"Requires" a global government? You sound like a LaRouchie.
What it actually requires is the major industrialized nations (most significantly the US, China and India, with others of secondary importance in this context) agreeing to put a lid on carbon emissions. It doesn't require a NEW WORLD ORDER or the Borg.
1) This "Only show one side of the picture" thing is so tired. Same thing as saying "teach the controversy". Intelligent Design creationists LOOOOOOOVE that stuff, and Climate Change denialists are only slightly less obsessed with it. The problem with that argument is that's it's patently nonsensical. It's like telling a room full of geospatial mapping experts in the midst of a discussion about the precise curvature of the globe at certain latitudes that they're refusing to consider the points of view of the folks outside the door who insist that the earth is flat. It only makes sense to show "the other side of the picture" if the other side of the picture isn't based entirely on made-up evidence and pseudoscience.
2) What is it about climate change denialists that makes them all think somehow the overwhelming majority of climate scientists somehow have a financial interest in climate change being real? First of all, isn't it relatively obvious that the funding sources with the biggest bucks are actually the fossil fuel companies who have a big financial incentive to prove that climate change isn't real? So a corrupt climate scientist would have to be dumb as rocks if s/he decided the best way to unethically sell out and get paid to come up with fraudulent findings was by siding AGAINST the richest folks in the room. And second, if there's going to be a hoax on such a grand scale, what's the supposed motivation? Are you really saying that 90+% of all climate scientists are corrupt and actively lying to gain some sort of undefined financial advantage? This is especially ridiculous given the fact that the climate-change-is-a-hoax crowd actually HAS an OBVIOUS, CLEAR, WELL-DEFINED financial stake in all those climate scientists being proven wrong.
Look, like everyone else I haven't seen the game, so standard disclaimers apply.
But: Context matters. There's not exactly an epidemic of the subjugation of men by women in the world. Whereas there are large numbers of people even in the US who think women should be subservient to men (hell, it says so in the Bible!) and generally treat women more like property than like people.
The "damsel in distress" canard is about as deeply ingrained a theme as exists in entertainment, and its prevalence is indicative of widespread sexism to begin with (not to say that each instance of it is sexist, but for girls who play video games, it's still a novelty to see a female character who doesn't have to be rescued by a man... And extremely rare to see a female character actually rescuing a male.)
That said, on it's surface, this sounds much nastier than a damsel in distress. Usually the damsel at least is assumed to be an actual person whose freedom is in itself worth fighting for. "Capture the Babe", though? First, this is a "take the other guy's sexy chick" thing, which grants zero agency to the woman - whoever takes her gets to have her. Which is already pretty typically misogynist even before you get to the hysterics and the slapping, which are respectively a negative stereotype and a tacit acceptance of violence against a woman who I presume doesn't fight back.
And to the people calling it "satire"? Satire condemns its target, usually by presenting an exaggeration of that target. Unless the audience of primarily young men is expected to take this game as a satirical commentary on how accepted various sexist constructs are in video games, I don't see how you look at this and think "Satire."
Do I think it's going to make people act violently toward women? No, but it will reinforce some negative attitudes toward women that are already prevalent in society, and any girls who are playing the game will have just another example of how people like them are just there to be claimed by the Big Men.
Fine, what about "web app"? That came around before "iPhone app", and that's more or less what google's talking about. This is marketing, words get thrown around everywhere all the time. The answer to your question is: Any more? The word "app" NEVER really meant anything.
Actually, it's not a big weather forecast.
on
Bastardi's Wager
·
· Score: 1
Climate science is very different from meteorology. Sure, they utilize a lot of the same data, but the models have little to do with one another. The fact that Bastardi is making this stupid claim is a pretty big red flag with the words "PANDERER TO IGNORANCE" written on it.
As someone who's spent countless hours combing through Ancestry.com's databases of "transcribed" public records while researching my own family history, I can say with some certainty that it's not just OCR that struggles with handwriting.
I'd say that at least a third, and probably more like half, of the records I've found on Ancestry.com which reference the folks I'm researching, are transcribed incorrectly.
Certainly part of the problem is that the people doing the transcribing aren't familiar with the names they're transcribing (I've had a DuBois written as both "Delrie" and "Dobins"). Another part of the problem is that when you're looking at handwritten records from well over a hundred years ago, often they're just plain hard to read (or even illegible).
Anyway, that second point, IMO, makes using Ancestry's efforts as an example of issues with "handwriting" in general a bit dodgy. The problems they face are more along the lines of dealing with old, faded, often poorly filmed documents where even a human will have a tough time.
This was Obama's and Coburn (and by the way -- Coburn and Obama together? Double WTF)... And while the Democratic leaders were pushing for it, the *ACTUAL* leaders of the senate (Frist et al) weren't doing squat, and were happy to let Ted "Not a truck" Stevens grip it in his grubby little hands for some time.
I love how the White House is spinning this as though it was GWB's idea.
Most people don't have the time to frequently tinker with their computer. My PC is completely made up of Big Name products. Nothing weird at all in there. And I *still* have to deal with frequent glitches and weirdness.
Uh...... I bought my copy in Massachusetts, and it has copy protection. Won't play in my DVD player, which pisses me off. Plays fine in the car. Haven't tried ripping it.
...the kenneth cole leather bag that came w/ my Dell laptop (for a bit of an extra charge) is phenomenal. Really sturdy, really good looking, and the most comfortable shoulder strap in the history of the world.
Don't recall how much these guys run if you buy separately; I'm sure it's not all that cheap, but I'll never want another laptop bag again.
I have to wonder whether or not you're someone who relies on programming skills to feed your family.
My guess is no.
And let me tell you: A soul-draining code lackey position may be soul-draining... but (for the time being) it does a heck of a lot more for your family's income than, say, working retail. And if you're the primary source of income for the people you care about, the number of employed programmers is a *VERY* important number.
Clearly it's not a trade secret. But if it's patented, they're the only ones who are legally allowed to *use* the technology; all others must license the process from them.
When I was in school, it seemed that they changed the text every semester so that kids couldn't buy used books, or resell them after use. It almost seemed as if they were colluding with the publishers.
This is an awfully well-known scheme the publishing houses use to sell books. The schools can't do anything about it, anyway. Here's how it works:
1) Publish a new edition of your textbook at least every couple of years. Be sure to change the page numbering significantly, and ideally, move stuff from chapter to chapter. The harder it is to syncronize with the old edition, the better! 2) Release it as soon as you're almost sold out of the previous edition. 3) Laugh as bookstores can no longer carry new copies of the old edition, so professors have to require the new edition -- they can't assume that everyone will be able to find a used copy of the old edition, and it'll take way too much of their time to synchronize teaching from both editions. 4) Rinse, Repeat 5) PROFIT!
Really, I'm not sure why I haven't seen this used yet. Almost all the major sites out there that provide music content will let you play a 10 or 20 second sample of the music for free (and as far as I know, they don't have to license it), so why can't filesharing system users legally do the same?
It just so happens that each user has a different clip... and the software is intelligent enough to piece them back together into one music file instead of me having to do it by hand;)
Well, I have at least one idea: What you're describing is a technology whose sole purpose is to flout copyright laws. You may be right -- technically, using this method might be legal. However, it clearly goes against the point of copyright, and it's clearly just exploiting a loophole... which is something that really doesn't sit well with me, and certainly wouldn't sit well with the uber-rich lobbyists who got the DMCA signed in the first place. Don't think that widespread use of something like this wouldn't, in some way or another, result in more nasty restrictions on Fair Use -- I imagine it wouldn't be long before many of the online music retailers who offer short samples of songs would be forced to stop. The idea here is to get active, get the unfair laws changed, and get our fair use back. NOT to find tricky ways to break the law without really breaking the law.
-d
Most environmentalists I know, at least, don't even (directly) distrust the effects *technology* has on our environment and our health. What we distrust is the effect that GREEDY PEOPLE AND CORPORATIONS have on our environment. The effect that people who are more concerned about "Efficiency" (read: Improving My Bottom Line) than they are about the public good. Unfortunately, the profit motive tends to be a controlling factor in the majority of scientific research, as unless a corporation sees an eventual profit growing out of a research project, they're not going to foot the bill. And if nobody foots the bill, nobody does the research.
But when someone goes and builds a robot that performs brain surgery (or even, as in this case, parts of brain surgery), how on earth is "The Interesting Part" that it runs Linux?! I, personally, would suppose that the interesting part is that it Does Brain Surgery.
"Hey, I just designed a program that can perfectly predict storm patterns across north america a year in advance!"
"Yeah, well, if it runs on Microsoft, go tell someone who cares."
-d
Some great commentary on the space program...
on
Redirecting NASA
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· Score: 1
A friend of mine introduced me to g2mil.com, a website run by a former Marine Corps officer. Essentially he prints commentary on the state of the US Military. His insight, though, is really something. Anyway, this month, he posted This Article, in which he proposes we scrap the space shuttle program altogether. Makes some good points as far as I can tell (granted, I'm no expert, but I'd like to read comments by those who *are* experts).
The GRE CS Subject test is (with the exception of this year) offered in April, November and December. Most applications for graduate programs are due in December (or Jan.1 at the latest). I was just starting to prepare for all of this in April, and was shocked to find that there were NO dates for the CS test (which is required or 'strongly recommended' by all the schools to which I'm applying) until November. Since it's a paper-based test, results take 4-6 weeks or so to get through to the schools. Which means that even taking the test in November, there's a chance that your school of choice won't get your CS scores by Dec. 15, a popular application deadline.
WHY? Why on EARTH would the test be offered in December and not, say, July or August? Is it just done that way to make life more frustrating for grad school applicants?
And now, on top of this, the november test is canceled. Thankfully, all the schools to which I'm applying said they're going to happily take late scores this year due to the cancellation, and that it won't affect my application process, but I must say it's driving me nuts that I'll still be worrying about and studying for the CS exam in the final weeks of the application process, when I'd rather be speaking with professors, gathering recommendation letters, and working on my statement of purpose. Instead, I'll still be making sure I've got the ins and outs of compiler design and plenty of other areas of CS that I don't ever plan to really study in depth fresh in my mind, and I won't even know what my scores are before I send in the application.
Oh, well. That's enough crankiness for one morning.
> They are tried and true, and accuracy is very high, in most places 98% or higher.
Oh? 98%? Funny, that last 2% would've been more than enough to give the 2000 election to Gore, or vice-versa. If one out of every 50 Americans is disenfranchised, how can that be considered "tried and true"?!
Slashdot Mirror
two factor authentication. two factor authentication. TWO FACTOR AUTHENTICATION!!!!!!
so they're doing this together, but apparently she doesn't have a name? ...
okay then
"Requires" a global government? You sound like a LaRouchie.
What it actually requires is the major industrialized nations (most significantly the US, China and India, with others of secondary importance in this context) agreeing to put a lid on carbon emissions. It doesn't require a NEW WORLD ORDER or the Borg.
Note that the last time the global temperature trended significantly warmer than it is now, there weren't lots of big cities on coastlines.
Just sayin'.
2 points.
1) This "Only show one side of the picture" thing is so tired. Same thing as saying "teach the controversy". Intelligent Design creationists LOOOOOOOVE that stuff, and Climate Change denialists are only slightly less obsessed with it. The problem with that argument is that's it's patently nonsensical. It's like telling a room full of geospatial mapping experts in the midst of a discussion about the precise curvature of the globe at certain latitudes that they're refusing to consider the points of view of the folks outside the door who insist that the earth is flat. It only makes sense to show "the other side of the picture" if the other side of the picture isn't based entirely on made-up evidence and pseudoscience.
2) What is it about climate change denialists that makes them all think somehow the overwhelming majority of climate scientists somehow have a financial interest in climate change being real? First of all, isn't it relatively obvious that the funding sources with the biggest bucks are actually the fossil fuel companies who have a big financial incentive to prove that climate change isn't real? So a corrupt climate scientist would have to be dumb as rocks if s/he decided the best way to unethically sell out and get paid to come up with fraudulent findings was by siding AGAINST the richest folks in the room. And second, if there's going to be a hoax on such a grand scale, what's the supposed motivation? Are you really saying that 90+% of all climate scientists are corrupt and actively lying to gain some sort of undefined financial advantage? This is especially ridiculous given the fact that the climate-change-is-a-hoax crowd actually HAS an OBVIOUS, CLEAR, WELL-DEFINED financial stake in all those climate scientists being proven wrong.
Dumbest argument ever.
Beautifully put.
Spoken like a true ignoramus.
Look, like everyone else I haven't seen the game, so standard disclaimers apply.
But: Context matters. There's not exactly an epidemic of the subjugation of men by women in the world. Whereas there are large numbers of people even in the US who think women should be subservient to men (hell, it says so in the Bible!) and generally treat women more like property than like people.
The "damsel in distress" canard is about as deeply ingrained a theme as exists in entertainment, and its prevalence is indicative of widespread sexism to begin with (not to say that each instance of it is sexist, but for girls who play video games, it's still a novelty to see a female character who doesn't have to be rescued by a man... And extremely rare to see a female character actually rescuing a male.)
That said, on it's surface, this sounds much nastier than a damsel in distress. Usually the damsel at least is assumed to be an actual person whose freedom is in itself worth fighting for. "Capture the Babe", though? First, this is a "take the other guy's sexy chick" thing, which grants zero agency to the woman - whoever takes her gets to have her. Which is already pretty typically misogynist even before you get to the hysterics and the slapping, which are respectively a negative stereotype and a tacit acceptance of violence against a woman who I presume doesn't fight back.
And to the people calling it "satire"? Satire condemns its target, usually by presenting an exaggeration of that target. Unless the audience of primarily young men is expected to take this game as a satirical commentary on how accepted various sexist constructs are in video games, I don't see how you look at this and think "Satire."
Do I think it's going to make people act violently toward women? No, but it will reinforce some negative attitudes toward women that are already prevalent in society, and any girls who are playing the game will have just another example of how people like them are just there to be claimed by the Big Men.
Sigh.
Fine, what about "web app"? That came around before "iPhone app", and that's more or less what google's talking about. This is marketing, words get thrown around everywhere all the time. The answer to your question is: Any more? The word "app" NEVER really meant anything.
Climate science is very different from meteorology. Sure, they utilize a lot of the same data, but the models have little to do with one another. The fact that Bastardi is making this stupid claim is a pretty big red flag with the words "PANDERER TO IGNORANCE" written on it.
As someone who's spent countless hours combing through Ancestry.com's databases of "transcribed" public records while researching my own family history, I can say with some certainty that it's not just OCR that struggles with handwriting.
I'd say that at least a third, and probably more like half, of the records I've found on Ancestry.com which reference the folks I'm researching, are transcribed incorrectly.
Certainly part of the problem is that the people doing the transcribing aren't familiar with the names they're transcribing (I've had a DuBois written as both "Delrie" and "Dobins"). Another part of the problem is that when you're looking at handwritten records from well over a hundred years ago, often they're just plain hard to read (or even illegible).
Anyway, that second point, IMO, makes using Ancestry's efforts as an example of issues with "handwriting" in general a bit dodgy. The problems they face are more along the lines of dealing with old, faded, often poorly filmed documents where even a human will have a tough time.
"Senate Leaders"? "The President feels that..."
WTF?
This was Obama's and Coburn (and by the way -- Coburn and Obama together? Double WTF)... And while the Democratic leaders were pushing for it, the *ACTUAL* leaders of the senate (Frist et al) weren't doing squat, and were happy to let Ted "Not a truck" Stevens grip it in his grubby little hands for some time.
I love how the White House is spinning this as though it was GWB's idea.
Jerks.
...you'd feel differently.
Most people don't have the time to frequently tinker with their computer. My PC is completely made up of Big Name products. Nothing weird at all in there. And I *still* have to deal with frequent glitches and weirdness.
With my mac, I don't have to deal with that.
Uh......
I bought my copy in Massachusetts, and it has copy protection. Won't play in my DVD player, which pisses me off. Plays fine in the car. Haven't tried ripping it.
...the kenneth cole leather bag that came w/ my Dell laptop (for a bit of an extra charge) is phenomenal. Really sturdy, really good looking, and the most comfortable shoulder strap in the history of the world.
Don't recall how much these guys run if you buy separately; I'm sure it's not all that cheap, but I'll never want another laptop bag again.
I have to wonder whether or not you're someone who relies on programming skills to feed your family.
My guess is no.
And let me tell you: A soul-draining code lackey position may be soul-draining... but (for the time being) it does a heck of a lot more for your family's income than, say, working retail. And if you're the primary source of income for the people you care about, the number of employed programmers is a *VERY* important number.
Clearly it's not a trade secret. But if it's patented, they're the only ones who are legally allowed to *use* the technology; all others must license the process from them.
1) Publish a new edition of your textbook at least every couple of years. Be sure to change the page numbering significantly, and ideally, move stuff from chapter to chapter. The harder it is to syncronize with the old edition, the better!
2) Release it as soon as you're almost sold out of the previous edition.
3) Laugh as bookstores can no longer carry new copies of the old edition, so professors have to require the new edition -- they can't assume that everyone will be able to find a used copy of the old edition, and it'll take way too much of their time to synchronize teaching from both editions.
4) Rinse, Repeat
5) PROFIT!
Arseholes.
Most environmentalists I know, at least, don't even (directly) distrust the effects *technology* has on our environment and our health. What we distrust is the effect that GREEDY PEOPLE AND CORPORATIONS have on our environment. The effect that people who are more concerned about "Efficiency" (read: Improving My Bottom Line) than they are about the public good. Unfortunately, the profit motive tends to be a controlling factor in the majority of scientific research, as unless a corporation sees an eventual profit growing out of a research project, they're not going to foot the bill. And if nobody foots the bill, nobody does the research.
Oy. I'm rambling now, and need coffee.
-d
First. Funny Slashdot April Fools' Joke. Ever.
Okay, maybe I'm just a nut.
But when someone goes and builds a robot that performs brain surgery (or even, as in this case, parts of brain surgery), how on earth is "The Interesting Part" that it runs Linux?! I, personally, would suppose that the interesting part is that it Does Brain Surgery.
"Hey, I just designed a program that can perfectly predict storm patterns across north america a year in advance!"
"Yeah, well, if it runs on Microsoft, go tell someone who cares."
-d
A friend of mine introduced me to g2mil.com, a website run by a former Marine Corps officer. Essentially he prints commentary on the state of the US Military. His insight, though, is really something. Anyway, this month, he posted This Article, in which he proposes we scrap the space shuttle program altogether. Makes some good points as far as I can tell (granted, I'm no expert, but I'd like to read comments by those who *are* experts).
-dan
Representative Gurm Dorbson of North Carolina recently wrote This piece on how world hunger should be eliminated, something I've advocated All Along.
*cough*.
Someone please explain this to me:
The GRE CS Subject test is (with the exception of this year) offered in April, November and December. Most applications for graduate programs are due in December (or Jan.1 at the latest). I was just starting to prepare for all of this in April, and was shocked to find that there were NO dates for the CS test (which is required or 'strongly recommended' by all the schools to which I'm applying) until November. Since it's a paper-based test, results take 4-6 weeks or so to get through to the schools. Which means that even taking the test in November, there's a chance that your school of choice won't get your CS scores by Dec. 15, a popular application deadline.
WHY? Why on EARTH would the test be offered in December and not, say, July or August? Is it just done that way to make life more frustrating for grad school applicants?
And now, on top of this, the november test is canceled. Thankfully, all the schools to which I'm applying said they're going to happily take late scores this year due to the cancellation, and that it won't affect my application process, but I must say it's driving me nuts that I'll still be worrying about and studying for the CS exam in the final weeks of the application process, when I'd rather be speaking with professors, gathering recommendation letters, and working on my statement of purpose. Instead, I'll still be making sure I've got the ins and outs of compiler design and plenty of other areas of CS that I don't ever plan to really study in depth fresh in my mind, and I won't even know what my scores are before I send in the application.
Oh, well. That's enough crankiness for one morning.
-Dan.
> They are tried and true, and accuracy is very high, in most places 98% or higher.
Oh? 98%? Funny, that last 2% would've been more than enough to give the 2000 election to Gore, or vice-versa. If one out of every 50 Americans is disenfranchised, how can that be considered "tried and true"?!
-dan