True, but Chuck Norris was forged in an immense burst of energy at the very creation of the universe. This material can be produced in a lab, unlike Chuck Norris.
As a bunch of people have already pointed out, 'evolution' is an entirely valid word on its own even though it's also commonly used as a shorthand for 'Charles Darwin's theory of the evolution of species by means of natural selection operating on individuals with inheritable characteristics'. Evolution in general is just an iterative refinement.
My favourite 'other' (non-Darwinian) evolution is Lamarckian evolution - children inherit the characteristics of their parents based on phenotype (what their bodies are like) rather than genotype (what their genes say they should be like). The children of a blacksmith will inherit his well developed muscles. If you cut the tails off mice they will bear tail-less offspring. Terry Pratchett made fun of it at some point. The most interesting thing about Lamarckian evolution is that although it doesn't seem to actually happen in nature, if it _did_ happen it should work out all right. The technical problem seems to be that there's no way to transcribe the current form (phenotype) of an individual back into the reproductive cells so the information can be passed on to offspring.
Of course, it would be no more palatable to creationists since it doesn't require a designer any more than Darwinian evolution does.
Sorry about that, I can't pass up an opportunity to rant about Lamarckian evolution;)
As a CS graduate who is generally apathetic to security (I want to use my computer, not spend all my time hardening it), what can I do to make sure my (windows, for the games) box isn't compromised?
My situation: I'm behind a NAT broadband router, shared with 8 other people I don't really know. I run opera, AVG, and Spybot or AdAware when I can be bothered doing a scan.
Lately the internet connection has been, well, crap. Most likely this is because the connection is being hogged by limewire users, but I'd also like to make sure I haven't picked up something malicious from, say, a cracked game.
I can run all kinds of scans, but if my system is already compromised how can I guarantee that the scans haven't been subverted? The obvious solution is some kind of live CD that can scan the drive without booting from it, but I don't hear about such things any more. What is the state of the art in certifying a system as clean?
This is a good first step though, if unlicensable (FairPlay) DRM is outlawed, it provides a wedge for law suits against DRM which is 'effectively unlicensable' (PlaysForSure) because of draconian licensing terms.
If something isn't a black-and-white issue, I'm happy to have a government outlaw so-dark-it's-pretty-much-black and let the courts decide how far down the scale to go. As a gross generalization, I expect judges to make better choices than politicians.
Go for it. The phones aren't inherently crippled, the service providers do it. Do Nokia and Siemens care if their phones are locked? The US is, afaik, the most screwed up cell phone market in the world.
The first two were written by the Gollop brothers, who have a new game along the same lines. It seems to be independantly published, and has some subscription system for online play, but I think the single player game is buy-once. There is a demo, which I am about to download.
I was considering this, and the role of the media.
When someone has an affair, it's big news while they get strung up for it (Clinton)
When America goes to war, it's big news until the war ends (Bush)
I think that pretty well covers the recent history of America. And nobody really cares what the American public think as long as the ratings stay high.
Dammit. I was totally going to say the same thing. The reason Blizzard succeeds is that they can take a good idea and execute it well, as opposed to something like SWG or any of the several Diablo wannabees which were good ideas executed badly.
But I don't see how Blizzard will make a MMO that's unlike WoW - they're out of proven gameplay mechanisms to steal from their other franchises. I'm not saying they can't - but it will have to be something new this time, not an excellent re-hash of their old ideas.
I wonder if many potential recruits would reconsider, if told that their limbs would be seperately marked for easy identification in case they weren't all found in the same place...
It also has an excellent practical application for use with criminals, both in prison and out on parole. If you place RFID readers at certain strategic locations, you can go a long way to detecting the presence of, say, pedophiles that have been paroled and are hanging out near a school (assuming you have hidden RFID readers near schools, of course.)
Even better, once all the kids have RFID tags so their parents can track them (think of the children!) pedophiles will be able to track their potential victims from the comfort of their own home (they think of the children).
I think there was some better voice acting in Morrowind too. Not that Oblivion's was bad, but the voices in Morrowind were more distinctive. The male dunmer in the hold of the ship right at the start of the game was great. I would also say that the main plot in Morrowind was far more inventive. It had the cultists of an insane god spreading a disease that turns its victims into inhumanly strong mutants, or tentacled horrors if they are 'favoured' - plus good political tension between native dunmer and 'outlanders'. Oblivion was more standard high fantasy, and "oh noes the king is dead and demons are everywhere!!oneone".
Oh, and one more thing. In Morrowind there was good loot which was actually placed in the world rather than being a random drop. In oblivion, to get good armour you have to level up until your enemies carry it, and then kill them. In Morrowind you can get a suit of glass armour from Ghostgate, because it's just sitting there. This might sound trivial if you haven't played both games, but in Morrowind it's exciting to enter a new area so you can see what cool things you can steal when their owners' back is turned. In oblivion there aren't even any decent goods to steal in shops.
OK, so even though I bitch about Oblivion I clearly played it to death. It's painful to see a well loved franchise move backwards though.
Huh. Thanks for the reply, I think I'm the only person in the world who hasn't seen That Movie yet. I guess that explains why I keep hearing about the miraculous and mythical disappearance of the ozone hole.
Every time I see kids treated like adults, they act like adults.
Absolutely. I like to make this point whenever I can. I don't know so many people can forget that kids are people too; I mean, everyone was a kid once.
I would add that adults follow the same rule. If you start thinking badly of someone, they will lower themselves to meet your expectations.
Finally, nitpick. I think you mean single-sex school instead of unisex school. Unisex means "sex not distinguished" - think uni- in united rather than unique. I don't know how to correct people without sounding like an asshole, I hope you won't take it that way.
It's from Non-violence: the History of a Dangerous Idea by Mark Kurlansky. I picked it as my sig recently because it was short and insightful in a general way, but it often ends up being relevant to my post as well.
I agree, the mass media is very good at spreading fear because it sells. I would add that they also spread controversy, because conflict sells. As others have said, the media tend to show both sides of a story, even if there's only one side.
(I already replied this to a child, but I see it's more relevant here)
Work has suggested that a detectable (and statistically significant) recovery will not occur until around 2024, with ozone levels recovering to 1980 levels by around 2068 (Newman et al., 2006).
The ozone hole is not getting smaller. I live in New Zealand, I deal with it every day when I walk out the door. Australia and New Zealand have the highest skin cancer rates in the world, because of the ozone hole which is still there.
The ozone hole has stopped getting bigger because humans stopped producing the entirely synthetic chemicals which were destroying it. It's an undeniable example of a human-caused problem which has been entirely contained by human action, and will still take decades to right itself. The ozone hole is absolutely an argument for taking immediate action to limit greenhouse emissions, if you accept that they have any contribution to global climate change. Or even on grounds of general pollution.
From Wikipedia: Work has suggested that a detectable (and statistically significant) recovery will not occur until around 2024, with ozone levels recovering to 1980 levels by around 2068 (Newman et al., 2006).
Normally I wouldn't bother with such a small nitpick, but lately I'm Super Eco Ozone Hole Ranger Man.
Spot on, except that the ozone hole is still there and as big as ever. I don't think it's growing due to, as you say, the phasing out of CFCs. I live in New Zealand, and it's a very real problem. Wikipedia doesn't expect the hole to repair itself fully until after 2050 (i.e. somebody made a guess).
The lesson: it's much faster to make an environmental disaster than it is to fix it.
And who declared war? Al Quaeda? I didn't know they were the diplomatic branch of the Iraqi government. Or are you talking about something else and I completely missed the point?
Slashdot Mirror
True, but Chuck Norris was forged in an immense burst of energy at the very creation of the universe. This material can be produced in a lab, unlike Chuck Norris.
>>Things that seem like a Harry Potter film now are going to be a reality.
>I thought the inspiration for nanotechnology came from Sci-Fi books and Star Trek. Now Harry Potter is the big inspiration?
"To any sufficiently retarded person, technology is indistinguishable from magic" -- Not Arthur C Clarke
Of course the terrrsts want you to think it's just flour. How well did you know your rabbit? Huh?
As a bunch of people have already pointed out, 'evolution' is an entirely valid word on its own even though it's also commonly used as a shorthand for 'Charles Darwin's theory of the evolution of species by means of natural selection operating on individuals with inheritable characteristics'. Evolution in general is just an iterative refinement.
;)
My favourite 'other' (non-Darwinian) evolution is Lamarckian evolution - children inherit the characteristics of their parents based on phenotype (what their bodies are like) rather than genotype (what their genes say they should be like). The children of a blacksmith will inherit his well developed muscles. If you cut the tails off mice they will bear tail-less offspring. Terry Pratchett made fun of it at some point. The most interesting thing about Lamarckian evolution is that although it doesn't seem to actually happen in nature, if it _did_ happen it should work out all right. The technical problem seems to be that there's no way to transcribe the current form (phenotype) of an individual back into the reproductive cells so the information can be passed on to offspring.
Of course, it would be no more palatable to creationists since it doesn't require a designer any more than Darwinian evolution does.
Sorry about that, I can't pass up an opportunity to rant about Lamarckian evolution
That was to show they're serious. It's all fun and games until someone loses an i.
You are inside the Windows Vista Kernel. It is dark. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
>?
As a CS graduate who is generally apathetic to security (I want to use my computer, not spend all my time hardening it), what can I do to make sure my (windows, for the games) box isn't compromised?
My situation: I'm behind a NAT broadband router, shared with 8 other people I don't really know. I run opera, AVG, and Spybot or AdAware when I can be bothered doing a scan.
Lately the internet connection has been, well, crap. Most likely this is because the connection is being hogged by limewire users, but I'd also like to make sure I haven't picked up something malicious from, say, a cracked game.
I can run all kinds of scans, but if my system is already compromised how can I guarantee that the scans haven't been subverted? The obvious solution is some kind of live CD that can scan the drive without booting from it, but I don't hear about such things any more. What is the state of the art in certifying a system as clean?
This is a good first step though, if unlicensable (FairPlay) DRM is outlawed, it provides a wedge for law suits against DRM which is 'effectively unlicensable' (PlaysForSure) because of draconian licensing terms.
If something isn't a black-and-white issue, I'm happy to have a government outlaw so-dark-it's-pretty-much-black and let the courts decide how far down the scale to go. As a gross generalization, I expect judges to make better choices than politicians.
Go for it. The phones aren't inherently crippled, the service providers do it. Do Nokia and Siemens care if their phones are locked? The US is, afaik, the most screwed up cell phone market in the world.
The first two were written by the Gollop brothers, who have a new game along the same lines. It seems to be independantly published, and has some subscription system for online play, but I think the single player game is buy-once. There is a demo, which I am about to download.
I was considering this, and the role of the media.
When someone has an affair, it's big news while they get strung up for it (Clinton)
When America goes to war, it's big news until the war ends (Bush)
I think that pretty well covers the recent history of America. And nobody really cares what the American public think as long as the ratings stay high.
Dammit. I was totally going to say the same thing. The reason Blizzard succeeds is that they can take a good idea and execute it well, as opposed to something like SWG or any of the several Diablo wannabees which were good ideas executed badly.
But I don't see how Blizzard will make a MMO that's unlike WoW - they're out of proven gameplay mechanisms to steal from their other franchises. I'm not saying they can't - but it will have to be something new this time, not an excellent re-hash of their old ideas.
Hooray! Finally I can get a cushy military job based on my skills playing Lemmings.
I wonder if many potential recruits would reconsider, if told that their limbs would be seperately marked for easy identification in case they weren't all found in the same place...
Even better, once all the kids have RFID tags so their parents can track them (think of the children!) pedophiles will be able to track their potential victims from the comfort of their own home (they think of the children).
I think there was some better voice acting in Morrowind too. Not that Oblivion's was bad, but the voices in Morrowind were more distinctive. The male dunmer in the hold of the ship right at the start of the game was great. I would also say that the main plot in Morrowind was far more inventive. It had the cultists of an insane god spreading a disease that turns its victims into inhumanly strong mutants, or tentacled horrors if they are 'favoured' - plus good political tension between native dunmer and 'outlanders'. Oblivion was more standard high fantasy, and "oh noes the king is dead and demons are everywhere!!oneone".
Oh, and one more thing. In Morrowind there was good loot which was actually placed in the world rather than being a random drop. In oblivion, to get good armour you have to level up until your enemies carry it, and then kill them. In Morrowind you can get a suit of glass armour from Ghostgate, because it's just sitting there. This might sound trivial if you haven't played both games, but in Morrowind it's exciting to enter a new area so you can see what cool things you can steal when their owners' back is turned. In oblivion there aren't even any decent goods to steal in shops.
OK, so even though I bitch about Oblivion I clearly played it to death. It's painful to see a well loved franchise move backwards though.
Huh. Thanks for the reply, I think I'm the only person in the world who hasn't seen That Movie yet. I guess that explains why I keep hearing about the miraculous and mythical disappearance of the ozone hole.
It's going to be Eternal September all over again.
(yes, I know something that never ended can't really happen again. leave me alone)
Every time I see kids treated like adults, they act like adults.
Absolutely. I like to make this point whenever I can. I don't know so many people can forget that kids are people too; I mean, everyone was a kid once.
I would add that adults follow the same rule. If you start thinking badly of someone, they will lower themselves to meet your expectations.
Finally, nitpick. I think you mean single-sex school instead of unisex school. Unisex means "sex not distinguished" - think uni- in united rather than unique. I don't know how to correct people without sounding like an asshole, I hope you won't take it that way.
It's from Non-violence: the History of a Dangerous Idea by Mark Kurlansky. I picked it as my sig recently because it was short and insightful in a general way, but it often ends up being relevant to my post as well.
I agree, the mass media is very good at spreading fear because it sells. I would add that they also spread controversy, because conflict sells. As others have said, the media tend to show both sides of a story, even if there's only one side.
(I already replied this to a child, but I see it's more relevant here)
Work has suggested that a detectable (and statistically significant) recovery will not occur until around 2024, with ozone levels recovering to 1980 levels by around 2068 (Newman et al., 2006).
The ozone hole is not getting smaller. I live in New Zealand, I deal with it every day when I walk out the door. Australia and New Zealand have the highest skin cancer rates in the world, because of the ozone hole which is still there.
The ozone hole has stopped getting bigger because humans stopped producing the entirely synthetic chemicals which were destroying it. It's an undeniable example of a human-caused problem which has been entirely contained by human action, and will still take decades to right itself. The ozone hole is absolutely an argument for taking immediate action to limit greenhouse emissions, if you accept that they have any contribution to global climate change. Or even on grounds of general pollution.
From Wikipedia:
Work has suggested that a detectable (and statistically significant) recovery will not occur until around 2024, with ozone levels recovering to 1980 levels by around 2068 (Newman et al., 2006).
Normally I wouldn't bother with such a small nitpick, but lately I'm Super Eco Ozone Hole Ranger Man.
Spot on, except that the ozone hole is still there and as big as ever. I don't think it's growing due to, as you say, the phasing out of CFCs. I live in New Zealand, and it's a very real problem. Wikipedia doesn't expect the hole to repair itself fully until after 2050 (i.e. somebody made a guess).
The lesson: it's much faster to make an environmental disaster than it is to fix it.
And who declared war? Al Quaeda? I didn't know they were the diplomatic branch of the Iraqi government. Or are you talking about something else and I completely missed the point?
Pardon me, I didn't really mean GUI. I slipped into conflating GUI with menu system. You're absolutely right.