1. Yes I did, some of them are visibly underachievers, but that doesn't account for attention span reduction and addiction. Especially when I have known them since we were children and they used to have the same attention span as me. These are physical effects.
2. I understand your point that there would be no shortage if it were legal... even though this is not true. I was just pointing out that you can develop addiction; the fact that, i dunno, chocolate is freely available (just a scenario) doesn't mean you should be happy if you develop chocolate addiction, because it can and will make you miserable. Ok just a bit if it's chocolate:). Anyway in my country-that-I-shall-not-name weed used to be free until recently, but this didn't solve shortage problems, which are caused by its *price*. Ok it's cheap, but when you smoke 30+ joints a day... you do the math.
3. Every day above ground is good even though there is no god to love me. And I don't understand how my post could come through like an anti-marijuana crusade, as I have not taken any position wrt to its (or alcohol) usage. I have *no* position, to be honest, given my political beliefs (that you should do whatever you like, as long as you don't mess with me). I was simply stating that the parent post was spreading FUD. I like truth, no matter in what liberal-vs-conservative-vs-whathaveyou sauce you wish to have it.
Well you probably don't have much experience with pot addicts. I have seen some friends of mine who started smoking when we were about 14 and kept doing it everyday for years. Now they suffer from very short attention span and sometimes go through very miserable times when they don't have immediate access to pot. Because it *does* give addiction: but it takes a lot of usage to reach such extremes. So, of course it's a whole different world compared to heroin, coke, etc., but saying that the "evil associated" with smoking pot are nothing is simply false. Alcohol can be dangerous, as well, I agree on this. But 100 stoners driving are *bound* to have accidents because their reflexes are so slow. So I say, do as you like with pot and everything else, but don't feel the need to justify yourself by bashing other stuff and pretending it has no effect. Because 1. you're lying, 2. you're implicitly admitting you feel guilty. Otherwise, why would you be justifying yourself?
Video that I will definitely not care to watch; somebody stupid enough to use an inferior format is unlikely to have a video of any interest to me. What was your point, AGAIN?
It's very sad that people are stupid. See, you know better. So, you don't use WMV. So, you don't suffer any bad consequences. Unlike them. You win. What was your point again?
Add Skype to the list, for there are many people who use it as an IM app. It would be great if we could unify the different protocols and have one big IM network. I, for one, hate to need different accounts here and there to be able to talk to my friends.
A very interesting point! I think the situation can be made easier and the problems avoided if the game only allows this kind of subcontracting to be paid with in-game money. My PG pays your PG with the virtual gold mined in Nift-ee-land (eh) in exchange for his services. Nothing wrong.
But much of the game is spoilt, I think, if you allow out-of-game elements to have an influence on the in-game world. Even more so when this element is money. The situation might degenerate to the point where most players are actually gold farmers who don't give a damn about the game or role-playing. That would defeat the purpose of the MMORPG itself.
Well, thanks for explaining how things work in my country. I can see things so much better now...
Back to the main point, it might be true that massive construction works are a ploy to get votes; the same might be said of *most* works, promises, prospects, political plans etc. Election time comes and the left wing will promise money falling down from the sky for the Workers(tm) while the right wing will focus on security, fiscal reform etc. Unfortunately both kinds of promises will never be kept, as we know. But this project has been under study for a long time, since the times before Berlusconi entered politics. Progress has been made year after year re funding, engineering work etc. and anybody who reads newspapers targeted at engineers has been able to follow this. So, I'm the first one to despise vague promises that aim for a quick vote but this is simply not the case.
good god, your English is exactly the kind of thing that make me ashamed to be from italy. somehow, everybody seems to expect me to speak like you do. i suggest you stop blaming your sorry life on the government and pick up a book or take some lesson, or something.
Ah well, I'm sure that your word (because, I mean, you've been there!) is more important than any civil engineer's who's involved in the project. Thanks for warning the world. Besides, you say there are quakes there? Like the ones in Japan? You know, the country with some of the best bridges in the world? Oh my. I wonder why they didn't just consult you before starting the project years and years ago. So much money wasted...
yeah... unfortunately this bridge has been under planning for *years* now, so i don't really understand how this could be an electoral move. +5, conspiracy.
No, so that people who are not native speakers can seize control of it. Oh, by the way, give back English and make your own language. You didn't invent it.
Really, I don't understand you. Why are you so worried that we might take teh intarweb away from you? Do you have a clue how DNS works? If so, you should know what we will do is simply set up our own root servers. If not, I wonder why you're posting. Either way, the hysterical screams of bloody murder around here that I hear everytime Europe does something are astonishing. Why do you hate us so much, rednecks? Why do you envy so much, young grasshoppers?
Oh well. I guess I know.
Both problems (the double standard thing and the we have to clean their mess thing) are easily solved if the government just stops trying to fix society. When everybody is responsible for himself, nobody will have to enforce standards (so no prob with double or triple ones) nor to care about idiots such as those described (because they will have to take care of themselves). See? Easy.
Well, I don't give a fuck about "real patriotic free market Americans" or "hippy Americans". I'm not even American, for that matter. You see, I only care about "really free people". Which means, people devoid of this shit involving the government protecting you, thinking for you, etc. etc. Does it mean big bad boys can create monopolies and exploit your sorry pathethic excuse of an intelligent being? Yes. Does it mean who's worth will get what he deserves and who's stupid will be left behind? Hell yeah, that too. Does it mean people will have to be responsible about what they do, for they will have to bear the consequences of their own actions? Hm-hmm. Now because you're such an inferior form of life, I understand why you're against freedom. It would be quite unfortunate...
Very true, because thanks to utter idiots like you this market (well, no market) is free.
I hope you feel better now that Big Brother watches over your well-being. I for one will take care of myself, thanks. Oh, I was forgetting that, for you, "free" means "free to do what *you* like", sorry. What will you do now, send me to a gulag? You know, it's for the Greater Good.
Please die soon.
Thanks
Pentium Mobile.
AMD Cool'n'quiet technology.
VIA x86 clones.
The fact that YOU don't what's available doesn't mean that such things do not exist.
I have to agree on the "most people don't need so much power" line, though. Thin clients in the enterprise, low-consumption PCs at home are the way to go. (Said by someone with 6 or 7 fans in his case... meh)
I always find these kind of things quite cool. You can store your chip in a badge or implant it in your hand (I'd personally go for this and there are pages on the web about a guy who's done it). The system can be designed to withstand notable cold/heat, and please note that nowadays' locks are unusable when it is cold/hot enough, so we're not losing functionality here.
These are the things that, one by one, will make our world look like "Deus Ex" crossed with "The 5th element", "The Matrix" and what have you. Not that those societies were any good... I'm just thinking about the tech thay used.
Now they just need to engineer real-life manga-shaped-and-*behaving* girls, and we're all set.
guess what, my parents did not check every single thing i watched/played when i was a kid: they simply told me what they tought about certain general kinds of materials (violence, sex, etc) and then left me to ponder. turns out i pretty much followed their advice, with the notable exception of extreme violence in videogames:) of course they would probably have prevented me from watching "really bad stuff" had i insisted on it, but i just wish to stress that you do not need to be 100% vigilant on your children. that's useless and irrealistic too.
anyway, i don't go around cracking people's backs with a dreadnought or sniping (?) them from a distance.
"You seem to think you have a right to privacy in your communication to other people only if you have the technical prowess to defeat anyone trying to eavesdrop on it. [...] Mr. Negroponte uses all the resource of his NSA to intercept and crack your encryption. [..] Did you have a right to privacy and to not have Mr. Negroponte read your mail, or are you to blame for not using sufficiently powerful encryption to defend yourself. [...] Me I would prefer governments are disallowed from eavesdropping at all, by law, instead of having to engage in a crypto arms race with them to defend my privacy"
Well I would prefer that too, but we have to think about reality and stop believing in fairy tales. Life is hard, too bad, tough luck. So, to answer your implicit questions: no, you don't have a right to privacy, freedom, to anything at all unless you're able to defend it/enforce it by yourself. You see, you have a right to life but only as long as you're able to stop that guy from killing you. A right to property, as long as you can stop that thief. A right to free speech, as long as you devise ways to "speak". You think you have all of these rigths? Well, what about the police forces? Aren't they made of people? Then I guess they have their rights too. Like the right to wiretap you, beat you, whatever. And you can do the same to them. See? We're all free now. Welcome to the new world order. You want to call it anarchy? Because that's what it is. That's the small price to pay. I'm willing to pay. You?
That's exactly what I think everytime I read a review where they cite HTPCs. You don't need any high-end card to render video. A GeForce 2 will be more than adequate. Heck, I watched a DVD-res movie on a very old non-accelerated 2MB PCI card, a Mach64 dating back to 1997 - guess what: every few seconds it skipped some frames and the refresh rate was 60 Hz. So, get anything built in 2000 and you'll be ok.
I think Firefox might have reached market saturation. I wish it weren't the case, but I fear it may be true.
Actually, I think the best situation would be one where many browsers compete more or less on the same levels of features, security, usability etc. and each one of them has about 10% of the market. That way, standards would be naturally enforced and appreciated and we wouldn't risk another browser war, just healthy, maybe even friendly (see Opera vs Firefox vs Konq) competition. It would do no good to anyone if FF just became the next behemoth.
Comments from slashdotters? What do you think of this situation?
Slashdot Mirror
1. Yes I did, some of them are visibly underachievers, but that doesn't account for attention span reduction and addiction. Especially when I have known them since we were children and they used to have the same attention span as me. These are physical effects. :). Anyway in my country-that-I-shall-not-name weed used to be free until recently, but this didn't solve shortage problems, which are caused by its *price*. Ok it's cheap, but when you smoke 30+ joints a day... you do the math.
2. I understand your point that there would be no shortage if it were legal... even though this is not true. I was just pointing out that you can develop addiction; the fact that, i dunno, chocolate is freely available (just a scenario) doesn't mean you should be happy if you develop chocolate addiction, because it can and will make you miserable. Ok just a bit if it's chocolate
3. Every day above ground is good even though there is no god to love me. And I don't understand how my post could come through like an anti-marijuana crusade, as I have not taken any position wrt to its (or alcohol) usage. I have *no* position, to be honest, given my political beliefs (that you should do whatever you like, as long as you don't mess with me). I was simply stating that the parent post was spreading FUD. I like truth, no matter in what liberal-vs-conservative-vs-whathaveyou sauce you wish to have it.
Well you probably don't have much experience with pot addicts. I have seen some friends of mine who started smoking when we were about 14 and kept doing it everyday for years. Now they suffer from very short attention span and sometimes go through very miserable times when they don't have immediate access to pot. Because it *does* give addiction: but it takes a lot of usage to reach such extremes. So, of course it's a whole different world compared to heroin, coke, etc., but saying that the "evil associated" with smoking pot are nothing is simply false. Alcohol can be dangerous, as well, I agree on this. But 100 stoners driving are *bound* to have accidents because their reflexes are so slow. So I say, do as you like with pot and everything else, but don't feel the need to justify yourself by bashing other stuff and pretending it has no effect. Because 1. you're lying, 2. you're implicitly admitting you feel guilty. Otherwise, why would you be justifying yourself?
Video that I will definitely not care to watch; somebody stupid enough to use an inferior format is unlikely to have a video of any interest to me. What was your point, AGAIN?
It's very sad that people are stupid. See, you know better. So, you don't use WMV. So, you don't suffer any bad consequences. Unlike them. You win. What was your point again?
Add Skype to the list, for there are many people who use it as an IM app. It would be great if we could unify the different protocols and have one big IM network. I, for one, hate to need different accounts here and there to be able to talk to my friends.
A very interesting point! I think the situation can be made easier and the problems avoided if the game only allows this kind of subcontracting to be paid with in-game money. My PG pays your PG with the virtual gold mined in Nift-ee-land (eh) in exchange for his services. Nothing wrong.
But much of the game is spoilt, I think, if you allow out-of-game elements to have an influence on the in-game world. Even more so when this element is money. The situation might degenerate to the point where most players are actually gold farmers who don't give a damn about the game or role-playing. That would defeat the purpose of the MMORPG itself.
Well, thanks for explaining how things work in my country. I can see things so much better now...
Back to the main point, it might be true that massive construction works are a ploy to get votes; the same might be said of *most* works, promises, prospects, political plans etc. Election time comes and the left wing will promise money falling down from the sky for the Workers(tm) while the right wing will focus on security, fiscal reform etc. Unfortunately both kinds of promises will never be kept, as we know. But this project has been under study for a long time, since the times before Berlusconi entered politics. Progress has been made year after year re funding, engineering work etc. and anybody who reads newspapers targeted at engineers has been able to follow this. So, I'm the first one to despise vague promises that aim for a quick vote but this is simply not the case.
good god, your English is exactly the kind of thing that make me ashamed to be from italy. somehow, everybody seems to expect me to speak like you do. i suggest you stop blaming your sorry life on the government and pick up a book or take some lesson, or something.
Ah well, I'm sure that your word (because, I mean, you've been there!) is more important than any civil engineer's who's involved in the project. Thanks for warning the world. Besides, you say there are quakes there? Like the ones in Japan? You know, the country with some of the best bridges in the world? Oh my. I wonder why they didn't just consult you before starting the project years and years ago. So much money wasted...
yeah... unfortunately this bridge has been under planning for *years* now, so i don't really understand how this could be an electoral move. +5, conspiracy.
I humbly suggest "Gratuito come birra e libero come formaggio" as the next release of your sig. It still makes no sense but it's funnier. :)
Techie heaven?
Minority Report?
Are they the same or different? Hm. I wonder.
No, so that people who are not native speakers can seize control of it. Oh, by the way, give back English and make your own language. You didn't invent it.
Really, I don't understand you. Why are you so worried that we might take teh intarweb away from you? Do you have a clue how DNS works? If so, you should know what we will do is simply set up our own root servers. If not, I wonder why you're posting. Either way, the hysterical screams of bloody murder around here that I hear everytime Europe does something are astonishing. Why do you hate us so much, rednecks? Why do you envy so much, young grasshoppers?
Oh well. I guess I know.
Schengen treaty. The Euro. 'nuff said. Idiot.
Seems to me you should not have role models at all and think with your head?
Both problems (the double standard thing and the we have to clean their mess thing) are easily solved if the government just stops trying to fix society. When everybody is responsible for himself, nobody will have to enforce standards (so no prob with double or triple ones) nor to care about idiots such as those described (because they will have to take care of themselves). See? Easy.
Well, I don't give a fuck about "real patriotic free market Americans" or "hippy Americans". I'm not even American, for that matter. You see, I only care about "really free people". Which means, people devoid of this shit involving the government protecting you, thinking for you, etc. etc. Does it mean big bad boys can create monopolies and exploit your sorry pathethic excuse of an intelligent being? Yes. Does it mean who's worth will get what he deserves and who's stupid will be left behind? Hell yeah, that too. Does it mean people will have to be responsible about what they do, for they will have to bear the consequences of their own actions? Hm-hmm. Now because you're such an inferior form of life, I understand why you're against freedom. It would be quite unfortunate...
Very true, because thanks to utter idiots like you this market (well, no market) is free.
I hope you feel better now that Big Brother watches over your well-being. I for one will take care of myself, thanks. Oh, I was forgetting that, for you, "free" means "free to do what *you* like", sorry. What will you do now, send me to a gulag? You know, it's for the Greater Good.
Please die soon.
Thanks
Pentium Mobile.
AMD Cool'n'quiet technology.
VIA x86 clones.
The fact that YOU don't what's available doesn't mean that such things do not exist.
I have to agree on the "most people don't need so much power" line, though. Thin clients in the enterprise, low-consumption PCs at home are the way to go. (Said by someone with 6 or 7 fans in his case... meh)
I always find these kind of things quite cool. You can store your chip in a badge or implant it in your hand (I'd personally go for this and there are pages on the web about a guy who's done it). The system can be designed to withstand notable cold/heat, and please note that nowadays' locks are unusable when it is cold/hot enough, so we're not losing functionality here.
These are the things that, one by one, will make our world look like "Deus Ex" crossed with "The 5th element", "The Matrix" and what have you. Not that those societies were any good... I'm just thinking about the tech thay used.
Now they just need to engineer real-life manga-shaped-and-*behaving* girls, and we're all set.
guess what, my parents did not check every single thing i watched/played when i was a kid: they simply told me what they tought about certain general kinds of materials (violence, sex, etc) and then left me to ponder. turns out i pretty much followed their advice, with the notable exception of extreme violence in videogames :) of course they would probably have prevented me from watching "really bad stuff" had i insisted on it, but i just wish to stress that you do not need to be 100% vigilant on your children. that's useless and irrealistic too.
anyway, i don't go around cracking people's backs with a dreadnought or sniping (?) them from a distance.
I'd like to comment on this:
"You seem to think you have a right to privacy in your communication to other people only if you have the technical prowess to defeat anyone trying to eavesdrop on it. [...] Mr. Negroponte uses all the resource of his NSA to intercept and crack your encryption. [..] Did you have a right to privacy and to not have Mr. Negroponte read your mail, or are you to blame for not using sufficiently powerful encryption to defend yourself. [...] Me I would prefer governments are disallowed from eavesdropping at all, by law, instead of having to engage in a crypto arms race with them to defend my privacy"
Well I would prefer that too, but we have to think about reality and stop believing in fairy tales. Life is hard, too bad, tough luck. So, to answer your implicit questions: no, you don't have a right to privacy, freedom, to anything at all unless you're able to defend it/enforce it by yourself. You see, you have a right to life but only as long as you're able to stop that guy from killing you. A right to property, as long as you can stop that thief. A right to free speech, as long as you devise ways to "speak". You think you have all of these rigths? Well, what about the police forces? Aren't they made of people? Then I guess they have their rights too. Like the right to wiretap you, beat you, whatever. And you can do the same to them. See? We're all free now. Welcome to the new world order. You want to call it anarchy? Because that's what it is. That's the small price to pay. I'm willing to pay. You?
That's exactly what I think everytime I read a review where they cite HTPCs. You don't need any high-end card to render video. A GeForce 2 will be more than adequate. Heck, I watched a DVD-res movie on a very old non-accelerated 2MB PCI card, a Mach64 dating back to 1997 - guess what: every few seconds it skipped some frames and the refresh rate was 60 Hz. So, get anything built in 2000 and you'll be ok.
I think Firefox might have reached market saturation. I wish it weren't the case, but I fear it may be true.
Actually, I think the best situation would be one where many browsers compete more or less on the same levels of features, security, usability etc. and each one of them has about 10% of the market. That way, standards would be naturally enforced and appreciated and we wouldn't risk another browser war, just healthy, maybe even friendly (see Opera vs Firefox vs Konq) competition. It would do no good to anyone if FF just became the next behemoth.
Comments from slashdotters? What do you think of this situation?