I know there's one just round the corner from me. Then another right down the road. And many many more that are around that I usually just ignore, but now that I think about it, they're there. They're very common here in the UK. You can even send texts and emails from them now.
They even had one at the end of the road leading past the hamlet/village area my family lived in until ~4 years ago. That was over a mile from the nearest town, and 25 miles from the nearest city. Pretty much the middle of nowhere.
My car's stereo head unit cost about the same as an iPad, but only has a 7" resistive touchscreen.. of course it does have nicer sound quality and EQ options than an iPad..
We were looking after that same cat when she was a kitten, before we took her to my uncle's. We'd had her for days and she didn't purr once. Then one day she decided to bite me, and I pushed her away in shock. She slid off the end of the bed, crashing half a meter to the floor. I obviously felt rather guilty at the possibly excessive use of force and was about to check if she was okay, but before I could she hopped right back up onto the bed and started purring and being all affectionate. Nuts, I tell you!
We called her "Dipstick", and not just because of the white patch on the end of her tail.
I assumed around 95% chance it was a joke along the lines of public phones are in decline - but the article says that there are still public payphones in the US, and I still see plenty here in the UK. So it wasn't so much as a "whoosh" moment as a "where's the joke?" moment.
Though, my girl dog would rather sit in the cold rain at the back door on the off chance someone might let her in than go get in her doghouse.
Might that not be because she doesn't care about the rain, and just wants inside with the rest of the people?
Having said that, some cats sit outside until you let them in, then immediately want back out. My uncle's cat would go in circuits if you left the door and window open. She was properly nuts:)
the 911 dispatch could get a swarm of the SMSes and with a visualization tool see how serious the situation is, and where the SMSes are coming from. (For a rough estimate of location, cell-tower identification would probably be sufficient).
Sounds like they should just use Twitter? They already have Geotagging. Personally I've not found any use for Twitter yet, but this sounds like a great use for it!
First off, you can text from a computer without a phone number. Prank text messages sounds like it could be a real problem.
If you were that interested in prank calls you could use a public payphone. They could also filter out messages sent from anonymous/public text services, only accepting properly registered numbers, and limit it to responses to serious situations rather than "I broke my leg, but I can't be bothered calling you so I'm texting instead".
Could have the Telecoms company provide a rough location though, so that at least they can get some officers into the general area ready to respond on any further info? Or maybe even a precise location if enough cell towers are around.
I think the problem here is yours rather than his. I sometimes find the IANAL acronym amusing, but I don't think I noticed immediately the word ANAL in it, and even after I did I just found it amusing.
There was a year or two in my life where I had some serious OCD going on, apparently aggravated as a side effect of coming off of anti-depressants (though once I read about OCD I could see I've had it all my life, it does explain a lot of stuff I have thought/done), and it made many things disturbing, but you just have to learn to not think of them as a big deal and eventually your brain does stop making a big deal of everything, and you can get back to being "normal". So what if a guy is unintentionally saying he likes to partake of anal sex? Just laugh and get on with your life:)
"On first inspection there didn't seem to be anything there, but after further patting, I found a solid tubular object. I've cuffed him and now will take him aside for further inspection."
IE hasn't been the most common browser for awhile.
Source please? Individual versions of IE may have been overtaken by Firefox, but when you add them all together, it still takes the top spot in every review I've seen. This is for global usage statistics of course, it does vary from country to country.
With web browsers there most certainly is a choice that is completely independent of what everyone else uses (as long as your browser adequately supports JavaScript and Flash of course). Windows XP even had an update recently that asked people what browser they want to use.
With Windows I'd say there definitely is a choice also, but for a certain portion of the population (mostly gamers and businesses), there is unavoidable lock-in.
Still, I think pretty much nobody will have chosen an iPhone or iPad because it has less chance of getting malware.
To a lot of people that is an advantage if it reduces their risk of malware.
You seriously think that is a consideration for more than say 1% of iPad buyers?
If that's so high up on the general public's priorities, how come Windows is still the most popular OS, IE is still the most common browser, PDF is such a common document format, etc?
If your view of the universe is that of a total determinism, then everything you do could be explained in terms of the relationships of the particles since the beginning of the universe
Yep when I started learning physics I thought the same.
If that were true, then the concept of responsibility would crumble
I know what you mean, and that was my first thought when I started thinking of the Universe as just one big linear simulation. But I no longer think things like "people shouldn't be held responsible for their actions since they're already basically set in stone".
I don't see what other choice there is between deterministic and random. At some point there must be a reason for your actions (which would make them deterministic), otherwise you're just being random (I like to think that even the random elements of the universe can be determined with the right knowledge, but in our own universe that knowledge is probably impossible to come by when it comes to quantum phenomenon). There isn't any magic to it. Even if we are being controlled by mystical forces outside of our universe, those forces themselves would either have to be directed or random.
IMO in the end, everything we do could be said to be a result of being a self perpetuating system (life). All of our actions are deterministic based on our hardware and the inputs to that hardware. I don't think that demeans the fact that we still feel like we have free will. We all make choices. We make the choices that we feel are best for us. That is free will. We wouldn't do it any other way just because someone else can predict exactly what we're going to do before we do it. Well, some people might have out of spite, but then they'd really be acting against their will, which doesn't seem very free to me.
That's why the bible so elegantly introduces the concept of free will; because if God were the creator of everything and had the final word about every single event, then no man would hold any responsibility about anything. Everything could be traced back to god.
This was actually the conclusion that I came to that made me decide I would no longer worship God even if he were real (I used to be a Christian, I am no longer), because in fact it was him that set everything rolling and apparently knew beforehand what everyone would do, so their own "sin" was not their fault.
Just because you know something is going to happen, doesn't necessarily mean you can alter the outcome. If you have the power to change the outcome, then yes you are partially responsible for it, but still not entirely.
There are many things in this universe which we can simulate quite well, but can't often change. The paths of asteroids and other stellar objects, fluid dynamics, etc. You can try to influence someone's actions externally, but you can't always change their internal motivation.
If those "external circumstances" are constant, it makes no jot of difference whether or not it is the person or some external force at work. That person must be treated according to their actions. Even if someone's proven insane, if they are being a real menace to society, they still need to be treated and/or locked away..
By being "responsible" for their choices, I didn't mean their choices are unpredictable. IMO if you kept rewinding time to the same point they would make the same choice, but they are still responsible for it. How would it make things any different if they would perhaps make a different choice every time you rewound time? How would they be them anymore if their choices were random?
Paying attention to what? If you're training a puppy, you know they're definitely going to shit on the carpet sometime. Yet you still punish them for it. They're still responsible for their actions and must be treated in such a way that their actions will improve.
You can't act like people don't have responsibility for their actions just because of some philosophical notion. We experience this world as real and we perceive that we have choices, whether you consider it an illusion or not.
What does "choice" mean in the context of a giant DFA?
It means the outputs of any part of the system at any given time are predictable based on certain input. Give them another input and they may have a different output though. That is their "choice".
But really at some stage there must be some determination. Whether that's outside of our ability to measure or not, I don't think it really matters. Even if some random component comes into play in each decision, how does that make it any more a real "free will" type decision than if it was entirely predictable?
Slashdot Mirror
I know there's one just round the corner from me. Then another right down the road. And many many more that are around that I usually just ignore, but now that I think about it, they're there. They're very common here in the UK. You can even send texts and emails from them now.
They even had one at the end of the road leading past the hamlet/village area my family lived in until ~4 years ago. That was over a mile from the nearest town, and 25 miles from the nearest city. Pretty much the middle of nowhere.
BT alone have 63000 payphones around the UK.
My car's stereo head unit cost about the same as an iPad, but only has a 7" resistive touchscreen.. of course it does have nicer sound quality and EQ options than an iPad..
I think you might have something there!
We were looking after that same cat when she was a kitten, before we took her to my uncle's. We'd had her for days and she didn't purr once. Then one day she decided to bite me, and I pushed her away in shock. She slid off the end of the bed, crashing half a meter to the floor. I obviously felt rather guilty at the possibly excessive use of force and was about to check if she was okay, but before I could she hopped right back up onto the bed and started purring and being all affectionate. Nuts, I tell you!
We called her "Dipstick", and not just because of the white patch on the end of her tail.
I assumed around 95% chance it was a joke along the lines of public phones are in decline - but the article says that there are still public payphones in the US, and I still see plenty here in the UK. So it wasn't so much as a "whoosh" moment as a "where's the joke?" moment.
Though, my girl dog would rather sit in the cold rain at the back door on the off chance someone might let her in than go get in her doghouse.
Might that not be because she doesn't care about the rain, and just wants inside with the rest of the people?
Having said that, some cats sit outside until you let them in, then immediately want back out. My uncle's cat would go in circuits if you left the door and window open. She was properly nuts :)
I suppose some people really are that stupid that they might not realise mobile phones work as phones too..
Here's your answer.
the 911 dispatch could get a swarm of the SMSes and with a visualization tool see how serious the situation is, and where the SMSes are coming from. (For a rough estimate of location, cell-tower identification would probably be sufficient).
Sounds like they should just use Twitter? They already have Geotagging. Personally I've not found any use for Twitter yet, but this sounds like a great use for it!
First off, you can text from a computer without a phone number. Prank text messages sounds like it could be a real problem.
If you were that interested in prank calls you could use a public payphone. They could also filter out messages sent from anonymous/public text services, only accepting properly registered numbers, and limit it to responses to serious situations rather than "I broke my leg, but I can't be bothered calling you so I'm texting instead".
Also no way to tag the GPS location on it.
Could have the Telecoms company provide a rough location though, so that at least they can get some officers into the general area ready to respond on any further info? Or maybe even a precise location if enough cell towers are around.
Well, at least she didn't try to make you listen to her.
Goatse? I'm sorry, I don't get it. If you're somehow referring to the emote, it's actually a guy with his eyes screwed up..?
I think the problem here is yours rather than his. I sometimes find the IANAL acronym amusing, but I don't think I noticed immediately the word ANAL in it, and even after I did I just found it amusing.
There was a year or two in my life where I had some serious OCD going on, apparently aggravated as a side effect of coming off of anti-depressants (though once I read about OCD I could see I've had it all my life, it does explain a lot of stuff I have thought/done), and it made many things disturbing, but you just have to learn to not think of them as a big deal and eventually your brain does stop making a big deal of everything, and you can get back to being "normal". So what if a guy is unintentionally saying he likes to partake of anal sex? Just laugh and get on with your life :)
No, he's assuming that "dying from cancer" has a 100% mortality rate. Sounds pretty fatal to me.
"On first inspection there didn't seem to be anything there, but after further patting, I found a solid tubular object. I've cuffed him and now will take him aside for further inspection."
IE hasn't been the most common browser for awhile.
Source please? Individual versions of IE may have been overtaken by Firefox, but when you add them all together, it still takes the top spot in every review I've seen. This is for global usage statistics of course, it does vary from country to country.
With web browsers there most certainly is a choice that is completely independent of what everyone else uses (as long as your browser adequately supports JavaScript and Flash of course). Windows XP even had an update recently that asked people what browser they want to use.
With Windows I'd say there definitely is a choice also, but for a certain portion of the population (mostly gamers and businesses), there is unavoidable lock-in.
Still, I think pretty much nobody will have chosen an iPhone or iPad because it has less chance of getting malware.
To a lot of people that is an advantage if it reduces their risk of malware.
You seriously think that is a consideration for more than say 1% of iPad buyers?
If that's so high up on the general public's priorities, how come Windows is still the most popular OS, IE is still the most common browser, PDF is such a common document format, etc?
If your view of the universe is that of a total determinism, then everything you do could be explained in terms of the relationships of the particles since the beginning of the universe
Yep when I started learning physics I thought the same.
If that were true, then the concept of responsibility would crumble
I know what you mean, and that was my first thought when I started thinking of the Universe as just one big linear simulation. But I no longer think things like "people shouldn't be held responsible for their actions since they're already basically set in stone".
I don't see what other choice there is between deterministic and random. At some point there must be a reason for your actions (which would make them deterministic), otherwise you're just being random (I like to think that even the random elements of the universe can be determined with the right knowledge, but in our own universe that knowledge is probably impossible to come by when it comes to quantum phenomenon). There isn't any magic to it. Even if we are being controlled by mystical forces outside of our universe, those forces themselves would either have to be directed or random.
IMO in the end, everything we do could be said to be a result of being a self perpetuating system (life). All of our actions are deterministic based on our hardware and the inputs to that hardware. I don't think that demeans the fact that we still feel like we have free will. We all make choices. We make the choices that we feel are best for us. That is free will. We wouldn't do it any other way just because someone else can predict exactly what we're going to do before we do it. Well, some people might have out of spite, but then they'd really be acting against their will, which doesn't seem very free to me.
That's why the bible so elegantly introduces the concept of free will; because if God were the creator of everything and had the final word about every single event, then no man would hold any responsibility about anything. Everything could be traced back to god.
This was actually the conclusion that I came to that made me decide I would no longer worship God even if he were real (I used to be a Christian, I am no longer), because in fact it was him that set everything rolling and apparently knew beforehand what everyone would do, so their own "sin" was not their fault.
Definitely.
Just because you know something is going to happen, doesn't necessarily mean you can alter the outcome. If you have the power to change the outcome, then yes you are partially responsible for it, but still not entirely.
There are many things in this universe which we can simulate quite well, but can't often change. The paths of asteroids and other stellar objects, fluid dynamics, etc. You can try to influence someone's actions externally, but you can't always change their internal motivation.
If those "external circumstances" are constant, it makes no jot of difference whether or not it is the person or some external force at work. That person must be treated according to their actions. Even if someone's proven insane, if they are being a real menace to society, they still need to be treated and/or locked away..
Unfortunately fl0w and Flower are PS3 only, though fl0w did start life as a flash game for a University project.
By being "responsible" for their choices, I didn't mean their choices are unpredictable. IMO if you kept rewinding time to the same point they would make the same choice, but they are still responsible for it. How would it make things any different if they would perhaps make a different choice every time you rewound time? How would they be them anymore if their choices were random?
Paying attention to what? If you're training a puppy, you know they're definitely going to shit on the carpet sometime. Yet you still punish them for it. They're still responsible for their actions and must be treated in such a way that their actions will improve.
You can't act like people don't have responsibility for their actions just because of some philosophical notion. We experience this world as real and we perceive that we have choices, whether you consider it an illusion or not.
What does "choice" mean in the context of a giant DFA?
It means the outputs of any part of the system at any given time are predictable based on certain input. Give them another input and they may have a different output though. That is their "choice".
But really at some stage there must be some determination. Whether that's outside of our ability to measure or not, I don't think it really matters. Even if some random component comes into play in each decision, how does that make it any more a real "free will" type decision than if it was entirely predictable?