No, no. I'm quite aware of where I am.:-) I do occasionally lament at times the long lost, more libertarian (small "l") slanted geekverse of old. Then I remember I'm a black-hearted misanthrope and don't give a shit.:-D
I'm not an anonymous coward. I'm ToasterMonkey, from the Internet.
witness the yahoo in CA, who explicitly cited Beck's show as the reason he was going to go shoot up the Tides Foundation
Crazy people are not empty vessels waiting to be programmed like robots by TV hosts. I dominatrix I used to date who eventually got her Master's in psychology used to rave about that a lot, about how the media depicts schizophrenics as aimless ciphers waiting for some media figure to point them at a target. It's Hollywood bullshit.
Yup. Just like the psychic hotlines.:-) In a rare case of actual journalism, a local paper did an expose of a local psychic hot line call center. It was really pathetic. There were people manning the phones who were literally hired off the street, and they are getting calls from desperate people looking for answers to life's big problems. Many would quit after one day.
Just letting him spew his ignorance without any kind of rebuttal?
And your rebuttal on Slashdot accomplishes... what? The people who need to hear your rebuttal are not here.
They cast their votes based on his insane rantings.
So we take Beck off the air and suddenly those folk start voting progressive?
You can't just ignore him, because he affects American politics whether you like it or not.
I stopped caring, but is he a cause or an effect? I say effect.
So, what... Plug your ears, hum real loud, and hope the crazy isn't there when you open your eyes?
What would you suggest I do, then? Post angry rants on more tech message boards? Maybe I should post some anti-Beck diatribes on video game and science fiction sites. That'll learn 'im! Git 'er done!:-) I actually worked on a couple campaigns years ago. That's where I learned it was a mug's game, and that everyone involved is either a sociopath or a sycophant. No one I vote for ever wins. The fix is always in with gerrymandering and money from lobbies and public unions and other groups. People either don't listen to reason, or are jst too busy with their lives. What do I do other than lead an armed insurrection?
But that isn't going to put you on par with Glen Beck.
I don't need to be- I just need to make enough in addition to my current income and assets to retire. I also have zero desire for fame- banging some groupies might be fun, but there's too many downsides. I'd publish under a different name.
What differentiates Glen Beck from some homeless idiot claiming that the world is flat is that he has an audience. He has thousands (millions?) of viewers. They actually listen to him. If he claims that Google is in league with the devil, they'll believe it. They'll go use Bing instead.
Well, good for Bing, I guess.
And when he gets them all riled up to vote against some random bill that would actually be quite beneficial, I suffer for it.
Aw, that's sad.:-( Those of us with more realistic outlooks gave up on the government doing anything beneficial anymore. You should come to California where most of our state government would probably be getting indicted for various crimes if there were any investigative journalists worth a damn anymore.
Don't get me wrong... I'm not arrogant enough to think that my way is the only right way to do things. I have no problem being wrong or being out-voted or whatever. But I'd prefer to be out-voted based on reality. Not the ravings of some lunatic - regardless of whether it's a genuine clinical problem or simply an act to make money.
Wave a magic wand, banish Beck to R'lyeh, and your problem remains. *All* politics is the ravings of lunatics- has been for, well, ever. You might as well try to de-salt the ocean.
The biggest problem was simply "first person + platforming". I have yet to see this work well. In fact, first person platforimg generally shows up on lists of "what not to do in video games". I'd love to see a 3rd person rework of it.
I tried the demo, but there was this part I had to run and jump at this thin vertical pipe way out from a roof edge. No matter how carefully I lined up and kept the analog stick straight, I would drift in midair after jumping and just miss it every time. The game offered no help, so I gave up.
No, he's selling books and getting ratings and a lot of money. Folks who think Beck is crazy are just as bamboozled as any of his fans. It's really hilarious.
Anyone who still takes that clown seriously is either already a paranoid schizophrenic or too stupid to be reasoned with anyway.
Yes, but by saying that, *you* have taken him seriously! The attacks on him just make his supporters circle the wagons, and maybe even gain him followers from the stupid "Well, if he's pissing people off he must be doing something right!" crowd.
I'm thinking of writing a crazy book, and shopping it to one of these neo-con publishers, all to get me some early retirement on the backs of the ideological loons. I'm not sure yet if I should invent a new angle, or tie together multiple existing memes in a new way.
And I equally don't understand how people can adhere to this Church of insanity.
Because the world sucks ass many other unsavory things.
People look for something to make sense of it, to figure out why bad things happen to good people, and why evil often lives comfortably in fine homes full of Bugattis and supermodels.
So, many latch on to belief systems that claim to put a filter over the random, horrific bullshit of the universe, and reveal The Truth behind it.
One should not use a broad brush, yes, but the actions of long dead people are irrelevant. That borders on the whole "we're guilty of the crimes of our ancestors" piffle that no sane person accepts.
And speak for your *own* ancestors, thank you very much.;-)
The *individuals* involved are either acting atrociously or not. Someone else's atrocious actions 100 years ago are a complete non sequitur.
Been there, done that back in my 20s. It's weird for maybe 15 minutes, but then it's no big deal. Also, on a nude beach, more than any other place, you really learn how the media has skewed our expectations of what most people look like nude.:-\
Can we please stop excusing the excesses of one group by mentioning that some other group did the same thing, usually many, many years ago? For pity's sake, it's like a little kid excusing his loutish behavior by saying, "All the guys were doing it!" If a woman is executed today for the "crime" of being raped in a muslim culture, the fact that some woman was burned at the stake for being a witch 400 years ago doesn't mean fuck all for anything.
Are they sure about that? I know a couple people in aerospace, and they are having 10% layoffs this month due to one program being pushed way out and another being reduced in scope. R&D dollars (called "technology programs") have been cut back, too.
Uh huh. You keep waiting for your cyberbrain there, Astro. Send me a postcard from Singularityville (currently a sweat lodge in Arizona that smells suspiciously of controlled substances).
I also predict that magical faeries won't power my flying car in... THE FUUUUUUUUTURE!
One day this talk of the Singularity and downloading our minds into machines will be viewed the way we currently view alchemy and orgone healing boxes.
Futurists sell books. Warning: actual future may vary.
Slashdot Mirror
It was pretty obvious sarcasm. The italicized words put it over the top, IMHO. But, well, what can you expect from RAPE SUPPORTERS!!!!!1!
Or you could stop holding a product "dear" and stop pretending that ideals exist in this world.
Apple should buy AMD instead, if only for the comedic effect on the tech press and comment boards.
Unlike the bulk of the proletariat, I'm stingy with words like "evil" and "genius" and (for reasons far to complicated to detail here) "baco-riffic".
No, no. I'm quite aware of where I am. :-) I do occasionally lament at times the long lost, more libertarian (small "l") slanted geekverse of old. Then I remember I'm a black-hearted misanthrope and don't give a shit. :-D
I'm not an anonymous coward. I'm ToasterMonkey, from the Internet.
And you're here to help! ;-)
Actually, it's not hilarious at all.
I meant the reaction to him is hilarious.
witness the yahoo in CA, who explicitly cited Beck's show as the reason he was going to go shoot up the Tides Foundation
Crazy people are not empty vessels waiting to be programmed like robots by TV hosts. I dominatrix I used to date who eventually got her Master's in psychology used to rave about that a lot, about how the media depicts schizophrenics as aimless ciphers waiting for some media figure to point them at a target. It's Hollywood bullshit.
Yup. Just like the psychic hotlines. :-) In a rare case of actual journalism, a local paper did an expose of a local psychic hot line call center. It was really pathetic. There were people manning the phones who were literally hired off the street, and they are getting calls from desperate people looking for answers to life's big problems. Many would quit after one day.
Just letting him spew his ignorance without any kind of rebuttal?
And your rebuttal on Slashdot accomplishes... what? The people who need to hear your rebuttal are not here.
They cast their votes based on his insane rantings.
So we take Beck off the air and suddenly those folk start voting progressive?
You can't just ignore him, because he affects American politics whether you like it or not.
I stopped caring, but is he a cause or an effect? I say effect.
So, what... Plug your ears, hum real loud, and hope the crazy isn't there when you open your eyes?
What would you suggest I do, then? Post angry rants on more tech message boards? Maybe I should post some anti-Beck diatribes on video game and science fiction sites. That'll learn 'im! Git 'er done! :-) I actually worked on a couple campaigns years ago. That's where I learned it was a mug's game, and that everyone involved is either a sociopath or a sycophant. No one I vote for ever wins. The fix is always in with gerrymandering and money from lobbies and public unions and other groups. People either don't listen to reason, or are jst too busy with their lives. What do I do other than lead an armed insurrection?
But that isn't going to put you on par with Glen Beck.
I don't need to be- I just need to make enough in addition to my current income and assets to retire. I also have zero desire for fame- banging some groupies might be fun, but there's too many downsides. I'd publish under a different name.
What differentiates Glen Beck from some homeless idiot claiming that the world is flat is that he has an audience. He has thousands (millions?) of viewers. They actually listen to him. If he claims that Google is in league with the devil, they'll believe it. They'll go use Bing instead.
Well, good for Bing, I guess.
And when he gets them all riled up to vote against some random bill that would actually be quite beneficial, I suffer for it.
Aw, that's sad. :-( Those of us with more realistic outlooks gave up on the government doing anything beneficial anymore. You should come to California where most of our state government would probably be getting indicted for various crimes if there were any investigative journalists worth a damn anymore.
Don't get me wrong... I'm not arrogant enough to think that my way is the only right way to do things. I have no problem being wrong or being out-voted or whatever. But I'd prefer to be out-voted based on reality. Not the ravings of some lunatic - regardless of whether it's a genuine clinical problem or simply an act to make money.
Wave a magic wand, banish Beck to R'lyeh, and your problem remains. *All* politics is the ravings of lunatics- has been for, well, ever. You might as well try to de-salt the ocean.
The biggest problem was simply "first person + platforming". I have yet to see this work well. In fact, first person platforimg generally shows up on lists of "what not to do in video games". I'd love to see a 3rd person rework of it.
I tried the demo, but there was this part I had to run and jump at this thin vertical pipe way out from a roof edge. No matter how carefully I lined up and kept the analog stick straight, I would drift in midair after jumping and just miss it every time. The game offered no help, so I gave up.
No, he's selling books and getting ratings and a lot of money. Folks who think Beck is crazy are just as bamboozled as any of his fans. It's really hilarious.
Anyone who still takes that clown seriously is either already a paranoid schizophrenic or too stupid to be reasoned with anyway.
Yes, but by saying that, *you* have taken him seriously! The attacks on him just make his supporters circle the wagons, and maybe even gain him followers from the stupid "Well, if he's pissing people off he must be doing something right!" crowd.
I'm thinking of writing a crazy book, and shopping it to one of these neo-con publishers, all to get me some early retirement on the backs of the ideological loons. I'm not sure yet if I should invent a new angle, or tie together multiple existing memes in a new way.
And I equally don't understand how people can adhere to this Church of insanity.
Because the world sucks ass many other unsavory things.
People look for something to make sense of it, to figure out why bad things happen to good people, and why evil often lives comfortably in fine homes full of Bugattis and supermodels.
So, many latch on to belief systems that claim to put a filter over the random, horrific bullshit of the universe, and reveal The Truth behind it.
Demons. Thetans. Imps. Sprites. Bogeymen. Aliens. Jinxes. Genetic predispositions. Whatever.
One should not use a broad brush, yes, but the actions of long dead people are irrelevant. That borders on the whole "we're guilty of the crimes of our ancestors" piffle that no sane person accepts.
And speak for your *own* ancestors, thank you very much. ;-)
The *individuals* involved are either acting atrociously or not. Someone else's atrocious actions 100 years ago are a complete non sequitur.
Both Fact and Importance are deprecated parameters in the modern News media.
Nudity and jogging half naked in the morning while nipples are erected doesn't imply "free" for me.
Depends on who's erecting the nipples. (ding ding) Thank you!
And real freedom means I don't have to give a shit what implies "free" to you.
Been there, done that back in my 20s. It's weird for maybe 15 minutes, but then it's no big deal. Also, on a nude beach, more than any other place, you really learn how the media has skewed our expectations of what most people look like nude. :-\
Can we please stop excusing the excesses of one group by mentioning that some other group did the same thing, usually many, many years ago? For pity's sake, it's like a little kid excusing his loutish behavior by saying, "All the guys were doing it!" If a woman is executed today for the "crime" of being raped in a muslim culture, the fact that some woman was burned at the stake for being a witch 400 years ago doesn't mean fuck all for anything.
Are they sure about that? I know a couple people in aerospace, and they are having 10% layoffs this month due to one program being pushed way out and another being reduced in scope. R&D dollars (called "technology programs") have been cut back, too.
Poor people remain poor through, well, poor decisions. They do poor stuff. It's their poor way.
Heretic!
OK, but it takes more than a few outliers to declare an official WW3 and use WW4 in casual discussion. Just sayin'
It's also possible that TaoPhoenix figures that we'll survive a third hot war with civilization intact, but not so much for the fourth.
That's actually what I thought it was- a reference to the Einstein (??) quote about WW4 being fought with sticks and rocks.
Yeah. Moon shot. Magical technological singularity. *Totally* the same thing.
Hey, I know going against the geekverse versions of astrology and homeopathy is heretical, but a man's got to speak his convictions. ;-)
Uh huh. You keep waiting for your cyberbrain there, Astro. Send me a postcard from Singularityville (currently a sweat lodge in Arizona that smells suspiciously of controlled substances).
I also predict that magical faeries won't power my flying car in... THE FUUUUUUUUTURE!
One day this talk of the Singularity and downloading our minds into machines will be viewed the way we currently view alchemy and orgone healing boxes.
Futurists sell books. Warning: actual future may vary.
Klaatu Barada Nikto
Did I miss the 3rd world war? Was that MySpace versus Facebook? Netscape versus IE?
Yes, but do we want to?