How do you figure Buffy is Sci-Fi? I like the show (up to a point), and find it was well written, but sci-fi it ain't.
As for Doctor who, it has that veneer, but is mostly sciency, but not, strictly, always science fiction. And Netflix as a bastion of Doctor Who? Not so fast: they only really have the modern series from Christopher eccleson on, and one show each of the previous doctors.
When I can watch the Doctor from "An Unearthly child" on, then I'll go along and say Netflix carries the Doctor.
First, let me handle the obvious: Your replies (bagorange and dbill) seem to indicate that you are under the illusion that I am a bible-thumpin’ Warrior of God who has forsaken sex that I might instruct you wicked men in the holy ways of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ.
Nothing could be further from the truth: Although I see some value in religion, its benefits are too often obscured by the sensationalist presentation of the dark lacunae therein. This post is not about that, so engage me on what I mean another time instead of hurling rage.
Now, on to the meat of your ignorant commentary.
My original post in this thread was a rebuttal to the notion that obesity rates were the result solely of a medical condition and should be treated as such. When the lifestyle and eating habits of the Japanese are compared to that of an American (as you did), you can see the difference: The Japanese culture has always been one to favor moderation and motion, the Americans favor excess consumption and sedentary lifestyle . This is made more clear when you factor in uniquely American phrases as “Couch Potato” “Supersize” and “Armchair quarterback” to describe a great mass of humanity that would rather sit on their couch—inactive and not burning calories—than go out for a walk with their (also fat) dog.
Oh, they could move if they wanted to. I, for one, know I should be working more on managing my lifestyle to include more “healthful” decisions, but ultimately, I choose where I spend my precious time. Sometimes I think it’s better spent replying to threads on slashdot in the hope blind hate gives way to understanding. In any event, the point is Americans are known for excess, and their exaltation of it despite possible consequence. A cure for disease or obesity is only an operation or pill away. And it’s sad that the mindset is “fix it down the road” instead of “keep an eye on the little shit before it becomes big shit” Zen way of thinking.
As evidence,I presented the words and actions of the person who is the face of the current healthcare debate in America. Actual words, spoken by the president, carefully researched because I wanted the quote to be accurate—Because it matters.
Words DO matter. Believe it or not, they are supposed to mean something.
What Barry clearly meant was that abortion should exist as a birth control measure. Read the words back again because I cross checked this quote a few times to ensure I got it right and couldn’t be accused of misrepresenting this position:
“I’ve got two daughters.” = “I have two kids”
“I am going to teach them first of all about morals and values” = “I will teach them right from wrong, and about paying for your actions”
“But, if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.” = If they ignore my teachings, and spread their legs at the wrong time, maybe even promiscuously, it’s cool with me if they scrape their innards or imbibe chemicals (organic food, but not people? Really, Barry?) to prevent a natural consequence of their action. To Protect them from The payment for their deeds.
Now, it’s bad enough B.O. equates a baby with punishment (I’m sure his daughters love that phrasing), and I suppose for a lot of people children are. The point I’m trying to make is that having a baby should NOT be a “punishment,” nor should pregnancy be taken lightly. It’s not just life, but the continuation of life, of human life, and to regard it as just so much bad tissue is abhorrent. I find it ironic that the crowd that generally loathes the death penalty has no problem with abortion as birth control.
What you read (“permitting abortion is handing responsibility to the stat
I have to comment here: obesity is not nearly as large a medical problems as the lack of self-control, responsibility and common-sense self-maintenance. That is, a physical problem (abnormally slow metabolism, for example) is different than an apathetic self-control problem, or even ignorance of proper nutrition.
In America there is a slow normalization of bad behavior taking place with the mindset that no person should be responsible for their bad behavior. This manifested itself quite clearly with Obama's reference to the abortion and birth control debate when he said "I've got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."
In essence he is saying, "if my guidance as a parent fails then I want the state to bear the price of my child's mistake. It is up to the state relieve the citizen of the burden of the consequences of their decisions." He not only says this, he and his party forged laws and regulations to this effect.
Banker bailouts and free condoms will encourage risky behavior no matter how you frame the issue.
The real problem in our healthcare system is cronyism, pure and simple. Laws like MacCarran-Ferguson that exempt insurance companies from monopoly and anti-trust(!) aren't made to benefit corporations or citizens, they're favors to friends. You must go through a middle man like insurance companies because laws and regulations force you to through the path of least resistance for doctors and patients.
No refutation of socialism is complete without mentioning the direct interests of the doctor/provider and patient/consumer. When a patient must pay directly out of pocket for their services they will be more sensitive to the consequence of their lifestyle choices, thus taking precautions (for those that would) to mitigate risks to their financial interests. The previous "system" and the ACA only put more complexity between the doctor/patient, driving up costs.
On a technical front, a computer model is as flawed as the people who programmed it, and cannot account for the human condition, among other things. Like life, everything touches everything, and a computer can't calculate that.
I first got the nook Glow over Kindle because I wanted to be able to root it and run the other android e-reader ware.
What I found was a clunky POS;
The dictionary sucked. B&N forgot that readers like dictionaries, and would like to get to them whenever. Through nook you had to go through the rigamarole of highlighting a word in a work just to get there.
With the capability to add a MicroSD card (what I also liked), you'd think they'd have an audio jack for audio books. Nope. Load your own screen savers? Nope.
My experience is the Nook was as anti-reader as they come. I was really shocked. The board at B&N likely looked to glom onto the "next big thing" instead of figuring out what it was that readers would want from an e-reader. As cheap as these things are, here's a clue: TO BE ABLE TO READ IN THE TUB!
Seriously—if they had it made it more durable and more comfortable to take to the beach, they would have had something. Instead, they focused on being an also-ran.
As video equipment explodes in variety and lower cost, and Joe Schmoe gets an idea for a "killer you-tube" video — or a wedding videographer edits last weeks video — I'm constantly struck by the complete lack of options for the DIY cinematographer.
When you post something on YouTube with a musician's music, you get the take-down; yet, people persist in trying it.
So, why hasn't the RIAA, who *supposedly* represents the better interests of content providers, come up with a licensing plan that would enable the would-be Spielberg to legally use music in the production of their comedy/sci-fi/drama/whatever video?
I've talked to a *lot* of people who don't keep up on copyright/patent/trademark issues, and overwhelmingly they say they wouldn't mind paying $25—or more—to license a song for their video. Baby showers, weddings, and other home-made content are ripe for a balance of producer and user, yet the music industry thinks suing people will solve their problems.
Dammit, we live in an age where setting up a system of home-user licensing commercial music should be easy. Not only that, but the mechanism for indie artists to profit from this system should be relatively easy to set up!
Maybe slightly off-topic, but the biggest impediment to my full-on adoption of linux is a lack of reliable color calibration. And, while capable, Gimp is a bear. Finally, I really like the ease of use of lightroom—not too many options there.
SJNamo makes a program called "Web Editor". Admittedly not the best, most polished, but no slouch either. they just updated to version 9, and it's still pretty cheap compared to professional ones.
There's a working demo available, so you might find it's more flexible and useful than me....I'm pretty much an amateur at website building.
Hope it helps.
Here's a great "susie homemaker" idea for removing sticker residues: peanut butter. Between the oil and soft abrasion of the peanuts, it works great!
As for that "big apple" problem, I cover my undesirable deco-plates with...wait for it....
Stickers!
Usually bigger, automotive (bumper) stickers. I have a nice "Steal your face" VW over my eee logo, and on my bigger laptop used one I got from a HOPE convention.
I think it's pretty obvious: your boss has never worked a solid day in his life.
I'm not a programmer, I do ceramic tile during the day, photography in my off hours. Since I shoot raw, many evenings are filled with post-processing. I'll tell ya, I'd DIE, without any music while working.
These two things, I think, are very similar to what you do: a little bit creative, a little bit technical, coming together to make a unique whole. Music probably gives your thoughts rhythm and a creative spark to solve problems that absolute silence, or distracting background banter in the office would quench.
Without music, you probably feel more...autonomoton than productive employee.
In fact, in every job site I've worked, with few exceptions, others on the site need something to listen to. Without it, work is drudgery.
I think your boss is just jealous because you're productive, and he (she?) doesn't know what they're supposed to do.:)
Seriously - do we REALLY need more government cash spent on working teams, zillion dollar experiments, etc, etc.
The simplest and most cost effective answer (beside replacing airbags with bayonets, which I really like) is to take all that cash you want to spend on working groups, R&D, grants, research etc, and spend it on [drumroll]
ADVERTISING!!!!
Yes, you read right. Use the media - T.V., newspapers, and statistics in that driver's manual, to EDUCATE people about those dangers. Show pictures of twisted metal and flesh, paraplegic teens, and wankerless men (works well) to drive home the point that distracting yourself increases your likelyhood hood of getting injured while texting and driving.
Not to mention, even a preventable fender-bender can raise insurance rates. Hit 'em in the wallet.
If advertising didn't work, I'd have to wonder why myriad web-sites (like slashdot) are supported by advertising.
An excellent choice for this course is "War of the Worlds," by H.G. Wells. Not only is the original great, but using that tale you can explore how science-fiction is perceived and used throughout history.
For example, the Original, as written by Wells, is a fantastical tale; the 1950's version incorporated 50's paranoia, and the Tom Cruise one was merely FX crap.
The manner of story-telling varied with the versions, as have other popular book-to-movie titles: The invisible man, for example, became the lamentable "The hollow man" with bacon.
Heinlein is seen as a fictional father for more libertarian/liberal concepts, glossing over some science facts for character and story development, while many authors currently strive for scientific accuracy within their tales.
The point I didn't make well, is that information is already out there, in fungible form. If the government doesn't make the database itself (porkalicious!), then it can always rent out the work to a business that does it already.
I'm sure many people and companies can attest to their own little hell in dealing with identity theft and database breaches.
Still, the real problem remains: people like to give out their information to make life easier, and by doing so, especially in our increasingly digitized world, make it easier and easier to profile them, and their inclinations. What's more, is this information can be used against them.
Yes, I think TIA (or whatever it's called now) is powerful, scary, and on many levels creepy and plain stupid.
It's not nearly as outright terrifyingly stupid as seeing apathy in such matters reign to such a degree, that people willingly give up personal responsibility so that they don't have to think about it.
While i'm not too keen on this, I do have to ask: how is this different than Target teaming up with Citibank and Visa to track your habits and personalize your advertising exposure?
Not that I'm happy with corporate tracking schemes, it seems to me as the accuracy of pattern matching increases, so does the value of commercially compiled databases to governments as an outright buy (rather than a govt DIY project).
As Bob Gates has suggested, off the shelf parts can make for a cheaper option. As American culture gets increasingly digitized, so does the availability of information that can be abused.
72 Touch sensors = 1 (or 2) light sensors by the ear-piece.
When the ear speaker receives insufficient light, it's a phone.
A front-mounted light sensor, mounted near the lens, perhaps, acts as control. If intensity doesn't match, phone, if yes, camera, screen comes on.
Slashdot Mirror
Opera has had this; in fact, I find for a lot of things I prefer that browser. I believe the staff is more tolerant at Opera too.
How do you figure Buffy is Sci-Fi? I like the show (up to a point), and find it was well written, but sci-fi it ain't.
As for Doctor who, it has that veneer, but is mostly sciency, but not, strictly, always science fiction. And Netflix as a bastion of Doctor Who? Not so fast: they only really have the modern series from Christopher eccleson on, and one show each of the previous doctors.
When I can watch the Doctor from "An Unearthly child" on, then I'll go along and say Netflix carries the Doctor.
[end mini-vent]
HOLY F-ING SHIT!
First, let me handle the obvious: Your replies (bagorange and dbill) seem to indicate that you are under the illusion that I am a bible-thumpin’ Warrior of God who has forsaken sex that I might instruct you wicked men in the holy ways of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ.
Nothing could be further from the truth: Although I see some value in religion, its benefits are too often obscured by the sensationalist presentation of the dark lacunae therein. This post is not about that, so engage me on what I mean another time instead of hurling rage.
Now, on to the meat of your ignorant commentary.
My original post in this thread was a rebuttal to the notion that obesity rates were the result solely of a medical condition and should be treated as such. When the lifestyle and eating habits of the Japanese are compared to that of an American (as you did), you can see the difference: The Japanese culture has always been one to favor moderation and motion, the Americans favor excess consumption and sedentary lifestyle . This is made more clear when you factor in uniquely American phrases as “Couch Potato” “Supersize” and “Armchair quarterback” to describe a great mass of humanity that would rather sit on their couch—inactive and not burning calories—than go out for a walk with their (also fat) dog.
Oh, they could move if they wanted to. I, for one, know I should be working more on managing my lifestyle to include more “healthful” decisions, but ultimately, I choose where I spend my precious time. Sometimes I think it’s better spent replying to threads on slashdot in the hope blind hate gives way to understanding. In any event, the point is Americans are known for excess, and their exaltation of it despite possible consequence. A cure for disease or obesity is only an operation or pill away. And it’s sad that the mindset is “fix it down the road” instead of “keep an eye on the little shit before it becomes big shit” Zen way of thinking.
As evidence,I presented the words and actions of the person who is the face of the current healthcare debate in America. Actual words, spoken by the president, carefully researched because I wanted the quote to be accurate—Because it matters.
Words DO matter. Believe it or not, they are supposed to mean something.
What Barry clearly meant was that abortion should exist as a birth control measure. Read the words back again because I cross checked this quote a few times to ensure I got it right and couldn’t be accused of misrepresenting this position:
“I’ve got two daughters.” = “I have two kids”
“I am going to teach them first of all about morals and values” = “I will teach them right from wrong, and about paying for your actions”
“But, if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.” = If they ignore my teachings, and spread their legs at the wrong time, maybe even promiscuously, it’s cool with me if they scrape their innards or imbibe chemicals (organic food, but not people? Really, Barry?) to prevent a natural consequence of their action. To Protect them from The payment for their deeds.
Now, it’s bad enough B.O. equates a baby with punishment (I’m sure his daughters love that phrasing), and I suppose for a lot of people children are. The point I’m trying to make is that having a baby should NOT be a “punishment,” nor should pregnancy be taken lightly. It’s not just life, but the continuation of life, of human life, and to regard it as just so much bad tissue is abhorrent. I find it ironic that the crowd that generally loathes the death penalty has no problem with abortion as birth control.
What you read (“permitting abortion is handing responsibility to the stat
I have to comment here: obesity is not nearly as large a medical problems as the lack of self-control, responsibility and common-sense self-maintenance. That is, a physical problem (abnormally slow metabolism, for example) is different than an apathetic self-control problem, or even ignorance of proper nutrition.
In America there is a slow normalization of bad behavior taking place with the mindset that no person should be responsible for their bad behavior. This manifested itself quite clearly with Obama's reference to the abortion and birth control debate when he said "I've got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."
In essence he is saying, "if my guidance as a parent fails then I want the state to bear the price of my child's mistake. It is up to the state relieve the citizen of the burden of the consequences of their decisions." He not only says this, he and his party forged laws and regulations to this effect.
Banker bailouts and free condoms will encourage risky behavior no matter how you frame the issue.
The real problem in our healthcare system is cronyism, pure and simple. Laws like MacCarran-Ferguson that exempt insurance companies from monopoly and anti-trust(!) aren't made to benefit corporations or citizens, they're favors to friends. You must go through a middle man like insurance companies because laws and regulations force you to through the path of least resistance for doctors and patients.
No refutation of socialism is complete without mentioning the direct interests of the doctor/provider and patient/consumer. When a patient must pay directly out of pocket for their services they will be more sensitive to the consequence of their lifestyle choices, thus taking precautions (for those that would) to mitigate risks to their financial interests. The previous "system" and the ACA only put more complexity between the doctor/patient, driving up costs.
On a technical front, a computer model is as flawed as the people who programmed it, and cannot account for the human condition, among other things. Like life, everything touches everything, and a computer can't calculate that.
I first got the nook Glow over Kindle because I wanted to be able to root it and run the other android e-reader ware.
What I found was a clunky POS;
The dictionary sucked. B&N forgot that readers like dictionaries, and would like to get to them whenever. Through nook you had to go through the rigamarole of highlighting a word in a work just to get there.
With the capability to add a MicroSD card (what I also liked), you'd think they'd have an audio jack for audio books. Nope. Load your own screen savers? Nope.
My experience is the Nook was as anti-reader as they come. I was really shocked. The board at B&N likely looked to glom onto the "next big thing" instead of figuring out what it was that readers would want from an e-reader. As cheap as these things are, here's a clue: TO BE ABLE TO READ IN THE TUB!
Seriously—if they had it made it more durable and more comfortable to take to the beach, they would have had something. Instead, they focused on being an also-ran.
I quite like it. Shortish puzzles, an "open" mode where you compete against others; an all around good lil game
As video equipment explodes in variety and lower cost, and Joe Schmoe gets an idea for a "killer you-tube" video — or a wedding videographer edits last weeks video — I'm constantly struck by the complete lack of options for the DIY cinematographer.
When you post something on YouTube with a musician's music, you get the take-down; yet, people persist in trying it.
So, why hasn't the RIAA, who *supposedly* represents the better interests of content providers, come up with a licensing plan that would enable the would-be Spielberg to legally use music in the production of their comedy/sci-fi/drama/whatever video?
I've talked to a *lot* of people who don't keep up on copyright/patent/trademark issues, and overwhelmingly they say they wouldn't mind paying $25—or more—to license a song for their video. Baby showers, weddings, and other home-made content are ripe for a balance of producer and user, yet the music industry thinks suing people will solve their problems.
Dammit, we live in an age where setting up a system of home-user licensing commercial music should be easy. Not only that, but the mechanism for indie artists to profit from this system should be relatively easy to set up!
Why is this not happening?
Maybe slightly off-topic, but the biggest impediment to my full-on adoption of linux is a lack of reliable color calibration. And, while capable, Gimp is a bear. Finally, I really like the ease of use of lightroom—not too many options there.
...Of my lack of faith in these studies.
SJNamo makes a program called "Web Editor". Admittedly not the best, most polished, but no slouch either. they just updated to version 9, and it's still pretty cheap compared to professional ones. There's a working demo available, so you might find it's more flexible and useful than me....I'm pretty much an amateur at website building. Hope it helps.
...stereo type smashed to bits, in this case "Science Fiction authors must be incredibly smart."
The idea of Paris teeming with rickshaw operators on cold holiday nights warms my heart!
Seems I've seen this story before...'bout once every couple months, on Slashdot, If I'm not mistaken:
http://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=botnet
Rather like whack-a-mole, no?
anyone else remember "trade wars," the popular BBS game from pre-internet gaming?
Seems that would be "prior art," though I'm not well versed in such matters.
This phone was *obviously* developed with the Lower Merion School District in mind!
Here's a great "susie homemaker" idea for removing sticker residues: peanut butter. Between the oil and soft abrasion of the peanuts, it works great!
As for that "big apple" problem, I cover my undesirable deco-plates with...wait for it....
Stickers!
Usually bigger, automotive (bumper) stickers. I have a nice "Steal your face" VW over my eee logo, and on my bigger laptop used one I got from a HOPE convention.
I wonder if the ACTA plays into this?
Seems to me open standards would hinder a closed-sourced DRM scheme designed to limit communication.
I think it's pretty obvious: your boss has never worked a solid day in his life.
I'm not a programmer, I do ceramic tile during the day, photography in my off hours. Since I shoot raw, many evenings are filled with post-processing. I'll tell ya, I'd DIE, without any music while working.
These two things, I think, are very similar to what you do: a little bit creative, a little bit technical, coming together to make a unique whole. Music probably gives your thoughts rhythm and a creative spark to solve problems that absolute silence, or distracting background banter in the office would quench.
Without music, you probably feel more...autonomoton than productive employee.
In fact, in every job site I've worked, with few exceptions, others on the site need something to listen to. Without it, work is drudgery.
I think your boss is just jealous because you're productive, and he (she?) doesn't know what they're supposed to do. :)
Seriously - do we REALLY need more government cash spent on working teams, zillion dollar experiments, etc, etc.
The simplest and most cost effective answer (beside replacing airbags with bayonets, which I really like) is to take all that cash you want to spend on working groups, R&D, grants, research etc, and spend it on [drumroll]
ADVERTISING!!!!
Yes, you read right. Use the media - T.V., newspapers, and statistics in that driver's manual, to EDUCATE people about those dangers. Show pictures of twisted metal and flesh, paraplegic teens, and wankerless men (works well) to drive home the point that distracting yourself increases your likelyhood hood of getting injured while texting and driving.
Not to mention, even a preventable fender-bender can raise insurance rates. Hit 'em in the wallet.
If advertising didn't work, I'd have to wonder why myriad web-sites (like slashdot) are supported by advertising.
An excellent choice for this course is "War of the Worlds," by H.G. Wells. Not only is the original great, but using that tale you can explore how science-fiction is perceived and used throughout history.
For example, the Original, as written by Wells, is a fantastical tale; the 1950's version incorporated 50's paranoia, and the Tom Cruise one was merely FX crap.
The manner of story-telling varied with the versions, as have other popular book-to-movie titles: The invisible man, for example, became the lamentable "The hollow man" with bacon.
Heinlein is seen as a fictional father for more libertarian/liberal concepts, glossing over some science facts for character and story development, while many authors currently strive for scientific accuracy within their tales.
The point I didn't make well, is that information is already out there, in fungible form. If the government doesn't make the database itself (porkalicious!), then it can always rent out the work to a business that does it already.
I'm sure many people and companies can attest to their own little hell in dealing with identity theft and database breaches.
Still, the real problem remains: people like to give out their information to make life easier, and by doing so, especially in our increasingly digitized world, make it easier and easier to profile them, and their inclinations. What's more, is this information can be used against them.
Yes, I think TIA (or whatever it's called now) is powerful, scary, and on many levels creepy and plain stupid.
It's not nearly as outright terrifyingly stupid as seeing apathy in such matters reign to such a degree, that people willingly give up personal responsibility so that they don't have to think about it.
While i'm not too keen on this, I do have to ask: how is this different than Target teaming up with Citibank and Visa to track your habits and personalize your advertising exposure?
Not that I'm happy with corporate tracking schemes, it seems to me as the accuracy of pattern matching increases, so does the value of commercially compiled databases to governments as an outright buy (rather than a govt DIY project).
As Bob Gates has suggested, off the shelf parts can make for a cheaper option. As American culture gets increasingly digitized, so does the availability of information that can be abused.
It all fits...all that carbon are the poor inhabitants of Alderaan.
72 Touch sensors = 1 (or 2) light sensors by the ear-piece.
When the ear speaker receives insufficient light, it's a phone.
A front-mounted light sensor, mounted near the lens, perhaps, acts as control. If intensity doesn't match, phone, if yes, camera, screen comes on.
Wow. Every time I hear something else about the iPhone I feel even better about not getting one when I had the chance