It's sad to think that geniuses may languish among the world's millions of underprivileged children who lack access to education. When you think of the potential impact of a single person of the caliber of Mozart, Ramanujan, etc., our civilization could be missing out on some truly wonderful things.
Shucks, when Lotus 1-2-3 first came out for the IBM PC (that's what we called them back then; now they are "Windows PCs"), it cost $495. Not for an office suite -- just the one application. And we paid it! Similar prices were paid for database and word processing software, such as it was. Mind you, it had a real manual that came in a three-ring binder and took up an impressive amount of shelf space above your workstation.
$500 is not too much to ask for a product with the range of features and excellent design of the iPhone. Uptake will be slow at first (as it was for the iPod), but they will sell a crapload of these babies. And no, I don't know how many Volkswagons that is...
We are not consumers! We are citizens and customers, not sheep.
I set down my Mountain Dew and Doritos, wipe the crumbs off of my Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirt, and lean forward in my Aeron chair just far enough to type out "Baaaaa!" on my Logitech keyboard...
Well, the article does say that the difference is the "crafting" aspect -- the chimps were observed to strip the leaves off of the twigs and sharpen them, thus "fashioning" weapons as opposed to using what comes to hand.
I'd think this would get boring after a while. Crafting tools and killing defenseless little creatures -- are they trying to level up, or what??:)
Oddly enough, Los Angeles does use paper ballots. They are marked with a special pen and counted using a modified punchcard reader (the ballots are the same size and shape as the old IBM punchcards that were made famous in Florida).
Blank votes (known as "undervotes") are recognized and counted as such. An entirely blank ballot is processed as-is, and generates an "undervote" for each election contest.
The undervote rate varies -- typically it is around 1% for major contests, but much higher for minor ones, especially at the end of long ballots.
I doubt that voters stay away from the polls because they are unhappy with the candidate selection -- I think it is simply that they don't see elections as being important.
The bright side that I can see is that perhaps not having to put up with so many dumb, uneducated actors as public role models and political activists.
Great. Instead you'll have to put up with digitally created "actors" who are mouthpieces for movie studios and the MPAA:
"Hi, this is Jock Orff of Exterminator III: Arbor Day, and I'm here to tell you why Congress needs to renew the DMCA"
Certainly, the first time you ask the attendees, they will agree wholeheartedly. And perhaps even the second or third times. But in a purely utilitarian world, there could never be any monster truck rallies until everyone had their vaccine, and all the little boys who had fallen down wells had been dug out, and all the lonely puppies and kittens in the animal shelters got to go to nice homes. After four or five of these episodes of re-routing semi's, people would start to wonder whether they would ever get to see a monster truck rally again.
I guess that was my point: no one truly wants to live in a world like that.
The problem with "deadweight loss" is that it assumes that there is some sort of value to economic activity, and that some activities have more value (or "benefit") than others. So if I plant some seeds in the ground, and later sell the harvested grain on the open market, my planting activity is considered to be beneficial. Whereas if I spit those seeds at my bothersome neighbor, who has been ripping up my turnips in the middle of the night because I scoffed at his explanation of economic theory, I (and my neighbor) are looked down on as mere impediments.
But who is to say what is beneficial, and what isn't? Why is using a semi to haul a million doses of badly needed vaccine to avert a flu epidemic considered virtuous, while feeding that same semi to Draco, the Dragonator in front of 30,000 screaming monster truck fans is thought of as wasteful?
Ultimately, all human activity is pointless, so there is no reason to see gaming a search engine as any more or less important than, say, doing cancer research.
Chinese space officials claim that after being exposed to cosmic radiation in space, the potatoes display unusual, even bizarre characteristics. "Some are as hard as a rock, while others are transparent. We've seen a few that can stretch to unbelievable lengths, and at least one that seems to undergo spontaneous combustion."
Asked if the resulting tubers were good to eat, they replied, "Oh yes! They make fantastic fries!"
-1 Troll +2 Concept for next Mel Gibson Movie -- +1 Net points
Please mod accordingly.
Re:Where's the need come from?
on
Water From Wind
·
· Score: 1
I need to know what I should panic about.
The anxiety of not knowing what to panic about is creating added stress on your cardiovascular system. No doubt this will result in a stroke or an aneurysm. So you can start panicking now.
Slashdot Mirror
On second thought, firing lawyers out of cannons would injure them, and it would be a terrible thing to injure cannons...
Imagine a Scientist from the 37th century scanning a particular bacteria's DNA sequence and hit Goatse
For all you know, by the 37th Century humans will have evolved freakishly distended assholes, so Goatse will seem normal to them.
Ugh. Can't believe I wrote that. Must remember to tick "Post Anonymously" option...
Surely the best way to use IT to increase productivity is to encourage employees to spend lots of time on Slashdot.
Wait, did I say "best"? I meant "worst". My bad.
It's sad to think that geniuses may languish among the world's millions of underprivileged children who lack access to education. When you think of the potential impact of a single person of the caliber of Mozart, Ramanujan, etc., our civilization could be missing out on some truly wonderful things.
Shucks, when Lotus 1-2-3 first came out for the IBM PC (that's what we called them back then; now they are "Windows PCs"), it cost $495. Not for an office suite -- just the one application. And we paid it! Similar prices were paid for database and word processing software, such as it was. Mind you, it had a real manual that came in a three-ring binder and took up an impressive amount of shelf space above your workstation.
$500 is not too much to ask for a product with the range of features and excellent design of the iPhone. Uptake will be slow at first (as it was for the iPod), but they will sell a crapload of these babies. And no, I don't know how many Volkswagons that is...
We are not consumers! We are citizens and customers, not sheep.
I set down my Mountain Dew and Doritos, wipe the crumbs off of my Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirt, and lean forward in my Aeron chair just far enough to type out "Baaaaa!" on my Logitech keyboard...
Well, the article does say that the difference is the "crafting" aspect -- the chimps were observed to strip the leaves off of the twigs and sharpen them, thus "fashioning" weapons as opposed to using what comes to hand.
:)
I'd think this would get boring after a while. Crafting tools and killing defenseless little creatures -- are they trying to level up, or what??
Oddly enough, Los Angeles does use paper ballots. They are marked with a special pen and counted using a modified punchcard reader (the ballots are the same size and shape as the old IBM punchcards that were made famous in Florida).
Blank votes (known as "undervotes") are recognized and counted as such. An entirely blank ballot is processed as-is, and generates an "undervote" for each election contest.
The undervote rate varies -- typically it is around 1% for major contests, but much higher for minor ones, especially at the end of long ballots.
I doubt that voters stay away from the polls because they are unhappy with the candidate selection -- I think it is simply that they don't see elections as being important.
The bright side that I can see is that perhaps not having to put up with so many dumb, uneducated actors as public role models and political activists.
Great. Instead you'll have to put up with digitally created "actors" who are mouthpieces for movie studios and the MPAA:
"Hi, this is Jock Orff of Exterminator III: Arbor Day, and I'm here to tell you why Congress needs to renew the DMCA"
Maybe now when Lucas re-remakes the Star Wars movies, we'll see some good acting!
Han cried first.
Attack it's weak spot for massive damage.
^
(weak spot)
(if the purpose
of code) {
is to be }
[ understood, then
formatting standards]
// can really help.
I'm certain if you asked...(etc)
Certainly, the first time you ask the attendees, they will agree wholeheartedly. And perhaps even the second or third times. But in a purely utilitarian world, there could never be any monster truck rallies until everyone had their vaccine, and all the little boys who had fallen down wells had been dug out, and all the lonely puppies and kittens in the animal shelters got to go to nice homes. After four or five of these episodes of re-routing semi's, people would start to wonder whether they would ever get to see a monster truck rally again.
I guess that was my point: no one truly wants to live in a world like that.
The problem with "deadweight loss" is that it assumes that there is some sort of value to economic activity, and that some activities have more value (or "benefit") than others. So if I plant some seeds in the ground, and later sell the harvested grain on the open market, my planting activity is considered to be beneficial. Whereas if I spit those seeds at my bothersome neighbor, who has been ripping up my turnips in the middle of the night because I scoffed at his explanation of economic theory, I (and my neighbor) are looked down on as mere impediments.
But who is to say what is beneficial, and what isn't? Why is using a semi to haul a million doses of badly needed vaccine to avert a flu epidemic considered virtuous, while feeding that same semi to Draco, the Dragonator in front of 30,000 screaming monster truck fans is thought of as wasteful?
Ultimately, all human activity is pointless, so there is no reason to see gaming a search engine as any more or less important than, say, doing cancer research.
You must not be new here.
Chinese space officials claim that after being exposed to cosmic radiation in space, the potatoes display unusual, even bizarre characteristics. "Some are as hard as a rock, while others are transparent. We've seen a few that can stretch to unbelievable lengths, and at least one that seems to undergo spontaneous combustion."
Asked if the resulting tubers were good to eat, they replied, "Oh yes! They make fantastic fries!"
the power created by the vast vacuum between people that grasp sarcasm and you.
Note: the technical term for this controversial concept is zero-comphrension-of-the-point energy.
DANGER! Keep flagella away from spinning blades!
Mr. Turbine is NOT your friend!
Joe's boss had better hope he doesn't find out about Photoshop...
Come on, the resolution on Google Maps isn't that good -- unless you were you watching Ghidorah getting ass-raped by Rodan...
What about punchcards? I want to be able to punch out "GET /index.html HTTP/1.1" on my IBM 029 and get the result back on a line printer...
Great, now all I can think of is a giant, 3-D, translucent, texture-mapped, 144dpi, yellow smiley face with glasses.
Thanks a lot.
-1 Troll
+2 Concept for next Mel Gibson Movie
--
+1 Net points
Please mod accordingly.
I need to know what I should panic about.
The anxiety of not knowing what to panic about is creating added stress on your cardiovascular system. No doubt this will result in a stroke or an aneurysm. So you can start panicking now.
Did it have a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny brass knob in the exact middle?