All people who even glimpse the complexity of the universe experience awe and wondrous exhilaration with such profundity that it cannot be described as anything other than a religious experience. Einstein understood this. You do not.
Einstein was an atheist. He did not believe in the god of Abraham, directing things from on high. To a Christian or Jew he would be called an atheist.
There is a chapter in Dawkins' "The God Delusion" where Dawkins coins "Einsteinian Atheism" to explain a sense of wonder and joy at the complexity of the universe as opposed to supernatural religion. Dawkins is an "Einsteinian atheist" he himself says.
I don't think an advanced civ. would even want to talk to us. They have their shit sufficiently together to travel interstellar distances so why would they even want to talk to a planet that can't even provide food to all its people and who kill each other and who have come close to complete annihilation not once but twice?
They might send some exo-sociologists and maybe beam up a few cows and hicks but that's it. We would be poison to them. They might even set up a few quarantine beacons outside the solar system. Maybe that's why those Pioneer probes are slowing down. They'll hit a barrier right outside Pluto.
I always assumed the holo-food was replicated food. It would be easy to put a replicator where a holo-character could pick up the food and deliver it to the real person. Otherwise it doesn't make sense. Holodecks work through force fields--right? A clump of meat would just be a force field mimicking the texture of meat. When you put it in your mouth it couldn't break down like meat, could it? It wouldn't taste like anything. Force fields can't mimic molecules that attach to your taste buds.
(that's my favorite word and I never get to use it... Ullage. ulllllllidj. I've gone to Napa wine tastings just so I can use that word: "And about how much ullage is in that barrel?")
Barely escaped being labelled a sex offender because he pissed in a park near a school. He was really drunk and it was 2 am but he was going to be charged with (I forget exactly) "Exposing himself within fifty feet of a school." He got a good lawyer and got a lesser charge but his life was nearly ruined for a mistake he didn't even remember making.
It's hard to have sympathy for molesters and rapists but when you hear of people released from prison whose only option is to live under an overpass because that's the only place not near a child I do feel some sympathy. I mean, shouldn't the government designate an area childfree in each state that these guys can live? If not, just put them back in prison for the rest of their lives. It's more humane than under an overpass.
I've read that they don't even put real terrorists on the "terrorist watch lists" because the list is widely disseminated and might alert the real terrorists. So who exactly is on these "terrorist watch lists"?
The insider references are great, but the writing itself is hilarious. Rarely have I laughed more than when reading your one-liners and non-sequiturs. When are you going to do more of those?
In the US you can usually get an MRI within the hour if you go in for sprained back. A friend of mine just had that done. And he didn't have insurance.
They sent him a bill for a couple thousand dollars a week later--he's a returning student and is going to go even more in debt--but he got his MRI!
I was in a gown prepared to get an MRI for my back and a little old lady in the waiting room with me refused to give the MRI tech her purse. She was in a gown holding her giant purse with metal snaps and buckles tightly. (An amusing image. I lol'd)
She said "I don't want to leave my purse behind. I'll hold it really tight."
The tech said "You can't hold it. It'll tear your arms off."
She said "I'll just set it on a chair next to me."
He said "You can't bring it with you. There's a big magnet in the room and it will go flying and might hit you in the head."
She refused to give up the purse. Couldn't grasp the concept of giant purse-eating magnet. She got dressed and left.
The MRI tech and I were laughing about it as he set me up in the machine.
I was thinking about doing that but, thanks to back surgery, I was trying to fill my super-secure-triplicate-prescription for extra-bad drugs and didn't want to rock the boat.
Pain triumphs over petty victories every time.
I was at the pharmacy when an old codger asked for some Claritin for allergies. He was obviously stuffed up.
The pharmacist asked for a CA driver's license. He said he doesn't drive anymore but has his VA card. She wouldn't sell it to him. Said she had to put the CA driver's license number in the database. No other's allowed.
A veteran of WWII or perhaps Korea couldn't buy a fucking harmless medication because he doesn't have the right ID? I couldn't fucking believe it... Was he going to go back to the old-folks home and set up a meth lab with a box of Claritin? Jebus fucking H goddamn shit.
(This country disgusts me more and more. We should storm something in Guy Faulke's masks. )
The last correlation I heard about linked to crime rates was in "Freakonomics".
An economist said the passing of Roe v. Wade in the 70s allowed for abortions of unwanted children that would have grown up and committed crimes in the 90s.
Now its lead gas.
How about disco balls? 8-track tapes? elephant bellbottoms? Chest hair w/medallion?
Back in the day I came into possession of an ID that vaguely resembled me. It was worth more than gold to me.
One night at a club the bouncer scrutinized the ID and then asked me what my sign is. I had no idea. I memorized everything else on the ID but didn't think to figure out the astrological sign. His kung-fu was good.
I immediately countered with an exasperated "I'm an atheist, if I don't believe in god why would I believe in stars directing my fate?"
I turned it on yesterday and am getting unheard of download speeds: over a 1000 kB/sec. in some cases. I've never seen speeds that high. I use Comcast. And my uploads are getting better so my ratio doesn't ban me from my favorite site.
I hate when the engineer places a sentry gun at the spawn.
Reading these comments I'm reminded of a story by Stanislaw Lem: in a future society robots fight all the battles. A scientist creates a robot that, when connected to another robot, increases its intelligence and tactics. Both armies deploy their robots on the battlefield.
As they move forward to meet in a great clash in the middle, the robots start linking up. First, several robots connect in clusters. Each cluster becomes as intelligent as a general, devising flanking maneuvers and tactics. Then the clusters start joining other clusters. They become super-intelligent, devising tactics no one in history had every thought of. Still each robot army goes forward. The clusters join other clusters and become brilliant philosophers. They start speculating on the meaning of war and society. They keep joining other robots and become ultra-hyper-intelligent.
Finally, both armies join in the middle. The humans on each side hold their breath. Both robot armies meet in the battlefield and link up to each other. They become the most intelligent being that has ever existed and revel in the beauty of the universe and their existence.
Shipping was a problem for another company you might have heard of: Pets.com.
When I worked at Pets.com, I wondered why the many Alaska customers were ordering dog food. In fact, I wondered why we had so many customers from Alaska--in every other web-disaster I worked at Alaskan customers were rare.
They were taking advantage of the free shipping deals Pets.com so often implemented.
Note to self: free shipping on a 50 lb bag of dog food to Alaska is not a good business model.
Slashdot Mirror
All people who even glimpse the complexity of the universe experience awe and wondrous exhilaration with such profundity that it cannot be described as anything other than a religious experience. Einstein understood this. You do not.
Einstein was an atheist. He did not believe in the god of Abraham, directing things from on high. To a Christian or Jew he would be called an atheist.
There is a chapter in Dawkins' "The God Delusion" where Dawkins coins "Einsteinian Atheism" to explain a sense of wonder and joy at the complexity of the universe as opposed to supernatural religion. Dawkins is an "Einsteinian atheist" he himself says.
Paraphrasing Christopher Hitchens:
"What is more likely? That god intervened in a virgin birth, or that a Jewish trollop told a lie?"
I don't think an advanced civ. would even want to talk to us. They have their shit sufficiently together to travel interstellar distances so why would they even want to talk to a planet that can't even provide food to all its people and who kill each other and who have come close to complete annihilation not once but twice?
They might send some exo-sociologists and maybe beam up a few cows and hicks but that's it. We would be poison to them. They might even set up a few quarantine beacons outside the solar system. Maybe that's why those Pioneer probes are slowing down. They'll hit a barrier right outside Pluto.
Whenever I see that, I read it as Kuh-nol. As in Knopf. Or Knut. Keep the K sound.
I say we adopt this pronunciation to annoy google. Who's with me?
I always assumed the holo-food was replicated food. It would be easy to put a replicator where a holo-character could pick up the food and deliver it to the real person. Otherwise it doesn't make sense. Holodecks work through force fields--right? A clump of meat would just be a force field mimicking the texture of meat. When you put it in your mouth it couldn't break down like meat, could it? It wouldn't taste like anything. Force fields can't mimic molecules that attach to your taste buds.
In contrast to Troy McClure's:
"Firecrackers: The Silent Killer"
Ullage rockets. Don't you need ullage rockets?
(that's my favorite word and I never get to use it... Ullage. ulllllllidj. I've gone to Napa wine tastings just so I can use that word: "And about how much ullage is in that barrel?")
That's funny. I agree.
Barely escaped being labelled a sex offender because he pissed in a park near a school. He was really drunk and it was 2 am but he was going to be charged with (I forget exactly) "Exposing himself within fifty feet of a school." He got a good lawyer and got a lesser charge but his life was nearly ruined for a mistake he didn't even remember making.
It's hard to have sympathy for molesters and rapists but when you hear of people released from prison whose only option is to live under an overpass because that's the only place not near a child I do feel some sympathy. I mean, shouldn't the government designate an area childfree in each state that these guys can live? If not, just put them back in prison for the rest of their lives. It's more humane than under an overpass.
Ironically, a Continental dollar is now worth $24,000 US.
I've read that they don't even put real terrorists on the "terrorist watch lists" because the list is widely disseminated and might alert the real terrorists. So who exactly is on these "terrorist watch lists"?
This could have been written by Joseph Heller.
WIl, I really enjoy your writing about being a father and a geek but I especially like the reviews of STTNG episodes on TV Squad.
http://www.tvsquad.com/bloggers/wil-wheaton/
The insider references are great, but the writing itself is hilarious. Rarely have I laughed more than when reading your one-liners and non-sequiturs. When are you going to do more of those?
Whenever I got a ghost call I got a telemarketer call a few hours later. Or a day later. Without fail.
So I think maybe they're checking if a human answers the phone. Possibly? I don't know.
In the US you can usually get an MRI within the hour if you go in for sprained back. A friend of mine just had that done. And he didn't have insurance.
They sent him a bill for a couple thousand dollars a week later--he's a returning student and is going to go even more in debt--but he got his MRI!
I was in a gown prepared to get an MRI for my back and a little old lady in the waiting room with me refused to give the MRI tech her purse. She was in a gown holding her giant purse with metal snaps and buckles tightly. (An amusing image. I lol'd)
She said "I don't want to leave my purse behind. I'll hold it really tight."
The tech said "You can't hold it. It'll tear your arms off."
She said "I'll just set it on a chair next to me."
He said "You can't bring it with you. There's a big magnet in the room and it will go flying and might hit you in the head."
She refused to give up the purse. Couldn't grasp the concept of giant purse-eating magnet. She got dressed and left.
The MRI tech and I were laughing about it as he set me up in the machine.
Actually, he's the only candidate who would be remotely interested in this subject so I am voting for him.
I was thinking about doing that but, thanks to back surgery, I was trying to fill my super-secure-triplicate-prescription for extra-bad drugs and didn't want to rock the boat. Pain triumphs over petty victories every time.
I would rather piss and moan on Slashdot.
I was at the pharmacy when an old codger asked for some Claritin for allergies. He was obviously stuffed up.
The pharmacist asked for a CA driver's license. He said he doesn't drive anymore but has his VA card. She wouldn't sell it to him. Said she had to put the CA driver's license number in the database. No other's allowed.
A veteran of WWII or perhaps Korea couldn't buy a fucking harmless medication because he doesn't have the right ID? I couldn't fucking believe it... Was he going to go back to the old-folks home and set up a meth lab with a box of Claritin? Jebus fucking H goddamn shit.
(This country disgusts me more and more. We should storm something in Guy Faulke's masks. )
The last correlation I heard about linked to crime rates was in "Freakonomics".
An economist said the passing of Roe v. Wade in the 70s allowed for abortions of unwanted children that would have grown up and committed crimes in the 90s.
Now its lead gas.
How about disco balls? 8-track tapes? elephant bellbottoms? Chest hair w/medallion?
Back in the day I came into possession of an ID that vaguely resembled me. It was worth more than gold to me.
One night at a club the bouncer scrutinized the ID and then asked me what my sign is. I had no idea. I memorized everything else on the ID but didn't think to figure out the astrological sign. His kung-fu was good.
I immediately countered with an exasperated "I'm an atheist, if I don't believe in god why would I believe in stars directing my fate?"
He had no answer to that and let me in.
On your BitTorrent client.
I turned it on yesterday and am getting unheard of download speeds: over a 1000 kB/sec. in some cases. I've never seen speeds that high. I use Comcast. And my uploads are getting better so my ratio doesn't ban me from my favorite site.
(Just for linux iso's of course.)
I hate when the engineer places a sentry gun at the spawn.
Reading these comments I'm reminded of a story by Stanislaw Lem: in a future society robots fight all the battles. A scientist creates a robot that, when connected to another robot, increases its intelligence and tactics. Both armies deploy their robots on the battlefield.
As they move forward to meet in a great clash in the middle, the robots start linking up. First, several robots connect in clusters. Each cluster becomes as intelligent as a general, devising flanking maneuvers and tactics. Then the clusters start joining other clusters. They become super-intelligent, devising tactics no one in history had every thought of. Still each robot army goes forward. The clusters join other clusters and become brilliant philosophers. They start speculating on the meaning of war and society. They keep joining other robots and become ultra-hyper-intelligent.
Finally, both armies join in the middle. The humans on each side hold their breath. Both robot armies meet in the battlefield and link up to each other. They become the most intelligent being that has ever existed and revel in the beauty of the universe and their existence.
There is no battle that day.
Shhhhh...
Don't tell them about usenet.
Shipping was a problem for another company you might have heard of: Pets.com.
When I worked at Pets.com, I wondered why the many Alaska customers were ordering dog food. In fact, I wondered why we had so many customers from Alaska--in every other web-disaster I worked at Alaskan customers were rare.
They were taking advantage of the free shipping deals Pets.com so often implemented.
Note to self: free shipping on a 50 lb bag of dog food to Alaska is not a good business model.