In World War II, they recruited color-blind people to spot tanks because they're used to picking out patterns rather than colors. Although, as you'll notice, camoflauge works on a bit of both, both trying to somewhat match the background, and also existing in those weird blotches and swirls so as to break up the outline.
Which, admittedly, boiled down to "In the land of the blind where there's no light and they've learned to adapt to it, the one-eyed man who's relied on sight for most of his life will be at a disadvantage."
There was also a fascinating story I read involving a traveller who happens upon a colony of deaf-and-blind people, the result of some large epidemic of disease that left a large part of a generation without sight or sound. I can't remember the name or which anthology I saw it in. I do remember that they had this amusing bit where the traveller meets one of the children (most of which are endowed with sight and sound), the first child of the colony actually, named Pink because the parents knew that was the color of babies, this being ironic because Pink is black.
^_^ I remember that when my littlest brother was still little (he's 13 now), he had two favorite things to shout out, "Hallelujah" (with the emphasis on the third syllable) and "Eighteen dollars." In particular, he tended to do this in church, probably partly because it was quiet and therefore he got more attention and also because he knew that everyone else was saying stuff and wanted to join in. It was funny enough with the "Hallelujah" coming out of nowhere during church, but when the priest finished rambling off a long recitation and a small voice chimed in "Eighteen dollars!" from the back, it made you feel like you were in an auction house.
Personally, what I find truly fascinating is infants raised in deaf homes. Not only does the child grow up learning sign language as easily as any other language, but the unique grammar influences their thought patterns. Then, there's the bit how children are born being able to speak all the phonemes, but generally lose the ability to produce more than 40 or so. Lastly, children raised with a tonal language such as Vietnamese or Cantonese almost inevitably have perfect pitch. Fascinating stuff.
I was once one of those people who advocated everyone voting, even to the point of those vans that drove along and offered to transport people to the polls. But now, having heard some peoples' rationales for their voting choices, I urge greater caution in who should vote. If you're not educated on the issues and where the politicians stand, don't vote. If you plan to vote a straight ticket because that's what your parents voted, don't vote. If you plan to vote a straight ticket because it's not what your parents vote, don't vote. If your reasoning for voting for a candidate is based upon his good looks, don't vote. (You laugh now, but I know several girls in high school who voted for Clinton because they thought he was the more good-looking candidate) Don't vote a certan way because it's how your church/school/workplace/therapy group has told you to vote.
In short, if you are making an informed decision on the ballot, by all means vote away. If not, please leave democracy in the hands of those who are competent to vote. Thank you.
That was extremely incoherent and yet extremely amusing. And sadly, that sounds like a lot of the user reviews you see these days. {shakes head} Very bizarre and yet it draws you like a train wreck.
Yes, this replay is only on-topic to the off-topic post above it. I've already stated my point of view on this, that Nintendo seems to have realized their mistake, have apologized, and are making amends. I personally think the original claim they made was a bit ridiculous (just mentioning the names of two games you like?) but I could see them not wanting their brand names associated with a porn site in search engine results. I suspect it was an automated system that picked them up and a relatively minor functionary who decided to send out the official letter. Nonetheless, Nintendo did the right thing in promptly apologizing and making amends.
Bleh. It was probably some minor functionary overstepping their bounds who caused all this trouble. You'd might as well decide Walmart was evil because of a bad experience with a cashier. (Well, you'd be right about Walmart being evil, but for the wrong purposes)
She goes on to say that they didn't just stumble upon the page and pay her that visit. One of the people that regularly reads her blog "turned her in".
A friend of mine went through a truancy / improper parenting trial recently. Evidence included her Xanga site where she talked about smoking marijuana with her parents. The person who turned her in was the parent of one of her friends who read the site. The key thing to remember is that whatever you put on these sites is public. Never write anything which you would not be willing to have show up in the paper, or as evidence. At that, I reccomend never writing anything which you wouldn't want your mother to read, as often they'll do just that...
As for this girl's "crime," it's happened for years. I have a book on the Secret Service at home written in the 50's which has a section devoted to crank letters to the president including a sampling from elementary schoolers who then received a visit from the authourities. They have to investigate all claims just in case, and just having authourities visit can often scare the kids straight, impressing upon them that people out there do read their mail. Admittedly, here it was less direct, but still a valid threat. They didn't charge her with anything, jsut impressed upon her that threats are taken seriously when it comes to presidents.
As much as anything else, I think it's that people don't know any better. For the average user, changing ISPs is a real hassle. You have to change all of your connection settings, often install new software, and you have to tell everyone that your email address has changed. (Or not. If they really cared, they'd track you down.) AOL not only provides a very comfortable insulating layer over the technical aspects, but it's also just about everywhere. There's an access number in almost every town, it comes installed on almost all new computers, and there are free CDs in stores all over town.
I suspect that if the people on AOL tried another service, they'd happily switch, price being lower and all that, but as it is, they never get the chance.
Sounds like a fairly standard Joe Job such as has happened with DarkProfits. Only difference being here, they're actually extorting on the threat rather than simply trying to damage someone's reputation. Thing is, this could be very damaging. When it comes to child pornography, people tend to get very irrational and seldom check for any form of proof or second opinion. It's kind of like being accused of being a child molester IRL. Even once you prove your innocence, no one will quite look at you the same again and some people will never truly believe your innocence. Heck, the more squeaky-clean of life you lead, the more guilty you may seem to them. After all, you must have something to hide.
I am not an economist, but the legal seperation of corporation from person not only works for large companies, but for small ones as well. As it stands now, a single person wanting to go into business can incorporate to insulate himself from possible failure of his company. Without this protection, he's risking all of his assets and possibly criminal penalties. I suspect that a lack of protection in this area may lead to fewer entrepreneurs in the system. Yes, the way that the larger corporations abuse the right is wrong, but abolishing corporations altogether is not the solution either.
A dog's view: He provides me with food, shelter, and love. He must be God. A cat's view: He provides me with food, shelter, and love. I must be God.
That said, I'd all in favor of the hypoallergenic cats. I've had too many friends who were allergic and lived in fear of finding that a friend had either decided to pick up a cat or had had one lounging about recently. And so long as we're not depriving the cats of a natural defense, what's the harm in it? Incidentally, anyone know if the trait breeds true?
{wrinkles brow} Not sure if I'm utterly missing the joke here, but there already has been Star Wars Stratego. Heck, it's been out long enough that it landed in Kroger's $5 section. Pretty decent game, at that. There's standard Stratego and there's also a version where some of the named pieces get special powers along the lines of added movement or being able to reveal an enemy piece without attacking.
Well, considering that the Linux kernel 2.6 lists the PC speaker among input devices, I wouldn't be surprised to see a monitor used as input device...
Speakers and microphones are very similar, more so for the older ones, but still fairly valid these days. As I understand it, the basis is that sound is transmitted from a speaker by taking electric impulses and vibrating a membrane. A microphone takes the vibration of the membrane and turns it into the electric impulses.
What's NOT fair is what companies like Alias are doing. Charging each time $500 - $600 each time the new student versions of Maya are released. I purchased 5.0 via my student discount for $589 , and now they want $600 for Maya 6.0. As a student, I can't afford to shell out for the new version each time it is released. To make matters worse, the university has 6.0 installed, but 5.0 cannot read 6.0 files.
Moreover, if you read the license involved, most 3D software (Or at least Poser and 3D Studio), you only buy the license, not the software, and technically it's not transferrable through resale. Yes, you can still generally sell/give it away, but there's no support and I suspect they could bring up the person it's sold to on pirating charges because they didn't buy another license.
Note: While Poser does have the odd graphics licensing, they also have extraordinarily low prices for a very quality product and they offer lower versions for much-reduced prices, so I see it as not quite as unerasonable as some of the others.
The key issue with managed health care is that there is no reason for hospitals and others to compete with each other which does lead to lines. It also leads to abuse of the system by people who go in for every little stupid thing they have or imagine they have.
I'm quite possibly quoting you out of context here, but the idea of hospitals competing makes it sound like they're being run as businesses. The problem I see there is that the fundamental existence of a business is to make money, not to provide a service. Personally, with things that are truly important such as health care, mail, and utilities, I prefer to have the government run them. Sure, it will be expensive and there will be some waste from bureaucracy, but you will get a result.
That said, I can understand what you mean by abuse of the system. In college, we received free medical office visits (medication and supplies [other than nasty menthol cough drops] did cost money, of course) and I'll admit that I got too used to it, stopping in whenever I had an ache or a pain. Sure, it was nothing a good half of the time, but just in case... *shrug* That said, in the absence of said free care, I almost never go to the doctor's office, which has occasionally led to me suffering for weeks for something that may have been cleared up if I'd come into the office. Anyhow, I'll bear testament that, with free medical care, one may feel inclined to come in for a visit for little things like a cold or a flu whereas normally you'd just tough it out and let it clear up on its own.
{takes deep breath} Right, back to the original subject of the topic, I see getting medical care overseas like this as being similar to buying off-brand computer components. It's a heck of a lot cheaper, but since the costs are often cut by reducing safety features and/or limiting your ability to recover damages if things go wrong, you run your risks there. *shrug* That said, my off-brand hard drive and off-brand DVD-ROM drive were a fraction of the price I'd paid at a computer store and I've not had any trouble with them. Similarly, it seems people are doing Ok with these Indian doctors. Although I would suspect that the AMA may be putting out a "study" soon to publicize whatever disasters they can find as a result of people getting medical care overseas. Or then again, maybe they'll just move to India and outsource...
Except you can't sue a doctor in India. Doctors have no medical liability!
Which, of course, is likely one of the large reasons it's so much cheaper as to make flying over economical. Frivolous lawsuits and greedy insurance companies have driven malpractice insurance through the roof here.
While you seem fairly happy with your lack of ID, it is possible in most places (or at least it is in the US) to get a generic ID. I did it once for my 5th-grade Safety Patrol trip and once in High School when I needed a checking account for my paper route, but didn't have a driver's license yet. For about $2, I receied a professionally laminated card with my photo, name, and address, usable as a Government-issued ID wherever they're accepted. Now that they're making licenses fancier (I come from Kentucky where for years, it really was just a bit of card stock that was laminated. Drives the grocery cashiers crazy as it looks fake, but it's in their books), it's probably more expensive, but the option always exists.
On the other side of the discussion, there is kind of an explicit assumption that people own driver's licenses in the US. While there are numerous other cards one can pull out to establish ID in places one needs them (Second form of ID has been everything from library cards to medical insurance to my National Honor Society membership card for me), when people ask for a photo ID, they generally assume a driver's license and get confused if you pull out any other one. Heck, some of the local restaurants won't accept anything but a driver's license or military ID in such cases. It's similar to the assumption that everyone has a phone number, which leads to some databases indexing people by said number. ^_^ And no, I don't really have a point I'm driving at. I just find it interesting.
Agreed. I work in an office, but with engineers, so the dress code is, of course, fairly relaxed. No use in wearing nice slacks and a white shirt if you might spend half of your day squeezing behind the quipment cabinet to switch wires around. Jeans and khakis are pretty much standard here, generally with a collared but casual shirt. Shoes tend to be sneakers. We're certainly not a formal office, but we tend to look respectable. Working respectable at that.
I highly agree that a good part of self-defense training involves avoiding sticky situations, convincing people that maybe taking the longer route around the block through well-lit streets is a better choice than cutting through the poorly-lit back alley or even teaching them to toss the wallet and run if confronted by an armed attacker. However, in life, you're always going to run into situations that happen in safe areas. (On my college campus, we had an attempted rape case in broad daylight, within an open-air cemetary in the middle of campus, on Sunday.) Additionally, as one teacher of a self-defense course stated, you're not always going to be able to avoid the dodgy situation. Sometimes you don't have a second person to walk with you. Sometimes the only viable route is through the poorly lit ghetto. Sometimes the guy at the bar will take a swing at you no matter how much you apologize and offer to buy him a drink. *wry grin* And I've probably rambled past the point of the subject. Basically, while we can teach people to "avoid dangerous places" and to not resort to violence at first, we should also teach them that sometimes violence is an appropriate response, and teach them to act decisively in such a situation.
Like the saying goes, "Violence may be a matter of last resort, but it is a valid choice and the only one some people will listen to."
Actually, I'll agree with you on the loudness bit. As someone from the USA (commonly referred to as an American, arrogant as we are), returning from a trip to a European country is a shock when I realize how much people around here raise their voices when they've got no reason to. Try it some time. Speak in audible tone without "pushing" the sound. Perhaps project a little, but don't push. You'll be audible so long as no one else is shouting. Get your friends and co-workers to do the same and you might be amazed at how much more quietly the conversation can go.
As for the overweight thing, as I understand it, we're pretty bad on average (fast food society and all), but I've noticed that most of this seems to be either people mildly obese (carrying only 20-30 extra pounds, usually in the form of a belly) or the small set of extremely morbid cases where their thighs overlap their knees. *shrug* Most people I know are actually well within weight guidelines.
The explanation is quite straight forward. It's lawyer-speak, and you can expect to see it standardised. Not always quite this similar, but it is no coincidence (or theft of MS' threats).
*snort* Yeah, and various software algorithms are standardised and the most obvious and simple answer to a question. It doesn't keep corporations from copywriting those. Free speech is becoming less free-like-beer these days.
You're thinking too small. If it becomes a device for the disabled, the government will start paying for them
{brandishes hammer over kneecaps, closes eyes tightly} Thing Segway, think Segway... Obligatory cite
I dunno about Arnold being the Republican party's next pick. He's already distanced himself by allocating funds towards cloning in California, a day or so ago I believe. At that, he holds countering opinions on abortion and gay marriage. (Outspokenly pro-abortion and he recently made a U-turn [flip-flop?] on his position regarding gay marriage, saying that if it's Ok with the voters, it's OK with him) Lastly, he supports gun control. Even apart from the citizenship issue, I'm not sure how long he'll be a "poster boy" for the Republican Party as you say.
I read the first part and am (hopefully) loading the second one. To me, it's fascinating, as many of the changes they make, I never would have noticed. I never really stopped and thought too much about lightsaber colors or the funky shadows below a landspeeder. And honestly, had I not read all the vehement discussions on the ramifications of Greedo shooting first, I might have passed over that change. (Well, not entirely... at least on the first remake, his head looks really weird when he dodges...) By opening my eyes to things I might not have noticed before, I think these articles are serving a valuable purpose.
Slashdot Mirror
In World War II, they recruited color-blind people to spot tanks because they're used to picking out patterns rather than colors. Although, as you'll notice, camoflauge works on a bit of both, both trying to somewhat match the background, and also existing in those weird blotches and swirls so as to break up the outline.
There was also a fascinating story I read involving a traveller who happens upon a colony of deaf-and-blind people, the result of some large epidemic of disease that left a large part of a generation without sight or sound. I can't remember the name or which anthology I saw it in. I do remember that they had this amusing bit where the traveller meets one of the children (most of which are endowed with sight and sound), the first child of the colony actually, named Pink because the parents knew that was the color of babies, this being ironic because Pink is black.
Personally, what I find truly fascinating is infants raised in deaf homes. Not only does the child grow up learning sign language as easily as any other language, but the unique grammar influences their thought patterns. Then, there's the bit how children are born being able to speak all the phonemes, but generally lose the ability to produce more than 40 or so. Lastly, children raised with a tonal language such as Vietnamese or Cantonese almost inevitably have perfect pitch. Fascinating stuff.
In short, if you are making an informed decision on the ballot, by all means vote away. If not, please leave democracy in the hands of those who are competent to vote. Thank you.
Yes, this replay is only on-topic to the off-topic post above it. I've already stated my point of view on this, that Nintendo seems to have realized their mistake, have apologized, and are making amends. I personally think the original claim they made was a bit ridiculous (just mentioning the names of two games you like?) but I could see them not wanting their brand names associated with a porn site in search engine results. I suspect it was an automated system that picked them up and a relatively minor functionary who decided to send out the official letter. Nonetheless, Nintendo did the right thing in promptly apologizing and making amends.
Bleh. It was probably some minor functionary overstepping their bounds who caused all this trouble. You'd might as well decide Walmart was evil because of a bad experience with a cashier. (Well, you'd be right about Walmart being evil, but for the wrong purposes)
A friend of mine went through a truancy / improper parenting trial recently. Evidence included her Xanga site where she talked about smoking marijuana with her parents. The person who turned her in was the parent of one of her friends who read the site. The key thing to remember is that whatever you put on these sites is public. Never write anything which you would not be willing to have show up in the paper, or as evidence. At that, I reccomend never writing anything which you wouldn't want your mother to read, as often they'll do just that...
As for this girl's "crime," it's happened for years. I have a book on the Secret Service at home written in the 50's which has a section devoted to crank letters to the president including a sampling from elementary schoolers who then received a visit from the authourities. They have to investigate all claims just in case, and just having authourities visit can often scare the kids straight, impressing upon them that people out there do read their mail. Admittedly, here it was less direct, but still a valid threat. They didn't charge her with anything, jsut impressed upon her that threats are taken seriously when it comes to presidents.
I suspect that if the people on AOL tried another service, they'd happily switch, price being lower and all that, but as it is, they never get the chance.
Sounds like a fairly standard Joe Job such as has happened with DarkProfits. Only difference being here, they're actually extorting on the threat rather than simply trying to damage someone's reputation. Thing is, this could be very damaging. When it comes to child pornography, people tend to get very irrational and seldom check for any form of proof or second opinion. It's kind of like being accused of being a child molester IRL. Even once you prove your innocence, no one will quite look at you the same again and some people will never truly believe your innocence. Heck, the more squeaky-clean of life you lead, the more guilty you may seem to them. After all, you must have something to hide.
Comprehensive Data havens may not be too far off, eh?
I am not an economist, but the legal seperation of corporation from person not only works for large companies, but for small ones as well. As it stands now, a single person wanting to go into business can incorporate to insulate himself from possible failure of his company. Without this protection, he's risking all of his assets and possibly criminal penalties. I suspect that a lack of protection in this area may lead to fewer entrepreneurs in the system. Yes, the way that the larger corporations abuse the right is wrong, but abolishing corporations altogether is not the solution either.
A cat's view: He provides me with food, shelter, and love. I must be God.
That said, I'd all in favor of the hypoallergenic cats. I've had too many friends who were allergic and lived in fear of finding that a friend had either decided to pick up a cat or had had one lounging about recently. And so long as we're not depriving the cats of a natural defense, what's the harm in it? Incidentally, anyone know if the trait breeds true?
{wrinkles brow} Not sure if I'm utterly missing the joke here, but there already has been Star Wars Stratego. Heck, it's been out long enough that it landed in Kroger's $5 section. Pretty decent game, at that. There's standard Stratego and there's also a version where some of the named pieces get special powers along the lines of added movement or being able to reveal an enemy piece without attacking.
Well, considering that the Linux kernel 2.6 lists the PC speaker among input devices, I wouldn't be surprised to see a monitor used as input device...
Speakers and microphones are very similar, more so for the older ones, but still fairly valid these days. As I understand it, the basis is that sound is transmitted from a speaker by taking electric impulses and vibrating a membrane. A microphone takes the vibration of the membrane and turns it into the electric impulses.
Moreover, if you read the license involved, most 3D software (Or at least Poser and 3D Studio), you only buy the license, not the software, and technically it's not transferrable through resale. Yes, you can still generally sell/give it away, but there's no support and I suspect they could bring up the person it's sold to on pirating charges because they didn't buy another license.
Note: While Poser does have the odd graphics licensing, they also have extraordinarily low prices for a very quality product and they offer lower versions for much-reduced prices, so I see it as not quite as unerasonable as some of the others.
I'm quite possibly quoting you out of context here, but the idea of hospitals competing makes it sound like they're being run as businesses. The problem I see there is that the fundamental existence of a business is to make money, not to provide a service. Personally, with things that are truly important such as health care, mail, and utilities, I prefer to have the government run them. Sure, it will be expensive and there will be some waste from bureaucracy, but you will get a result.
That said, I can understand what you mean by abuse of the system. In college, we received free medical office visits (medication and supplies [other than nasty menthol cough drops] did cost money, of course) and I'll admit that I got too used to it, stopping in whenever I had an ache or a pain. Sure, it was nothing a good half of the time, but just in case... *shrug* That said, in the absence of said free care, I almost never go to the doctor's office, which has occasionally led to me suffering for weeks for something that may have been cleared up if I'd come into the office. Anyhow, I'll bear testament that, with free medical care, one may feel inclined to come in for a visit for little things like a cold or a flu whereas normally you'd just tough it out and let it clear up on its own.
{takes deep breath} Right, back to the original subject of the topic, I see getting medical care overseas like this as being similar to buying off-brand computer components. It's a heck of a lot cheaper, but since the costs are often cut by reducing safety features and/or limiting your ability to recover damages if things go wrong, you run your risks there. *shrug* That said, my off-brand hard drive and off-brand DVD-ROM drive were a fraction of the price I'd paid at a computer store and I've not had any trouble with them. Similarly, it seems people are doing Ok with these Indian doctors. Although I would suspect that the AMA may be putting out a "study" soon to publicize whatever disasters they can find as a result of people getting medical care overseas. Or then again, maybe they'll just move to India and outsource...
Except you can't sue a doctor in India. Doctors have no medical liability!
Which, of course, is likely one of the large reasons it's so much cheaper as to make flying over economical. Frivolous lawsuits and greedy insurance companies have driven malpractice insurance through the roof here.
On the other side of the discussion, there is kind of an explicit assumption that people own driver's licenses in the US. While there are numerous other cards one can pull out to establish ID in places one needs them (Second form of ID has been everything from library cards to medical insurance to my National Honor Society membership card for me), when people ask for a photo ID, they generally assume a driver's license and get confused if you pull out any other one. Heck, some of the local restaurants won't accept anything but a driver's license or military ID in such cases. It's similar to the assumption that everyone has a phone number, which leads to some databases indexing people by said number. ^_^ And no, I don't really have a point I'm driving at. I just find it interesting.
Agreed. I work in an office, but with engineers, so the dress code is, of course, fairly relaxed. No use in wearing nice slacks and a white shirt if you might spend half of your day squeezing behind the quipment cabinet to switch wires around. Jeans and khakis are pretty much standard here, generally with a collared but casual shirt. Shoes tend to be sneakers. We're certainly not a formal office, but we tend to look respectable. Working respectable at that.
Like the saying goes, "Violence may be a matter of last resort, but it is a valid choice and the only one some people will listen to."
As for the overweight thing, as I understand it, we're pretty bad on average (fast food society and all), but I've noticed that most of this seems to be either people mildly obese (carrying only 20-30 extra pounds, usually in the form of a belly) or the small set of extremely morbid cases where their thighs overlap their knees. *shrug* Most people I know are actually well within weight guidelines.
The explanation is quite straight forward. It's lawyer-speak, and you can expect to see it standardised. Not always quite this similar, but it is no coincidence (or theft of MS' threats).
*snort* Yeah, and various software algorithms are standardised and the most obvious and simple answer to a question. It doesn't keep corporations from copywriting those. Free speech is becoming less free-like-beer these days.
You're thinking too small. If it becomes a device for the disabled, the government will start paying for them
{brandishes hammer over kneecaps, closes eyes tightly} Thing Segway, think Segway...
Obligatory cite
I dunno about Arnold being the Republican party's next pick. He's already distanced himself by allocating funds towards cloning in California, a day or so ago I believe. At that, he holds countering opinions on abortion and gay marriage. (Outspokenly pro-abortion and he recently made a U-turn [flip-flop?] on his position regarding gay marriage, saying that if it's Ok with the voters, it's OK with him) Lastly, he supports gun control. Even apart from the citizenship issue, I'm not sure how long he'll be a "poster boy" for the Republican Party as you say.
I read the first part and am (hopefully) loading the second one. To me, it's fascinating, as many of the changes they make, I never would have noticed. I never really stopped and thought too much about lightsaber colors or the funky shadows below a landspeeder. And honestly, had I not read all the vehement discussions on the ramifications of Greedo shooting first, I might have passed over that change. (Well, not entirely... at least on the first remake, his head looks really weird when he dodges...) By opening my eyes to things I might not have noticed before, I think these articles are serving a valuable purpose.