How the hell did they patent joystick ports when systems with joystick ports had been manufactured and sold for more than 25 years before they even filed?
There might be some nice dairy farms out in Australia, but America has mostly moved towards factory farming. Basically, the animals are reduced to cogs in a factory, to get out the most meat/dairy/eggs in the quickest time for the cheapest cost. They are trapped in cages so small they can't turn around, and instead of a nice farmer coming to milk the cow, machines come around at preset times to force milk them. I can't even get into any other details, it's just too horrible. If you don't believe me, think about this: in America, we have >200 million people eating meat, dairy, or eggs (or all three) for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, every single day. How could we do that with only the nice family farms that you've seen? Or just look it up sometime, it's all publicly available information. If most cows lived happy lives on spacious farms, I probably wouldn't be a vegetarian, but I know they don't.
Curious: Absent religion, where do you find any reason at all to believe that such a thing as a soul even exists? (yes, that makes the precarious assumption that by "I don't look to the Bible for spiritual enlightenment" you meant "I don't purport to believe in any sort of textual religion)
Your assumption's wrong. Let me try to explain.
I am a Unitarian Universalist. Our beliefs vary; we do not have one book that we all agree is inerrantly true. We do believe in our Principles and Purposes, and individually we may find spiritual truth in texts of other religions. I personally find mine in the Tao Te Ching. I'm not Taoist though, and I personally can't believe that all the truth about the Divine can be bound up in one book. Religion is something you feel in your heart (or not, if you're an atheist) and all the books on religion are just attempting to describe with words what can't, and never can be accurately described, only felt.
I probably just confused you more. But what I'm saying is I am relgious, even though I disagree with much of what the Bible say.
What do you (or your professor) mean by "harvest"? They've either been in a lab since day 1, in which case I'm not sure how you can apply the term "harvest", or they're in a woman who's not likely to even know she's pregnant before day 14 (day 14 is usually the first missed period day) so they're not likely to be harvested from her. Anyways, assuming we're talking about lab embryos, while they could be implanted in a woman, there are more made than there are women who want them, so many of them go in the trash. I'm not sure what's wrong about experimenting on things that would be thrown away otherwise.
The cow can't say "I wonder about what there was before I existed" (an action that is uniquely human) but the cow can seek good grass to convert into methane and manure.
How do you know that cows aren't wondering that? Sure, they can't say that in English, but how do you know what goes on inside their heads? Or what about other animals, like dolphins, who do have a language they use to communicate with others of their species? How do you know what they talk about? Or how do you know that a cow's life wasn't intended by God to be the comfortable life for reincarnated human souls after living a good life? Just lazily hanging out in the sun all day, no worries, just occasionally being milked, but we had to go fuck that up by cramming them up in little cells and forcing them to milk much more than they were ever meant to until they get sent off to be slaughtered.
You think you know all the answers, but you're just as wrong as everyone else.
Animals can feel pain. Embryos cannot. That is why I'm a pro-choice vegetarian.
I don't understand why people think that animals don't have souls. A soul is what gives you spirit and personality, makes you more than just a clump of moving cells. Animals are clearly more than just a clump of moving cells. I guess that's just one of the many reasons I don't look to the Bible for spiritual elightenment.
I could say the same for the "mentally challenged". Should we carve them up as well?
The mentally challenged feel pain, happiness, sadness, and many other things, even if not like we do. An embryo does not. That's the difference.
To take it a step further: I remember the Chaivo case a while back where a lady was determined to be brain dead. Her husband was allowed to pull the plug on her, not because she had no brain activity, but because she would never again have any brain activity. You can't say the same of an embryo.
Ms. Schiavo also has no similarities to an embryo. I was against euthanizing her because PVS (Persistant Vegetative State, the diagnosis she was given) has an incredibly high misdiagnosis rate and there have been plenty of people who have been written off as PVS despite being aware and able to feel pain (say, the pain of not having food or water until they die). I personally know a woman who was labeled PVS for 14 years, but today is far from that. Anyways, back on the topic, if you think that embryos shouldn't be experimented on because they will grow into humans, I hate to tell you, they won't. The embryos that they get stem cells from are either fertility clinic rejects or created from eggs and sperm specifically donated to science. If we didn't get stem cells from them, they would be thrown away - and in fact, millions and millions are. If you want to complain, go complain that people are making more embryos than they can use in the first place, don't complain that some are using a tiny percentage of what's destined for trash for something useful.
Every game has bugs. There is not a game on the market that can't be crashed or broken in some way. That is a fact. No game is finished to the degree that the creators would like it. There always comes a point in polishing and fixing where you have to say close enough and send it out.
I freeze the game at least once in just about every game I play. I seem to have a knack for it (perhaps it is the QA experience kicking in) I would take a game with a few bugs and a freeze over a game that crashes relatively often any day.
While I'm sure every game has bugs, the bugs should be so small and hard to trigger that most people don't notice them. The only game I can think up off the top of my head that I've played with bugs was Sonic Adventure 2, and that was definitely not a well made game. I've also never seen a console game crash or freeze, unless there was something wrong with the hardware (console dropped, fan blocked, etc). I guess you must be pretty hard on your games. It would drive me nuts if my games froze and crashed on me.
I completely disagree. I thought the game was very well made and entertaining. There were only a few times that I was caught off guard by a bug of some kind (game froze for me once) but for me at least a few bugs and one freeze for the entirety of a game is pretty good.
What kind of craptastic games do you play that a few bugs and a freeze == a well made game?
I don't have a Wii because some loser sat around Best Buy all night waiting to buy me one. I have a Wii because a hardworking attorney busted his butt to earn a salary that allowed him to spend less time buying one on eBay than it would have taken just to drive to the nearest Best Buy.
Wouldn't it be both? Wiis don't magically appear on eBay, someone had to go to the store and get them. And what's with this "a hardworking attorney" crap? Did Daddy buy your Wii for you? Why don't you go get a job and stop bitching that other people can get the same things as you?
Yes ! And don't come up with the children drink milk stuff either. If they are not fit to survive without milk, they deserve to die. And the market price for children will go up, so I will be able to resell my own for quite a lot of money...
I didn't drink milk as a child. Hated the taste. Children don't die from a lack of milk.
What state do you live in that you can demand a liquor license and ID from clerks? In my state (Ohio) employees don't get a lisense. They just get a job at a grocery store, baseball stadium, pizza place - anywhere that sells alcohol, and if they're 18 or older, they're selling alcohol. I've also never heard of customers getting arrested from buying from minors, I'm pretty sure the store itself would be in trouble, not the customers. Anyways, why do you want to hassle some high school or college kid making minimum wage? Just show them your ID so they can do their damn jobs and everyone can get on with their lives.
Logically it appears changing diet is the one thing you haven't tried.
I've changed my diet, I just haven't tried meat. I eat a lot of protein now, and I've switched my bread and pasta to whole grain (can't give them up completely) and my weight is more under control now. What I probably need to do is stop pretending my Wii is excercising and go outside...
Out of curiosity, what is the purpose of getting your protein from eggs?
I mean, if you're morally opposed to eating chickens, why wouldn't you be opposed to eating their abortions?
The eggs we eat are not abortions. They are unfertilized eggs. If you ever accidently get a fertilized egg, you'll know the difference because when you crack the fertilized egg open it will be all bloody because it has an actual embryo in it. So, we are not eating baby chickens when we have scrambled eggs. Also, I don't have a problem with abortions in general so why would I have a problem with chicken abortion?
Sorry to hear about her allergies. My friend was recently diagnosed as diabetic, and between that an her food allergies she decided that maintaining her vegetarianism was too much. Not that it's impossible, but some things are just too much.
I don't think your fiancee could ever go completely vegetarian or vegan, as you've probably figured, but she can reduce her meat intake. Whole grains and vegetables such as spinach have protein, and you don't need to have a lot of protein every day. She can also go semi-vegetarian and get her protein from eggs and fish. I'd recommend trying a lot of different foods, and seeing what works for her. There's an organization in my area that does free vegan dinners once a month and have nuitritionists talk about veganism (and other things). Try and see if there's something like that in your area. I imagine you're less likely to get "go away, troll" if you ask questions in person instead of on a message board.
They probbably aren't getting all the amino acids their body requires. If you don't eat meat it's a bit more difficult to make sure you're getting all the essential amino acids your body can't manufacture on it's own.
Flaxseed has several times the amino acids of any animal product. Soy foods are also usually fortified with any nuitrients a vegan can't get from fresh vegetables. It's not all that difficult to find what you need without eating meat.
Most vegetarians or vegans are ignorant when it comes to understanding nutrition, they just up and decide that they're not going to eat meat but don't change their diets to make sure they're getting the right nutrition to replace what they're missing in their diet.
Change that to most people are ignorant when it comes to understanding nutrition, they just up and eat whatever's in front of them without thinking. As for vegetarians, unless their idea of going vegetarian is going from hamburger and fries and soda to more fries and soda, it's not hard for them to eat healthier than their omnivore peers.
I can't help but think it's more than a coincidence that most of the vegetarians and all of the vegans I know always look skinny and underfed, and seem to be allergic to lots of things.
I wish vegetarianism made me skinny. I've been a vegetarian since I was 13, and I've had to fight with my weight ever since I graduated high school (same with every woman in my family, damn genetics). Everyone always thinks of vegetarians/vegans as being really skinny, but I've meet a lot of vegetarians and vegans and we're no skinnier than anyone else.
But at least I don't have to use a "Mii." I'm not a sibling or a mom, but I am a grown up. Nintendo may have made a console for "casual gaming," but I'm not a casual gamer. I'm not a huge fan of being forced to use chibi bullshit or, frankly, of being forced to get up off the couch if I just want to blow off steam blasting at bad guys.
You don't have to use a Mii unless you play Wii Sports (and you don't have to act like people who like Miis are little kids). You also don't have to get off the couch for every game (well, any game, technically, but you kinda look like a tool staying on the couch for Wii Sports). Excite Truck, Zelda, and the Metroid demo (not to mention all the Virtual Console games) are all designed to be played from the couch. Unless you mean you don't like Metroid and Zelda when you say you don't like casual games, but if that's the case then your opinion on Nintendo consoles is about as useful as a vegetarian's opinion on steak.
Are you mad? The PS3 is a hot seller this holiday. *Every* gamer I know, except one, bought a PS3. Only one bought a Wii. None have an Xbox 360. These gamers run the gamut, from hardcore PC gamer, to casual console player. Most of the people in my list did have an original Xbox, slightly more had the PS2, and there was a lot of overlap between the two.
Surveys of your friends don't apply to everyone else in the world. My friends would take a GP2x over a PS3. They're not representive of the rest of the world, either.
The Wii sold out. The PS3 sold out. The Wii had many more systems made (thus many more systems sold). That's kinda impressive for the underdog.
The PS3 will have to seriously suck in order to lose this round of the console wars.
It depends on your definition of "lose". The Gamecube made more money for Nintendo than the PS2 and XBox made for Sony and Microsoft combined. So if goal is the make the most money, the smart bet is on Nintendo this generation. Sony hasn't been shy about saying they're selling the PS3 at a loss, and while that tactic might work if you sell many more consoles than your competitors (thus selling more games) it probably won't work so well if you don't (they're not Microsoft, they don't get money from almost every computer sold). They might regain their lead, but that's going to be an uphill battle for them (remember, as of now they're last place in console sales). Sony's not in a good position right now, and if you look past what your friends are saying, you'll realize that.
So I ask: Did it benefit or hurt NBC that I illegally downloaded and watched the first three episodes of Heroes?
Are you a Nielsen viewer (as in, are you one of the people that Nielsen Media Research surveys to see what people watch on TV)? If no, then whether you watch Heroes on the air or from piracy makes absolutly no difference to NBC. Maybe you'll buy something that was advertised during it, and maybe that company will spend more money advertising on NBC, but how do they know that's where their extra sales came from? In fact, unless you tell Nielsen viewers to watch it, it doesn't actually matter to NBC whether you even watch it or not! If you want to support a show, buy it from iTunes or on DVD, or call up the advertisers and thank them for supporting the show or join a fan campaign to give more attention to the show, but just watching the show over broadcast doesn't actually help them since they don't know you're watching.
The OP linked a video of a mom and a grandfather playing a Wii, with the description of the video insinuating that it's the Wii of a son/daughter. Obviously mom/grandpa didn't buy the Wii for themselves, but Wii Sports Tennis got them up and interested in playing it. Do you really think mom and grandpa are going to play Zelda or Red Steel? No. They're probably not going to go home and buy themselves a Wii either, but they were able to bridge the generation gap and enjoy their child/grandchild's Wii. My point was that Xbox 360, via XBLA, has a similar mechanism to bridge that generation gap. It's not as social as the Wii, but it has the same "casual gamer" appeal. Will they go out and buy their own Xbox 360 after playing Hexic on the son or daughter's console? Probably not. Will they find some enjoyment playing those games and bonding with their (adult) children? Quite possibly yes.
The difference between the two can be summed up with one question: What on Earth is Hexic? Mom and Grandpa likely know what tennis is, but Hexic...? Maybe they've played puzzle games online, but then what reason do they have to play puzzle games on an XBox? And if they haven't played puzzle games before then there's no way they'll be able to play one (or even know it's there) without a lengthy explanation from their (grand)kid. WiiSports is just a bajillion times more intuitive for nongamers than finding puzzle games on XBLA.
Here's a quote I found about Linux on the desktop on one of the other boards I frequent, that really helps summarize what needs to happen: "Come on nerds, would it really be such a terrible thing to spend $180 for a Linux will full hardware drivers and software codecs plus telephone support or even to pay $50 for a CD that gives you everything in the way of proprietary drivers and codecs ready to go for all your hardware and multimedia as opposed to spending hours and hours and hours downloading just bits and pieces of the solutions from all over the place and fighting to get them working? It's not like people who really want to couldn't still do that, but a simple, truly easy, less expensive alternative to the $400 Vista for the average Joe is what it is going to take to get the average Joe to come over from the dark side--and no one is ever going to have a prayer of winning the fight for open standards as long as all those ordinary Joe's are still living on the dark side."
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How the hell did they patent joystick ports when systems with joystick ports had been manufactured and sold for more than 25 years before they even filed?
There might be some nice dairy farms out in Australia, but America has mostly moved towards factory farming. Basically, the animals are reduced to cogs in a factory, to get out the most meat/dairy/eggs in the quickest time for the cheapest cost. They are trapped in cages so small they can't turn around, and instead of a nice farmer coming to milk the cow, machines come around at preset times to force milk them. I can't even get into any other details, it's just too horrible. If you don't believe me, think about this: in America, we have >200 million people eating meat, dairy, or eggs (or all three) for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, every single day. How could we do that with only the nice family farms that you've seen? Or just look it up sometime, it's all publicly available information. If most cows lived happy lives on spacious farms, I probably wouldn't be a vegetarian, but I know they don't.
I am a Unitarian Universalist. Our beliefs vary; we do not have one book that we all agree is inerrantly true. We do believe in our Principles and Purposes, and individually we may find spiritual truth in texts of other religions. I personally find mine in the Tao Te Ching. I'm not Taoist though, and I personally can't believe that all the truth about the Divine can be bound up in one book. Religion is something you feel in your heart (or not, if you're an atheist) and all the books on religion are just attempting to describe with words what can't, and never can be accurately described, only felt.
I probably just confused you more. But what I'm saying is I am relgious, even though I disagree with much of what the Bible say.
What do you (or your professor) mean by "harvest"? They've either been in a lab since day 1, in which case I'm not sure how you can apply the term "harvest", or they're in a woman who's not likely to even know she's pregnant before day 14 (day 14 is usually the first missed period day) so they're not likely to be harvested from her. Anyways, assuming we're talking about lab embryos, while they could be implanted in a woman, there are more made than there are women who want them, so many of them go in the trash. I'm not sure what's wrong about experimenting on things that would be thrown away otherwise.
You think you know all the answers, but you're just as wrong as everyone else.
Animals can feel pain. Embryos cannot. That is why I'm a pro-choice vegetarian.
I don't understand why people think that animals don't have souls. A soul is what gives you spirit and personality, makes you more than just a clump of moving cells. Animals are clearly more than just a clump of moving cells. I guess that's just one of the many reasons I don't look to the Bible for spiritual elightenment.
Ms. Schiavo also has no similarities to an embryo. I was against euthanizing her because PVS (Persistant Vegetative State, the diagnosis she was given) has an incredibly high misdiagnosis rate and there have been plenty of people who have been written off as PVS despite being aware and able to feel pain (say, the pain of not having food or water until they die). I personally know a woman who was labeled PVS for 14 years, but today is far from that. Anyways, back on the topic, if you think that embryos shouldn't be experimented on because they will grow into humans, I hate to tell you, they won't. The embryos that they get stem cells from are either fertility clinic rejects or created from eggs and sperm specifically donated to science. If we didn't get stem cells from them, they would be thrown away - and in fact, millions and millions are. If you want to complain, go complain that people are making more embryos than they can use in the first place, don't complain that some are using a tiny percentage of what's destined for trash for something useful.
What state do you live in that you can demand a liquor license and ID from clerks? In my state (Ohio) employees don't get a lisense. They just get a job at a grocery store, baseball stadium, pizza place - anywhere that sells alcohol, and if they're 18 or older, they're selling alcohol. I've also never heard of customers getting arrested from buying from minors, I'm pretty sure the store itself would be in trouble, not the customers. Anyways, why do you want to hassle some high school or college kid making minimum wage? Just show them your ID so they can do their damn jobs and everyone can get on with their lives.
Other than that nitpick, I do agree with what you're saying.
Why can't you avoid beef?
Sorry to hear about her allergies. My friend was recently diagnosed as diabetic, and between that an her food allergies she decided that maintaining her vegetarianism was too much. Not that it's impossible, but some things are just too much.
I don't think your fiancee could ever go completely vegetarian or vegan, as you've probably figured, but she can reduce her meat intake. Whole grains and vegetables such as spinach have protein, and you don't need to have a lot of protein every day. She can also go semi-vegetarian and get her protein from eggs and fish. I'd recommend trying a lot of different foods, and seeing what works for her. There's an organization in my area that does free vegan dinners once a month and have nuitritionists talk about veganism (and other things). Try and see if there's something like that in your area. I imagine you're less likely to get "go away, troll" if you ask questions in person instead of on a message board.
Change that to most people are ignorant when it comes to understanding nutrition, they just up and eat whatever's in front of them without thinking. As for vegetarians, unless their idea of going vegetarian is going from hamburger and fries and soda to more fries and soda, it's not hard for them to eat healthier than their omnivore peers.
The Wii sold out. The PS3 sold out. The Wii had many more systems made (thus many more systems sold). That's kinda impressive for the underdog.
It depends on your definition of "lose". The Gamecube made more money for Nintendo than the PS2 and XBox made for Sony and Microsoft combined. So if goal is the make the most money, the smart bet is on Nintendo this generation. Sony hasn't been shy about saying they're selling the PS3 at a loss, and while that tactic might work if you sell many more consoles than your competitors (thus selling more games) it probably won't work so well if you don't (they're not Microsoft, they don't get money from almost every computer sold). They might regain their lead, but that's going to be an uphill battle for them (remember, as of now they're last place in console sales). Sony's not in a good position right now, and if you look past what your friends are saying, you'll realize that.