I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks she's kind of hot. Assuming, of course, she's the one I'm thinking of -- in the episode where they bust the myth of a man being electricuted by static electricity whilst sand-blasting a PVC pipe, she shocks Adam on the ass using their home-built Van de Graaff generator.
Sadly, parent was modded as Troll, but this is actually one of the first things that came to my mind -- how much his contract-mandated golden parachute was/is... Perhaps that's a commentary on American business culture -- perhaps it's just reflective of the news we've seen so much of of late, what with so many CEO's and other C-ilk walking away with wads of cash after short, ineffective stints, whilst lower-rung employees get the inevitable pink slip.
Well, not entirely. To start, he'll be lecturing (scroll about half-way down) on November 10th, 5:00 PM at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, MI. If you can make it, go see him. You'll not be disappointed.
I actually had Jan-Henrick as a professor in college for Introduction to Industrial Design. One of the top five classes I had there. Not only is he an incredibly smart guy, he's also very well rounded, with knowledge and background in all manner of subjects and interests, some well-known, others quite obscure. And he's absolutely one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. It only makes sense that he was hired there when they were just starting to implement the new curriculum, which has a much greater emphasis on diversity of learning.
The really sad part is, just like 9/11, there will now be a knee jerk reaction in the other direction, with money being thrown left and right at perceived or contrived problems, instead of intelligently applied to the real problem areas. We'll end up with with more cities and states with no real threats -- natural or otherwise -- getting money to do whatever the hell they like with simply because they yelled loudly enough.
And once again, it will be "thank you Bush-administration."
While I think the parent certainly could have stated things a bit more effectively, s/h/it raises an entirely valid point -- people need to take some responsibility for themselves, and stop having kids as a form of recreational activity.
Sex is fine -- wonderful even. Having 6 to 12 kids is most certainly not, especially when you're too poor to pay for their existance and instead rely on the system to do so for you. This isn't just an American problem, and it isn't a racial problem either. It's mostly a problem with the poor, who are having entirely too many children, whether they are American, African, Russian, Asian, or otherwise.
Family is important -- don't get me wrong. But "spamming the world with rough copies of oneself" is decidedly not. Too many people lead to an increased cost of living, increased loss of life when a disaster (natural or otherwise) strikes in a place where people tend to gather (cities), and most importantly, a poorer quality of life as resources begin run low, a problem which snowballs itself out of control.
I'm not saying that the governments should keep their peoples from having children (necessarily -- though I think that allotting each person, say, two children, regardless of partner or longevity of each child, might not be a bad idea), but rather giving up on the whole anti-birth-control bit and, most importantly, destroying the taboo and discomfort associated with acquiring and using all forms of birth control..
It would be interesting to see if the increase in wpm was a result of switching specifically to Dvorak, or if, given any reasonable layout that forced you to learn to type again, you would experience the same sort of increase...
In short, does it have more to do with the act of learning something new (and simultaneously dropping old QWERTY bad habits -- like my hitting the 'enter' and 'backspace' key with my right ring finger instead of pinkie) than with the fact that Dvorak created an "ideal layout?"
No matter if the poll is skewed or funded by filthly lying bastards, it still conveys what is essentially a truth here in America: that people want to be protected from things they perceive as being bad (even though that perception has probably been blown way out of proportion due to "feature stories" and "special reports" and various other "news" sources) and they don't want to put a lot of effort into procuring that protection for themselves.
"Terrorists are going to kill me, here in IDAHO?!?!?! Hell yes I'll give up a few freedoms here and there to prevent that!"
"People can steal my identity if I use my computer?!?! Hell yes I'll allow the government or someone to filter web content for me, so I don't have to think while surfing the web."
The real problem here is that the people most likely to adapt to problems that arise AREN'T the people making the laws, and they AREN'T getting out there and making their voices heard. And so you get someone like Strom Thurman, who even if he wasn't a big-business swill, wouldn't know a computer if it jumped up and BIT HIM IN THE ASS while screaming "I'M A FUCKING COMPUTER, YOU OLD FUCKING PISS-POOR EXCUSE FOR A POLITICIAN!"
That, and people are great and being lazy, and great at being after-the-fact armchair-generals.
Not that I'm for intrusive government, or that I think the current administration is doing A Good Job(tm), but did you ever stop to think that maybe, in your case they got it right, and because you have a TS clearance, you are therefor on the TSA watch list as a safety precaution?
Yes, and Newegg trumps them hands down nearly every time. Especially with Newegg's *gasp* reasonable shipping fees that have always led to my packages reaching me one or two days before expected delivery.
Fuck Tiger Direct, and fuck the four-legged animal they rode in on.
As much as I'd like to agree, today's world is very different than it has been at any other point in history.
Our abilities, knowledge, level of connectedness and communication -- all have increased exponentially since 'history' occurred. This isn't some backwater nation anymore. Raising arms against an occupying army is no longer a matter of hit, run, repeat. Gone are the days of waiting months -- literally months for reinforcements to arrive from overseas. The government -- the armed forces -- have the ability to mobilize so quickly and so efficiently that any significant, gathered attempt to resist could be quashed with incredible speed.
And beyond all that, in today's world, all it takes is one or two high level officials with access to the right buttons, and BOOM, that organized, gather resistance no longer exists. No need to send in the troops to take them out and risk having them join the resistance...
Finally, the real, pan-ultimate reason why an armed overthrow of the government won't be happening anytime soon (ignoring the fact that other, equally-gorilla-sized nations would just be drooling to aid our government put down the revolt -- or worse yet, wait for it to end before descending upon us and increasing their own holdings) is that we're nowhere near the level of degradation that it takes for mob-rule to become the order of the day.
I got as far as "For games, just about anything that only uses two axes" and thought 'why axes -- wouldn't two swords work just as well' followed quickly by 'wouldn't it be easier to control with but a single ax' followed even more quickly by 'continue reading, stupid.'
Actually, I'd say both of the above are wrong. I'd call a human being a dramatic work. After all, there's a lot of drama involved in almost any relationship, it sometimes takes a little acting here and there to get her in the mood, and if you're any good at playing the part, the music will make itself...
Actually, the newer XM units allow you to do everything you mentioned -- pause, replay, and search for specific tracks (if they're currently playing, or you can set a live search that will switch to a specific song when it comes on).
Besides, how much is 2+ weeks worth of songs going to cost you? Let's do the math.
2 weeks = 14 days = 336 hours = 20,160 minutes.
Figure your average song is roughly 4 minutes.
20,160/4 = 5,040 songs (roughly).
From the iTunes music store, that's roughly $5,040 worth of lower-than-cd-quality music, which you need to pay for. Now. Not a month from now, not a year from now. Now. All of it (to get your 2+ weeks worth, anyway).
For the same price, I can subscribe to XM radio for the next... 42 years, assuming the $10/month subscription fee (which could be inaccurate, since the fee goes down if you pay for more than 3 months at a time). It will come with all the latest tracks, all the old stuff, and a good mixture of things I certainly wouldn't pay $.99/song to listen to once or twice.
Now, let's see you not get bored off your ass after 42 years of listening to the same, oh-so-mighty, 2+ weeks worth of tracks...
You probably shouldn't. Nor should anyone else with a nice, fast internet connection. Between the iTunes/Napster/Walmart music stores, and the absolutely wonderful Internet Archive, you should be all set.
Now, for those of us who don't have high-speed internet access (due to availability reasons, at least on my part), having what really amounts to an unlimited amount of music/talk/sports/etc. available at the touch of a button is well worth the $10 or less per month XM costs me.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks she's kind of hot. Assuming, of course, she's the one I'm thinking of -- in the episode where they bust the myth of a man being electricuted by static electricity whilst sand-blasting a PVC pipe, she shocks Adam on the ass using their home-built Van de Graaff generator.
Sadly, parent was modded as Troll, but this is actually one of the first things that came to my mind -- how much his contract-mandated golden parachute was/is... Perhaps that's a commentary on American business culture -- perhaps it's just reflective of the news we've seen so much of of late, what with so many CEO's and other C-ilk walking away with wads of cash after short, ineffective stints, whilst lower-rung employees get the inevitable pink slip.
A couple of other links from the page above:
The rest is slightly off-topic.
I actually had Jan-Henrick as a professor in college for Introduction to Industrial Design. One of the top five classes I had there. Not only is he an incredibly smart guy, he's also very well rounded, with knowledge and background in all manner of subjects and interests, some well-known, others quite obscure. And he's absolutely one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. It only makes sense that he was hired there when they were just starting to implement the new curriculum, which has a much greater emphasis on diversity of learning.
Somewhere, a porn "director's" eyes have just lit up like a kid's at Christmas...
That being said, I'm sure this has already been the "plot" of at least half-a-dozen porn movies. Anyone care to come up with the titles?
The really sad part is, just like 9/11, there will now be a knee jerk reaction in the other direction, with money being thrown left and right at perceived or contrived problems, instead of intelligently applied to the real problem areas. We'll end up with with more cities and states with no real threats -- natural or otherwise -- getting money to do whatever the hell they like with simply because they yelled loudly enough.
And once again, it will be "thank you Bush-administration."
While I think the parent certainly could have stated things a bit more effectively, s/h/it raises an entirely valid point -- people need to take some responsibility for themselves, and stop having kids as a form of recreational activity.
Sex is fine -- wonderful even. Having 6 to 12 kids is most certainly not, especially when you're too poor to pay for their existance and instead rely on the system to do so for you. This isn't just an American problem, and it isn't a racial problem either. It's mostly a problem with the poor, who are having entirely too many children, whether they are American, African, Russian, Asian, or otherwise.
Family is important -- don't get me wrong. But "spamming the world with rough copies of oneself" is decidedly not. Too many people lead to an increased cost of living, increased loss of life when a disaster (natural or otherwise) strikes in a place where people tend to gather (cities), and most importantly, a poorer quality of life as resources begin run low, a problem which snowballs itself out of control.
I'm not saying that the governments should keep their peoples from having children (necessarily -- though I think that allotting each person, say, two children, regardless of partner or longevity of each child, might not be a bad idea), but rather giving up on the whole anti-birth-control bit and, most importantly, destroying the taboo and discomfort associated with acquiring and using all forms of birth control..
Previous posts seem to indicate the guy is a crackpot scumbag.
That aside, what are Australian laws regarding things like 'prior art?' Would they be applicable?
It would be interesting to see if the increase in wpm was a result of switching specifically to Dvorak, or if, given any reasonable layout that forced you to learn to type again, you would experience the same sort of increase...
In short, does it have more to do with the act of learning something new (and simultaneously dropping old QWERTY bad habits -- like my hitting the 'enter' and 'backspace' key with my right ring finger instead of pinkie) than with the fact that Dvorak created an "ideal layout?"
Read the other posts, and get thyself informed: producing hydrogen requires (here comes the big one) fossil fuels. And lots of them, apparently.
Besides, $6 billion for the US government is worth to them what the piss I flush down the toilet every morning is worth to me...
No matter if the poll is skewed or funded by filthly lying bastards, it still conveys what is essentially a truth here in America: that people want to be protected from things they perceive as being bad (even though that perception has probably been blown way out of proportion due to "feature stories" and "special reports" and various other "news" sources) and they don't want to put a lot of effort into procuring that protection for themselves.
"Terrorists are going to kill me, here in IDAHO?!?!?! Hell yes I'll give up a few freedoms here and there to prevent that!"
"People can steal my identity if I use my computer?!?! Hell yes I'll allow the government or someone to filter web content for me, so I don't have to think while surfing the web."
The real problem here is that the people most likely to adapt to problems that arise AREN'T the people making the laws, and they AREN'T getting out there and making their voices heard. And so you get someone like Strom Thurman, who even if he wasn't a big-business swill, wouldn't know a computer if it jumped up and BIT HIM IN THE ASS while screaming "I'M A FUCKING COMPUTER, YOU OLD FUCKING PISS-POOR EXCUSE FOR A POLITICIAN!"
That, and people are great and being lazy, and great at being after-the-fact armchair-generals.
Just... like... me...
Not that I'm for intrusive government, or that I think the current administration is doing A Good Job(tm), but did you ever stop to think that maybe, in your case they got it right, and because you have a TS clearance, you are therefor on the TSA watch list as a safety precaution?
Funny... I was just thinking about adding a comment for the ever-so-wonderful 'fucktard,' but you beat me to it. Kudos.
"Microsoft is planning to celebrate 25 years of DOS."
Sad. My first thought was "what, Microsoft thinks they invented the Denial Of Service attack?"
Even sadder -- my second thought: "Oh, right. Blue Screen of Death."
Just a note on the time aspect, Horde's actually pretty easy to install and config. We're talking an hour, tops.
Yes, and Newegg trumps them hands down nearly every time. Especially with Newegg's *gasp* reasonable shipping fees that have always led to my packages reaching me one or two days before expected delivery.
Fuck Tiger Direct, and fuck the four-legged animal they rode in on.
As much as I'd like to agree, today's world is very different than it has been at any other point in history.
Our abilities, knowledge, level of connectedness and communication -- all have increased exponentially since 'history' occurred. This isn't some backwater nation anymore. Raising arms against an occupying army is no longer a matter of hit, run, repeat. Gone are the days of waiting months -- literally months for reinforcements to arrive from overseas. The government -- the armed forces -- have the ability to mobilize so quickly and so efficiently that any significant, gathered attempt to resist could be quashed with incredible speed.
And beyond all that, in today's world, all it takes is one or two high level officials with access to the right buttons, and BOOM, that organized, gather resistance no longer exists. No need to send in the troops to take them out and risk having them join the resistance...
Finally, the real, pan-ultimate reason why an armed overthrow of the government won't be happening anytime soon (ignoring the fact that other, equally-gorilla-sized nations would just be drooling to aid our government put down the revolt -- or worse yet, wait for it to end before descending upon us and increasing their own holdings) is that we're nowhere near the level of degradation that it takes for mob-rule to become the order of the day.
Thank you for making my evening...
I got as far as "For games, just about anything that only uses two axes" and thought 'why axes -- wouldn't two swords work just as well' followed quickly by 'wouldn't it be easier to control with but a single ax' followed even more quickly by 'continue reading, stupid.'
Heh heh heh... who indeed.
-William G.
my thoughts exactly
Actually, I'd say both of the above are wrong. I'd call a human being a dramatic work. After all, there's a lot of drama involved in almost any relationship, it sometimes takes a little acting here and there to get her in the mood, and if you're any good at playing the part, the music will make itself...
Actually, the newer XM units allow you to do everything you mentioned -- pause, replay, and search for specific tracks (if they're currently playing, or you can set a live search that will switch to a specific song when it comes on).
Besides, how much is 2+ weeks worth of songs going to cost you? Let's do the math.
2 weeks = 14 days = 336 hours = 20,160 minutes.
Figure your average song is roughly 4 minutes.
20,160/4 = 5,040 songs (roughly).
From the iTunes music store, that's roughly $5,040 worth of lower-than-cd-quality music, which you need to pay for. Now. Not a month from now, not a year from now. Now. All of it (to get your 2+ weeks worth, anyway).
For the same price, I can subscribe to XM radio for the next... 42 years, assuming the $10/month subscription fee (which could be inaccurate, since the fee goes down if you pay for more than 3 months at a time). It will come with all the latest tracks, all the old stuff, and a good mixture of things I certainly wouldn't pay $.99/song to listen to once or twice.
Now, let's see you not get bored off your ass after 42 years of listening to the same, oh-so-mighty, 2+ weeks worth of tracks...
You probably shouldn't. Nor should anyone else with a nice, fast internet connection. Between the iTunes/Napster/Walmart music stores, and the absolutely wonderful Internet Archive, you should be all set.
Now, for those of us who don't have high-speed internet access (due to availability reasons, at least on my part), having what really amounts to an unlimited amount of music/talk/sports/etc. available at the touch of a button is well worth the $10 or less per month XM costs me.
As if being caught spying wasn't bad enough, now you're saying the secret agents are getting their nether-regions shot off by The Bad Guys...?
Man alive! I thought you said The 'Real' Bad Guys weren't into the whole elaborate death thing...