Find me someone who’s happily living high on the hog in a housing project in NOLA, who isn’t drug-addicted or crazy, who wouldn’t rather be working, who doesn’t struggle to scrape by every day, and I’ll give you $1.
I’m not saying there aren’t people on welfare, but I’ve never heard of anyone, who was relatively sane, who thought it was preferable to working.
Agreed. I had a photography teacher in high school who used to say that photography was 50% science and 50% art — that you needed to master the technical stuff (chemical temperatures, film speeds, aperture size / shutter speed etc.) in order to be able to forget it and concentrate on the art. Apple has worked hard to shorten the initial learning curve on most of their products — osx the iphone, the ipod all tend to be easier to learn initially than comparative products.
That’s pretty much why most artists I know (and I’m one of them) like to use them. It has nothing to do with their technical power. In fact, I think most artists wouldn’t disagree that Windows machines, for instance, are probably more powerful and ultimately able to do more than Mac. But apple computers are very easy to use, and allow you (with some major exceptions) to do what you want on them — whether it’s edit photos, or record music, or make movies. So you can get through the technical stuff a little faster, and get to the art — the stuff that most artists are more interested in.
I personally like mac machines and I recommend them to friends. I don’t think much about what it “says” about me. If there were a cheaper PC that was as easy to figure out, as free from hassles, viruses, spyware, adware, and crap, and had all the software I wanted, I’d use it.
OTOH, if the "shock" of the affair happens often enough, it will finally get to the point where no one actually cares (this is starting to happen, I think) and then hopefully, people will remember that being faithful to your spouse isn't actually a necessary job qualification for being a politician.
At least, we can hope.
It teaches the human marker to look for only the things the computer would score, and to ignore essays that may either be brilliant in a nonstandard way. The result for the essays is the same.
In other words, any non-contrived definition of life that includes the mule must also include fire. Here is a very basic explanation: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life
Right. Except that fire can be spontaneously created and mules can't. So the trouble is not that mules aren't alive and fire is, the trouble is the simple wikipedia definition is wrong.
There's two kinds of managers, those who look out for the interests of the people they're managing, and those who look out for the interests of the people they're working for. 90% of the time, those interests may be identical, but at some point, you're probably going to have to decide whether it's more important to "protect" your crew, or "enforce" company policy.
I think a lot of the best managers end up never getting promoted again because of that.
Not always. My mother had cancer in 1992/93. She underwent intensive radiation therapy as well as chemo, and finally a bone-marrow transplant. She's cancer-free, and hasn't had radiation or chemo in years, but she also hasn't had much more than a few whisps of hair on her head ever since.
add to that diseases like Alopecia, and for a lot of people, hair-loss *is* a serious thing. I'm not saying it's life-threatening but being a woman without hair can be really destabilizing, and having a chance at growing it back is amazing.
It's a little more obsessive, but my favorite method is to buy the beans green and roast them at home -- that way I know their age. You can buy fancy roasters for hundreds of dollars, but I do it on my front porch with a pyrex bowl and a paint-remover gun (basically an industrial-strength hair dryer)... you just need to keep the beans moving and at around 400 degrees Farenheit for about fifteen to twenty minutes.
voila. Fresh coffee. Then I use a stove-top italian coffee maker. It's simple, it works well, and makes excellent coffee. Oh yeah! and I recommend a burr grinder instead of one of those pulse grinders -- you get a nice, even grind, as opposed to the gravel and powder that always comes from a pulse grinder.
Right. On the other hand, women and men who lose their hair due to cancer or other diseases, who aren't otherwise "jowly" would probably much appreciate finally getting to have hair again.
And yet our Athletes are running faster and faster (c.f. olympic records, constantly being broken) and new discoveries are constantly being made in physics, engineering, etc. etc. Precisely *because* not limiting our species to those who can outrun a lion has given us far greater diversity.
Evolution isn't a straight line. Or even a tree. It's a bush -- the more diversity, the better for the species.
I think you've been watching too much Idiocracy. It wasn't that good of a movie.
Some people, and some aspects of religion refuse to be contradicted...
The end-result is that God can neither be proven nor disproven -- if by God, we mean an unknowable being who asks for our faith. Because both "unknowable" and "faith" are stopping points. If it's knowable, it isn't God, and/or one doesn't need faith.
There are plenty of people who read and understand the latest research in behavioral, evolutionary, physical and Cosmic sciences and don't feel that it challenges their belief in God in the slightest -- the idea of a Bible whose truth lies in its allegories sweeps away all sense of contradiction.
And, of course, no matter what we discover about the Universe, it doesn't prove the absence of God. You can't prove a negative.
So, wait: both of these are only free speech in the sense that Amazon.com and YouTube are powerful companies, and, some might argue, have a responsibility to allow free speech on their sites. But how are they really censoring anyone?
If I submitted an article that was anti-muslim, or pro-animal fighting, (or pro-muslim-fighting) to the New Yorker, and they didn't find it appropriate, they'd have every right to decide not to run it, based on whatever grounds they want.
YouTube isn't saying that no one can speak about the logical failings of Islam. They're just saying they won't be the ones to publish it. Of course, a video likely won't get nearly as many hits if it isn't on YouTube.
But Freedom of Speech doesn't guarantee everyone a spot on the bully pulpit. It just says that you shouldn't be punished or censured for what you say. You have the right to say it. No one has an obligation to listen to you.
As for Amazon -- if the magazines are illegal (as they probably should be, if this is what I think it is, and dogs, or roosters, or whatever other animals are getting hurt) then Amazon should be made to stop distributing the magazines -- same as if they were distributing child porn, or snuff films. On the other hand, if they're legal (regular porn, fake snuff films) and merely in very, very bad taste... then best of luck to the Humane society. I'd certainly lend a hand trying to help shame Amazon into ceasing distribution.
But again -- it's not censorship if Amazon operators are hanging up on callers who want to complain about it. Amazon isn't preventing people from saying anything -- they're just exercising their right to refuse to listen.
I'm sure apple would love to be the next evil empire... Microsoft takes a lot of hits, and makes a lot of money. Bill Gates must cry himself to sleep every night on his huge, huge pile of money.
I'm a huge fan of Apple products -- many have been very well designed, and I appreciate their interest in form as well as function. OSX works well, is relatively free of bugs. I don't have problems with viruses or spyware, And, being a poet, I don't have to think a lot about how it all works. I like that I don't have to spend a lot of time tinkering with my fridge either.
but Apple is just a company. It's not like Steve Jobs craps rainbows or anything. They want to make money. When they make a superior product, I want to give them my money. When they don't -- I don't want to any more. But it would be a lot easier if they didn't have to be so innovative.. if, say.. they could somehow get a huge percentage of the market *without* being particularly innovative. Through exclusivity deals... or monopolistic practice. Why wouldn't that be appealing to them?
Shoot... *I'd* like to be the next evil empire, if there's a job opening...
I literally can't imagine a stupider response on behalf of the Boston police/gov't. I think they were legitimately confused, as to the nature of the signs, and instead of looking for a reasonable answer, let all the fox-news wolf-crying (are terrorists in your kitchen? find out tonight at eleven!) stir them into a bomb-squad frenzy.
Then, I think they were so embarassed by their own resulting ineptitude and overreaction that, to save face, they went on the warpath and used their bully pulpit to cow those port advertising guys, as well as everyone at Cartoon Network. Which is a damn shame -- it's as clear a case of abuse of power as you can get.
If anyone should be resigning, it's the Mayor, for infringing on freedom of speech and expression. This is not much different, honestly, than this story other than scale.
Isn't sci-fi, after all, a type of fantasy? Whether you're dreaming of elves of spaceships, it's all a fantasy...
You can argue that sci-fi *could* exist in the future, but certainly (back to the future *cough cough*) it's not necessary.
From snopes.com: The various "Annual Darwin Awards" e-mails (such as the one which is the topic of this article) do not originate with DarwinAwards.com; they are put together by unknown persons.
-- snopes asserts that the website is legit.
Slashdot Mirror
d'oh. I forgot to sign in. Not trying to be anonymous, or cowardly.
ach. yes. really. http://anitra.net/homelessness/columns/anitra/eightmyths.html
Find me someone who’s happily living high on the hog in a housing project in NOLA, who isn’t drug-addicted or crazy, who wouldn’t rather be working, who doesn’t struggle to scrape by every day, and I’ll give you $1. I’m not saying there aren’t people on welfare, but I’ve never heard of anyone, who was relatively sane, who thought it was preferable to working.
mod parent down. This is troll talk. There’s no talk of free healthcare, and the “welfare queen/king” myth is, at best disingenuous.
Agreed. I had a photography teacher in high school who used to say that photography was 50% science and 50% art — that you needed to master the technical stuff (chemical temperatures, film speeds, aperture size / shutter speed etc.) in order to be able to forget it and concentrate on the art. Apple has worked hard to shorten the initial learning curve on most of their products — osx the iphone, the ipod all tend to be easier to learn initially than comparative products. That’s pretty much why most artists I know (and I’m one of them) like to use them. It has nothing to do with their technical power. In fact, I think most artists wouldn’t disagree that Windows machines, for instance, are probably more powerful and ultimately able to do more than Mac. But apple computers are very easy to use, and allow you (with some major exceptions) to do what you want on them — whether it’s edit photos, or record music, or make movies. So you can get through the technical stuff a little faster, and get to the art — the stuff that most artists are more interested in. I personally like mac machines and I recommend them to friends. I don’t think much about what it “says” about me. If there were a cheaper PC that was as easy to figure out, as free from hassles, viruses, spyware, adware, and crap, and had all the software I wanted, I’d use it.
OTOH, if the "shock" of the affair happens often enough, it will finally get to the point where no one actually cares (this is starting to happen, I think) and then hopefully, people will remember that being faithful to your spouse isn't actually a necessary job qualification for being a politician. At least, we can hope.
It teaches the human marker to look for only the things the computer would score, and to ignore essays that may either be brilliant in a nonstandard way. The result for the essays is the same.
In other words, any non-contrived definition of life that includes the mule must also include fire. Here is a very basic explanation: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life
Right. Except that fire can be spontaneously created and mules can't. So the trouble is not that mules aren't alive and fire is, the trouble is the simple wikipedia definition is wrong.
I think it's "whingeing"
There's two kinds of managers, those who look out for the interests of the people they're managing, and those who look out for the interests of the people they're working for. 90% of the time, those interests may be identical, but at some point, you're probably going to have to decide whether it's more important to "protect" your crew, or "enforce" company policy. I think a lot of the best managers end up never getting promoted again because of that.
Not always. My mother had cancer in 1992/93. She underwent intensive radiation therapy as well as chemo, and finally a bone-marrow transplant. She's cancer-free, and hasn't had radiation or chemo in years, but she also hasn't had much more than a few whisps of hair on her head ever since.
add to that diseases like Alopecia, and for a lot of people, hair-loss *is* a serious thing. I'm not saying it's life-threatening but being a woman without hair can be really destabilizing, and having a chance at growing it back is amazing.
It's a little more obsessive, but my favorite method is to buy the beans green and roast them at home -- that way I know their age. You can buy fancy roasters for hundreds of dollars, but I do it on my front porch with a pyrex bowl and a paint-remover gun (basically an industrial-strength hair dryer)... you just need to keep the beans moving and at around 400 degrees Farenheit for about fifteen to twenty minutes. voila. Fresh coffee. Then I use a stove-top italian coffee maker. It's simple, it works well, and makes excellent coffee. Oh yeah! and I recommend a burr grinder instead of one of those pulse grinders -- you get a nice, even grind, as opposed to the gravel and powder that always comes from a pulse grinder.
Right. On the other hand, women and men who lose their hair due to cancer or other diseases, who aren't otherwise "jowly" would probably much appreciate finally getting to have hair again.
And yet our Athletes are running faster and faster (c.f. olympic records, constantly being broken) and new discoveries are constantly being made in physics, engineering, etc. etc. Precisely *because* not limiting our species to those who can outrun a lion has given us far greater diversity. Evolution isn't a straight line. Or even a tree. It's a bush -- the more diversity, the better for the species. I think you've been watching too much Idiocracy. It wasn't that good of a movie.
Some people, and some aspects of religion refuse to be contradicted... The end-result is that God can neither be proven nor disproven -- if by God, we mean an unknowable being who asks for our faith. Because both "unknowable" and "faith" are stopping points. If it's knowable, it isn't God, and/or one doesn't need faith. There are plenty of people who read and understand the latest research in behavioral, evolutionary, physical and Cosmic sciences and don't feel that it challenges their belief in God in the slightest -- the idea of a Bible whose truth lies in its allegories sweeps away all sense of contradiction. And, of course, no matter what we discover about the Universe, it doesn't prove the absence of God. You can't prove a negative.
So, wait: both of these are only free speech in the sense that Amazon.com and YouTube are powerful companies, and, some might argue, have a responsibility to allow free speech on their sites. But how are they really censoring anyone?
If I submitted an article that was anti-muslim, or pro-animal fighting, (or pro-muslim-fighting) to the New Yorker, and they didn't find it appropriate, they'd have every right to decide not to run it, based on whatever grounds they want.
YouTube isn't saying that no one can speak about the logical failings of Islam. They're just saying they won't be the ones to publish it. Of course, a video likely won't get nearly as many hits if it isn't on YouTube.
But Freedom of Speech doesn't guarantee everyone a spot on the bully pulpit. It just says that you shouldn't be punished or censured for what you say. You have the right to say it. No one has an obligation to listen to you.
As for Amazon -- if the magazines are illegal (as they probably should be, if this is what I think it is, and dogs, or roosters, or whatever other animals are getting hurt) then Amazon should be made to stop distributing the magazines -- same as if they were distributing child porn, or snuff films. On the other hand, if they're legal (regular porn, fake snuff films) and merely in very, very bad taste... then best of luck to the Humane society. I'd certainly lend a hand trying to help shame Amazon into ceasing distribution.
But again -- it's not censorship if Amazon operators are hanging up on callers who want to complain about it. Amazon isn't preventing people from saying anything -- they're just exercising their right to refuse to listen.
I'm sure apple would love to be the next evil empire... Microsoft takes a lot of hits, and makes a lot of money. Bill Gates must cry himself to sleep every night on his huge, huge pile of money. I'm a huge fan of Apple products -- many have been very well designed, and I appreciate their interest in form as well as function. OSX works well, is relatively free of bugs. I don't have problems with viruses or spyware, And, being a poet, I don't have to think a lot about how it all works. I like that I don't have to spend a lot of time tinkering with my fridge either. but Apple is just a company. It's not like Steve Jobs craps rainbows or anything. They want to make money. When they make a superior product, I want to give them my money. When they don't -- I don't want to any more. But it would be a lot easier if they didn't have to be so innovative.. if, say.. they could somehow get a huge percentage of the market *without* being particularly innovative. Through exclusivity deals... or monopolistic practice. Why wouldn't that be appealing to them? Shoot... *I'd* like to be the next evil empire, if there's a job opening...
I literally can't imagine a stupider response on behalf of the Boston police/gov't. I think they were legitimately confused, as to the nature of the signs, and instead of looking for a reasonable answer, let all the fox-news wolf-crying (are terrorists in your kitchen? find out tonight at eleven!) stir them into a bomb-squad frenzy. Then, I think they were so embarassed by their own resulting ineptitude and overreaction that, to save face, they went on the warpath and used their bully pulpit to cow those port advertising guys, as well as everyone at Cartoon Network. Which is a damn shame -- it's as clear a case of abuse of power as you can get. If anyone should be resigning, it's the Mayor, for infringing on freedom of speech and expression. This is not much different, honestly, than this story other than scale.
Isn't sci-fi, after all, a type of fantasy? Whether you're dreaming of elves of spaceships, it's all a fantasy... You can argue that sci-fi *could* exist in the future, but certainly (back to the future *cough cough*) it's not necessary.
From snopes.com: The various "Annual Darwin Awards" e-mails (such as the one which is the topic of this article) do not originate with DarwinAwards.com; they are put together by unknown persons. -- snopes asserts that the website is legit.