I think everyone getting screwed here is entitled to complain, and especially since the US and Brazil seem to be looking to form an ethanol monopoly not to mention use a more expensive and potently more polluting in the way of exhausted farm land and what ever they plan to burn to heat the still.
If we aren't careful we will end up slaves to new masters and little more.
What fiction lets us do is take these lessons out of the controversial context of history. Sometimes allegory is a useful tool to explore the ramifications of certain hypothetical or historical events or to ask ourselves "what if".
While it is true that fiction is simply someone else's perspective on history (in a way all human thought is just a perspective on history) being able to understand another persons perspective (or that there are other perspectives) is a very important skill that many people lack. Fiction is a way to see the world through someone else's eyes.
I admit there is a massive amount of crap out there in the category of fiction but to throw the good out with the bad is just foolish.
I don't have the presumption to think that I have an unbiased or complete view of human history but no one does. The best I can do is to try to share the experiences of others who have bee3n kind enough to write it all down
They had an interview on NPR the other day (Wednesday or Thursday on All Things Considered if you wish to look up the podcast) with the winner, she said that she spent around $300 but with the parts that she already had (a digital camera for one) and a few donations she received the estimated total cost of such a device would be around $1000.
No to mention getting dry roasted by the solar wind if you did spend time unprotected on the Martian surface regardless of what kind of atmosphere you where standing in.
I agree with your sentiment but to be fair giving people toxic food is not a good way to solve starvation. This product should be researched (it could be that it is toxic for mice alone and in massive doses for instance) tested and if found unsafe removed from the market. This does not reflect badly on all GM crops, in fact it is entirely possible to create an unexpectedly toxic plant by more conventional cross breading and hybridization techniques.
Caution should be exercised with this relatively new technology, but that is true of most methods.
Second... Please read some hard science fiction before you pan it, like any fiction genre "sci-fi" has many different sub categories (more than most actually) and most if not all of them serve a purpose.
I hardly think that holding a radio transceiver next to your head is more than a drop in the bucket compared to the massive amounts of EM being broadcast terrestrially and from space.
Plus it's non-ionizing radiation anyway. The most a radio wave can do tissue is heat it (like a microwave) and yes that can be harmful but it would take a staggering number of cell phones and an unrealistic continuous exposer time.
It could be argued that not finding terrorists is more in the best interest of the government at this point. If they find them then there won't be anything to distract the American people from seeing the problems that the administration is trying to ignore.
So yes they will spend money "looking" for terrorists but they won't ever "find" enough to call the job done.
Bonus points for locking up innocent people and trying to make them look like bad guys to save face by the way.
All I am saying is that they must be doing something right if people (mostly non-techs or at least non hardware IT people) are willing to go to the trouble of paying extra for a Mac and them setting up a dual boot.
I used to sell PCs and they are a pain to buy, if I had to buy a computer off the shelf I would much rather just buy a Mac take it home plug it in and be done with it.
I know shoddy IE6 only (activeX using in most cases) programs are the biggest reason we haven't pushed the upgrade... that and the way it locks down network drive security (I can't fathom why they would bother with screwing around with that).
"And you don't get a vote on this. The entire reason for the FCC is to insulate the decision (sic) about the airwaves from politics."
I have got to say I love the delicious irony of this, the FCC is one of the most political agencies in our government. It is unconstitutional in so may ways and yet it is protected by the "think of the children" trap so no one can touch it.
Next time lets not give pervasive control of information (in the name of "decency" no less) to an uncontrollable government agency if we want to say there is such a thing as free speech.
How in the world can intelligence that can't be used in court be very useful? even if you use it to stop a plot you wouldn't be able to hold on to these bad guys according to your own rules. Why can't our governments (the US and UK in this case) that all this crap does is erode there credibility and marginalize the one thing they are sworn to protect above all else.
President Bush once said "They hate our freedom" and I am beginning to think that his plan for combating this is to lower our freedom to a level acceptable to the "terrorists" (of course the definition of that word and how it is used by us and on us is a whole other discussion).
This surprises me a little bit. Are you saying that the keyboard and mouse did not work at all or simply that the extra functions (like side scrolling and media buttons) didn't work?
Were sorry this comment is not compatible with Slashdot '97. We can open it but it will require us to arbitrarily break the formating. To keep from seeing this message please upgrade to the latest version of Slashdot.
What the heck kind of open document format requires a rocket scientist to figure out it sucks? Most rocket scientists know more about you know... rockets and stuff.
'When ODF was under consideration, Microsoft made no effort to slow down the process because we recognized customers' interest in the standardization of document formats.'
Yeah... are we supposed to believe that? If anything creating there "open" format looks to me like a blatant attempt to prevent the one thing that open format people are trying to accomplish, namely having one open format that can be used by everyone and can't be arbitrarily obsoleted by any one company. Or maybe I missed something.
No I'm not saying that at all if there was such a game I am sure tourism would be a part of it and allowed by the EULA.
As it stands most MMOs have a beginning a middle and an end, skipping over the beginning and or middle just cheapens the experience in the long run. As to "seeing all of the fruits of the developers labor" well if your skipping over that same fruit how does that even make sense?
The pore attitude that comes from power gaming has a very negative effect on an MMO, the one and only reason I have found to play a game is fun and I doubt many people find "meta-gaming" or "power-gaming" very fun. Many people I have meet don't seem to understand that in a game the journey is worth more than the destination. The constant pressure people put on themselves to succeed at a recreational activity frankly baffles me.
Slashdot Mirror
That's really beside the point isn't it?
I think everyone getting screwed here is entitled to complain, and especially since the US and Brazil seem to be looking to form an ethanol monopoly not to mention use a more expensive and potently more polluting in the way of exhausted farm land and what ever they plan to burn to heat the still.
If we aren't careful we will end up slaves to new masters and little more.
What fiction lets us do is take these lessons out of the controversial context of history. Sometimes allegory is a useful tool to explore the ramifications of certain hypothetical or historical events or to ask ourselves "what if".
While it is true that fiction is simply someone else's perspective on history (in a way all human thought is just a perspective on history) being able to understand another persons perspective (or that there are other perspectives) is a very important skill that many people lack. Fiction is a way to see the world through someone else's eyes.
I admit there is a massive amount of crap out there in the category of fiction but to throw the good out with the bad is just foolish.
I don't have the presumption to think that I have an unbiased or complete view of human history but no one does. The best I can do is to try to share the experiences of others who have bee3n kind enough to write it all down
This is an excellent example of why we as a society need fiction (especially science fiction).
We have to explore or ethics as a culture very carefully before making leaps such as these, and fiction lets us do that.
Now to get more people to read worthwhile books...
They had an interview on NPR the other day (Wednesday or Thursday on All Things Considered if you wish to look up the podcast) with the winner, she said that she spent around $300 but with the parts that she already had (a digital camera for one) and a few donations she received the estimated total cost of such a device would be around $1000.
No to mention getting dry roasted by the solar wind if you did spend time unprotected on the Martian surface regardless of what kind of atmosphere you where standing in.
I agree with your sentiment but to be fair giving people toxic food is not a good way to solve starvation. This product should be researched (it could be that it is toxic for mice alone and in massive doses for instance) tested and if found unsafe removed from the market. This does not reflect badly on all GM crops, in fact it is entirely possible to create an unexpectedly toxic plant by more conventional cross breading and hybridization techniques.
Caution should be exercised with this relatively new technology, but that is true of most methods.
It's what keeps me coming back.
Look at phones designed for businesses... many have intentionally limited feature sets and tend to be more reliable to boot.
O.K. two things...
First you are a troll.
Second... Please read some hard science fiction before you pan it, like any fiction genre "sci-fi" has many different sub categories (more than most actually) and most if not all of them serve a purpose.
I hardly think that holding a radio transceiver next to your head is more than a drop in the bucket compared to the massive amounts of EM being broadcast terrestrially and from space.
Plus it's non-ionizing radiation anyway. The most a radio wave can do tissue is heat it (like a microwave) and yes that can be harmful but it would take a staggering number of cell phones and an unrealistic continuous exposer time.
It could be argued that not finding terrorists is more in the best interest of the government at this point. If they find them then there won't be anything to distract the American people from seeing the problems that the administration is trying to ignore.
So yes they will spend money "looking" for terrorists but they won't ever "find" enough to call the job done.
Bonus points for locking up innocent people and trying to make them look like bad guys to save face by the way.
A certain retarded AC has no idea how an OS that starts with a W works.
You can set a Windows box to GMT...
All I am saying is that they must be doing something right if people (mostly non-techs or at least non hardware IT people) are willing to go to the trouble of paying extra for a Mac and them setting up a dual boot.
I used to sell PCs and they are a pain to buy, if I had to buy a computer off the shelf I would much rather just buy a Mac take it home plug it in and be done with it.
While you make a good point, why is it do you think there is so much focus on using a Mac to run windows?
I think it is because someone finally made a computer that people can have a positive buying experience.
Cost is one of the least important things to a consumer, if you provide what people want (ease of use and style are big) they will pay more for it.
I know shoddy IE6 only (activeX using in most cases) programs are the biggest reason we haven't pushed the upgrade... that and the way it locks down network drive security (I can't fathom why they would bother with screwing around with that).
"And you don't get a vote on this. The entire reason for the FCC is to insulate the decision (sic) about the airwaves from politics."
I have got to say I love the delicious irony of this, the FCC is one of the most political agencies in our government. It is unconstitutional in so may ways and yet it is protected by the "think of the children" trap so no one can touch it.
Next time lets not give pervasive control of information (in the name of "decency" no less) to an uncontrollable government agency if we want to say there is such a thing as free speech.
Sure if they haven't already settled, own the Canadian company in question, and or don't sell the Cisco "iPhone" in Canada.
That would be worth researching... you know if I cared enough not to wait for someone else to update Wikipedia.
Yeah... you go through a lot of keyboards trying to use that key combination...
It is off topic as hell but that does sound like good ice cream.
Now... how do you keep the wafers from disintegrating?
I'm sorry what?
How in the world can intelligence that can't be used in court be very useful? even if you use it to stop a plot you wouldn't be able to hold on to these bad guys according to your own rules. Why can't our governments (the US and UK in this case) that all this crap does is erode there credibility and marginalize the one thing they are sworn to protect above all else.
President Bush once said "They hate our freedom" and I am beginning to think that his plan for combating this is to lower our freedom to a level acceptable to the "terrorists" (of course the definition of that word and how it is used by us and on us is a whole other discussion).
This surprises me a little bit. Are you saying that the keyboard and mouse did not work at all or simply that the extra functions (like side scrolling and media buttons) didn't work?
Were sorry this comment is not compatible with Slashdot '97. We can open it but it will require us to arbitrarily break the formating. To keep from seeing this message please upgrade to the latest version of Slashdot.
What the heck kind of open document format requires a rocket scientist to figure out it sucks? Most rocket scientists know more about you know... rockets and stuff.
'When ODF was under consideration, Microsoft made no effort to slow down the process because we recognized customers' interest in the standardization of document formats.'
Yeah... are we supposed to believe that? If anything creating there "open" format looks to me like a blatant attempt to prevent the one thing that open format people are trying to accomplish, namely having one open format that can be used by everyone and can't be arbitrarily obsoleted by any one company. Or maybe I missed something.
No I'm not saying that at all if there was such a game I am sure tourism would be a part of it and allowed by the EULA.
As it stands most MMOs have a beginning a middle and an end, skipping over the beginning and or middle just cheapens the experience in the long run. As to "seeing all of the fruits of the developers labor" well if your skipping over that same fruit how does that even make sense?
The pore attitude that comes from power gaming has a very negative effect on an MMO, the one and only reason I have found to play a game is fun and I doubt many people find "meta-gaming" or "power-gaming" very fun. Many people I have meet don't seem to understand that in a game the journey is worth more than the destination. The constant pressure people put on themselves to succeed at a recreational activity frankly baffles me.