Regardless of the crass dismissal of religion, he is correct in that Evolution is a fact. We can see it in labs. We can observe it. The Theory of Evolution is science's best explanation for the processes by which Evolution (the fact) occurs.
Not that I advocate taking them seriously, but conservative radio talk show hosts seem to pay a lot of attention to what various bloggers have to say. And lets be honest now, there isn't one unbiased news source out there anymore. If you're alive, then you have an opinion, and your opinion will color whatever it is you're trying to write about.
Lets get some higher resolution in these things and start doing some augmented reality! I can finally store a face next to a name, recall it in a subtle form through my glasses, and never have an awkward moment at a cocktail party every again!
Might I recommend a nice Logitech for your gaming needs? I have one and can't praise it enough. Its a pity that they no longer make (and few programs anymore actually support) the iFeel line of mice they had. Force-feedback mouse, or basically a mouse with a servo-rumble pack. It was tuned very well, and I enjoyed the tactile responce on my desktop and in a few games (Tribes 2, Serious Sam 2, Black and White, Jedi Outcast, and others).
Ok, if I recall correctly, they have shown that exposure to microwaves can increase the incidence of cataracts. Cell phones transmit in the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum. Of all the FUD surrounding cell phones, this is the only potential problem I would give any weight to that I have yet heard. So, I propose a study of long-term cell phone users to inspect occular health. Hooray science!
Fatherland - a bunch of old Germans raise their eye-brows and say, "Hmm, ve like it. Dat is a good vun."
Motherland - a bunch of Russians raise their eye-brows, then sit back down at the barage of Soviet Russia jokes bandied about here.
Homeland - a bunch of Rednecks raise their beers and shotguns, create a lot of noise, then start calling their hatred of non-Anglo's "patriotism".
Humor aside, unless the T's can get their hands on a source of cheap, reliable optical sensors, I don't see this happening. These aren't technical geniuses over there, its a bunch of people with soldering irons and instructions written by some insurgent smart-guy who knew his stuff. They can't whip together something like that with the parts they may have lying around. Now, if they got their hands on a source of infrared sensors like they type used in motion-sensative outdoor lighting, and narrowed the detection area to a thin band rather than a wide area, they might have something, but I wonder how useful that would be in the desert.
Yeah, after inventing some really good beer, they went to the bar and got pissed. Scientific advancement from the British has never recovered from their previous accomplishments. A sort of academic hangover, if you will.
I would tend to think that if someone is capable of working around an energy cap to cause an increase in output, then they would also be intelligent enough to realize the consequences of this action. Not neccesarily the case, of course. Possible abuse situation there. Abuse is also possible with the simple over-use of this device against normally peaceful crowds - but that's not a fault of the device, its a fault of the operators. Too much exposure to a billy club will cause death, as will too much exposure to a water cannon, high-velocity lead, tear gas, and a great many other things.
Also, most police and military forces, when pressed, will not attempt to use a non-lethal solution if they're being stormed like you suggest. Their reaction in a situation like the one you propose will instead normally result in the use of firearms, as in such a situation, the high-tech non-lethal toy obviously didn't work, or wasn't enough. Whereas we don't necessarily know about the long-term effects of exposure to this device in operation, we *do* know about the long-term effects of a bullet to the head. A soldier or police officer is going to do everything he can to ensure that he gets to go home at the end of the day, and if that means that you end up in a body bag instead of in handcuffs (or simply running away, "goodbye effect", etc) then that's how he's gonna play it. This is just one more tool in their arsenal of already very abusable tools - it comes down to the individual officers and/or soldiers as to whether or not such abuse happens. However, it does give those people another option for non-lethally doing their jobs, whereas before they didn't have as many options before jumping to hot lead.
I agree with your first paragraph ideas, but we need to clarify your second paragraph a little.
First off, realize that this is electromagnetic radiation, not nuclear radiation. Electromagnetic radiation - like the light you are exposed to every day from any source. This is *potentially* lethal with enough energy, but I somehow doubt that they would approve a weapon that made use of ionizing radiation (the kind powerful enough to cause DNA damage, mutation, etc). Its all a question of how much power is being pumped into the device. Also, it can very easily target specific people, as it uses directional electromagnetic waves to do its work - just like shining a flashlight on something. Granted, the AC-130 version probably wouldn't have the capacity for such a thing, given the nature of its delivery platform and its intended crowd-effect, but still, the possibility is there.
I, too, live in the "bible belt", and have noticed the same problem. In addition, have you noticed that they consider using a turn signal as a sign of weakness?
Where did you get the idea that I have replaced religion with science? I totally agree with your statements about so-called "scientific belief", but I don't fall into that category myself - all I said was that people with religious beliefs shouldn't expect me to believe in them or treat their beliefs as fact since there is no evidence of it.
In that case, I suppose I wouldn't be quite as generous as I am being now, no. Your statements beg an interesting question though - this and other incidences where players have been reinstated aside, how often do false positives occur? And in the case of a false positive, what kinds of steps can be taken to get your account back, and what kind of information can be provided to Bliz to help show that you are not, in fact, attempting to cheat?
I also don't think it was just the Linux community that caused this turn-around. I bet the Cedega dev's got ahold of Bliz and asked to work with them to ensure that the users of their emulation software were not being unfairly prosecuted. A bunch of 'nix geeks can be ignored (although again, Bliz is usually pretty good about listening), but when another company contacts you and asks to work with you to resolve what they think might be software interaction problems between the two programs in question, people wake up and start to pay attention. I can't substantiate this, but I'd place odds on something like this being the case.
Well, the other side of that coin is that they are a business, and thus their goal is to make money. They are making their money (and a hell of a lot of it, to boot) by making games that provide a lot of enjoyment to those who play them. I feel that the money I give to Bliz for playing their games is well spent, so I can't begrudge them that. Again, they may be rehashing games and concepts that have been done before, but few, if any, other gaming companies do so as well as Blizzard, and thus the reason why we keep paying for whatever they put out next. Beyond the good customer relations, it can be boiled down to simple economics - supply and demand. They're providing a supply of superior quality, and thus, demand increases.
While I agree that they need to have some system in place to inform users that they may have some kind of bot running so as to avoid false positives like this, I also think that if they were softer on their anti-bot and anti-cheating measures then we might have an even worse situation. I don't advocate this kind of approach in real life, but as far as WoW is concerned, I think it works out alright, since Bliz seems to be going about it in a pretty fair and even-handed way. I mean, as it stands now, its either deal with a game made impossible by cheaters and a lax anti-cheating program, or occasionally get false positives from a largely-automated system that suspends your account for a time and which, if you are determined later to have been tossed out unfairly (by a fairly responsive review team, it seems), you get reinstated and compensated for lost time. Neither solution is ideal, but I think I'd take the latter over the former, as it keeps the game playable and inconveniences the fewest number of people (although those inconvenienced are, admittedly, affected worse). Again, having a system in place to warn users that it appears that they are running a bot would be a great addition to that system for fairness's sake (although it would also give those trying to circumvent the anti-cheating system a red-light/green-light system as to whether or not their cheats are up to date).
...most of their games are evolutionary not revolutionary (although they're fun and have a lot of polish)
This, in my opinion, is one of the reasons Blizzard enjoys such great success. They may not be very inventive when it comes to new concepts for games, but they will take existing concepts and run the hell out of them. Their games aren't always the best examples of what can be done, but they're always great examples of what should be done.
The summary also failed to mention that the people who were blocked got 20 days free play time - 2 weeks more than the time they were blocked. Basically, compensation for time lost plus some insane interest. They got some flak for this initially, but now, not so long after the incident in question, they admit to being wrong, reimburse those wronged, and told us they worked with the Cedega folks to get this resolved, thus supporting the Linux community. I don't see that they could have handled this much better after the initial screw-up, and with that last bit, they now come off smelling like roses (or at least a lot less like shit) to a majority of the/. community. Well played, Bliz, and bravo.
I won't ask you to change your belief system. I may think your imaginary friends are silly, but by all means continue to believe in their existance. However, there is no scientific evidence of their existance, so don't expect me or anyone else to accept your beliefs as fact.
Incorrect on SO many levels. If you want to say that something is, or that something exists, then the burden of proof is on YOU. I'm saying that there is no tangible scientific evidence of the supernatural, so therefore we cannot accept that any supernatural entities (including deities) exist. I don't care how many years of anecdotal oral history you have - the widespread belief that the world was flat didn't make it true either. The plural of anecdote is not data.
Slashdot Mirror
Regardless of the crass dismissal of religion, he is correct in that Evolution is a fact. We can see it in labs. We can observe it. The Theory of Evolution is science's best explanation for the processes by which Evolution (the fact) occurs.
Behold, the dangers of Microsoft wetware.
Not that I advocate taking them seriously, but conservative radio talk show hosts seem to pay a lot of attention to what various bloggers have to say. And lets be honest now, there isn't one unbiased news source out there anymore. If you're alive, then you have an opinion, and your opinion will color whatever it is you're trying to write about.
Lets get some higher resolution in these things and start doing some augmented reality! I can finally store a face next to a name, recall it in a subtle form through my glasses, and never have an awkward moment at a cocktail party every again!
Might I recommend a nice Logitech for your gaming needs? I have one and can't praise it enough. Its a pity that they no longer make (and few programs anymore actually support) the iFeel line of mice they had. Force-feedback mouse, or basically a mouse with a servo-rumble pack. It was tuned very well, and I enjoyed the tactile responce on my desktop and in a few games (Tribes 2, Serious Sam 2, Black and White, Jedi Outcast, and others).
The power:wight ratio? What kind of necromancy are you planning on doing with your laptop?
Ok, if I recall correctly, they have shown that exposure to microwaves can increase the incidence of cataracts. Cell phones transmit in the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum. Of all the FUD surrounding cell phones, this is the only potential problem I would give any weight to that I have yet heard. So, I propose a study of long-term cell phone users to inspect occular health. Hooray science!
Fatherland - a bunch of old Germans raise their eye-brows and say, "Hmm, ve like it. Dat is a good vun."
Motherland - a bunch of Russians raise their eye-brows, then sit back down at the barage of Soviet Russia jokes bandied about here.
Homeland - a bunch of Rednecks raise their beers and shotguns, create a lot of noise, then start calling their hatred of non-Anglo's "patriotism".
Humor aside, unless the T's can get their hands on a source of cheap, reliable optical sensors, I don't see this happening. These aren't technical geniuses over there, its a bunch of people with soldering irons and instructions written by some insurgent smart-guy who knew his stuff. They can't whip together something like that with the parts they may have lying around. Now, if they got their hands on a source of infrared sensors like they type used in motion-sensative outdoor lighting, and narrowed the detection area to a thin band rather than a wide area, they might have something, but I wonder how useful that would be in the desert.
That whooshing noise you just heard? That was the joke flying by at Mach 2. Wait a moment, you'll hear the sonic boom...
I suppose that depends on how good you were at that game. When you're getting zero either way, does it really matter if you're confused?
Yeah, after inventing some really good beer, they went to the bar and got pissed. Scientific advancement from the British has never recovered from their previous accomplishments. A sort of academic hangover, if you will.
I would tend to think that if someone is capable of working around an energy cap to cause an increase in output, then they would also be intelligent enough to realize the consequences of this action. Not neccesarily the case, of course. Possible abuse situation there. Abuse is also possible with the simple over-use of this device against normally peaceful crowds - but that's not a fault of the device, its a fault of the operators. Too much exposure to a billy club will cause death, as will too much exposure to a water cannon, high-velocity lead, tear gas, and a great many other things.
Also, most police and military forces, when pressed, will not attempt to use a non-lethal solution if they're being stormed like you suggest. Their reaction in a situation like the one you propose will instead normally result in the use of firearms, as in such a situation, the high-tech non-lethal toy obviously didn't work, or wasn't enough. Whereas we don't necessarily know about the long-term effects of exposure to this device in operation, we *do* know about the long-term effects of a bullet to the head. A soldier or police officer is going to do everything he can to ensure that he gets to go home at the end of the day, and if that means that you end up in a body bag instead of in handcuffs (or simply running away, "goodbye effect", etc) then that's how he's gonna play it. This is just one more tool in their arsenal of already very abusable tools - it comes down to the individual officers and/or soldiers as to whether or not such abuse happens. However, it does give those people another option for non-lethally doing their jobs, whereas before they didn't have as many options before jumping to hot lead.
I agree with your first paragraph ideas, but we need to clarify your second paragraph a little.
First off, realize that this is electromagnetic radiation, not nuclear radiation. Electromagnetic radiation - like the light you are exposed to every day from any source. This is *potentially* lethal with enough energy, but I somehow doubt that they would approve a weapon that made use of ionizing radiation (the kind powerful enough to cause DNA damage, mutation, etc). Its all a question of how much power is being pumped into the device. Also, it can very easily target specific people, as it uses directional electromagnetic waves to do its work - just like shining a flashlight on something. Granted, the AC-130 version probably wouldn't have the capacity for such a thing, given the nature of its delivery platform and its intended crowd-effect, but still, the possibility is there.
I, too, live in the "bible belt", and have noticed the same problem. In addition, have you noticed that they consider using a turn signal as a sign of weakness?
Depending on what the traffic is like, 2 meters may very well be 2 seconds...
Sir, I am in awe of your tactics. Bravo.
Where did you get the idea that I have replaced religion with science? I totally agree with your statements about so-called "scientific belief", but I don't fall into that category myself - all I said was that people with religious beliefs shouldn't expect me to believe in them or treat their beliefs as fact since there is no evidence of it.
In that case, I suppose I wouldn't be quite as generous as I am being now, no. Your statements beg an interesting question though - this and other incidences where players have been reinstated aside, how often do false positives occur? And in the case of a false positive, what kinds of steps can be taken to get your account back, and what kind of information can be provided to Bliz to help show that you are not, in fact, attempting to cheat?
I also don't think it was just the Linux community that caused this turn-around. I bet the Cedega dev's got ahold of Bliz and asked to work with them to ensure that the users of their emulation software were not being unfairly prosecuted. A bunch of 'nix geeks can be ignored (although again, Bliz is usually pretty good about listening), but when another company contacts you and asks to work with you to resolve what they think might be software interaction problems between the two programs in question, people wake up and start to pay attention. I can't substantiate this, but I'd place odds on something like this being the case.
Well, the other side of that coin is that they are a business, and thus their goal is to make money. They are making their money (and a hell of a lot of it, to boot) by making games that provide a lot of enjoyment to those who play them. I feel that the money I give to Bliz for playing their games is well spent, so I can't begrudge them that. Again, they may be rehashing games and concepts that have been done before, but few, if any, other gaming companies do so as well as Blizzard, and thus the reason why we keep paying for whatever they put out next. Beyond the good customer relations, it can be boiled down to simple economics - supply and demand. They're providing a supply of superior quality, and thus, demand increases.
While I agree that they need to have some system in place to inform users that they may have some kind of bot running so as to avoid false positives like this, I also think that if they were softer on their anti-bot and anti-cheating measures then we might have an even worse situation. I don't advocate this kind of approach in real life, but as far as WoW is concerned, I think it works out alright, since Bliz seems to be going about it in a pretty fair and even-handed way. I mean, as it stands now, its either deal with a game made impossible by cheaters and a lax anti-cheating program, or occasionally get false positives from a largely-automated system that suspends your account for a time and which, if you are determined later to have been tossed out unfairly (by a fairly responsive review team, it seems), you get reinstated and compensated for lost time. Neither solution is ideal, but I think I'd take the latter over the former, as it keeps the game playable and inconveniences the fewest number of people (although those inconvenienced are, admittedly, affected worse). Again, having a system in place to warn users that it appears that they are running a bot would be a great addition to that system for fairness's sake (although it would also give those trying to circumvent the anti-cheating system a red-light/green-light system as to whether or not their cheats are up to date).
...most of their games are evolutionary not revolutionary (although they're fun and have a lot of polish)
This, in my opinion, is one of the reasons Blizzard enjoys such great success. They may not be very inventive when it comes to new concepts for games, but they will take existing concepts and run the hell out of them. Their games aren't always the best examples of what can be done, but they're always great examples of what should be done.
The summary also failed to mention that the people who were blocked got 20 days free play time - 2 weeks more than the time they were blocked. Basically, compensation for time lost plus some insane interest. They got some flak for this initially, but now, not so long after the incident in question, they admit to being wrong, reimburse those wronged, and told us they worked with the Cedega folks to get this resolved, thus supporting the Linux community. I don't see that they could have handled this much better after the initial screw-up, and with that last bit, they now come off smelling like roses (or at least a lot less like shit) to a majority of the /. community. Well played, Bliz, and bravo.
I won't ask you to change your belief system. I may think your imaginary friends are silly, but by all means continue to believe in their existance. However, there is no scientific evidence of their existance, so don't expect me or anyone else to accept your beliefs as fact.
Incorrect on SO many levels. If you want to say that something is, or that something exists, then the burden of proof is on YOU. I'm saying that there is no tangible scientific evidence of the supernatural, so therefore we cannot accept that any supernatural entities (including deities) exist. I don't care how many years of anecdotal oral history you have - the widespread belief that the world was flat didn't make it true either. The plural of anecdote is not data.