Reminds me of the book Photon - Thieves of Light, based on Lasertag... there was a scene where the protagonist was explaining fictional movies to some alien, and him being shocked, because in his culture, video depictions are strictly reserved for factual account of real events, and creating illusions is a severely punishable crime.
In order to protect the public right to be informed, and in light of the Department of Defenses demonstration that they have no moral qualms about releasing doctored photos, we've decided that we're not going to show you anything they release whatsoever. In order to protect you, the citizen, and your right to be informed. Now, please pay attention as this airbrushed supermodel tells you how wonderful Coke is.
Ever notice how the people who make the snarky remarks about communism always have houses full of objects that were manufactured in communist countries, and yet, somehow, they still manage to feel that their society is superior, even though they're nothing but con artists and goons when you get right down to it?
If you want to measure efficiency, you do it by comparing energy consumed to work accomplished.
So, if console A has a fun factor of 5, and consumes 1 unit of energy, but console B has a fun factor of 15 and consumes 2 units of energy, then console B is more efficient.
The only way to solve this equation is to understand the value of fun.
Clearly, we need to create a International Fun Agency to test for this if we're ever going to make our games more efficient, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce taxes and save the children.
What are they supposed to do?
"Oh, these people are all stupid. Lets chuck em out and get some better ones."
The problem isn't that they can't solve the problem. The problem is, they're being employed to try in the first place.
Raise taxes. Make public transportation absolutely free. Watch cars on the road go down. Watch societal energy requirements go down. Watch population redistribute themselves along the public transportation corridors, reducing energy requirements further. Watch everyone get that little bit richer as a consequence. Problems solved.
The strategy makers are the problem.
Maybe that's what some of the mystics are saying now, but for the longest time the belief was that the soul was something tangible and in this dimension.
Well, a lot of mythology revolves around disease. Don't go into that house, the spirits of the dead inhabit it, and they'll kill you. AKA that house is full of disease, and if you go in there, you'll die. This is how God wants you to eat (to prevent disease), this is how God wants you to fornicate (to prevent disease), this is how God wants you to clean yourself (to prevent disease). Oh, and cover your mouth when you cough, you're spreading your evil spirits around the room and you're going to make us sick. God bless you.
Maybe you're thinking of a 'soul' in its generally understood sense - in which case your are nearly right, science will never realise these basic 'truths' as science is restricted by not being allowed to make shit up.
All that would be necessary is to establish that we do or do not have an aspect of ourselves that lies outside 4 dimensional space. That is what the Jews and the Christians and the Muslims are talking about when they get all philosophical.
I've been trying to visualize myself as a solid 4 dimensional object, with edges at the moment of my conception and the moment of my death. Hard thing to keep in your brain.
I've been thinking that if I were to make a piece of software that would let you take an animation, where you're viewing a 3 dimensional object moving through time, and arbitrarily swap x, y or z for t, then replay the animation, that might jar something inside a persons head, create an 'aha' moment and make it easier to visualize.
I imagine you could get some interesting perspectives of the world by reviewing things in such a fashion.
At any rate, if I ever find the time to write that, I'll share it, and you can smoke your own pot while you watch it.
MythTV really is meant to be for watching and recording TV, there's a clue to that in the name. For what you describe XBMC, especially with some of the newer high resolution themes, is easily a better choice.
XBMC on Linux had some serious bugs that just got fixed in their most recent release, so it only became the better choice last week. I tried the last release, and every time your mouse drifted across the section for handling weather, XBMC would crash because it failed to wait for the data to come across the network before trying to display it.
I just dumped Mythbuntu and switched to XBMC Media Center. I don't actually have a TV signal, just use the machine for DVDs and recorded movies, music and pictures across the LAN. And for those purposes, I found it so awkward to work with as to be unusable. Particularly the interface for managing your music collection.
This article seems to focus entirely on the aspects relating to managing TV signals and shows. Is there anything in this new interface that might make me want to switch back?
I... Um... was thinking that you had perhaps read this somewhere and could link me to a place for further reading on an explanation of what you claim? A book perhaps? Some Brian Greene or something then?
Which means the religious folks will ask, who created the singularity?
The question wouldn't be who created the singularity, but who created the entire 4 dimensional object. But, a better question would be, are we OF this 4 dimensional object, or IN it. If we are IN it, then we have a "soul" (hate that word). If we're OF it, then we don't.
What does an underground lair have to do with Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged?
John Galt wanted to take all his "superior" peers and retreat into a lair with them to create an "enlightened" society and allow the rest of the world to degenerate into madness and barbarism. That's what made this article remind me of him.
Anyone who entertains the notions of Ayn Rand in any serious fashion is an psychotic.
Imagine time is a 4th spatial dimension. Imagine that the permutations the sum of the energy and mass of a universe can enter are ALL represented in all universes, but that there is a single lowest common denominator, which is the singularity. The singularity is where all the multiverses meet, like petals on a flower. The dark matter, the stuff from outside the universe that is influencing it, those are other universes bumping into our own.
This is the model towards which all the painstaking math is leading.
THAT God exists since the universe exists. However, I could also define God to be cheese, and say God exists so stop arguing over his existence, but that's missing the point that's not what people are arguing over. When people talk of God they normally mean an omnipotent being that takes personal interests in the lives of humans, and has revealed himself to others.
Unless you're recognized by others as a Holy Man, you can't define the word God in any meaningful sense, but merely spout opinions about the nature of reality and misuse an already defined word. Until and unless you're dead and people are still recognizing you as a Holy Man and accepting your definition, you're just a cult leader. It's only when you're dead and in the ground and unable to support your opinion with the strength of your personality, yet still people are using your definition that you get to define God.
None of which is relevant to the fact that it's more productive to communicate with people using their existing metaphorical framework and have them abandon or adjust it of their own free will when their growing enlightenment causes them to run into its limitations than it is to attempt to attack them because you think their metaphorical framework is shit. When you do that, you basically refuse to listen to any of their views because you don't like their accent.
So, for example, some people think that the reason they didn't implement direct democracy is because they didn't have the practical means to disseminate information, vote, etc. This is not true. The American founders didn't WANT direct democracy, because historically that had inevitably DESTROYED the tyranny of the RULING CLASS. They wanted educated, worldly men FROM THE RULING CLASS LIKE THEMSELVES to make the decisions... but they ENTICED the people BY ALLOWING THEM to choose WHICH OF THE PREAPPROVED, educated, worldly men FROM THE RULING CLASS made those decisions.
We don't have a true democracy. We don't get to choose who we vote for, we get to choose from a short list of candidates approved by those with economic power. We don't get to vote on issues, but have to vote for a representative we wouldn't have picked for ourselves if we'd been able to choose anyone we wanted. And finally, we don't get to revoke our vote when it no longer reflects our views, but are forced to hand our political power off to someone for years at a time with no recourse should they abuse it.
This democracy was designed to fail, by those who would lose power if it succeeded, and has been in the custody of those whose motives are contrary to true democracy ever since. Doesn't really matter what country you live it, this statement still holds true.
Modern democracy is like a carrot in front of a donkey who will never get to eat it, but keeps chasing it anyways.
There are a lot of them these days, and they're getting more sophisticated. My girlfriend got several of the "We'll pay you upfront, plus send you extra money for the printing, you do the graphic design work, then send the completed design and a portion of the money we sent you to Joe Smith at Printing Service XYZ, and we'll pick up the completed work from him when we come into town for our conference/concert/whatever." scams in the last year. It seems very plausible when you run a small business online.
"Tell these corporate bastards we're not going to pay anymore."
Completely within your rights as they stand now. Don't buy and don't receive -- simple.
This has an inherent presupposition that you can go do for yourself if you don't want to participate in exchange. If the rules that require you to participate in exchange also forbid you from doing for yourself, that's tyranny. You don't practice tolerance with tyranny. You fight to the bitter end, not giving an inch, until you have your liberty back.
Sorry to tell you, but you were born in tyranny, you live in tyranny, and you don't even understand why it's tyranny or what freedom is supposed to feel like. When you cannot address your needs personally because the law bars you from doing so, but are forced to instead engage in arbitrary activity for some third party in order to meet your needs, you are a slave. That's you, and me as well.
Well, truth be told, I didn't stay in very long... only a couple of years. I was badly injured as a civilian and couldn't be sent to Yugoslavia, so they gave me an honourable discharge.
As I recall, we generally used proper ear muff style protection on the range. Not always, but generally.
Slashdot Mirror
Reminds me of the book Photon - Thieves of Light, based on Lasertag... there was a scene where the protagonist was explaining fictional movies to some alien, and him being shocked, because in his culture, video depictions are strictly reserved for factual account of real events, and creating illusions is a severely punishable crime.
Wish I lived in such a culture.
In order to protect the public right to be informed, and in light of the Department of Defenses demonstration that they have no moral qualms about releasing doctored photos, we've decided that we're not going to show you anything they release whatsoever. In order to protect you, the citizen, and your right to be informed. Now, please pay attention as this airbrushed supermodel tells you how wonderful Coke is.
Ever notice how the people who make the snarky remarks about communism always have houses full of objects that were manufactured in communist countries, and yet, somehow, they still manage to feel that their society is superior, even though they're nothing but con artists and goons when you get right down to it?
Yeah, me too.
The thing they're ignoring is the Fun factor.
If you want to measure efficiency, you do it by comparing energy consumed to work accomplished.
So, if console A has a fun factor of 5, and consumes 1 unit of energy, but console B has a fun factor of 15 and consumes 2 units of energy, then console B is more efficient.
The only way to solve this equation is to understand the value of fun.
Clearly, we need to create a International Fun Agency to test for this if we're ever going to make our games more efficient, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce taxes and save the children.
What are they supposed to do? "Oh, these people are all stupid. Lets chuck em out and get some better ones." The problem isn't that they can't solve the problem. The problem is, they're being employed to try in the first place. Raise taxes. Make public transportation absolutely free. Watch cars on the road go down. Watch societal energy requirements go down. Watch population redistribute themselves along the public transportation corridors, reducing energy requirements further. Watch everyone get that little bit richer as a consequence. Problems solved. The strategy makers are the problem.
Maybe that's what some of the mystics are saying now, but for the longest time the belief was that the soul was something tangible and in this dimension.
Well, a lot of mythology revolves around disease. Don't go into that house, the spirits of the dead inhabit it, and they'll kill you. AKA that house is full of disease, and if you go in there, you'll die. This is how God wants you to eat (to prevent disease), this is how God wants you to fornicate (to prevent disease), this is how God wants you to clean yourself (to prevent disease). Oh, and cover your mouth when you cough, you're spreading your evil spirits around the room and you're going to make us sick. God bless you.
Maybe you're thinking of a 'soul' in its generally understood sense - in which case your are nearly right, science will never realise these basic 'truths' as science is restricted by not being allowed to make shit up.
All that would be necessary is to establish that we do or do not have an aspect of ourselves that lies outside 4 dimensional space. That is what the Jews and the Christians and the Muslims are talking about when they get all philosophical.
well then, can you at least share your pot?
No.
I've been trying to visualize myself as a solid 4 dimensional object, with edges at the moment of my conception and the moment of my death. Hard thing to keep in your brain.
I've been thinking that if I were to make a piece of software that would let you take an animation, where you're viewing a 3 dimensional object moving through time, and arbitrarily swap x, y or z for t, then replay the animation, that might jar something inside a persons head, create an 'aha' moment and make it easier to visualize.
I imagine you could get some interesting perspectives of the world by reviewing things in such a fashion.
At any rate, if I ever find the time to write that, I'll share it, and you can smoke your own pot while you watch it.
MythTV really is meant to be for watching and recording TV, there's a clue to that in the name. For what you describe XBMC, especially with some of the newer high resolution themes, is easily a better choice.
XBMC on Linux had some serious bugs that just got fixed in their most recent release, so it only became the better choice last week. I tried the last release, and every time your mouse drifted across the section for handling weather, XBMC would crash because it failed to wait for the data to come across the network before trying to display it.
But the new version works great.
I just dumped Mythbuntu and switched to XBMC Media Center. I don't actually have a TV signal, just use the machine for DVDs and recorded movies, music and pictures across the LAN. And for those purposes, I found it so awkward to work with as to be unusable. Particularly the interface for managing your music collection.
This article seems to focus entirely on the aspects relating to managing TV signals and shows. Is there anything in this new interface that might make me want to switch back?
I... Um... was thinking that you had perhaps read this somewhere and could link me to a place for further reading on an explanation of what you claim? A book perhaps? Some Brian Greene or something then?
Sorry. Came out of my own brain.
Which means the religious folks will ask, who created the singularity?
The question wouldn't be who created the singularity, but who created the entire 4 dimensional object. But, a better question would be, are we OF this 4 dimensional object, or IN it. If we are IN it, then we have a "soul" (hate that word). If we're OF it, then we don't.
I am the source.
What does an underground lair have to do with Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged?
John Galt wanted to take all his "superior" peers and retreat into a lair with them to create an "enlightened" society and allow the rest of the world to degenerate into madness and barbarism. That's what made this article remind me of him.
Anyone who entertains the notions of Ayn Rand in any serious fashion is an psychotic.
Imagine time is a 4th spatial dimension. Imagine that the permutations the sum of the energy and mass of a universe can enter are ALL represented in all universes, but that there is a single lowest common denominator, which is the singularity. The singularity is where all the multiverses meet, like petals on a flower. The dark matter, the stuff from outside the universe that is influencing it, those are other universes bumping into our own.
This is the model towards which all the painstaking math is leading.
THAT God exists since the universe exists. However, I could also define God to be cheese, and say God exists so stop arguing over his existence, but that's missing the point that's not what people are arguing over. When people talk of God they normally mean an omnipotent being that takes personal interests in the lives of humans, and has revealed himself to others.
Unless you're recognized by others as a Holy Man, you can't define the word God in any meaningful sense, but merely spout opinions about the nature of reality and misuse an already defined word. Until and unless you're dead and people are still recognizing you as a Holy Man and accepting your definition, you're just a cult leader. It's only when you're dead and in the ground and unable to support your opinion with the strength of your personality, yet still people are using your definition that you get to define God.
None of which is relevant to the fact that it's more productive to communicate with people using their existing metaphorical framework and have them abandon or adjust it of their own free will when their growing enlightenment causes them to run into its limitations than it is to attempt to attack them because you think their metaphorical framework is shit. When you do that, you basically refuse to listen to any of their views because you don't like their accent.
Is anyone else reminded of the aspirations of John Galt by this?
So, for example, some people think that the reason they didn't implement direct democracy is because they didn't have the practical means to disseminate information, vote, etc. This is not true. The American founders didn't WANT direct democracy, because historically that had inevitably DESTROYED the tyranny of the RULING CLASS. They wanted educated, worldly men FROM THE RULING CLASS LIKE THEMSELVES to make the decisions ... but they ENTICED the people BY ALLOWING THEM to choose WHICH OF THE PREAPPROVED, educated, worldly men FROM THE RULING CLASS made those decisions.
Fixed that for you.
I've thought about it, and what I came up with was the following: Meter? What? Huh?
Think harder. You can figure this out. I have faith in you. Billions wouldn't, but I do.
As Rob Schneider would say...
You can do it!
We don't have a true democracy. We don't get to choose who we vote for, we get to choose from a short list of candidates approved by those with economic power. We don't get to vote on issues, but have to vote for a representative we wouldn't have picked for ourselves if we'd been able to choose anyone we wanted. And finally, we don't get to revoke our vote when it no longer reflects our views, but are forced to hand our political power off to someone for years at a time with no recourse should they abuse it.
This democracy was designed to fail, by those who would lose power if it succeeded, and has been in the custody of those whose motives are contrary to true democracy ever since. Doesn't really matter what country you live it, this statement still holds true.
Modern democracy is like a carrot in front of a donkey who will never get to eat it, but keeps chasing it anyways.
Why is everything centralized around a single point of failures?
Because that's where you put the meter.
Why is all of humanity on the brink of extinction?
Because that's how you make them continue to pay.
How can we reduce the risk of human extinction?
Think about it...
There are a lot of them these days, and they're getting more sophisticated. My girlfriend got several of the "We'll pay you upfront, plus send you extra money for the printing, you do the graphic design work, then send the completed design and a portion of the money we sent you to Joe Smith at Printing Service XYZ, and we'll pick up the completed work from him when we come into town for our conference/concert/whatever." scams in the last year. It seems very plausible when you run a small business online.
You come across as an immature idiot who wants to play arm-chair revolutionary. Were you Robin Hood or Guy Fawkes for Halloween this year?
Che Guevara, actually.
"Tell these corporate bastards we're not going to pay anymore."
Completely within your rights as they stand now. Don't buy and don't receive -- simple.
This has an inherent presupposition that you can go do for yourself if you don't want to participate in exchange. If the rules that require you to participate in exchange also forbid you from doing for yourself, that's tyranny. You don't practice tolerance with tyranny. You fight to the bitter end, not giving an inch, until you have your liberty back.
Sorry to tell you, but you were born in tyranny, you live in tyranny, and you don't even understand why it's tyranny or what freedom is supposed to feel like. When you cannot address your needs personally because the law bars you from doing so, but are forced to instead engage in arbitrary activity for some third party in order to meet your needs, you are a slave. That's you, and me as well.
Well, truth be told, I didn't stay in very long... only a couple of years. I was badly injured as a civilian and couldn't be sent to Yugoslavia, so they gave me an honourable discharge.
As I recall, we generally used proper ear muff style protection on the range. Not always, but generally.