Some time ago I tried to pick up go, basing on the faq of a dedicated usenet group (sorry, I don't remember which one right now).
I found it all rather confusing, since it went immediately through the different sets of rules (some rather complex), while I had made the opinion that the power of Go is that it can be played with a very small rule set but still offering a lot of possibilities during play (which imho is what make great games, well, great). Am I wrong?
So, how (I mean basing on which document, tool or else), oh sage./ers-goers, do you suggest I begin again?
even a simple minded politician, is able to understand the idiocy of software patents given a 3 minute explanation
Good grief, is anyone able to provide or provide a link to such a 3-minutes explanation, please?
I'm dealing with people with a very low attention span, who simply keep repeating ad nauseam: "if in any other field things can be patentend, why shouldn't software?"
Ignore me, I have nothing constructive to say, I just want to punch someone in the face (preferably Mr. Prodi)
Just as a digression: please note that Prodi is no more the Commission President, from November 2004 that role is assigned to José Manuel Durão Barroso of Portugal). So, correct me if I am wrong, I think Prodi is not responsable for EC to have put software patents in the agriculture-ministers meeting agendas (which, as far as I know, is the main sin of European Commission on this topic, since the European Commission is NOT the Council of the European Union)
And as a digression on the digression: I live in Italy so, since Mr. Prodi is now leading the leftist opposition, and I surely have no intention to vote for the Evil Forces of present Prime Minister Berlusconi in the coming Italian politica lelections, my vote will support him as Prime Minister. (Note that in Italy we do NOT vote Prime Minister directly, anyway it's very probable to have him in that role if the Left would gain Parliament majority)
Anyway, I think that is really sane to start as soon as possible the debate about the human rights (here included protection from traumas and whatnot) and even civil rights (why not, if appliable?) of
human/non-human hybrids [...]
Uh, sorry for replying my own message. I got a little carried away with the topic, of course what I meant was about the "appliable" rights (as defined in the previous message) of any being resulting from any sort the manipulation of human genome; hybridation with non-human is just one possibility.
I think, as other/.ers has pointed out in detail, that the referred experiments
are not in fact rising any tangible ethical issue, al least from a laical point
of view (I mean: no real risk of producing sentient mice and whatever).
Anyway, I think that is really sane to start as soon as possible the debate about
the human rights (here included protection from traumas and whatnot) and even
civil rights (why not, if appliable?) of human/non-human hybrids, which, as I see
it, is not very far away from the issue of human/civil rights of human-like-thinking
robots (as discussed also on./) or, as someone ad pointed out, of other
high-evolved primates ("other" from homo sapiens sapiens I mean).
I'm an atheist, I have absolutely no bias against "playing god" or whatever and
I think it's foolish to reject stem cell research and everything, nevertheless I
also think we ethically should be properly prepared to ensure the proper appliable
rights to any human-like-sentient-albeit-not-necessarily-or-enti rely-human being,
since I think that sooner or later we do will have to face this issues for real,
and I surely wouldn't like to see any sentient being to be (for example) treated as
an expendable labour unit any more that I would like to see a homo sapiens sapiens
in the same condition.
In order to being able to do so, we need at least a definition for "human-sentient
being" and a determination of which are these "proper appliable rights" (human
rights? also civil rights? a subset of them? what else?) For example, I agree
to entitle human rights to high-evolved primates, but I wouldn't agree to entitle
them to vote. (Digression: any of you would, instead?)
It really doesn't seem an easy issue, so I think that a serious and as much public
as possible discussion on the topic is due.
As usual,./ers are already a step further, and presently doing their best at it.;)
... and, of course, I for one will welcome our new catwomen lasses!!:D
...and most of all: how many times should we answer this questions before they become common sense? (Which of course is nevertheless not so common.)
Anyway, my personal answers:
Are comics/grahic novels art?
Yes, absolutely.
Are they literature?
No, if by literature you mean that specific art form (prose) since comics are a specific art form on their own, but yes, if by literature you mean the capability for the author to express himself, his views and his experience through comics.
I'll treacherously use argumentum ad verecundiam and justify them by bibliographic reference;) (wich is in fact intended to be a very quick yet fundamental reading suggestion to sharpen up your comics-advocacy fingers):
Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics
Scott McCloud, Reinventing Comics
(Maybe it's obvious to the any/.er, but anyway...)
I recall that when I was teen, and was beginning to devour Asimov's stories,
it was plain clear to me that since robots are machines, they could be no different
from vacuum cleaners when ethics are involved.
The reading changed greatly my opinion.
I really suggests the short stories included in "I, Robot" and the four
novels of the Robots Saga ("Steel Caves", "The Naked Sun", "Robots of the Dawn",
"Robots and Empire", sorry these titles are possibly rather inexact, but
a quick check to your favourite online reseller should do the trick).
Or maybe it's his belief that perhaps we should be focusing more on Arabic and Muslim suspects at airports than old ladies? Well, count me in on this one too.
Fascinating... but how about old Muslim ladies?
You know, old ladies don't seem to be prime with Muslim to me...
(Yes, I'm raping the term, but comedy has its needings, folks...)
b) Douglas Adams actually wrote quite a bit of the script to this film. He said that it would be different to the books and the radio show.
Interesting references about it can be found in "The Salmon Of Doubt", a collection of various texts by DNA, both published and not, recovered from his computers after his departure (including a few chapters of his never-finished novel, another adventure of Dirk Gently).
An absolutely suggested reading.
Note also that Scilab includes a (visual) analogous to Matlab's Simulink: "SCICOS - A Dynamic System Builder and Simulator".
I've not tried it myslef, a colleague of mine says it extemely interesting but not that immediate to use. (Just reporting his opinion, anyway I imagine I shouldn't explain the advantages of it being open source;) )
I absolutely sympathize and, for one, will not buy an EA title until I'd heard of any change; being sure to email them any time I'd be interested in one of their games saying why they loose a customer.
Also, I suggest the "nothing new" braggarts here around to RTFA entirely. I'm a sw developer too (albeit in good old Europe) and I for sure never would tolerate a similar treatment.
I think it's both fascinating and scary that I could write quite exactly the same message, just substituting "Australia" with "Italy" and "Howard" with "Berlusconi". I'm also afraid that is not just the two of us.
in most European countries, for instance, the leftists are the hawks and the right wingers want to end military spending.
As an European, I disagree. Even if I agree that American and European politics are quite different, I think you are quite wrong on this point.
Maybe just UK can be an exception, since the well known position of the labourist Prime Minister (but I never heard of any end-military-spending of their rightwingers, altough I admit it is possible).
As an instance, here in Italy I can assure it surely isn't that way (even if the main leftwing party can't be defined a hard-line pacifist one, having approved military intervention in Kosovo at the time). Leftists are mainly, and strongly, against any militarty intervention. Some even insistently asking immediate troops withdrawal from Iraq. As another important example, I remind you that Spanish new leftist government has just done it.
Slashdot Mirror
Some time ago I tried to pick up go, basing on the faq of a dedicated usenet group (sorry, I don't remember which one right now).
I found it all rather confusing, since it went immediately through the different sets of rules (some rather complex), while I had made the opinion that the power of Go is that it can be played with a very small rule set but still offering a lot of possibilities during play (which imho is what make great games, well, great). Am I wrong?
So, how (I mean basing on which document, tool or else), oh sage
Thank you.
I'm dealing with people with a very low attention span, who simply keep repeating ad nauseam: "if in any other field things can be patentend, why shouldn't software?"
Just as a digression: please note that Prodi is no more the Commission President, from November 2004 that role is assigned to José Manuel Durão Barroso of Portugal). So, correct me if I am wrong, I think Prodi is not responsable for EC to have put software patents in the agriculture-ministers meeting agendas (which, as far as I know, is the main sin of European Commission on this topic, since the European Commission is NOT the Council of the European Union)
And as a digression on the digression: I live in Italy so, since Mr. Prodi is now leading the leftist opposition, and I surely have no intention to vote for the Evil Forces of present Prime Minister Berlusconi in the coming Italian politica lelections, my vote will support him as Prime Minister. (Note that in Italy we do NOT vote Prime Minister directly, anyway it's very probable to have him in that role if the Left would gain Parliament majority)
I think, as other
Anyway, I think that is really sane to start as soon as possible the debate about the human rights (here included protection from traumas and whatnot) and even civil rights (why not, if appliable?) of human/non-human hybrids, which, as I see it, is not very far away from the issue of human/civil rights of human-like-thinking robots (as discussed also on
I'm an atheist, I have absolutely no bias against "playing god" or whatever and I think it's foolish to reject stem cell research and everything, nevertheless I also think we ethically should be properly prepared to ensure the proper appliable rights to any human-like-sentient-albeit-not-necessarily-or-ent
In order to being able to do so, we need at least a definition for "human-sentient being" and a determination of which are these "proper appliable rights" (human rights? also civil rights? a subset of them? what else?) For example, I agree to entitle human rights to high-evolved primates, but I wouldn't agree to entitle them to vote. (Digression: any of you would, instead?)
It really doesn't seem an easy issue, so I think that a serious and as much public as possible discussion on the topic is due.
As usual,
Anyway, my personal answers:
Are comics/grahic novels art?
Yes, absolutely.
Are they literature?
No, if by literature you mean that specific art form (prose) since comics are a specific art form on their own, but yes, if by literature you mean the capability for the author to express himself, his views and his experience through comics.
I'll treacherously use argumentum ad verecundiam and justify them by bibliographic reference
Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics
Scott McCloud, Reinventing Comics
(Maybe it's obvious to the any /.er, but anyway...)
I recall that when I was teen, and was beginning to devour Asimov's stories, it was plain clear to me that since robots are machines, they could be no different from vacuum cleaners when ethics are involved.
The reading changed greatly my opinion.
I really suggests the short stories included in "I, Robot" and the four novels of the Robots Saga ("Steel Caves", "The Naked Sun", "Robots of the Dawn", "Robots and Empire", sorry these titles are possibly rather inexact, but a quick check to your favourite online reseller should do the trick).
You know, old ladies don't seem to be prime with Muslim to me...
(Yes, I'm raping the term, but comedy has its needings, folks...)
Note also that Scilab includes a (visual) analogous to Matlab's Simulink: "SCICOS - A Dynamic System Builder and Simulator".
;) )
I've not tried it myslef, a colleague of mine says it extemely interesting but not that immediate to use. (Just reporting his opinion, anyway I imagine I shouldn't explain the advantages of it being open source
doesn't it?
I think it's intolerable.
I absolutely sympathize and, for one, will not buy an EA title until I'd
heard of any change; being sure to email them any time I'd be
interested in one of their games saying why they loose a customer.
Also, I suggest the "nothing new" braggarts here around to RTFA entirely.
I'm a sw developer too (albeit in good old Europe) and I for sure never would tolerate
a similar treatment.
(I know a Prime Minister or two that will love it.)
I think it's both fascinating and scary that I could write quite exactly the same message, just substituting "Australia" with "Italy" and "Howard" with "Berlusconi". I'm also afraid that is not just the two of us.
"four overclock-fried P5s and an light resonating coke, ma'am"
"FASTER THAN LIGHT COMPUTING!" ... uh, "fast-AS-light" in fact.
damn, never mind.
Nothing can beat good old Natural Stupidity when killing people is the task at hand...
(Sorry gents, I just had to say it.)
As an European, I disagree.
Even if I agree that American and European politics are quite different, I think you are quite wrong on this point.
Maybe just UK can be an exception, since the well known position of the labourist Prime Minister (but I never heard of any end-military-spending of their rightwingers, altough I admit it is possible).
As an instance, here in Italy I can assure it surely isn't that way (even if the main leftwing party can't be defined a hard-line pacifist one, having approved military intervention in Kosovo at the time).
Leftists are mainly, and strongly, against any militarty intervention. Some even insistently asking immediate troops withdrawal from Iraq.
As another important example, I remind you that Spanish new leftist government has just done it.