Given that it's a Harry Potter game, it would make much more sense to have the spells be voiceactivated, where the actual spells used in the books would allow you to levitate objects, disarm opponents, etc. Voice recognition software has really matured in the past 10 years, and a lot of gamers already have microphones, so the pieces are already there, they'd just have to be assembled. Plus, with the motion detection in the Wii, you could combine the words of the spell with some sort of motion. This would (a) be totally awesome, and (b) be so close to witchcraft, it would drive the fundamentalists insane, which would also be awesome.
I would bet that the next big thing, after motion-sensitive controllers, is going to be voice recognition. Imagine you're playing as Captain Kirk, and you can issue commands like "Ahead full impulse power!", "Fire photon torpedoes", or even, during an away mission to some forgotten planet, "Beam me up, Scotty!". I'm not even a huge Star Trek fan or anything, but I think that would be pretty cool.
Or what about Half-Life 2: what if you could issue commands for your forces, like "medic!" "cover me!" or "attack that strider!" and your squad would actually do something useful, instead of just complain and get shot (which is about the limits of their current capabilities)? And how much easier would it be to control your units in StarCraft, if you could just say "[unit name], [action]", for instance, "Wraiths, cloak", "tanks, seige mode", or "marines, attack carrier"?
According to Wikipedia [wikipedia.org], he is a mathematician at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. Here is his homepage [biu.ac.il] hosted by the university. Maybe he was a night watchman, but it looks to me like he's a professor now...
No surprise. I mean, have you tried pronouncing his name? It sounds almost exactly like "Tractorman". That's a hell of an advantage in life. Just imagine if everywhere you went, people introduced you as "Tractorman" and you introduced yourself saying, "Pleased to meet you, I'm Tractorman"? I mean, people would be blown away by the sheer awesomeness of you being named "Tractorman". I mean, you've got to really have a pair to sign that name to your checks. And you'd have offers of tenure rolling in from all over the place, just so the president of the university could say with proud authority, "Sure, maybe Princeton has Fefferman at their math department. But our department has Tractorman."
And since money's involved, who's to say the parts they're selling are transplant quality.
Transplant quality? Of course it's transplant quality! Here at Honest Ed's Used Body Parts, all our parts are transplant quality! Take this pelvis for instance, almost good as new. Belonged to a little old lady who only used it to walk to church on Sundays. What? Yeah, I suppose that could be a little osteoporosis there, but I'll have the boys in the shop fix that right up. Put a couple of titanium pins in and it's good as new. Listen, if it's such a big problem, I can even throw in a couple of ears to sweeten the deal, maybe a lung.
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like, "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive . .." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about 100 miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: "Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?"
Then it was quiet again. My attorney had taken his shirt off and was pouring beer on his chest, to facilitate the tanning process. "What the hell are you yelling about," he muttered, staring up at the sun with his eyes closed and covered with wraparound Spanish sunglasses. "Never mind," I said. "It's your turn to drive." I hit the brakes and aimed the Great Red Shark toward the shoulder of the highway. No point mentioning those bats, I thought. The poor bastard will see them soon enough.
---Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The last time the Chinese government responded to a large gathering of popular dissent, which as you say will surely accompany a high profile global event such as the Olympics, they did it with tanks, tear gas, and machine guns [wikipedia.org]. I suspect that not much has changed since then.
The authoritarian nature of the government probably hasn't changed, but quite a few things have- remember, that was 20 years ago. First, the explosion of portable digital devices- digital cameras, digital video cameras, cell phones, Blackberries, and laptops; second, the explosion of networks, including the Internet and the cellular network, to distribute digital data. Given the number of tourists they are expecting, Beijing will be under greater scrutiny than at any time in its history, and there will be no way to stop the videos once they get out. Third, Beijing is now linked to the United States and the rest of the world by trade. That puts the government in a bind: they want to maintain control, but they also want to keep the money rolling in, and a crackdown on any protests could harm trade with the West. We'll see what happens; the government crackdown in Tibet has been pretty effective, but Tibet isn't overrun with Westerners carrying video cameras and laptops.
The gathering, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, gave Microsoft its first chance to sell Yahoo on the rationale for the proposed marriage since the software maker unveiled its plans six weeks ago. Since then, Yang has been exploring different ways to ward off Microsoft. The alternatives have included possible alliances with Internet search and advertising leader Google Inc.
When they use the words "proposed marriage" to describe a Yahoo/Microsoft merger, it reminds me of an old Western melodrama. You know: the villain has managed to buy the local bank, so now he owns the mortgage on the girl's farm, and she has to marry him, or watch him forclose on her beloved farm and turn her out into the cold...
"Things are looking dire for Miss Yahoo! Will she be forced to offer her hand in marriage to the dastardly Cornelius Microsoft, to save her farm and herself? The very thought is too much for her weak constitution, and her stock price swoons! Cornelius, in the bank office, clutches the mortgage in his bony fingers, then twists his long, black moustache. He throws a chair across the office, laughing in triumph. But who is that figure silhouetted against the horizon? That handsome, broad-shouldered man wearing a white hat and riding a white stallion? The reflected sun shines from the gleaming sheriff's badge on his chest, which reads, 'Don't be evil'. But can he possibly come soon enough to save the fair Miss Yahoo? Next week, the exciting finale!"
Of course, it's a serial. So the next episode ends in a cliffhanger, with Microsoft tying Yahoo to the train tracks as Google races to get there in time...
That said, quite a few people use stupid passwords. My own for/. is itself moderately secure, but I've used it for many different websites I don't really worry about too much. That weakens it a bit.
Adding a few numbers or characters should buy you a fair amount of security, for instance, "DrPepper!!!" or "DrPepper732" should be harder to guess than "DrPepper". The problem is that you can go too far. You could require, for instance, that passwords be at least 12 characters long and contain at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number, and one non-alphanumeric symbol, e.g. "DrPepper732!?". The problem is that you've got multiple passwords- one for work, one for Amazon.com, one for online banking, one for/., etc. etc. so it becomes virtually impossible to remember the damn things. Now what? People have to start writing them down, and posting them next to the machine. A huge part of the security of passwords comes from the fact that it's not physically written down; as soon as you have to record it instead of keeping it in your memory, your overall level of security is going down, even if the password is getting harder to crack.
1. Western companies routinely pay for dubious research that pushes their own agenda. Probably more rabbits and rats smoked tobacco because of tobacco companies trying to prove that smoking is harmless, than because of all other research combined.
No, those rabbits and rats smoked those cigarettes because they thought it would make them look cool. Plus, you know, peer pressure. The guinea pigs were all smoking, and they were the "in" crowd among lab animals, so the rest of the rodents were just trying to fit in.
It's not quite as bizarre as it sounds, actually. Whales are ungulates like cows, actually part of the even-toed ungulate group (artiodactyls) that includes cows, goats, deer, etc. So whales are actually closer to cows than horses are. The paleontologists thought the molecular biologists were on crack when they published those results, but eventually they dug up early whales with ankle joints which are remarkably similar to those of cows and other ungulates, and the artiodactyl-whale hypothesis has now been embraced.
So it's not completely bizarre, just... mostly bizarre. Yes, whales are artiodactyls, but they're pretty damn highly modified ones: no hindlimbs, nostrils that open on top of the skull, lots of extra finger bones. Even if you got a sperm to successfully fertilize an egg, I can't imagine that the cowhale/whalecow embryo would survive for long when the developmental patterns of the parents are so different. And what would that tell you? Whale/cow love ain't likely to work out? Shit, I could've told you THAT without an experiment. I gotta agree with the critics: this doesn't strike me as serious scientific research. I have a very hard time believing that you could write up a grant proposal for this experiment and get a favorable review.
It's the most realistic possible way of rendering, so when computers get fast enough we'll be able to everything with ray tracing.
When that happens, will it also become possible to wield a flashlight and a shotgun at the same time? Or is there some kind of fundamental law against that, like how you can't know the position and velocity of a particle at the same time?
Would anyone like to wager how long it will be before we see a headline announcing the mysterious disappearance of Wikileaks' founders, their families and pets and anyone they've ever spoken to?
Who are these "Wikileaks" people exactly, anyhow? I googled the name, but oddly, I didn't come up with any hits...
Spitzer was under investigation for "structuring" transactions to stay under the $10,000 limit for reporting them to the IRS. The bank reported them anyway, and the IRS brought in the FBI when they were concerned that he was being blackmailed. This is also a known tactic for laundering money either collected or spent for illegal purposes. Spitzer knew that as AG, and prosecuted some of his targets for doing the same thing. Ironically, he also prosecuted the operators of a couple of escort services while AG, allegedly while he was utilizing the services of this one. That's spelled H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E.
If Spitzer was in an organization with a clear hierarchy of command, it wouldn't really matter what the hell he did in his free time. The general says, "jump", or "crawl" or "run at that machine gun nest". You do it, or they put you in prison. The general is mostly a manager: he makes decisions and issues orders, and you're forced to comply. A rousing speech might help, but a good battle plan is more essential.
Spitzer's position demands true leadership. Real leadership is getting people to follow you when they don't have to. I don't have it, but I know it when I see it. And if you're guilty of blatant hypocrisy, then people will question your motives. And if you're stupid enough to get caught doing illegal stuff, then people will question your judgment. So now they won't follow. If Spitzer tried to convince you to do something, would you feel inclined listen to him? Spitzer can still be an effective manager, but insofar as he needs to be a leader, things don't look very good.
Back on topic: these silly little scandals have little direct effect on the running of Wikipedia. But Wikipedia is entirely run by volunteers, so they can quit any time they want. If they are convinced that Wales is behaving in a way that isn't in the best interests of Wikipedia, taking bribes or using money for personal expenses, he will lose effectiveness as a leader. People will stop contributing, and Wikipedia will have a crisis.
Re:Comics as real literature
on
Reading Comics
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Hiyao Miyazaki did a four-volume graphic novelization of "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind". Miyazaki creates an entire world from the ground up; it's an exercise in world-building on par with The Lord of the Rings. It's got its own ecosystem, history, technology, international politics, religion, and then he populates the world with some really compelling characters. As is typical of a Miyazaki work, his villains threaten to steal the show. Is it "real literature"? I don't know, but it's one of the most moving and compelling stories I've ever read, beautiful and sad stuff. It is a damn good comic.
I say that we send our greatest national hero, George W. Bush. Just like the astronauts of old, he's a former fighter pilot, and this November, he's going to be looking for a new job, so the timing is perfect!
My bigger gripe is people who say the 9/11 will always be remembered... and then can't name the day Pearl Harbor occurred (December 7, 1941). Yeah... memories are very generational.
I disagree. December 7 is the kind of historic event that lives forever in the national consciousness. No one in our nation is ever going to forget the day that our homeland was attacked by the cowardly Vietnamese.
Even in the USA, you are on camera way more than you think. Police cars record 24/7 now. stores, malls, parking lots, street corners.. Cameras are everywhere watching you.
The problem isn't surveillance, it's people abusing information gained through surveillance. The solution is to make sure that there are checks on those people tasked with watching security footage to make sure they're not using any of that information in an inappropriate fashion. And the simplest, fastest, cheapest way to do that is to install a surveillance camera in the office of the people who watch surveillance footage.
Instead of funding this risky research into brain altering viruses, the government should restore funding for *my* experimental research into a cure for brain cancer!
You see, I, the great Doctor Alexander von Hubris, have found a means by which to re-animate dead cells! But those foolish, short-sighted politicians cut my funding! My colleagues called my research "irresponsible" and "dangerous". And the ethics review panel called my experiments "troubling" and "unnecessarily painful". The fools! They laughed, they all laughed!
But now, I can cure all diseases, because I have now found a way to bring dead tissue back to life! Yes, certain... shall we say, sacrifices... had to be made, but it was all in the name of science! And now, now I have found that which mankind has always dreamed of: a path to immortality. And nothing, I tell you, nothing can possibly go wrong! Tonight, I will test my technique on myself, and then you will see, you will all see!
Depression can be awful but I think that labeling it as a disease only adds to the helpless feeling that depressed people have. Placebos / drugs work because they're empowering
So using your logic, it's the feeling of empowerment that turns major league baseball players into muscle bound neanderthals, and not all the steroids and human growth hormones? Obviously the placebo effect could play a role here: if you think you'll get bigger, you might train harder. But does anyone seriously believe that's the only reason these guys have giant heads and necks like tree stumps?
Likewise, antidepressants don't work because they're "empowering". Antidepressants work because they fundamentally alter your brain's chemistry, increasing levels of neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine (and that's not always a good thing. For the significant percentage of depressed people who are manic-depressive, this can trigger mania and psychosis).
Nader has done more good for this country than Gore (or most others in politics.) I'm curious. When Perot ran, did you see that as a Democrat conspiracy against Bush Sr.?
No, we Democrats didn't view it as a conspiracy, rather as a blessing. It's not that I think my party is too good to stoop to such levels, I just think we're too divided and incompetent to. Believe me, I wish the Democrats were the kinds of clever schemers who could play Perot against the Republicans, but we're just not that smart.
*****BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: NADER IS RUNNING!!!*****
My reaction: dear God, not again... I was angry at him. I don't think he bears the full blame for the Bush presidency. I think he bears part of it, but Al Gore and his campaign manager deserve much more blame. But now, I look at him, and I just feel a sense of mild annoyance, mixed with pity.
Look at his photo. With his leathery skin and eyes that don't point in the same direction, he looks like Admiral Akbar. Ralph, listen to me: IT'S A TRAP!!!! Your ideas and crusades once inspired people. I heard Nader speak back in 1998 and I found him motivating and inspirational. But now? It's like a desperate bid for relevance. I can't really see how he can make a difference. Is there a deluded sense of idealism that keeps him going, or is it his ego? Give it up, Ralph. The world still needs idealists, crusaders, and vocal critics. But these silly campaigns don't actually accomplish anything. They haven't delivered any results, any important changes in policy, and so in the end all they do is discredit your ideas as being part of an impractical, irrational lunatic fringe.
Getting funding for the top 14 engineering challenges.
Well, it wouldn't be such a challenge if, you know, all the goals weren't so incredibly LAME. "Health informatics"? Bo-ring! Here's *my* list of challenges:
(1) Flying car.
(2) Cure for the hangover.
(3) Sex robot. As kinky as Madonna with the flexibility of a contortionist.
(4) Plug-in memory expansions so you can learn useful skills, equations, etc. without sitting through boring lectures and tests.
(5) Baldness cure.
(6) Beer that makes you skinnier instead of fatter.
(7) Dog-cat hybrid. Like a cat, it doesn't need your attention constantly, but it pays attention when you want it to, like a dog. It's comes when you call it like a dog, but it's clean like a cat. Plus, it barks AND purrs.
(8) Teleporter. I'm sick of commuting.
(9) Perpetual youth.
(10) Ballpoint pen that doesn't run out of ink just when you need it most.
(11) Formulas that make you grow bigger or smaller, just like Alice in Wonderland.
(12) Television remote with built in homing device and tiny little robot legs. So even if you misplace it, it always finds its way back to where it should be.
(13) A version of Microsoft Office that doesn't, you know, suck so much.
(14) Slashdot editors who are genetically engineered so that they can actually spell and are familiar with basic punctuation and grammar.
Perhaps it's all a fiendishly clever ruse. By coming across as incredibly, phenomenally, mind-blowingly stupid, people will automatically assume that these guys can't possibly be intelligent enough to be laundering money. It's a classic Stupidity Defense. It's really quite devious, when you think about it.
Slashdot Mirror
I would bet that the next big thing, after motion-sensitive controllers, is going to be voice recognition. Imagine you're playing as Captain Kirk, and you can issue commands like "Ahead full impulse power!", "Fire photon torpedoes", or even, during an away mission to some forgotten planet, "Beam me up, Scotty!". I'm not even a huge Star Trek fan or anything, but I think that would be pretty cool.
Or what about Half-Life 2: what if you could issue commands for your forces, like "medic!" "cover me!" or "attack that strider!" and your squad would actually do something useful, instead of just complain and get shot (which is about the limits of their current capabilities)? And how much easier would it be to control your units in StarCraft, if you could just say "[unit name], [action]", for instance, "Wraiths, cloak", "tanks, seige mode", or "marines, attack carrier"?
No surprise. I mean, have you tried pronouncing his name? It sounds almost exactly like "Tractorman". That's a hell of an advantage in life. Just imagine if everywhere you went, people introduced you as "Tractorman" and you introduced yourself saying, "Pleased to meet you, I'm Tractorman"? I mean, people would be blown away by the sheer awesomeness of you being named "Tractorman". I mean, you've got to really have a pair to sign that name to your checks. And you'd have offers of tenure rolling in from all over the place, just so the president of the university could say with proud authority, "Sure, maybe Princeton has Fefferman at their math department. But our department has Tractorman."
Yes, but have you tried putting liquid nitrogen on your Rice Krispies? Instead of going snap, crackle, pop, they just shatter like glass.
Transplant quality? Of course it's transplant quality! Here at Honest Ed's Used Body Parts, all our parts are transplant quality! Take this pelvis for instance, almost good as new. Belonged to a little old lady who only used it to walk to church on Sundays. What? Yeah, I suppose that could be a little osteoporosis there, but I'll have the boys in the shop fix that right up. Put a couple of titanium pins in and it's good as new. Listen, if it's such a big problem, I can even throw in a couple of ears to sweeten the deal, maybe a lung.
Then it was quiet again. My attorney had taken his shirt off and was pouring beer on his chest, to facilitate the tanning process. "What the hell are you yelling about," he muttered, staring up at the sun with his eyes closed and covered with wraparound Spanish sunglasses. "Never mind," I said. "It's your turn to drive." I hit the brakes and aimed the Great Red Shark toward the shoulder of the highway. No point mentioning those bats, I thought. The poor bastard will see them soon enough.
---Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The authoritarian nature of the government probably hasn't changed, but quite a few things have- remember, that was 20 years ago. First, the explosion of portable digital devices- digital cameras, digital video cameras, cell phones, Blackberries, and laptops; second, the explosion of networks, including the Internet and the cellular network, to distribute digital data. Given the number of tourists they are expecting, Beijing will be under greater scrutiny than at any time in its history, and there will be no way to stop the videos once they get out. Third, Beijing is now linked to the United States and the rest of the world by trade. That puts the government in a bind: they want to maintain control, but they also want to keep the money rolling in, and a crackdown on any protests could harm trade with the West. We'll see what happens; the government crackdown in Tibet has been pretty effective, but Tibet isn't overrun with Westerners carrying video cameras and laptops.
When they use the words "proposed marriage" to describe a Yahoo/Microsoft merger, it reminds me of an old Western melodrama. You know: the villain has managed to buy the local bank, so now he owns the mortgage on the girl's farm, and she has to marry him, or watch him forclose on her beloved farm and turn her out into the cold...
"Things are looking dire for Miss Yahoo! Will she be forced to offer her hand in marriage to the dastardly Cornelius Microsoft, to save her farm and herself? The very thought is too much for her weak constitution, and her stock price swoons! Cornelius, in the bank office, clutches the mortgage in his bony fingers, then twists his long, black moustache. He throws a chair across the office, laughing in triumph. But who is that figure silhouetted against the horizon? That handsome, broad-shouldered man wearing a white hat and riding a white stallion? The reflected sun shines from the gleaming sheriff's badge on his chest, which reads, 'Don't be evil'. But can he possibly come soon enough to save the fair Miss Yahoo? Next week, the exciting finale!"
Of course, it's a serial. So the next episode ends in a cliffhanger, with Microsoft tying Yahoo to the train tracks as Google races to get there in time...
Adding a few numbers or characters should buy you a fair amount of security, for instance, "DrPepper!!!" or "DrPepper732" should be harder to guess than "DrPepper". The problem is that you can go too far. You could require, for instance, that passwords be at least 12 characters long and contain at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number, and one non-alphanumeric symbol, e.g. "DrPepper732!?". The problem is that you've got multiple passwords- one for work, one for Amazon.com, one for online banking, one for /., etc. etc. so it becomes virtually impossible to remember the damn things. Now what? People have to start writing them down, and posting them next to the machine. A huge part of the security of passwords comes from the fact that it's not physically written down; as soon as you have to record it instead of keeping it in your memory, your overall level of security is going down, even if the password is getting harder to crack.
No, those rabbits and rats smoked those cigarettes because they thought it would make them look cool. Plus, you know, peer pressure. The guinea pigs were all smoking, and they were the "in" crowd among lab animals, so the rest of the rodents were just trying to fit in.
So it's not completely bizarre, just... mostly bizarre. Yes, whales are artiodactyls, but they're pretty damn highly modified ones: no hindlimbs, nostrils that open on top of the skull, lots of extra finger bones. Even if you got a sperm to successfully fertilize an egg, I can't imagine that the cowhale/whalecow embryo would survive for long when the developmental patterns of the parents are so different. And what would that tell you? Whale/cow love ain't likely to work out? Shit, I could've told you THAT without an experiment. I gotta agree with the critics: this doesn't strike me as serious scientific research. I have a very hard time believing that you could write up a grant proposal for this experiment and get a favorable review.
When that happens, will it also become possible to wield a flashlight and a shotgun at the same time? Or is there some kind of fundamental law against that, like how you can't know the position and velocity of a particle at the same time?
Who are these "Wikileaks" people exactly, anyhow? I googled the name, but oddly, I didn't come up with any hits...
If Spitzer was in an organization with a clear hierarchy of command, it wouldn't really matter what the hell he did in his free time. The general says, "jump", or "crawl" or "run at that machine gun nest". You do it, or they put you in prison. The general is mostly a manager: he makes decisions and issues orders, and you're forced to comply. A rousing speech might help, but a good battle plan is more essential.
Spitzer's position demands true leadership. Real leadership is getting people to follow you when they don't have to. I don't have it, but I know it when I see it. And if you're guilty of blatant hypocrisy, then people will question your motives. And if you're stupid enough to get caught doing illegal stuff, then people will question your judgment. So now they won't follow. If Spitzer tried to convince you to do something, would you feel inclined listen to him? Spitzer can still be an effective manager, but insofar as he needs to be a leader, things don't look very good.
Back on topic: these silly little scandals have little direct effect on the running of Wikipedia. But Wikipedia is entirely run by volunteers, so they can quit any time they want. If they are convinced that Wales is behaving in a way that isn't in the best interests of Wikipedia, taking bribes or using money for personal expenses, he will lose effectiveness as a leader. People will stop contributing, and Wikipedia will have a crisis.
Hiyao Miyazaki did a four-volume graphic novelization of "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind". Miyazaki creates an entire world from the ground up; it's an exercise in world-building on par with The Lord of the Rings. It's got its own ecosystem, history, technology, international politics, religion, and then he populates the world with some really compelling characters. As is typical of a Miyazaki work, his villains threaten to steal the show. Is it "real literature"? I don't know, but it's one of the most moving and compelling stories I've ever read, beautiful and sad stuff. It is a damn good comic.
I say that we send our greatest national hero, George W. Bush. Just like the astronauts of old, he's a former fighter pilot, and this November, he's going to be looking for a new job, so the timing is perfect!
I disagree. December 7 is the kind of historic event that lives forever in the national consciousness. No one in our nation is ever going to forget the day that our homeland was attacked by the cowardly Vietnamese.
Come on, go easy on the guy. He's clearly suffered quite a bit already, if he's had to go through his entire life with the first name "Willoughby".
The problem isn't surveillance, it's people abusing information gained through surveillance. The solution is to make sure that there are checks on those people tasked with watching security footage to make sure they're not using any of that information in an inappropriate fashion. And the simplest, fastest, cheapest way to do that is to install a surveillance camera in the office of the people who watch surveillance footage.
You see, I, the great Doctor Alexander von Hubris, have found a means by which to re-animate dead cells! But those foolish, short-sighted politicians cut my funding! My colleagues called my research "irresponsible" and "dangerous". And the ethics review panel called my experiments "troubling" and "unnecessarily painful". The fools! They laughed, they all laughed!
But now, I can cure all diseases, because I have now found a way to bring dead tissue back to life! Yes, certain... shall we say, sacrifices... had to be made, but it was all in the name of science! And now, now I have found that which mankind has always dreamed of: a path to immortality. And nothing, I tell you, nothing can possibly go wrong! Tonight, I will test my technique on myself, and then you will see, you will all see!
So using your logic, it's the feeling of empowerment that turns major league baseball players into muscle bound neanderthals, and not all the steroids and human growth hormones? Obviously the placebo effect could play a role here: if you think you'll get bigger, you might train harder. But does anyone seriously believe that's the only reason these guys have giant heads and necks like tree stumps?
Likewise, antidepressants don't work because they're "empowering". Antidepressants work because they fundamentally alter your brain's chemistry, increasing levels of neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine (and that's not always a good thing. For the significant percentage of depressed people who are manic-depressive, this can trigger mania and psychosis).
I don't know about this whole getting stuff for free thing. I figure that if I just wait a while, then maybe the price will come down.
Why you make fun of article? Hulk work hard on article! Not easy. Many long words. Hulk hands big, computer keys tiny!
No, we Democrats didn't view it as a conspiracy, rather as a blessing. It's not that I think my party is too good to stoop to such levels, I just think we're too divided and incompetent to. Believe me, I wish the Democrats were the kinds of clever schemers who could play Perot against the Republicans, but we're just not that smart.
*****BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: NADER IS RUNNING!!!*****
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4336298&page=1
My reaction: dear God, not again... I was angry at him. I don't think he bears the full blame for the Bush presidency. I think he bears part of it, but Al Gore and his campaign manager deserve much more blame. But now, I look at him, and I just feel a sense of mild annoyance, mixed with pity.
Look at his photo. With his leathery skin and eyes that don't point in the same direction, he looks like Admiral Akbar. Ralph, listen to me: IT'S A TRAP!!!! Your ideas and crusades once inspired people. I heard Nader speak back in 1998 and I found him motivating and inspirational. But now? It's like a desperate bid for relevance. I can't really see how he can make a difference. Is there a deluded sense of idealism that keeps him going, or is it his ego? Give it up, Ralph. The world still needs idealists, crusaders, and vocal critics. But these silly campaigns don't actually accomplish anything. They haven't delivered any results, any important changes in policy, and so in the end all they do is discredit your ideas as being part of an impractical, irrational lunatic fringe.
Well, it wouldn't be such a challenge if, you know, all the goals weren't so incredibly LAME. "Health informatics"? Bo-ring! Here's *my* list of challenges:
(1) Flying car.
(2) Cure for the hangover.
(3) Sex robot. As kinky as Madonna with the flexibility of a contortionist.
(4) Plug-in memory expansions so you can learn useful skills, equations, etc. without sitting through boring lectures and tests.
(5) Baldness cure.
(6) Beer that makes you skinnier instead of fatter.
(7) Dog-cat hybrid. Like a cat, it doesn't need your attention constantly, but it pays attention when you want it to, like a dog. It's comes when you call it like a dog, but it's clean like a cat. Plus, it barks AND purrs.
(8) Teleporter. I'm sick of commuting.
(9) Perpetual youth.
(10) Ballpoint pen that doesn't run out of ink just when you need it most.
(11) Formulas that make you grow bigger or smaller, just like Alice in Wonderland.
(12) Television remote with built in homing device and tiny little robot legs. So even if you misplace it, it always finds its way back to where it should be.
(13) A version of Microsoft Office that doesn't, you know, suck so much.
(14) Slashdot editors who are genetically engineered so that they can actually spell and are familiar with basic punctuation and grammar.
Perhaps it's all a fiendishly clever ruse. By coming across as incredibly, phenomenally, mind-blowingly stupid, people will automatically assume that these guys can't possibly be intelligent enough to be laundering money. It's a classic Stupidity Defense. It's really quite devious, when you think about it.