Yes, but does your MOTHER want built-in spell checking? Or does she prefer the learning experience of having to hunt down some far flung plug-in and install it? You yourself have already installed the plugin, thus voting for its usefulness, but your poor mother, who will never find that plugin, will be forced to speell badley and look like a foool.
Your mother suffers for your ideology! Think of your mother!
Sure, the PR push is a bit lame, most PR is, big deal, but don't bash the spell checker! That is the one killer feature I want!
It's nice to know that the Ubuntu update I ran this morning for passwd 1:4.0.13-7ubuntu3.2, was based on a real security notice: SEE HERE, and not some hacker installing a backdoor.
Societies grow organically. You can build foundations, but you can never build the society itself. Look to history for a long line of distopian nightmares that arose from someone's desire to build a society.
Maybe I am not explaining it well. You seem to be stating the right elements, but then drawing a different conclusion.
There are events we can call random, like meteor strikes, that kill an individual, but there is no natural selection going on unless meteors strike again and again and those meteors tend to hit (or just disadvantage somehow - make ugly maybe) some individuals in a population that have some different genes and tend to miss the ones without those genes. One strike on one individual is not meaningful.
Until the random events sum to a non-random pattern, then there is no vector to provide a driving force for the process. Make sense?
Or are you just calling that summation of events "random" because the individual events were unpredictable? If so then this was all semantics and we can throw in the towel.
Not sure what you mean by "sit in a relaxed position" but if you need to slouch to see your monitor then you should throw a couple thick books under it.
Ok, I see what you are trying to get at. Yes, random does not mean boundless. Perhaps the word you are looking for is unpredictable. The selection process can be quite unpredictable, but it is still not random. The stock market is not random, but if you can predict it, feel free to let me know how.
Simply not being where the hungry lions were doesn't seem much of a "selection" to me
The ability to avoid predators is a perfect example of something that might be selected for. And I say _might_ because who knows - maybe that ability is ironically tied to a cancer gene. If the word "selection" is causing you problems because it sounds like it requires intelligence then maybe "sieve" might work better. Natural Sieve.
To me, "If it survived long enough to reproduce than those genes were selected", seems to be a non sequitur.
I think you had better look up what non sequitur means.
I should also mention that when you changed the analogy to the Tour De France from one rider getting shot to all of the breakaway riders getting killed, you changed the way that analogy might be applied.
In the first case, that random event of one rider getting shot does not matter to NS. In the second case bombs picking of the breakaway riders might be a significant change in the race environment, one where the survivors might be the smarter ones (to stay back in the pack until the end), not the faster ones.
"The selection pressures are not constant. They change, and they change in a random way."
No one said pressures were constant. On the contrary, the ability to adapt to change is strongly selected for. Luckily, the environment is not totally random, not even close. If it was there could be no life.
You can't tell me what genes will be passed on to future generations of any species.
No, the answer only comes by running it through the process of NS.
You use NS to simply mean "if it survived it is the best suited to it's environment, therefore those genes are being selected for"?
Well, "if it survived it is the best suited to it's environment" is a tautology. Don't prejudge what you think "best suited" means based on your values of what should be "best". You just have to survive long enough to reproduce. How that happens is totally irrelevant from the gene's perspective. So to be more precise, I would simply say "If it survived long enough to reproduce than those genes were selected".
Once you postulate an omnipotent God at work, you are only limited by your own imagination when guessing what that God might or might not do. It's quite fun.
One good technique is to try supposing God just happened to use a technology that was invented by man very recently. For instance, today we might say that God used nanotech to build squirrels.
But perhaps God created squirrels because God IS a giant squirrel and they fell off in some kind of asexual reproduction process, like dandruff. Why not? It's God! No Limits! It's so much fun...
"Whether you or any organism survives to pass on it's genes is a total crap shoot."
You might as well say the Tour De France is a total crap shoot because one of the riders might get shot at any time. On average faster riders will do better. And on average organisms that are better equipped to survive in their environment long enough to pass on their genes will tend to 'win' that race.
"Natural selection is a random process. If it wasn't it would be deterministic, and it just plain isn't."
I think where you are confused is that you fail to see that NS is determined by the environment. The name really says it all. Natural Selection. Without selection for fitness there is no net change over time.
It is hard to expect a site selling products to host honest reviews & comments of those products. There are shills everywhere, you are right. And don't forget the possibility that people are writing negative reviews of competitors products. I doubt NewEgg is very different from any other site. DPReview seemed to be a very good when I was buying a digital camera a few years ago. But who knows...
Sites like consumerreports.org are more independent. But it would be nice to have an independent site with moderated user comments (ala slashdot) to help filter out the shills.
Beyond that, you have to just go with word of mouth. If your friend bought it and it was good then you might buy it too.
Word of mouth hasn't stopped UHaul from remaining in business though.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, but does the PSP cause its programmers to do this? http://www.mediuh.com/2950-unexpected-tv-vomit.htm l
I see. That's a shame.
So, what is the real story here? What is the story behind the story?
Why does Zonk hate Sony so much? Enquiring minds want to know. Did a Sony exec run off with his mother?
Interesting that both of those are Japanese developed PS2 games.
I highly recommending reading the actual article, it is definitely worth it.
Right, just like an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Stormtrooper
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx
Yes, but does your MOTHER want built-in spell checking? Or does she prefer the learning experience of having to hunt down some far flung plug-in and install it? You yourself have already installed the plugin, thus voting for its usefulness, but your poor mother, who will never find that plugin, will be forced to speell badley and look like a foool.
Your mother suffers for your ideology! Think of your mother!
Sure, the PR push is a bit lame, most PR is, big deal, but don't bash the spell checker! That is the one killer feature I want!
It's nice to know that the Ubuntu update I ran this morning for passwd 1:4.0.13-7ubuntu3.2, was based on a real security notice: SEE HERE, and not some hacker installing a backdoor.
It is very handy. I can recommend it. Saves lots of time trying to hunt down those extras.
I guess you haven't heard of http://easyubuntu.freecontrib.org/ ? libdvdcss is just a few clicks away.
I'm on Ubuntu too, but so what?
Er... a highly simplistic MMORPG (so not much RP) - more like a MMOG
Just use google, man. You can check out a MMORPG for free right away here: here. It runs in your browser - no need for a download.
I have to agree - this is a waste of time... I'm done too.
Yes, flash and java. Zillions of them...
http://www.addictinggames.com/
http://games.yahoo.com/
Societies grow organically. You can build foundations, but you can never build the society itself. Look to history for a long line of distopian nightmares that arose from someone's desire to build a society.
Maybe I am not explaining it well. You seem to be stating the right elements, but then drawing a different conclusion.
There are events we can call random, like meteor strikes, that kill an individual, but there is no natural selection going on unless meteors strike again and again and those meteors tend to hit (or just disadvantage somehow - make ugly maybe) some individuals in a population that have some different genes and tend to miss the ones without those genes. One strike on one individual is not meaningful.
Until the random events sum to a non-random pattern, then there is no vector to provide a driving force for the process. Make sense?
Or are you just calling that summation of events "random" because the individual events were unpredictable? If so then this was all semantics and we can throw in the towel.
Not sure what you mean by "sit in a relaxed position" but if you need to slouch to see your monitor then you should throw a couple thick books under it.
Ok, I see what you are trying to get at. Yes, random does not mean boundless. Perhaps the word you are looking for is unpredictable. The selection process can be quite unpredictable, but it is still not random. The stock market is not random, but if you can predict it, feel free to let me know how.
Simply not being where the hungry lions were doesn't seem much of a "selection" to me
The ability to avoid predators is a perfect example of something that might be selected for. And I say _might_ because who knows - maybe that ability is ironically tied to a cancer gene. If the word "selection" is causing you problems because it sounds like it requires intelligence then maybe "sieve" might work better. Natural Sieve.
To me, "If it survived long enough to reproduce than those genes were selected", seems to be a non sequitur.
I think you had better look up what non sequitur means.
I should also mention that when you changed the analogy to the Tour De France from one rider getting shot to all of the breakaway riders getting killed, you changed the way that analogy might be applied.
In the first case, that random event of one rider getting shot does not matter to NS. In the second case bombs picking of the breakaway riders might be a significant change in the race environment, one where the survivors might be the smarter ones (to stay back in the pack until the end), not the faster ones.
Not the best of analogies perhaps.
"The selection pressures are not constant. They change, and they change in a random way."
No one said pressures were constant. On the contrary, the ability to adapt to change is strongly selected for. Luckily, the environment is not totally random, not even close. If it was there could be no life.
You can't tell me what genes will be passed on to future generations of any species.
No, the answer only comes by running it through the process of NS.
You use NS to simply mean "if it survived it is the best suited to it's environment, therefore those genes are being selected for"?
Well, "if it survived it is the best suited to it's environment" is a tautology. Don't prejudge what you think "best suited" means based on your values of what should be "best". You just have to survive long enough to reproduce. How that happens is totally irrelevant from the gene's perspective. So to be more precise, I would simply say "If it survived long enough to reproduce than those genes were selected".
Once you postulate an omnipotent God at work, you are only limited by your own imagination when guessing what that God might or might not do. It's quite fun.
One good technique is to try supposing God just happened to use a technology that was invented by man very recently. For instance, today we might say that God used nanotech to build squirrels.
But perhaps God created squirrels because God IS a giant squirrel and they fell off in some kind of asexual reproduction process, like dandruff. Why not? It's God! No Limits! It's so much fun...
"Whether you or any organism survives to pass on it's genes is a total crap shoot."
You might as well say the Tour De France is a total crap shoot because one of the riders might get shot at any time. On average faster riders will do better. And on average organisms that are better equipped to survive in their environment long enough to pass on their genes will tend to 'win' that race.
"Natural selection is a random process. If it wasn't it would be deterministic, and it just plain isn't."
I think where you are confused is that you fail to see that NS is determined by the environment. The name really says it all. Natural Selection. Without selection for fitness there is no net change over time.
It is hard to expect a site selling products to host honest reviews & comments of those products. There are shills everywhere, you are right. And don't forget the possibility that people are writing negative reviews of competitors products. I doubt NewEgg is very different from any other site. DPReview seemed to be a very good when I was buying a digital camera a few years ago. But who knows...
Sites like consumerreports.org are more independent. But it would be nice to have an independent site with moderated user comments (ala slashdot) to help filter out the shills.
Beyond that, you have to just go with word of mouth. If your friend bought it and it was good then you might buy it too.
Word of mouth hasn't stopped UHaul from remaining in business though.