>37% of Netflix's US subscribers binge-watch shows and movies while at work.
Yep. It happens here all the time - we have a big pipe, and it's paid for even if we max it out. There are people who watch on breaks, on lunch, or if they're in a position that requires them to be physically present waiting for an issue to occur but doesn't offer much opportunity to do other work while waiting (we only have a couple of those positions, so far as I'm aware).
The company only cares if it affects business so if business apps are affected, IT throttles or blocks as necessary. If users are watching videos when they're supposed to be working, eventually there's a complaint and it's handled by HR (hasn't happened yet, to the best of my knowledge).
If the TA has a bad accent, then you have a case where the foreigner has out-competed the natives in school.
Now, I agree a sufficiently thick accent can be an impediment to transfer of knowledge, but it's just one factor. If they're good enough to be the TA and the accent is tolerable... complaining about their accent is just an expression of resentment that one of 'them' is better than you. Try learning from them instead. If you ignore their knowledge because of their place of origin, you're not ready to learn anyway.
>A 4-light-years-away planet system is an awesome test bed for interstellar probes
We're not ready yet. Despite the success of the Voyager probes, there is a world of difference between throwing a more-or-less dead probe into the void, and building a device that will still be working and able to navigate after decades in interstellar space.
And multiple delicate instruments would have to be functional, with an onboard computer that is completely autonomous (an 8 year round-trip comms delay means any degree of tele-operation is almost completely pointless). And if your comm laser doesn't have enough juice or isn't aimed with incredible precision... your data never makes it home.
Still, yeah... it's nice to have something 'close by' for when we really are ready to try. And maybe by then we'll be able to break even 0.1c.
Put up walls, block out the rest of the world. It means you're limiting your society's access to knowledge and resources to those that are available inside those walls. This means you tend to develop socially and technologically at a slower pace than larger populations, and you tend to grow xenophobic which makes future interactions with the rest of the world more likely to be unfavorable.
Obviously the US isn't disconnected from the world entirely, but you guys certainly seem determined to blow up as many bridges as you can.
If the goal is to share information (like your resume to potential employers or customers) you can't keep it private (say, from your current employer, family, or your nosey neighbour).
If you publish information about yourself on the Internet... YOU'VE PUBLISHED INFORMATION ABOUT YOURSELF ON THE INTERNET.
Who is mining the sites and what they're doing with that information is more or less irrelevant, since you should be assuming everyone is doing whatever they want with it.
Our best tech - with the theoretical worked out and needing only the relatively minor engineering effort to assemble it - could hit 0.5c and get us there in a 220 years. If we allow for some credible and fairly certain tech improvement, we can double the speed and halve that time. In both cases, adding 11 years for a signal to get back to Earth.
However, I'm of the opinion that anything we can't reach within the working lifetime of a human isn't something we're terribly likely to put any effort into reaching. Whoever creates the probe wants to be around to see the results... so we really need to find something within 4 light years of Earth, and there's nothing in that radius that's similar enough to the Solar system to have anything 'Earth-like' in the way the average person means it.
> They know. They just don't care. Security is not worth the hassle to the masses.
For many, a smart phone has become a necessity. Of course it ISN'T, but it's thought of as one. It's certainly convenient to always have your phone, email, various social networking apps, some games, and a web browser on your person at all times.
The average person is also not a techie. A smart phone isn't a computer running various programs of various origins to them. It's just a thing that does stuff. A black box.
>Why is it that most successful people are Christians
It's an 'in' club. Many of those people aren't real Christians, they go to church so that they get community support for being a member of the faith. In fact, a lot of unsuccessful people go to church for the same reason. Lots of politicians in the states pretty much have to go to church or they are unelectable, for instance.
>and most people who post long screeds about religion to internet technology forums are atheist
Well, it's not true where I live, but in many places religion is a fact of daily life and not playing along can have severely negative effects on your life as many of those 'Christian' folks do their best to exclude you from society. Do you remember George H. W. Bush saying atheists shouldn't be considered as citizens in the USA? The POTUS said that, AND IT WAS ACCEPTABLE TO THE GENERAL VOTING PUBLIC.
So you get this resentful rage burning inside you and when there's a way to strike back without consequence, you take it. Also, atheists on the Internet tend to be better versed in scripture than theists, if for no other reason than we're more willing to look at historical revisions and interpretations instead of taking it on faith that the current popular opinion on the current popular version of the Bible has always been so.
I'm not rich by many people's standards, but I don't worry about food (but I don't eat out frequently, and never at expensive restaurants. Maybe a couple of times while dating...), rent (I paid a mortgage for a long time, now I just pay maintenance and property taxes), or transportation (I don't drive an expensive car).
I'm Canadian, so (basic) health care is covered by my taxes, essentially a group insurance plan that includes everyone; I'll never go broke because of a hospital visit, even if I've lost my job.
I know the stress of debt and not knowing whether your lifestyle is going to start crashing down as you cannibalize your assets to pay debts you can't put off paying, and I know how much nicer it is not to worry about that any more.
On the other hand, since I have all my reasonable desires covered, what's left is the unreasonable ones... and I figure I'd need 10x the income I have now to start indulging them, and that's not going to happen.
I'm human, so I'm still generally discontented. People always want more. Get all the money you want, as long as you want money you'll find you never have enough of it. I bet there are many things Bill Gates is irritated he can't solve with his money.
>It would be interesting to hear what people would want from a next generation religion.
Comforting answers to any questions that bother them (usually regarding emotional issues like life, death, and marriage), a community to support them, and a sense of belonging to that community. Those are the things that make people seek religion if they weren't already indoctrinated into one.
When you look at why people lose their faith, it's often because their faith failed to support them or make them feel they belonged in it, not because they reasoned their way out of it.
> I don't want to be a pet or livestock, so the discussion so far seems to have taken a wrong turn in my eyes
Well, the guy being discussed IS a nutter, but maybe he'll eventually figure out you don't get to tell Gods how to behave... you try to figure out how they want YOU to behave. That's part of the whole Godhood thingy.
> it would be interesting to see a grass-roots religion form rather than something promulgated by a religious elite.
It happens all the time - we call them 'cults', and whatever 'nobody' starts them ends up being in the elite of that cult. It's the nature of the beast - you start a religion for a reason, others follow you because they like what you're selling.
Agreed. However, it's still perfectly rational to feel fairly comfortable around Takei and not want to be anywhere near Weinstein right now.
One unverified accusation vs. dozens of corroborated accounts makes a difference, even before a courtroom. And Weinstein also made a limited admission of guilt when this all started.
Legal presumption of innocence is distinct from practical presumption of innocence.
English rules the world at present, but not any particular flavour (I speak Canadian English which to me usually sounds poorly enunciated, which is why I love the Standard English of the UK... anybody who speaks English should be able to hear the words even if they haven't learned their meaning).
I personally will argue with people over the pronunciation of 'z' (where I live, it's supposed to be zed, not zee), but that's more or less habit... language is living and what is 'correct' is whatever people are using to communicate.
HOWEVER, I always have and always will resist slang. It's deliberate misuse of the language whose utility is usually in isolating your group (usually cultural) from the larger population, and that's just stupid.
You know, as a kid I didn't understand that Hanukkah and Christmas were different holidays. Then as I got older I came to understand the difference.
Then I got older still... it turns out kid me was onto something because yep, it's a celebration held close enough to the winter solstice. The supposed reason doesn't really matter when it boils down to the same time of year and underlying purpose (family / friend / clan/whatever bonding).
It's not what I meant when I said I knew Jews and Muslims who celebrate Christmas, though. I meant the exchanging of gifts, the seasonal dinner parties, colourful lights on the houses, etc. Even taking the kids to see Santa (really!). It's not a Christian holiday any more unless you want it to be. I know I'm not a Christian, and I certainly celebrate the secular Christmas.
Admittedly it's mostly a cheery-but-sombre holiday and usually focused on the kids... but if it's going celibate I'm not going to observe Christmas any longer!
Mortal Kombat (I) was excellent. Not Oscar-worthy, for sure, but so far above the standard for the genre I have to wonder why they did it (but I'm glad they did). Tomb Raider wasn't bad, either. I like Street Fighter, but I'll grant you that other than Raul's performance it was crap. The Mario Brothers live action... I don't know what they were thinking.
Video game-based movies are like any other movie... quality varies based on the source material, budget, and talent involved.
There are two Christmases - ecclesiastical and secular. One's about going to church to hear about Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and the other is about telling kids a magic fat man is watching them and will sneak presents into their home if they're good, erecting a Christmas tree, putting lights up on your house, having a few lunch or dinner parties, and exchanging gifts.
I know atheists (hi there!), Jews, and Muslims who all celebrate the secular version of Christmas to varying degrees. It's just a winter solstice celebration, and in a northern climate you want one of those when things are grey and dreary.
I'm fully on board with Christmas for adults being shared meals and drinks (especially for people you feel you don't see often enough), but a lot of supposed adults aren't all that sensible!
I know a lot of people who think gifts are mandatory, followed by endless rounds of 'who appreciated it more', and noses out of joint if enough thanks isn't received. Blech.
I think in Takei's case there's good reason to disregard the accusation unless and until it goes to and through court.
So far as I'm aware, it's a single accusation from long ago that is uncorroborated. You look at the other major cases flying around, and there's tons of people crawling out of the woodwork saying, "We all knew but were afraid to do anything".
Takei hasn't had that kind of power... well, ever, as far as I know, and even with it being the 'in' thing to denounce right now, I don't see a lynch mob of former associates gathering.
>Weirdly, a full 12% of consumers would prefer to shop after Christmas, to capitalize on the post-holiday sales, even though their recipients would get their presents a little late.
That's not weird. The whole thing is stupidly inefficient - the stores have to stock up and get temporary workers for a month or so, customers have to cram into those stores during that month, and a premium is put on everything to cover the extra expenses plus the whole 'this could be it until next December' mentality.
On the other hand, I'm pretty much done with the whole 'consume consume consume' thing. Neither I nor any of my family or friends NEED anything, and we have everything we could reasonably want. None of us are starving. None of us lack a book to read or a game to play.
A gift is something I have to find space for in my house. A gift is something I'm going to think about how wasteful it was to have produced, shipped, and eventually recycled (or thrown in the dump).
At best (or worst?) I just want to get a little token trinket for someone, and fighting traffic and a crowded mall just to pay a premium for one doesn't appeal. And all the stores around here do 'Boxing Week' sales, with big bargain-hunting crowds pretty much fading in the first day. Damn right I'm going shopping after Christmas, at least for those I won't see until January anyway.
>Once Identified, the victim can turn around and show proof of his comments and smack down this asshole...
If he has backing documentation (which, based on his complaint, he should), then yes. I would expect you could nail the guy for malicious prosecution. If he can't prove it (or worse, turns out to be a competitor), then it's time to pay up for committing libel.
> What's important is that everyone thinks they can get it but only a handful really can.
I've played a few games in pre-release status with bonuses for being near the top. It doesn't take many players before that mountain top is too high to climb.
It's so easy to get to the average, because there's always people who sign up and give up. But there are also people out there who obsess over the new game and put ungodly hours into it... and they're the ones who will be in the top 0.01%.
Essentially, if there's any player base at all and you have any kind of life outside of gaming... you aren't getting any 'unique' rewards. Ever.
>This isn't about stopping an American attack, it is about deterring it.
"everybody involved knows the standoff is dependent on China and Russia as well as having Seoul within shelling range."
I still don't see the point.
Everything beyond razing Seoul and the threat of a flood of refugees into China is more or less window dressing. Nobody wants to see that, so the available overwhelming force isn't used to destroy NK.
NK can learn all they want about US capability - there's simply so much of it relative to NK there's no conceivable adequate defense, and any successful attack on the US mainland would mean North Korea would be flattened and damn the consequences with China and/or Russia.
Slashdot Mirror
>37% of Netflix's US subscribers binge-watch shows and movies while at work.
Yep. It happens here all the time - we have a big pipe, and it's paid for even if we max it out. There are people who watch on breaks, on lunch, or if they're in a position that requires them to be physically present waiting for an issue to occur but doesn't offer much opportunity to do other work while waiting (we only have a couple of those positions, so far as I'm aware).
The company only cares if it affects business so if business apps are affected, IT throttles or blocks as necessary. If users are watching videos when they're supposed to be working, eventually there's a complaint and it's handled by HR (hasn't happened yet, to the best of my knowledge).
If the TA has a bad accent, then you have a case where the foreigner has out-competed the natives in school.
Now, I agree a sufficiently thick accent can be an impediment to transfer of knowledge, but it's just one factor. If they're good enough to be the TA and the accent is tolerable... complaining about their accent is just an expression of resentment that one of 'them' is better than you. Try learning from them instead. If you ignore their knowledge because of their place of origin, you're not ready to learn anyway.
>A 4-light-years-away planet system is an awesome test bed for interstellar probes
We're not ready yet. Despite the success of the Voyager probes, there is a world of difference between throwing a more-or-less dead probe into the void, and building a device that will still be working and able to navigate after decades in interstellar space.
And multiple delicate instruments would have to be functional, with an onboard computer that is completely autonomous (an 8 year round-trip comms delay means any degree of tele-operation is almost completely pointless). And if your comm laser doesn't have enough juice or isn't aimed with incredible precision... your data never makes it home.
Still, yeah... it's nice to have something 'close by' for when we really are ready to try. And maybe by then we'll be able to break even 0.1c.
Put up walls, block out the rest of the world. It means you're limiting your society's access to knowledge and resources to those that are available inside those walls. This means you tend to develop socially and technologically at a slower pace than larger populations, and you tend to grow xenophobic which makes future interactions with the rest of the world more likely to be unfavorable.
Obviously the US isn't disconnected from the world entirely, but you guys certainly seem determined to blow up as many bridges as you can.
If the goal is to share information (like your resume to potential employers or customers) you can't keep it private (say, from your current employer, family, or your nosey neighbour).
If you publish information about yourself on the Internet... YOU'VE PUBLISHED INFORMATION ABOUT YOURSELF ON THE INTERNET.
Who is mining the sites and what they're doing with that information is more or less irrelevant, since you should be assuming everyone is doing whatever they want with it.
Our best tech - with the theoretical worked out and needing only the relatively minor engineering effort to assemble it - could hit 0.5c and get us there in a 220 years. If we allow for some credible and fairly certain tech improvement, we can double the speed and halve that time. In both cases, adding 11 years for a signal to get back to Earth.
However, I'm of the opinion that anything we can't reach within the working lifetime of a human isn't something we're terribly likely to put any effort into reaching. Whoever creates the probe wants to be around to see the results... so we really need to find something within 4 light years of Earth, and there's nothing in that radius that's similar enough to the Solar system to have anything 'Earth-like' in the way the average person means it.
> They know. They just don't care. Security is not worth the hassle to the masses.
For many, a smart phone has become a necessity. Of course it ISN'T, but it's thought of as one. It's certainly convenient to always have your phone, email, various social networking apps, some games, and a web browser on your person at all times.
The average person is also not a techie. A smart phone isn't a computer running various programs of various origins to them. It's just a thing that does stuff. A black box.
>Why is it that most successful people are Christians
It's an 'in' club. Many of those people aren't real Christians, they go to church so that they get community support for being a member of the faith. In fact, a lot of unsuccessful people go to church for the same reason. Lots of politicians in the states pretty much have to go to church or they are unelectable, for instance.
>and most people who post long screeds about religion to internet technology forums are atheist
Well, it's not true where I live, but in many places religion is a fact of daily life and not playing along can have severely negative effects on your life as many of those 'Christian' folks do their best to exclude you from society. Do you remember George H. W. Bush saying atheists shouldn't be considered as citizens in the USA? The POTUS said that, AND IT WAS ACCEPTABLE TO THE GENERAL VOTING PUBLIC.
So you get this resentful rage burning inside you and when there's a way to strike back without consequence, you take it. Also, atheists on the Internet tend to be better versed in scripture than theists, if for no other reason than we're more willing to look at historical revisions and interpretations instead of taking it on faith that the current popular opinion on the current popular version of the Bible has always been so.
>WOW. What's it like, being that well off?
I'm not rich by many people's standards, but I don't worry about food (but I don't eat out frequently, and never at expensive restaurants. Maybe a couple of times while dating...), rent (I paid a mortgage for a long time, now I just pay maintenance and property taxes), or transportation (I don't drive an expensive car).
I'm Canadian, so (basic) health care is covered by my taxes, essentially a group insurance plan that includes everyone; I'll never go broke because of a hospital visit, even if I've lost my job.
I know the stress of debt and not knowing whether your lifestyle is going to start crashing down as you cannibalize your assets to pay debts you can't put off paying, and I know how much nicer it is not to worry about that any more.
On the other hand, since I have all my reasonable desires covered, what's left is the unreasonable ones... and I figure I'd need 10x the income I have now to start indulging them, and that's not going to happen.
I'm human, so I'm still generally discontented. People always want more. Get all the money you want, as long as you want money you'll find you never have enough of it. I bet there are many things Bill Gates is irritated he can't solve with his money.
>It would be interesting to hear what people would want from a next generation religion.
Comforting answers to any questions that bother them (usually regarding emotional issues like life, death, and marriage), a community to support them, and a sense of belonging to that community. Those are the things that make people seek religion if they weren't already indoctrinated into one.
When you look at why people lose their faith, it's often because their faith failed to support them or make them feel they belonged in it, not because they reasoned their way out of it.
> I don't want to be a pet or livestock, so the discussion so far seems to have taken a wrong turn in my eyes
Well, the guy being discussed IS a nutter, but maybe he'll eventually figure out you don't get to tell Gods how to behave... you try to figure out how they want YOU to behave. That's part of the whole Godhood thingy.
> it would be interesting to see a grass-roots religion form rather than something promulgated by a religious elite.
It happens all the time - we call them 'cults', and whatever 'nobody' starts them ends up being in the elite of that cult. It's the nature of the beast - you start a religion for a reason, others follow you because they like what you're selling.
Agreed. However, it's still perfectly rational to feel fairly comfortable around Takei and not want to be anywhere near Weinstein right now.
One unverified accusation vs. dozens of corroborated accounts makes a difference, even before a courtroom. And Weinstein also made a limited admission of guilt when this all started.
Legal presumption of innocence is distinct from practical presumption of innocence.
Go to your damn room, and no backtalk or I'll take away your video games.
And what the hell were we even thinking, naming you "Anonymous Coward"? It's at times like this I wish your mother swallowed.
English rules the world at present, but not any particular flavour (I speak Canadian English which to me usually sounds poorly enunciated, which is why I love the Standard English of the UK... anybody who speaks English should be able to hear the words even if they haven't learned their meaning).
I personally will argue with people over the pronunciation of 'z' (where I live, it's supposed to be zed, not zee), but that's more or less habit... language is living and what is 'correct' is whatever people are using to communicate.
HOWEVER, I always have and always will resist slang. It's deliberate misuse of the language whose utility is usually in isolating your group (usually cultural) from the larger population, and that's just stupid.
You know, as a kid I didn't understand that Hanukkah and Christmas were different holidays. Then as I got older I came to understand the difference.
Then I got older still... it turns out kid me was onto something because yep, it's a celebration held close enough to the winter solstice. The supposed reason doesn't really matter when it boils down to the same time of year and underlying purpose (family / friend / clan /whatever bonding).
It's not what I meant when I said I knew Jews and Muslims who celebrate Christmas, though. I meant the exchanging of gifts, the seasonal dinner parties, colourful lights on the houses, etc. Even taking the kids to see Santa (really!). It's not a Christian holiday any more unless you want it to be. I know I'm not a Christian, and I certainly celebrate the secular Christmas.
Well, that settles it then. Obviously your personal experience is representative of everyone else's and my friends are figments of my imagination.
Or you're an arrogant idiot; I'm going with that one.
>celibate Christmas
Admittedly it's mostly a cheery-but-sombre holiday and usually focused on the kids... but if it's going celibate I'm not going to observe Christmas any longer!
>Video game movies suck.
Mortal Kombat (I) was excellent. Not Oscar-worthy, for sure, but so far above the standard for the genre I have to wonder why they did it (but I'm glad they did). Tomb Raider wasn't bad, either. I like Street Fighter, but I'll grant you that other than Raul's performance it was crap. The Mario Brothers live action... I don't know what they were thinking.
Video game-based movies are like any other movie... quality varies based on the source material, budget, and talent involved.
>Newsflash: most people are not Christians.
There are two Christmases - ecclesiastical and secular. One's about going to church to hear about Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and the other is about telling kids a magic fat man is watching them and will sneak presents into their home if they're good, erecting a Christmas tree, putting lights up on your house, having a few lunch or dinner parties, and exchanging gifts.
I know atheists (hi there!), Jews, and Muslims who all celebrate the secular version of Christmas to varying degrees. It's just a winter solstice celebration, and in a northern climate you want one of those when things are grey and dreary.
I'm fully on board with Christmas for adults being shared meals and drinks (especially for people you feel you don't see often enough), but a lot of supposed adults aren't all that sensible!
I know a lot of people who think gifts are mandatory, followed by endless rounds of 'who appreciated it more', and noses out of joint if enough thanks isn't received. Blech.
I think in Takei's case there's good reason to disregard the accusation unless and until it goes to and through court.
So far as I'm aware, it's a single accusation from long ago that is uncorroborated. You look at the other major cases flying around, and there's tons of people crawling out of the woodwork saying, "We all knew but were afraid to do anything".
Takei hasn't had that kind of power... well, ever, as far as I know, and even with it being the 'in' thing to denounce right now, I don't see a lynch mob of former associates gathering.
>Weirdly, a full 12% of consumers would prefer to shop after Christmas, to capitalize on the post-holiday sales, even though their recipients would get their presents a little late.
That's not weird. The whole thing is stupidly inefficient - the stores have to stock up and get temporary workers for a month or so, customers have to cram into those stores during that month, and a premium is put on everything to cover the extra expenses plus the whole 'this could be it until next December' mentality.
On the other hand, I'm pretty much done with the whole 'consume consume consume' thing. Neither I nor any of my family or friends NEED anything, and we have everything we could reasonably want. None of us are starving. None of us lack a book to read or a game to play.
A gift is something I have to find space for in my house. A gift is something I'm going to think about how wasteful it was to have produced, shipped, and eventually recycled (or thrown in the dump).
At best (or worst?) I just want to get a little token trinket for someone, and fighting traffic and a crowded mall just to pay a premium for one doesn't appeal. And all the stores around here do 'Boxing Week' sales, with big bargain-hunting crowds pretty much fading in the first day. Damn right I'm going shopping after Christmas, at least for those I won't see until January anyway.
>Once Identified, the victim can turn around and show proof of his comments and smack down this asshole...
If he has backing documentation (which, based on his complaint, he should), then yes. I would expect you could nail the guy for malicious prosecution. If he can't prove it (or worse, turns out to be a competitor), then it's time to pay up for committing libel.
> What's important is that everyone thinks they can get it but only a handful really can.
I've played a few games in pre-release status with bonuses for being near the top. It doesn't take many players before that mountain top is too high to climb.
It's so easy to get to the average, because there's always people who sign up and give up. But there are also people out there who obsess over the new game and put ungodly hours into it... and they're the ones who will be in the top 0.01%.
Essentially, if there's any player base at all and you have any kind of life outside of gaming... you aren't getting any 'unique' rewards. Ever.
> Donâ(TM)t let Apple into your schools.
That's an overly specific rule, as it lets Microsoft sneak past your defenses.
>This isn't about stopping an American attack, it is about deterring it.
"everybody involved knows the standoff is dependent on China and Russia as well as having Seoul within shelling range."
I still don't see the point.
Everything beyond razing Seoul and the threat of a flood of refugees into China is more or less window dressing. Nobody wants to see that, so the available overwhelming force isn't used to destroy NK.
NK can learn all they want about US capability - there's simply so much of it relative to NK there's no conceivable adequate defense, and any successful attack on the US mainland would mean North Korea would be flattened and damn the consequences with China and/or Russia.