Even the most libertarian dream government will have some parenting to do. Mostly because adults, like children, are ignorant, impulsive, greedy, lazy or downright evil. To secure your freedom to live another day there must be a law against killing. You give up your right to kill whomever you please to gain the right to not have whomever kill you. Social contract. Is that a fair exchange? So it seems like we either have anarchy or some degree of authoritarianism. Anarchy sounds great, unless you live near anyone else. Then things get tricky. Why shouldn't i kill you and take you stuff? The only thing stopping me might be that you've got a longer range rifle. Killing you takes very little effort, and the benefit of taking your stuff and having less competition is pretty big. But you don't want me to kill you, and vice versa. So we make laws, and pay people to enforce them.
Your parents act as parents because as a child, you don't understand the world, how dangerous it is. You're driven by your impulses to eat doritos and stay up late to watch cartoons rather than do your homework. Loving, intelligent parents make decisions on your behalf and against your will because they know that while you might enjoy playing Zelda more than doing homework, that grades are far more important than entertainment.
The truth is, adults are just as stupid. Left to their own devices they would drive as fast as their car would carry them, with a cell phone in one hand, big mac in the other and no seat belt. So we have a choice: Restrict people's behavior, or deal with the social cost of tons of dead motorists. The idea that people will do the right thing with no one watching is naive in the extreme. People keep their speed below 80 because they don't want to be arrested for reckless driving, not because it poses a danger to others. When no one is watching, people are at their worst. Note that most crimes are committed with some degree of subterfuge and obfuscation. Bank robbers wear masks because they don't want to be held accountable for their actions. i wouldn't pay my taxes if i could get away with it.
People need parenting, not only for their own good, but for the good of everyone around them. So fine, call it authoritarianism if that makes you feel good. Some degree of it is far better than not enough or too much. Pretending that everyone is smart and responsible is foolish. We've seen how that goes. Every warning label on every product is some paternalistic fascism telling you what to do/not do because some idiot did the very thing they shouldn't.
Where is the cut off between paranoia and healthy suspicion?
i ask because i suspect politics might be shifting what you define as security vs. paranoia vs. authoritarianism. My guess is that people's tunes will change around, oh say... 20 Jan 09.
i've flown a few times since 9/11, and yeah, it's a bit more annoying than it was before, but hardly a nightmare. Some of the new rules are retarded, but they'll prolly go away as the perceived threat declines. Of course, i also lived in Germany from 84 to 94 as a kid and remember that Frankfurt International was patrolled by guys carrying submachine guns. Bomb threats were a weekly occurrence when i was in 4th and 5th grade. A car bomb killed some people where my family bought groceries. i'm sure somehow that's not the fault of the terrorists, right? Terrorists are just freedom fighters, right? They're just acting out because they didn't have a nap.
"When *I* have kids, I'll let them stay up late, eat junk food and get all the piercings they want. Not like my fascist parents!"
Time passes... speaker has kids of his own.
"Eat your broccoli, and go to bed. And no, you can't pierce your nose until you're 18."
Has the speaker become a fascist/authoritarian/neo con? Or have they grown up and realized that they have a responsibility to the child to be a parent rather than a friend?
It's easy to criticize decisions someone else makes. Far more difficult to make fair and efficient decisions when you have the responsibility and the authority. If you aren't going to suffer the consequences of your policy idea, you can say whatever you like. Your theory costs nothing and can be implemented like flipping a switch and then everything will be perfect. The costs are irrelevant, the consequences of a bad decision are irrelevant if you aren't in a position to actually make the decision. If you are in the position to make the decision, you might find things a bit more tricky. You have to find the money, you have to balance the needs of the few against the many, you have to face up to what might happen if you are wrong.
Productivity porn experts suggest wearing earphone or headphones at your desk, if only to get people to hesitate to interrupt you.
i find that i do math faster when i have upbeat music in my ears. Writing an listening to music is almost impossible, because i want to sing along, even if only sotto voce. Music goes well with doing painting or other visual art activities. And it makes long drives seem shorter.
Anyone else here find themselves singing along with a song without knowing it? That happens to me when i'm driving all the time.
As for stuttering, that might help me a bit. i don't stutter so much as pause in the middle... of a sentence. It usually happens at a point in the sentence when the listener could... figure out what i'm going to say next. i find it very embarrassing because i used be very good at speaking smoothly and without verbal pauses (um, ah, aaaaand). i think i started that when i was living with my younger brother who had a habit of interrupting me.
So, i've always heard that women are better at multitasking, men at single tasking. Does a lifetime of multitasking hurt women's brains?
There was a show on discovery about men's attention being like a laser, and women's being a flood light. Men focus intently on one thing (like putting a spear in to a gazelle or dodging an enemy's spear). While women mind the kids, cook dinner and balance the check book.
Some restrictions create or protect freedom. For instance, you can go on living because murder is illegal, but you give up the right to kill at will. Social contract and all. There's free and then there is free enough to call it free. It's not an all or nothing proposition.
Anywho, i agree with your post. DRM is futile, as is suing old ladies. Free content will not destroy the music industry, but it might mean fewer billionaire execs, and few millionaire artists. It will likely mean that competition for my music budget will be fierce.
Let's say we create a server network that hosts every song and remix ever made, it is free and without DRM, and in high quality. The fallout would be the death of distribution chains for music and music as an INDUSTRY. But the artform and artists would be just fine. They can make money touring, they can sell t-shirts and what not. They can sell anything that i can't get at the replicator terminal. Artists/bands would sink or swim based on popularity. If they like you, they'll buy your tickets and gear. It might mean more competition for music dollars. It might mean less Britney Spears.
i have always hoped that gravity does not travel, that it is instantaneous. That way, if we can ever generate gravity, we can use it for >L communication. What i hope has no bearing on reality, but it would be cool.
i'm working on an artificial language and need some help finding charts/illustrations of the tree of life. If you know of any sites or books with detailed trees, please post them here or send them in a PM.
Thanks in advance! A
"In the pursuit of knowledge, every day something is added. In the pursuit of understanding, every day something is removed."
i just added this to my quote collection. Brilliant!
You wouldn't be looking AT the LEDs, the LEDs would have to shine a light onto your retina that was already in focus. This technology is in a zygote like stage of development. As an earlier poster mentioned, if these guys are working on this technology, they prolly have bothered to study up on how the eye works, or have Doctoral types in the team.
All i want to know is when i can have a reticule where ever i look so i can imagine life as an FPS.
*guy on cell phone cuts me off* *thinks to self* BOOM! Headshot!
i'm a sys admin for a small company and anytime i go to a user's machine i check out the msconfig to clean their start up. My users wouldn't have the confidence to do it, and those that do, prolly would turn off the wrong things. So i don't mind the extra work, and they like having a faster machine.
PlanetSide (PS) is a Sci-Fi MMOFPS by SOE. There is no grinding, no twinking, no arbitrary quests, is 100% PVP, and relies on teamwork and strategy. There is no n00b stomping beyond, a guy with a tank will usually kill you with two shot, but that makes a kind of sense.
You COULD by a high level character, but you wouldn't gain much for your trouble. AFAIK there is no market for characters, and absolutely no market for items. PS works on a certification system that allows you to load and unload certs to use different equipment. After playing one night of play you can access just about anything a player of 4 years can. High ranked characters will have access to a wider variety of items and vehicles. But the equipment is the same from player to player. My AMP does as much damage as your AMP. But i as a more experienced player would also have a Lasher and could fly a Reaver. You could unload your sniper cert to gain the Reaver cert. In PS, you play to play. It's all fun. Sure, you want the next rank, but anything you could buy with it you could have anyway if you gave up something else. If you have a life, the players who don't will not have a significant advantage over you, only more flexibility in what roles they can play. Plus since the equipment levels the field, skill and knowledge usually prevail. If you get stomped repeatedly, it's probably your fault, rather than just a matter of your opponent having an instagib spell.
The closest thing there is to farming would be a base battle where the enemy has you surrounded or vice versa. Such situations are VERY intense and one side eventually wins.
Speaking of which, there is a sense of gain or loss with each battle. In BF2142 if your team wins you get some points, but that map will reload and it's like you were never there. The battle for Auraxis is persistent 24/7. Bases, towers and continents change hands. Any thing your empire claims is still yours, until the enemy tries to take it back.
Teamwork, tactics and strategy are the keys to winning. Blind zerg rushing will get you nowhere against an organized foe. Skilled players can fend off several unskilled players. Organized groups can fend off larger groups. TeamSpeak or Ventrilo are a must.
My role is that of saboteur. i'm in yr base, droppin' yr generators. In my infiltration suit, i sneak into the enemy's base and blow up their gens. Tis good times.
i'm in one of the top outfits (guilds) on the east coast, i'll direct folks to more info if they send me a PM.
And yes, your comparison of WoW to GW is right on. i left WoW for about the same reasons, it felt like a job. GW is also the most visually beautiful games out there (imho).
How are people supposed to express themselves through explosions in crowded places if they are under such surveillance? Are we really free if we can't commit a crime in one country and hide in another? Now criminals will have to hide in a non English speaking nation, that's terribly inconsiderate of our governments. How are we supposed to avoid the consequences for our actions and escape punishment if law enforcement agencies share information? How are totalitarian empires supposed to grow with groups like NATO opposing them? How can the Taliban re-establish sharia law with NATO troops always in the way? Oh the humanity! Someone, please, think of the terrorists!
Congress is perfectly capable of doing 1 and 2 in their own way. After 6 months, Congress can say "bring 'em home, or ask for declaration of war" (note that they have not done so). Congress has plenty of influence over the budget.
1. Quickly WIN OIF. 2. Limit military spending to 3 times any other two countries. People like to forget how much territory and people are under our aegis. We are in a very real way the military of the EU. They can have awesome social programs because they know we've got their backs. 3. Fiber to the home. Every home. 4. Remove the income limit on SS / Medicare taxes. (It's the #1 reason why the middle class pay a higher tax rate than the super rich and the reason SS is having trouble in the first place.) 5. Invest in proven solar / wind systems that are close to the break even point. (EX: Solar hot water systems and wind farms.) 6. Fund mass transit. 7. Limited universal healthcare (90% coverage up to 10k per person per year.) 8. Increased regulation of the lending market. 9. Gradually abolish interest, or keep it to something minuscule. 10. Fund ITER and other large science projects. 11. MARS, BITCHES! 12. Gradually phase out fines for offenses and replace them with jail time. 13. Put white and blue collar crooks in the same cells 14. 5 year presidential term limit, no re-election. 15. Elected officials who require security clearances must get them the same way everyone else does 16. And must make their tax returns public record so we can see if they are receiving kick backs
Slashdot Mirror
Just drump some coffee grinds and orange peels in the Mr. Fusion and i'm good to go for another month.
Is 200MB of RAM significant against the 1024 to 4096 MB of RAM that modern machines have?
With a range over 200 miles per charge, you might have to refuel once, MAYBE twice per day. So even road trips might not present a problem.
Even the most libertarian dream government will have some parenting to do. Mostly because adults, like children, are ignorant, impulsive, greedy, lazy or downright evil. To secure your freedom to live another day there must be a law against killing. You give up your right to kill whomever you please to gain the right to not have whomever kill you. Social contract. Is that a fair exchange? So it seems like we either have anarchy or some degree of authoritarianism. Anarchy sounds great, unless you live near anyone else. Then things get tricky. Why shouldn't i kill you and take you stuff? The only thing stopping me might be that you've got a longer range rifle. Killing you takes very little effort, and the benefit of taking your stuff and having less competition is pretty big. But you don't want me to kill you, and vice versa. So we make laws, and pay people to enforce them.
Your parents act as parents because as a child, you don't understand the world, how dangerous it is. You're driven by your impulses to eat doritos and stay up late to watch cartoons rather than do your homework. Loving, intelligent parents make decisions on your behalf and against your will because they know that while you might enjoy playing Zelda more than doing homework, that grades are far more important than entertainment.
The truth is, adults are just as stupid. Left to their own devices they would drive as fast as their car would carry them, with a cell phone in one hand, big mac in the other and no seat belt. So we have a choice: Restrict people's behavior, or deal with the social cost of tons of dead motorists. The idea that people will do the right thing with no one watching is naive in the extreme. People keep their speed below 80 because they don't want to be arrested for reckless driving, not because it poses a danger to others. When no one is watching, people are at their worst. Note that most crimes are committed with some degree of subterfuge and obfuscation. Bank robbers wear masks because they don't want to be held accountable for their actions. i wouldn't pay my taxes if i could get away with it.
People need parenting, not only for their own good, but for the good of everyone around them. So fine, call it authoritarianism if that makes you feel good. Some degree of it is far better than not enough or too much. Pretending that everyone is smart and responsible is foolish. We've seen how that goes. Every warning label on every product is some paternalistic fascism telling you what to do/not do because some idiot did the very thing they shouldn't.
Where is the cut off between paranoia and healthy suspicion?
i ask because i suspect politics might be shifting what you define as security vs. paranoia vs. authoritarianism. My guess is that people's tunes will change around, oh say... 20 Jan 09.
i've flown a few times since 9/11, and yeah, it's a bit more annoying than it was before, but hardly a nightmare. Some of the new rules are retarded, but they'll prolly go away as the perceived threat declines. Of course, i also lived in Germany from 84 to 94 as a kid and remember that Frankfurt International was patrolled by guys carrying submachine guns. Bomb threats were a weekly occurrence when i was in 4th and 5th grade. A car bomb killed some people where my family bought groceries. i'm sure somehow that's not the fault of the terrorists, right? Terrorists are just freedom fighters, right? They're just acting out because they didn't have a nap.
"When *I* have kids, I'll let them stay up late, eat junk food and get all the piercings they want. Not like my fascist parents!"
Time passes... speaker has kids of his own.
"Eat your broccoli, and go to bed. And no, you can't pierce your nose until you're 18."
Has the speaker become a fascist/authoritarian/neo con? Or have they grown up and realized that they have a responsibility to the child to be a parent rather than a friend?
It's easy to criticize decisions someone else makes. Far more difficult to make fair and efficient decisions when you have the responsibility and the authority. If you aren't going to suffer the consequences of your policy idea, you can say whatever you like. Your theory costs nothing and can be implemented like flipping a switch and then everything will be perfect. The costs are irrelevant, the consequences of a bad decision are irrelevant if you aren't in a position to actually make the decision. If you are in the position to make the decision, you might find things a bit more tricky. You have to find the money, you have to balance the needs of the few against the many, you have to face up to what might happen if you are wrong.
Gurps is DIFFERENT. Gurps is better for a more human scale game. D&D is better for a mythic/heroic feel.
Good people don't seek power, or know what to do with it when they have it.
Wouldn't Yahoogle violate anti-trust laws?
He's saying this to PopMech readers... not us.
http://www.theproduct.de/
Productivity porn experts suggest wearing earphone or headphones at your desk, if only to get people to hesitate to interrupt you.
i find that i do math faster when i have upbeat music in my ears. Writing an listening to music is almost impossible, because i want to sing along, even if only sotto voce. Music goes well with doing painting or other visual art activities. And it makes long drives seem shorter.
Anyone else here find themselves singing along with a song without knowing it? That happens to me when i'm driving all the time.
As for stuttering, that might help me a bit. i don't stutter so much as pause in the middle... of a sentence. It usually happens at a point in the sentence when the listener could... figure out what i'm going to say next. i find it very embarrassing because i used be very good at speaking smoothly and without verbal pauses (um, ah, aaaaand). i think i started that when i was living with my younger brother who had a habit of interrupting me.
So, i've always heard that women are better at multitasking, men at single tasking. Does a lifetime of multitasking hurt women's brains?
There was a show on discovery about men's attention being like a laser, and women's being a flood light. Men focus intently on one thing (like putting a spear in to a gazelle or dodging an enemy's spear). While women mind the kids, cook dinner and balance the check book.
Guess i should R the A.
Some restrictions create or protect freedom. For instance, you can go on living because murder is illegal, but you give up the right to kill at will. Social contract and all. There's free and then there is free enough to call it free. It's not an all or nothing proposition. Anywho, i agree with your post. DRM is futile, as is suing old ladies. Free content will not destroy the music industry, but it might mean fewer billionaire execs, and few millionaire artists. It will likely mean that competition for my music budget will be fierce. Let's say we create a server network that hosts every song and remix ever made, it is free and without DRM, and in high quality. The fallout would be the death of distribution chains for music and music as an INDUSTRY. But the artform and artists would be just fine. They can make money touring, they can sell t-shirts and what not. They can sell anything that i can't get at the replicator terminal. Artists/bands would sink or swim based on popularity. If they like you, they'll buy your tickets and gear. It might mean more competition for music dollars. It might mean less Britney Spears.
i have always hoped that gravity does not travel, that it is instantaneous. That way, if we can ever generate gravity, we can use it for >L communication. What i hope has no bearing on reality, but it would be cool.
>L (c) Apeiron, 2008
i'm working on an artificial language and need some help finding charts/illustrations of the tree of life. If you know of any sites or books with detailed trees, please post them here or send them in a PM.
Thanks in advance!
A
"In the pursuit of knowledge, every day something is added.
In the pursuit of understanding, every day something is removed."
i just added this to my quote collection. Brilliant!
10 Gold isn't very much.
Does /. have a Bevets like Fark does?
You wouldn't be looking AT the LEDs, the LEDs would have to shine a light onto your retina that was already in focus. This technology is in a zygote like stage of development. As an earlier poster mentioned, if these guys are working on this technology, they prolly have bothered to study up on how the eye works, or have Doctoral types in the team.
All i want to know is when i can have a reticule where ever i look so i can imagine life as an FPS.
*guy on cell phone cuts me off*
*thinks to self* BOOM! Headshot!
i'm a sys admin for a small company and anytime i go to a user's machine i check out the msconfig to clean their start up. My users wouldn't have the confidence to do it, and those that do, prolly would turn off the wrong things. So i don't mind the extra work, and they like having a faster machine.
PlanetSide (PS) is a Sci-Fi MMOFPS by SOE. There is no grinding, no twinking, no arbitrary quests, is 100% PVP, and relies on teamwork and strategy. There is no n00b stomping beyond, a guy with a tank will usually kill you with two shot, but that makes a kind of sense.
You COULD by a high level character, but you wouldn't gain much for your trouble. AFAIK there is no market for characters, and absolutely no market for items. PS works on a certification system that allows you to load and unload certs to use different equipment. After playing one night of play you can access just about anything a player of 4 years can. High ranked characters will have access to a wider variety of items and vehicles. But the equipment is the same from player to player. My AMP does as much damage as your AMP. But i as a more experienced player would also have a Lasher and could fly a Reaver. You could unload your sniper cert to gain the Reaver cert. In PS, you play to play. It's all fun. Sure, you want the next rank, but anything you could buy with it you could have anyway if you gave up something else. If you have a life, the players who don't will not have a significant advantage over you, only more flexibility in what roles they can play. Plus since the equipment levels the field, skill and knowledge usually prevail. If you get stomped repeatedly, it's probably your fault, rather than just a matter of your opponent having an instagib spell.
The closest thing there is to farming would be a base battle where the enemy has you surrounded or vice versa. Such situations are VERY intense and one side eventually wins.
Speaking of which, there is a sense of gain or loss with each battle. In BF2142 if your team wins you get some points, but that map will reload and it's like you were never there. The battle for Auraxis is persistent 24/7. Bases, towers and continents change hands. Any thing your empire claims is still yours, until the enemy tries to take it back.
Teamwork, tactics and strategy are the keys to winning. Blind zerg rushing will get you nowhere against an organized foe. Skilled players can fend off several unskilled players. Organized groups can fend off larger groups. TeamSpeak or Ventrilo are a must.
My role is that of saboteur. i'm in yr base, droppin' yr generators. In my infiltration suit, i sneak into the enemy's base and blow up their gens. Tis good times.
i'm in one of the top outfits (guilds) on the east coast, i'll direct folks to more info if they send me a PM.
And yes, your comparison of WoW to GW is right on. i left WoW for about the same reasons, it felt like a job. GW is also the most visually beautiful games out there (imho).
How are people supposed to express themselves through explosions in crowded places if they are under such surveillance? Are we really free if we can't commit a crime in one country and hide in another? Now criminals will have to hide in a non English speaking nation, that's terribly inconsiderate of our governments. How are we supposed to avoid the consequences for our actions and escape punishment if law enforcement agencies share information? How are totalitarian empires supposed to grow with groups like NATO opposing them? How can the Taliban re-establish sharia law with NATO troops always in the way? Oh the humanity! Someone, please, think of the terrorists!
That's a big IF, hoss. Brown, poor and female people have a MUCH harder time making opportunities.
Congress is perfectly capable of doing 1 and 2 in their own way. After 6 months, Congress can say "bring 'em home, or ask for declaration of war" (note that they have not done so). Congress has plenty of influence over the budget.
1. Quickly WIN OIF.
2. Limit military spending to 3 times any other two countries. People like to forget how much territory and people are under our aegis. We are in a very real way the military of the EU. They can have awesome social programs because they know we've got their backs.
3. Fiber to the home. Every home.
4. Remove the income limit on SS / Medicare taxes. (It's the #1 reason why the middle class pay a higher tax rate than the super rich and the reason SS is having trouble in the first place.)
5. Invest in proven solar / wind systems that are close to the break even point. (EX: Solar hot water systems and wind farms.)
6. Fund mass transit.
7. Limited universal healthcare (90% coverage up to 10k per person per year.)
8. Increased regulation of the lending market.
9. Gradually abolish interest, or keep it to something minuscule.
10. Fund ITER and other large science projects.
11. MARS, BITCHES!
12. Gradually phase out fines for offenses and replace them with jail time.
13. Put white and blue collar crooks in the same cells
14. 5 year presidential term limit, no re-election.
15. Elected officials who require security clearances must get them the same way everyone else does
16. And must make their tax returns public record so we can see if they are receiving kick backs
[OffTopicPendantry]
It's a gas, so it won't have much of an impact at all. It might have an effect, however. Bullets and meteors impact.
As a sys admin for a small company, i push people toward FireFox and Spybot S&D. i hear that all the time. "How do they make money?"
It is as if people can't conceive any motivation but money.