I disagree. Bush hasn't made any mistakes. Sure, he fucked his country up REAL GOOD but he's an oil man - have you seen the price of gasoline lately? Sure, your civil rights and the constitution are in shambles - but he's power hungry.
The man isn't stupid, as much as he would like you to think he is. You've heard of "Hanlon's razor", well I have my own. McGrew's razor is "never attribute to stupidity or incompetence that which can be adequately explained by greedy self interest."
I will still hold you accountable when you fsck with my life.
You can say "fuck" here. And as to the remark, you should hold someone accountable; If I fuck with your life it will be by accident, and I would want to make it right.
Funny how our supposedly christian laws in the USA don't let you choose the 'devil made me do it' option when pleading before the courts
That's because we don't have Christian laws. The US is decidedly NOT a Christian nation. Adultery is a sin, one of the ten commandments in fact, but it is perfectly legal. Drug use is NOT a sin (not in the Christian bible anyway) but most psychotropic drugs are against the law. If we have a national religion, it's the worship of money.
I'm forcefully unwilling to accept any deity
If you're forceably uinwilling to accept the existance of elephants, when you go to the zoo you will consider the elephant to be some fancy magic trick, a hoax, and will be outraged that they faked such a thing.
I've had stretches where I spend too much time focused on my computer monitor, and upon exiting the house I can't really focus more than a few feet in front of me
Get used to it, young fellow. When you reach middle age your focusing lens hardens, and it will reach a point where you can't focus at all. "Age related presbyopia" it's called. If you are myopic now (which I suspect from your talking about your glasses) when you are middle aged (usually in the 40s) you will be both nearsighted and farsighted. I got where I would pull my glasses down my nose to focus. Then I got contacts and needed reading glasses as well.
There is now a surgical procedure that cures myopia (nearsightedness), presbyopia (farsightedness, including age-related farsightedness), astigmatism, and cataracts, all at the same time. It involves removing your eye's normal focusing lens and replacing it with an artificial one that is on struts allowing it to focus. It was approved by the FDA in 2003. I have one implanted in my left eye, details are in my sig.
It costs about $7,000 per eye, but if you have cataracts (as I did in the left eye) insurance will pay for the old fashioned, non-focusable implants and you only have to come up with a grand or two for the new kind. I went from coke bottle glasses (20/400 vision, or seeing at 20 feet what a normally sighted person can see at 400 feet) to better than 20/20 vision (20/16 at distance, meaning I can see at 20 feet what a normally sighted person can see it sixteen feet) at all distances. I believe my outcome was better than most.
Sex trumps survivability most of the time. If an organism survives long enough to reproduce, its line carries on.
I know some people who are dumber than boxes of rocks, but they have lots of kids. Even if all the kids don't survive, some do. One woman I know has fourteen kids, thirteen still alive. She beats me at the evolution game thirteen to two.
That said, it seems our species' survival is about adaptability. The world is certainly different than it was even in my grandparents' age, let alone 50,000 years ago.
Maybe I don't get it, but the last time I checked, we don't really understand how the brain works
We may never understand how the brain works. One of the quotes at the bottom of slashdot the other day said it; I don't remember the quote exactly, but it was along the lines of "if the brain was simple enough for us to understand we wouldn't be smart enough to understand it."
But we know a HELL of a lot more about neurochemistry than we did just half a century ago, or they would never have been able to invent antidepressant drugs.
They find genetic components to brain function with statistics - if, for example, 99% of schitzophrenics have a certain genetic sequence that sane people lack, it's a pretty good bet that particular genetic sequence will at least contribute to schitzophrenia, or set the stage for it.
Genetics is like astrology only in the sense that our knowlege of genetics today is like our knowledge of astronomy a couple thousand years ago. Neuroscientists aren't claiming knowledge they don't have. Unlike astrology it is rigorous science.
Some women find persistence a form of strength. In fact, they often like to play the game "hard to get" for a reason. Perhaps they only want to bare children from those that have this "genetic glitch"?
Those women don't have a chance with me; I find that kind of guy they're after to be pathetic; they're stalkers. If I ask a women out and she turns me down, she missed her chance. I wound't want the kind of woman that considers herself a prize to be fought over.
I've heard that one definition of insanity (or stupidity) is expecting to do something exactly the same and expect different results.
This gene, though, seems to have something to do with fear. You need to be able to overcome the fear of getting thrown off the horse, otherwise knowing what you did wrong won't help. You actually have to get back on the horse.
What you refer to demands courage - going ahead despite fear. TFA is about the lack of fear.
I, for one, would like to hear a little more coverage of how the Chinese got all of their 16 year old female gymnasts to all look between the ages of 8 and 12
If my year in Thailand in the USAF was any indication, young Asian women generally look younger than young European women.
If global warming is real, regardless of its causes (and the evidence says it is), it certainly IS a problem. What I don't understand is Republicans' take on environmentalism. After all, Richard Nixon (of all people) signed the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water act. If Republicans are truly conservative they would want to conserve nature as well. But I get the idea that the only thing today's "conservatives" want to conserve is their own wealth and power.
Environmentalism doesn't cripple economies, it makes them stronger. What's crippling today's economies is the oil barons' greed.
Before the Clean Air Act, you could not drive past the Monsanto plant in Sauget with your windows down. Today you can, and Monsanto's profits are nothing to sneeze at.
You, sir, have been brainwashed by your sociopathic rich overlords who will stop at nothing to increase their wealth and power, and by their media minions.
A way for the person underneath the cloak to see would be to have the cloak transparent to radio waves, and have a tiny robotic camera somewhere nearby transmitting pictures to a receiver the cloaked person holds.
Apparently my car has an invisibility cloak, because runners continually jog out in the street in front of it, jaywalkers stroll right into its path, and people constantly pull out right in front of me, even running stop signs and red lights to do it.
The on/off switch itself is apparently cloaked, because I can't find it. I bought the car used, so I have no user manual (I had it a year before I found out how to make it stop honking when the "panic" button gets pressed accidentally; a cop showed me).
As well as needing to know how to shut the dratted thing off, I'm wondering if it's a Klingon style cloak, a Romulan style cloak, or a Bistromatic SEP field?
Almost everyone gets them, especially as you age. There is hope for you, however- there's one doctor who claims to be able to get rid of them with a laser. Give it a few years and his technique may become more widespread (or discovered to be useless and/or dangerous)
I don't pick them up on the street, which is one reason why I get them so much cheaper (another is region; I only paid $50K for my house, in California it would cost 10X as much). Most of the hookers I know I met through friends, and most hookers I know I'm not a client of. Some of the ones I pay $20 for get up to $300 from some of their clients.
Also, I treat them like ladies. You would be surprised what giving a little respect to someone who has none will garner.
I've talked a few in them into rehab, alas rehab usually doesn't work. One woman I know (an alcoholic) has been in rehab three times in the last year.
You make a very good point; in a book the copyright notice is on the very first page. US copyright law now says that every work is copyrighted as soon as it is affixed in tangible form, but the question is whether or not the copyright holder WANTS it distributed. Star Wars: In The Pirkinning is free to download. Braveheart is not. One would assume that The Passion of the Christ would be free to download; but the assumption would be a risky one.
With music, most of it is independant and the copyright holders WANT it shared. But it can still be a risky proposition. You can assume that if you hear it on the radio it can't be shared, but you can't assume that it can just because it's not on the radio.
You CAN legally download music. Most artists want their music to be shared; it's one of the few ways to get it out in front of people.
The only music copyright holders who don't want their music to be shared is the RIAA labels, and the real reason is that they don't want you to hear the competetion (the independant, unsigned artists). Otherwise why let the radio play it for free? The labels have gotten in trouble before for PAYING stations to play their music.
Except for a signed band, only a fool doesn't want his music shared. Most bands are not RIAA label bands. Most music is not RIAA label music. Most music CAN be legally shared.
If you want to support the artist, go to their concerts
Unless your favorite artist won't play at any all-ages venues near you.
If they won't support your needs, why should you support theirs? If a band refused to let anyone over 50 into a concert I'd be damned if I ever bough one of their CDs, no matter how much I liked the music.
If you *can* try it before you buy it (using a cracked version), you often just don't buy either... I know I never did.
That's because you're dishonest. Apparently this indie game developer is, too, because people expect other people to behave like them. That's why it's so easy to con an honest person - he's honest and expects other people to be honest, too.
That's another reason I shy away from anything with DRM. I don't want to do business with anyone who is either dishonest or expects me to be.
He' not going to sell his game to a dishonest man like yourself, so he's not losing any money on you. There are enough honest people in the world that if his games are any good, he'll make money.
I was one of 35,000 people to buy the original Duke Nukem 2d side scroller. If that doesn't seem like a lot of people, remember that this was decades ago when only netds had computers. At twenty bucks per game, that's well over half a million dollars, hardly chump change.
Slashdot Mirror
I disagree. Bush hasn't made any mistakes. Sure, he fucked his country up REAL GOOD but he's an oil man - have you seen the price of gasoline lately? Sure, your civil rights and the constitution are in shambles - but he's power hungry.
The man isn't stupid, as much as he would like you to think he is. You've heard of "Hanlon's razor", well I have my own. McGrew's razor is "never attribute to stupidity or incompetence that which can be adequately explained by greedy self interest."
Bush isn't a fool, he's just evil.
I accept no deity
That's fine, you don't have to.
I will still hold you accountable when you fsck with my life.
You can say "fuck" here. And as to the remark, you should hold someone accountable; If I fuck with your life it will be by accident, and I would want to make it right.
Funny how our supposedly christian laws in the USA don't let you choose the 'devil made me do it' option when pleading before the courts
That's because we don't have Christian laws. The US is decidedly NOT a Christian nation. Adultery is a sin, one of the ten commandments in fact, but it is perfectly legal. Drug use is NOT a sin (not in the Christian bible anyway) but most psychotropic drugs are against the law. If we have a national religion, it's the worship of money.
I'm forcefully unwilling to accept any deity
If you're forceably uinwilling to accept the existance of elephants, when you go to the zoo you will consider the elephant to be some fancy magic trick, a hoax, and will be outraged that they faked such a thing.
I've had stretches where I spend too much time focused on my computer monitor, and upon exiting the house I can't really focus more than a few feet in front of me
Get used to it, young fellow. When you reach middle age your focusing lens hardens, and it will reach a point where you can't focus at all. "Age related presbyopia" it's called. If you are myopic now (which I suspect from your talking about your glasses) when you are middle aged (usually in the 40s) you will be both nearsighted and farsighted. I got where I would pull my glasses down my nose to focus. Then I got contacts and needed reading glasses as well.
There is now a surgical procedure that cures myopia (nearsightedness), presbyopia (farsightedness, including age-related farsightedness), astigmatism, and cataracts, all at the same time. It involves removing your eye's normal focusing lens and replacing it with an artificial one that is on struts allowing it to focus. It was approved by the FDA in 2003. I have one implanted in my left eye, details are in my sig.
It costs about $7,000 per eye, but if you have cataracts (as I did in the left eye) insurance will pay for the old fashioned, non-focusable implants and you only have to come up with a grand or two for the new kind. I went from coke bottle glasses (20/400 vision, or seeing at 20 feet what a normally sighted person can see at 400 feet) to better than 20/20 vision (20/16 at distance, meaning I can see at 20 feet what a normally sighted person can see it sixteen feet) at all distances. I believe my outcome was better than most.
Sex trumps survivability most of the time. If an organism survives long enough to reproduce, its line carries on.
I know some people who are dumber than boxes of rocks, but they have lots of kids. Even if all the kids don't survive, some do. One woman I know has fourteen kids, thirteen still alive. She beats me at the evolution game thirteen to two.
That said, it seems our species' survival is about adaptability. The world is certainly different than it was even in my grandparents' age, let alone 50,000 years ago.
Maybe I don't get it, but the last time I checked, we don't really understand how the brain works
We may never understand how the brain works. One of the quotes at the bottom of slashdot the other day said it; I don't remember the quote exactly, but it was along the lines of "if the brain was simple enough for us to understand we wouldn't be smart enough to understand it."
But we know a HELL of a lot more about neurochemistry than we did just half a century ago, or they would never have been able to invent antidepressant drugs.
They find genetic components to brain function with statistics - if, for example, 99% of schitzophrenics have a certain genetic sequence that sane people lack, it's a pretty good bet that particular genetic sequence will at least contribute to schitzophrenia, or set the stage for it.
Genetics is like astrology only in the sense that our knowlege of genetics today is like our knowledge of astronomy a couple thousand years ago. Neuroscientists aren't claiming knowledge they don't have. Unlike astrology it is rigorous science.
Disclaimer - I am a layman, not a neuroscientist.
one man's mistake is another man's genius idea
You lost me there, I'm not sure what you mean. Can you paint an example?
Some women find persistence a form of strength. In fact, they often like to play the game "hard to get" for a reason. Perhaps they only want to bare children from those that have this "genetic glitch"?
Those women don't have a chance with me; I find that kind of guy they're after to be pathetic; they're stalkers. If I ask a women out and she turns me down, she missed her chance. I wound't want the kind of woman that considers herself a prize to be fought over.
I've heard that one definition of insanity (or stupidity) is expecting to do something exactly the same and expect different results.
This gene, though, seems to have something to do with fear. You need to be able to overcome the fear of getting thrown off the horse, otherwise knowing what you did wrong won't help. You actually have to get back on the horse.
What you refer to demands courage - going ahead despite fear. TFA is about the lack of fear.
Back in my day we didn't need do newfangled genetic glitches. Nosiree, back in the stone age we had drugs to make us stupid!
Open the curtains and let the sunshine in, and water the garden.
Oh, you mean the network... what kind of fool trusts his data with someone else?
I, for one, would like to hear a little more coverage of how the Chinese got all of their 16 year old female gymnasts to all look between the ages of 8 and 12
If my year in Thailand in the USAF was any indication, young Asian women generally look younger than young European women.
If global warming is real, regardless of its causes (and the evidence says it is), it certainly IS a problem. What I don't understand is Republicans' take on environmentalism. After all, Richard Nixon (of all people) signed the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water act. If Republicans are truly conservative they would want to conserve nature as well. But I get the idea that the only thing today's "conservatives" want to conserve is their own wealth and power.
Environmentalism doesn't cripple economies, it makes them stronger. What's crippling today's economies is the oil barons' greed.
Before the Clean Air Act, you could not drive past the Monsanto plant in Sauget with your windows down. Today you can, and Monsanto's profits are nothing to sneeze at.
You, sir, have been brainwashed by your sociopathic rich overlords who will stop at nothing to increase their wealth and power, and by their media minions.
Ah, Bistromathics then - the Somebody Else's Problem field. Tell Slartibartfast he can have it back!
When are the flying broomsticks coming?
I see you've not met my ex-wife.
Four if you count time as a dimension. String theory posits that there are in fact eleven dimensions.
A way for the person underneath the cloak to see would be to have the cloak transparent to radio waves, and have a tiny robotic camera somewhere nearby transmitting pictures to a receiver the cloaked person holds.
Apparently my car has an invisibility cloak, because runners continually jog out in the street in front of it, jaywalkers stroll right into its path, and people constantly pull out right in front of me, even running stop signs and red lights to do it.
The on/off switch itself is apparently cloaked, because I can't find it. I bought the car used, so I have no user manual (I had it a year before I found out how to make it stop honking when the "panic" button gets pressed accidentally; a cop showed me).
As well as needing to know how to shut the dratted thing off, I'm wondering if it's a Klingon style cloak, a Romulan style cloak, or a Bistromatic SEP field?
Almost everyone gets them, especially as you age. There is hope for you, however- there's one doctor who claims to be able to get rid of them with a laser. Give it a few years and his technique may become more widespread (or discovered to be useless and/or dangerous)
I don't pick them up on the street, which is one reason why I get them so much cheaper (another is region; I only paid $50K for my house, in California it would cost 10X as much). Most of the hookers I know I met through friends, and most hookers I know I'm not a client of. Some of the ones I pay $20 for get up to $300 from some of their clients.
Also, I treat them like ladies. You would be surprised what giving a little respect to someone who has none will garner.
I've talked a few in them into rehab, alas rehab usually doesn't work. One woman I know (an alcoholic) has been in rehab three times in the last year.
Prostitution should be legal everywhere.
I see you haven't read my journals (NSFW)
You make a very good point; in a book the copyright notice is on the very first page. US copyright law now says that every work is copyrighted as soon as it is affixed in tangible form, but the question is whether or not the copyright holder WANTS it distributed. Star Wars: In The Pirkinning is free to download. Braveheart is not. One would assume that The Passion of the Christ would be free to download; but the assumption would be a risky one.
With music, most of it is independant and the copyright holders WANT it shared. But it can still be a risky proposition. You can assume that if you hear it on the radio it can't be shared, but you can't assume that it can just because it's not on the radio.
You CAN legally download music. Most artists want their music to be shared; it's one of the few ways to get it out in front of people.
The only music copyright holders who don't want their music to be shared is the RIAA labels, and the real reason is that they don't want you to hear the competetion (the independant, unsigned artists). Otherwise why let the radio play it for free? The labels have gotten in trouble before for PAYING stations to play their music.
Except for a signed band, only a fool doesn't want his music shared. Most bands are not RIAA label bands. Most music is not RIAA label music. Most music CAN be legally shared.
If they won't support your needs, why should you support theirs? If a band refused to let anyone over 50 into a concert I'd be damned if I ever bough one of their CDs, no matter how much I liked the music.
If you *can* try it before you buy it (using a cracked version), you often just don't buy either... I know I never did.
That's because you're dishonest. Apparently this indie game developer is, too, because people expect other people to behave like them. That's why it's so easy to con an honest person - he's honest and expects other people to be honest, too.
That's another reason I shy away from anything with DRM. I don't want to do business with anyone who is either dishonest or expects me to be.
He' not going to sell his game to a dishonest man like yourself, so he's not losing any money on you. There are enough honest people in the world that if his games are any good, he'll make money.
I was one of 35,000 people to buy the original Duke Nukem 2d side scroller. If that doesn't seem like a lot of people, remember that this was decades ago when only netds had computers. At twenty bucks per game, that's well over half a million dollars, hardly chump change.
Oh technology, what can't you do?
It can't get me laid =(