You're absolutely right. Methodology is the study of the appropriateness of the methods used in an area of scientific inquiry. So you can object to the conclusions of a study on methodological grounds. Method is the way you go about doing things. Methodology is just pretentious in this context but it's been (mis)used this way for quite a long time. The excerpt from the article was enough to put me off. Well done for at least trying to read it.
It won't be long before everybody who wants their fifteen minutes of fame will be 'performing' in front of those cameras. It really is more like Big Brother the TV show than Big Brother the novel.
With a little imagination, it could get quite entertaining...
If the gov really wanted to do something useful, then there should be an opt-in system. By default, marketers should not be able to spam anyone who wasn't on the list.
I find it amazing that a Labour government is the one proposing such a scheme...
I used to think like this. I mistook Labour to be a party that represented fairness, freedom, privacy... basically decent, modern values. However, socialism (or whatever new Labour is) is traditionally bureaucratic and authoritarian. Remember David Blunkett's position was to legislate as a reaction to everything?
You're a Liberal Democrat, mate:)
In my student days I used to have people over a lot for parties and entertain them with my Napster hoard and winamp's visualisations. As the evenings progrssed, the chances of spillage increased. Gin and tonic was pretty bad. Even after a day's disassembly, cleaning and drying, my keyboard was never quite the same.
"In our industry, there's two terms we use, hype and buzz. Hype is more of a negative thing for the exact reasons you describe. Buzz however is the viral marketing aspect of it, and means people are spreading the good word about your product because the product lives up to claims, and in essence, sells itself."
So where do marketers fit in? Haven't you just talked yourself out of a job?
Fantastic news that Iain M. Banks has got a new sci-fi novel out. He's written some truly excellent ones like Consider Phloebus, Player of Games and Look to Windward. No way am I going to spoil the next one by reading an excerpt though!
I'm on 56k at home and I just don't get this argument. Am I missing something? Every now and then I get a little globe appear in my system tray telling me that new updates are ready to download. I even get to review what these updates are. A day or two later I get another one saying they are ready install. I've never had any problems. I've always assumed that windows update resumes whenever I reconnect. Am I wrong?
I'm on 56k dialup and I do download all relevant MS security updates, game demos I want to try and other assorted software. I use getright, or the MS update tool... and a bit of patience.
My internet access is unmetered between 6pm and 8am so it's no problem to switch automatic reconnect on while I sleep. There isn't much that is too big to download in 14 hours even at 3.5 - 5k/sec
The site is slashdotted at the moment but I'm certainly part of the target audience. I work in wildlife recording, trying to help voluntary recorders to exchange their data so that it can be used in environmental decision making. One of the most expensive aspects of this is transferring records from paper notebooks to an electronic form. Standard PDAs aren't robust enough for people who are out in the wilds all the time but if voluntary recorders took up this technology it would be a significant step forward. From the comments it appears that it's too expensive at the moment though.
Just curious, where do you propose that will leave us as a citizen of the planet? Everyone will fear us and do what we say? Do we want to bully everyone just because we believe we're right, and everyone else is 3rd world? Personally I'd rather have people "play nice" with us out of respect and admiration, rather than fear.
It's not so hard, but America has got to shed its insecurity. Why does it qualify every single decision it makes as driven by some fundamental principle of democracy and human rights? Why does it think that anybody's business is its business? Why can't it admit that it takes practical, selfish foreign-policy decisions just like every other country? America just needs to chill out and take a look around at the rest of the world. This blustering about freedom and democracy sounds so like some petulant adolescent in its naive and formative years unwilling to accept that they're the same as everyone else. America has to realise that we're all the same but that there's a multiplicity of ways to live your life.
Maybe eBay should set some threshholds at which point bids require a deposit in escrow in order to justify a large bid...
So you're saying that eBay should take measures to stop the people who are trying to prevent fraud?
One thing interesting about species like these is why they havn't evolved... are they a genetic "dead-end of perfection", or is there something about their genetics and/or behavior that precludes viable adaptation?
I don't think there's anything particularly unusual about 'living fossil' species. What is unusual is the environments in which they occur. Usually, living fossils are found in environments that have undergone very little change or disturbance over time so the selective forces acting on the species have also changed very little. Evolutionary change essentially tracks changes in a species' circumstances e.g. environment, predators or competitors. Without these changes there is no reason for directional evolutionary trends to occur.
I'm glad you feel like that but I don't think all atheists do. Humanity created religion to act as a psychological comfort for the absurdity of existence after all. Sometimes I envy the deluded faithful. I'm not happy as an atheist but it's so obviously the truth.
I know what you mean. I remember going to religious classes when I was about 10 and the local vicar talking about eternal life in heaven. I remember saying that the thought of eternal life was just as frightening as eternal death. His banal reply was something like 'I'm sure God will be able to find something for you to do'. I'm an atheist now. The idea of going on forever is horrifying but so is the idea of not existing at all (I guess it feels the same as I felt before I was born).
Having said that I wouldn't mind an extra few hundred years and probably after having lived through that, a few hundred more would be cool. Maybe wanting to live forever and not wanting to die are different things?
Slashdot Mirror
Windows00 would have been a terrible name, implying a step backwards. But I wonder if the name Windows2000 was a nod to the millenium bug?
You're absolutely right. Methodology is the study of the appropriateness of the methods used in an area of scientific inquiry. So you can object to the conclusions of a study on methodological grounds. Method is the way you go about doing things.
Methodology is just pretentious in this context but it's been (mis)used this way for quite a long time.
The excerpt from the article was enough to put me off. Well done for at least trying to read it.
It won't be long before everybody who wants their fifteen minutes of fame will be 'performing' in front of those cameras. It really is more like Big Brother the TV show than Big Brother the novel. With a little imagination, it could get quite entertaining ...
If the gov really wanted to do something useful, then there should be an opt-in system. By default, marketers should not be able to spam anyone who wasn't on the list.
If you're going to send me off to dictionary.com with your post. At least get your spelling right please :)
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=stear ine
I find it amazing that a Labour government is the one proposing such a scheme ...
I used to think like this. I mistook Labour to be a party that represented fairness, freedom, privacy ... basically decent, modern values. However, socialism (or whatever new Labour is) is traditionally bureaucratic and authoritarian. Remember David Blunkett's position was to legislate as a reaction to everything?
You're a Liberal Democrat, mate :)
In my student days I used to have people over a lot for parties and entertain them with my Napster hoard and winamp's visualisations. As the evenings progrssed, the chances of spillage increased. Gin and tonic was pretty bad. Even after a day's disassembly, cleaning and drying, my keyboard was never quite the same.
"In our industry, there's two terms we use, hype and buzz. Hype is more of a negative thing for the exact reasons you describe. Buzz however is the viral marketing aspect of it, and means people are spreading the good word about your product because the product lives up to claims, and in essence, sells itself."
So where do marketers fit in? Haven't you just talked yourself out of a job?
Fantastic news that Iain M. Banks has got a new sci-fi novel out. He's written some truly excellent ones like Consider Phloebus, Player of Games and Look to Windward. No way am I going to spoil the next one by reading an excerpt though!
I'm on 56k at home and I just don't get this argument. Am I missing something?
Every now and then I get a little globe appear in my system tray telling me that new updates are ready to download. I even get to review what these updates are.
A day or two later I get another one saying they are ready install. I've never had any problems. I've always assumed that windows update resumes whenever I reconnect. Am I wrong?
I'm on 56k dialup and I do download all relevant MS security updates, game demos I want to try and other assorted software. I use getright, or the MS update tool ... and a bit of patience.
/sec
My internet access is unmetered between 6pm and 8am so it's no problem to switch automatic reconnect on while I sleep. There isn't much that is too big to download in 14 hours even at 3.5 - 5k
The site is slashdotted at the moment but I'm certainly part of the target audience. I work in wildlife recording, trying to help voluntary recorders to exchange their data so that it can be used in environmental decision making. One of the most expensive aspects of this is transferring records from paper notebooks to an electronic form. Standard PDAs aren't robust enough for people who are out in the wilds all the time but if voluntary recorders took up this technology it would be a significant step forward. From the comments it appears that it's too expensive at the moment though.
Just curious, where do you propose that will leave us as a citizen of the planet? Everyone will fear us and do what we say? Do we want to bully everyone just because we believe we're right, and everyone else is 3rd world? Personally I'd rather have people "play nice" with us out of respect and admiration, rather than fear.
It's not so hard, but America has got to shed its insecurity. Why does it qualify every single decision it makes as driven by some fundamental principle of democracy and human rights? Why does it think that anybody's business is its business? Why can't it admit that it takes practical, selfish foreign-policy decisions just like every other country? America just needs to chill out and take a look around at the rest of the world. This blustering about freedom and democracy sounds so like some petulant adolescent in its naive and formative years unwilling to accept that they're the same as everyone else. America has to realise that we're all the same but that there's a multiplicity of ways to live your life.
Maybe eBay should set some threshholds at which point bids require a deposit in escrow in order to justify a large bid ...
So you're saying that eBay should take measures to stop the people who are trying to prevent fraud?
Plus they support Linux which makes buying very expensive hardware a problem of the past. Just as well given the price of the software!
One thing interesting about species like these is why they havn't evolved ... are they a genetic "dead-end of perfection", or is there something about their genetics and/or behavior that precludes viable adaptation?
I don't think there's anything particularly unusual about 'living fossil' species. What is unusual is the environments in which they occur. Usually, living fossils are found in environments that have undergone very little change or disturbance over time so the selective forces acting on the species have also changed very little. Evolutionary change essentially tracks changes in a species' circumstances e.g. environment, predators or competitors. Without these changes there is no reason for directional evolutionary trends to occur.
I'm glad you feel like that but I don't think all atheists do. Humanity created religion to act as a psychological comfort for the absurdity of existence after all. Sometimes I envy the deluded faithful. I'm not happy as an atheist but it's so obviously the truth.
Yep - off topic.
I know what you mean. I remember going to religious classes when I was about 10 and the local vicar talking about eternal life in heaven. I remember saying that the thought of eternal life was just as frightening as eternal death. His banal reply was something like 'I'm sure God will be able to find something for you to do'. I'm an atheist now. The idea of going on forever is horrifying but so is the idea of not existing at all (I guess it feels the same as I felt before I was born).
Having said that I wouldn't mind an extra few hundred years and probably after having lived through that, a few hundred more would be cool. Maybe wanting to live forever and not wanting to die are different things?