
If you can't utilize the full-power in a machine, or if you will not utilize said power in your everyday operations, then all power in excess of what will be utilized is useless power.
Now, on a rather different topic, if you're trying to suggest that a $1300 Athlon system (assuming that you're going for the best cost/parts ratio you can find and consequently build it yourself) is comparable to an equivalently priced imac G5, then I'm going to have to strongly disagree.
Now, I am not including the price of a monitor, which, assuming you don't already have one, would be an additional cost in the Athlon system. However, in terms of both upgradeability and utilizable performance in currently available consumer-oriented games and applications, I would suggest that the Athlon system as stated above would absolutely kick the teeth out of the imac.
If you want to talk about the advantages of the Mac OS, talk about the OS, but don't for a minute suggest the price of hardware for Macs is somehow equivalent to PCs. The upgradeability issue alone shows that PCs win hands-down in this category.
An example is in order (fast-forward to this hypothetical future scenario): If I want to do a major hardware upgrade on an imac I purchased a year ago, I'm basically out of luck. Thus, the most cost and time-effective solution is to essentially get a new machine. With a PC that I assembled a year ago, I can easily take whatever component out that I want and replace it with an updated component. This long-term cost factor must also be considered when comparing the differences between the two platforms. Thus, in my estimation, the PC is still the clear winner as far as hardware is concerned in the lower-cost categories.
The causes of schizophrenia are not very well understood at all. Rather than classifying it as a "brain disease" (suggesting some sort of biological/genetic cause), I would say merely that it is a mental illness the causes of which are simply not well understood. There are various theories suggesting biological, neurological, genetic, familial, or even environmental causes, but suggesting that any one study is more or less convincing than another is inappropriate at this point in my opinion.
I've already mentioned that I'm not blind to the positive insights that resulted from the experiment. Of course, you're absolutely correct in stating that deciding whether an experiment is 'good' is a subjective process. However, I fail to see how this adds to the discussion. In the end, all 'processes' are subjective including your qualification that more people exercising critical thinking is a 'good' thing. I'm not saying I disagree with you, but the subjective nature of your own argument would suggest that it's not a valid one if we are attempting to ignore all subjective 'processes.' In the end, the scientific community must uphold the standards of objectivity it can attain given the technological assets that are available, but it must also uphold ethical standards in its experimentation. This is, of course, my subjective viewpoint. However, I don't think acknowledging or acting upon subjectivity in consultation with peer-groups in order to uphold ethical standards in Science is a bad thing at all.
As a further clarification on my previous post I would like to note that by 'substantial psychological damage' I did not necessarily mean 'long term.' I think it's relatively difficult to dispute that many of those involved in the experiment seem to have suffered significant trauma at the time. In my opinion the experiment was unethical for this reason. However, that does not mean that I am blind to the results and their implications as well. I respect most of Milgram's research, however I cannot agree that this experiment was a good one in light of the ethical questions.
I highly recommend Steven Strogatz' book "Sync" and also Mark Buchanan's book "Nexus" for more in-depth information about the small-world theory and its relation to complex networks and human interaction.
I hope they're not designing the devices based on the experiment where Milgram asked subjects to electrocute other people strapped to chairs for getting answers to simple questions wrong. (They weren't really getting electrocuted, but they acted as though they were) Though, I guess it might be kind of funny. The history of that experiment wasn't very humorous, however, as several participants sustained substantial psychological damage after they later realized they'd been willing to essentially kill another person via electrocution with only simple prodding to justify it. (This is one of the more interesting experiments along these lines that happened in the last half-century)
I'd certainly agree that the modded XBOX is the ultimate 'Entertainment Box.' In fact, that's what I tend to call it now when I feel like watching movies on it... Oh, and it's good for playing games every now and again too I guess...
"Final Fantasy games follow the most formulaic plot/story paths imaginable."
How about these instead then:
Star Ocean: 2nd Story Xenogears Lunar 2: Eternal Blue All of the Suikoden series Grandia II Dark Cloud 2 Skies of Arcadia Chrono Trigger Chrono Cross Shadow Hearts Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (excellent story for an action-oriented game) Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker Dragon Warrior VII
There are many others I can think of. And (btw) what's wrong with a story being formulaic? Matrix, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings all follow formulaic/archetypal plot-patterns, but that doesn't make them bad IMHO.
Well, it depends on the genre, but Japanese games usually have much more involving stories (in terms of identifiable plot-points & a sense of evolution/progression) than American ones. Then again, one could argue that many such storylines are too linear and don't give the player enough choices. But more and more Japanese games are providing multiple endings & etc... Overall it looks like a good trend for the industry to follow.
It seems almost certain that the necessary hardware for computing complexity on the order of arranging molecular structures on a macroscale will be present in twenty years, but developing the necessary software for such an endeavor may very well prove to be an insurmountable challenge in the near term. That is, unless you believe we'll develop an AI that can do it all for us by then.
Slashdot Mirror
Schwarzenegger has never run in a fair election. Even if you ignore this fact, most of his standpoints on policy aren't even close to Bush's. Conservatism and Liberalism in California are both qualitatively distinct from their East-coast and Southern counterparts and it is because of this cultural difference that I think we'd be better off on our own.
I'm using California as an example since I live here. But when a country is as ideologically divided as it is now, isn't it better for the regions with different beliefs to break off from the stifling repression of the central authority? I say this with the caveat that actions like the previous Civil War were necessary due to necessity of stopping the injustice of slavery. Other than issues such as that, however, isn't it best for a large geographic region at odds with a stifling ruling power to determine its own destiny?
"The mission is to rout [Merkey], to find [him] and bring [him] to justice[...] Or, as I explained to the [people of Slashdot] in Western terms, to smoke [him] out of [his] caves, to get [him] running so we can get [him]."
Thanks George.
Good one. Because the /. moderation system is irritating, I should blame poachers. No, I think not. Aggression is, and should rightfully be, directed at the source.
This is where we disagree. I don't see the usefulness in aggresively criticising a system I dislike. I found it much more useful to undertake constructive criticism of such systems. In my experience, this ends up being the shortest path to an eventual solution.This joke was old since the day it was first concieved. Let it die. Don't mod it up, and metamod these stupid moderators into the ground.
You know, just because you've had a bad day...
On the other hand, why don't you direct some of that aggression against more deserving people, like gorilla poachers in the jungles of Africa for example.
'The Last Starfighter,' an inquiry into the best response to the recent seizure of Indymedia's servers in the UK
Watch Alex as he blasts the evil goons from the DMCA/IP/Nasty Galactic Cluster Alliance! or something like that...
My computing platform is so extrom, while yours is an obsolute piece of jenk.
Obsolute: adj.; to be completely and absolutely obselete
Extrom: please see "sense of humor"
Jenk: n.; some guy I used to know that worked at the pharmacy, it probably wasn't his real name
I wonder why my chutes have gon.... GAK!
Yeah, I hate it when my chutes go "GAK!" It kind of reminds of that squirrel that went "Weee!" I hate it when that happens...
I forgot to mention in my previous post that Apple specifically references this capability on the imac in the context of replacing faulty components, and not in the context of upgrading to newer hardware. While this capability is certainly a good thing, there is reason to believe that you may void the warranty on your machine if you upgrade or replace a vital component on the machine (such as the power-supply or CPU) as opposed to having a licensed Apple technician do it. Overall, I still have to cite the clear advantages of PC or PowerPC towers in this area.
While this is a step in the right direction, I believe my previous argument still stands. If I want to replace the mainboard on an imac with an upgraded mainboard, say, from a dual-processor mac tower, then there is nothing to facilitate my doing this. In part, this is because of a lack of standardization in hardware specifications in macs, though this is getting better. However, in the imacs specifically, I believe there is still too much that the user cannot do in terms of taking their machine apart and upgrading it for it to compare favorably with PCs.
That aside, if I were choosing a computer based solely upon how well it matches my Scandinavian furniture, then I would most certainly buy an imac.
Here's an Article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune with (I believe) some new info on the matter:
The search for extraterrestrial life has ended at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The department on Thursday fired a computer programmer who admitted to using a state-owned computer server to process data for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence project, run by the University of California at Berkeley.
Charles E. Smith, 63, told administrators he didn't think loading the SETI software on the server was much of a problem because he ran the program only on weekends and on weekdays between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., when the server wasn't being used, according to a disciplinary report.
Department director Tom Hayes disagreed.
``I understand his desire to search for intelligent life in outer space, because obviously he doesn't find it in the mirror in the morning,'' Hayes said. ``I think that people can be comfortable that security has beamed this man out of our building.''
If you can't utilize the full-power in a machine, or if you will not utilize said power in your everyday operations, then all power in excess of what will be utilized is useless power. Now, on a rather different topic, if you're trying to suggest that a $1300 Athlon system (assuming that you're going for the best cost/parts ratio you can find and consequently build it yourself) is comparable to an equivalently priced imac G5, then I'm going to have to strongly disagree. Now, I am not including the price of a monitor, which, assuming you don't already have one, would be an additional cost in the Athlon system. However, in terms of both upgradeability and utilizable performance in currently available consumer-oriented games and applications, I would suggest that the Athlon system as stated above would absolutely kick the teeth out of the imac. If you want to talk about the advantages of the Mac OS, talk about the OS, but don't for a minute suggest the price of hardware for Macs is somehow equivalent to PCs. The upgradeability issue alone shows that PCs win hands-down in this category. An example is in order (fast-forward to this hypothetical future scenario): If I want to do a major hardware upgrade on an imac I purchased a year ago, I'm basically out of luck. Thus, the most cost and time-effective solution is to essentially get a new machine. With a PC that I assembled a year ago, I can easily take whatever component out that I want and replace it with an updated component. This long-term cost factor must also be considered when comparing the differences between the two platforms. Thus, in my estimation, the PC is still the clear winner as far as hardware is concerned in the lower-cost categories.
Well frankly, I wish them bad luck. Maybe then people will get fed up enough to start demanding their freedoms on a greater scale.
"BYU Project to Silence Computer Fans"
Ok, so who else read that and thought some Luddite Mormon Mafia was going around and breaking geeks kneecaps?
The causes of schizophrenia are not very well understood at all. Rather than classifying it as a "brain disease" (suggesting some sort of biological/genetic cause), I would say merely that it is a mental illness the causes of which are simply not well understood. There are various theories suggesting biological, neurological, genetic, familial, or even environmental causes, but suggesting that any one study is more or less convincing than another is inappropriate at this point in my opinion.
I've already mentioned that I'm not blind to the positive insights that resulted from the experiment. Of course, you're absolutely correct in stating that deciding whether an experiment is 'good' is a subjective process. However, I fail to see how this adds to the discussion.
In the end, all 'processes' are subjective including your qualification that more people exercising critical thinking is a 'good' thing. I'm not saying I disagree with you, but the subjective nature of your own argument would suggest that it's not a valid one if we are attempting to ignore all subjective 'processes.'
In the end, the scientific community must uphold the standards of objectivity it can attain given the technological assets that are available, but it must also uphold ethical standards in its experimentation. This is, of course, my subjective viewpoint. However, I don't think acknowledging or acting upon subjectivity in consultation with peer-groups in order to uphold ethical standards in Science is a bad thing at all.
Thanks for the clarifications there.
As a further clarification on my previous post I would like to note that by 'substantial psychological damage' I did not necessarily mean 'long term.' I think it's relatively difficult to dispute that many of those involved in the experiment seem to have suffered significant trauma at the time. In my opinion the experiment was unethical for this reason. However, that does not mean that I am blind to the results and their implications as well.
I respect most of Milgram's research, however I cannot agree that this experiment was a good one in light of the ethical questions.
I highly recommend Steven Strogatz' book "Sync" and also Mark Buchanan's book "Nexus" for more in-depth information about the small-world theory and its relation to complex networks and human interaction.
I hope they're not designing the devices based on the experiment where Milgram asked subjects to electrocute other people strapped to chairs for getting answers to simple questions wrong. (They weren't really getting electrocuted, but they acted as though they were) Though, I guess it might be kind of funny.
The history of that experiment wasn't very humorous, however, as several participants sustained substantial psychological damage after they later realized they'd been willing to essentially kill another person via electrocution with only simple prodding to justify it. (This is one of the more interesting experiments along these lines that happened in the last half-century)
I'd certainly agree that the modded XBOX is the ultimate 'Entertainment Box.' In fact, that's what I tend to call it now when I feel like watching movies on it... Oh, and it's good for playing games every now and again too I guess...
Yeah, so not much change from normal I guess...
j/k
In another 25 years or so...
"Final Fantasy games follow the most formulaic plot/story paths imaginable."
How about these instead then:
Star Ocean: 2nd Story
Xenogears
Lunar 2: Eternal Blue
All of the Suikoden series
Grandia II
Dark Cloud 2
Skies of Arcadia
Chrono Trigger
Chrono Cross
Shadow Hearts
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (excellent story for an action-oriented game)
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Dragon Warrior VII
There are many others I can think of. And (btw) what's wrong with a story being formulaic? Matrix, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings all follow formulaic/archetypal plot-patterns, but that doesn't make them bad IMHO.
Well, it depends on the genre, but Japanese games usually have much more involving stories (in terms of identifiable plot-points & a sense of evolution/progression) than American ones. Then again, one could argue that many such storylines are too linear and don't give the player enough choices. But more and more Japanese games are providing multiple endings & etc... Overall it looks like a good trend for the industry to follow.
It seems almost certain that the necessary hardware for computing complexity on the order of arranging molecular structures on a macroscale will be present in twenty years, but developing the necessary software for such an endeavor may very well prove to be an insurmountable challenge in the near term. That is, unless you believe we'll develop an AI that can do it all for us by then.