Interesting point. While the original poster didn't specifically say that "devolve" was the opposite of "evolve", it does seem to imply that.
Though a process of natural variation over time is truly called "evolution", as you point out, what if we also wanted to convey a judgement about the relative value of such varations? Considering that the word "devolve" denotes downward motion, would it not be a decent candidate word for the concept of evolutionary change that is detrimental?
"A typical push-type lawn mower is run for an average of 25 hours per year, according to the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute"
So, the pollution put out by a lawn mower in a year is in the range put out by your average car in two months.
Put another way, the PAH emissions put out by "a typical four-stroke, four horsepower lawn mower engine" in one hour are similar to the emissions put out by a car driving approximately...one hour! (If you don't like my driving, stay off the sidewalk.)
No doubt the typical lawn mower is inefficient and polluting, but your numbers don't really make the case.
The market for little TVs is huge. Just think of all the 'fans' at televised sporting events that are posing for the cameras instead of watching the game. They need to make sure the folks watching at home get their 'good side'.
And have you ever tried to eat, have sex, and watch TV at the same time? Well, it ain't easy. The size and portability of a PDA opens up a range of new possibilities in this area.
Since most of the sites linked in articles end up slashdotted, forcing people to go to mirrors, why not skip the original sites altogether and link right to the mirrors?
"Surrealism in th' Service of Sanity Is No Sin"
Re:The Sims are bit like playing with dolls
on
The Sims 2 Announced
·
· Score: 1
'They're not dolls, they're action figures!'
Actually, you'd have legal precedent behind your argument, depending on what type of doll you were playing with.
Entertainment Law Digest has the details on a case concerning this distinction. At least for purposes of calculated inport tariffs in the USA, dolls are human. Robots mutants and the like are decidedly not human, and there are not dolls.
I believe the opposite. If societies acted as a group, probably very few stupid decisions would be made. But societies don't act as groups. The members of societies act as individuals.
That's why the phrase 'mob mentality' stands for a thoughtful gathering of people having a calm discussion until a rational conclusion is agreed upon.
Oh, wait. It doesn't mean that at all. It means soccer riots and looting. Societies DO act as groups. (Hint: that's why they're called societies, not a bunch of individuals that happen to be near each other.)
As my calendar says, "None of us is as dumb as all of us."
Nope, now folks who got As run things, while people who managed only Cs get to wave at the cameras and say things like, "I think anybody who doesn't think I'm smart enough to handle the job is underestimating"
I think it is important to challenge to challenge the axiom, people think. Not because I challenge the idea that people think, but rather we need a process by which we determine whether thought is present. For almost as long as humans have been making tools, we've imagined tools in our own image, whether they be robots that look like us or Turing machines that converse like us.
It is important to keep in mind any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Right now, with current technology, the workings of the brain are magic. We need to be mindful we don't fool ourselves with our own technology into thinking we're seeing magic.
A conversational Turing test is just too easy. Part of the problem is the rules of grammar and conversation are (relatively) easy to map out. Part of the problem is the particular type of conversations we test machines with, cocktail small-talk with strangers. "What's your name?" "Hi, $A, what do you like to do?" "Well, $A, I like $B, too."
Am I a machine? Am I trying to engage a person in a room full of strangers? You can't tell. Now try to replicate a conversation I might have with someone I've known for years--that would be an accomplishment.
A better test than the conversational Turing test is an emotional Turing test. The machine outputs, 'I like baseball,' and you can't tell if it's lying or not--no big deal. The machine outputs, 'Please don't turn me off; I don't want to die.' Or 'When you leave, I am lonely,' and you can't tell if it's lying or not--that's when the rules of the game change.
The day a machine we've created can make a self-referential, emotional statement, AND WE BELEIVE IT, is the day we are in big, big trouble. I think that day will come, an when it does, we will be buying our own snake oil. We are purposely working towards creation of machines that mimic us in as many ways as is possible. They will respond to world as we do, as we think and feel. It doesn't mean these machines think; it doesn't mean they feel.
Personally, if a computer even tells me it's lonely, I'll reprogram it with a sledgehammer.
"During the first minute after the explosion it emitted energy at a rate more than a million times the combined output of all the stars in the Milky Way. If you concentrated all the energy that the sun will put out over its entire 9 billion-year life into a tenth of a second, then you would have some idea of the brightness," said Michael Ashley, faculty member in the astrophysics and optics department at the University of New South Wales and a member of the ROTSE team.
You are an ass. Try this: either you're at work, or you're at the movies. Stop trying to do both. Before you tell me how important your job is and how you NEED to have the phone, some how the human race survived and shit got done before cell phones. Doctors and other emergency personnel managed to keep the human race from killing itself off before cell phones even existed, they should be able to go the theater without their phones now.
Yeah, it really sucks your job keeps you on a leash, but don't punish those around you. So your phone is on vibrate. Do you also sit on the aisle in the last row by the exit?
In the good ole US of A, chapter 11 is reorganization. This gives a the company protection from creditors to get its house in order. Companies often come out of chapter 11.
Chapter 7 is liquidation. This company, as they say, is no more. This is for companies that are looking for an organized sell-off of assets.
So SonicBlue is not necessarily gone for good. However, if they are selling off their major product lines, I wonder how they plan to achieve profitability.
H1-B isnt such a great deal for the Indians either
on
Sun Sued Over H1-B Workers
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· Score: 4, Insightful
Howdy,
Most of the comments so far are from the point of view of the displaced worker, but the H1-B program has a lot of pit falls for the foreign nationals who come to the USA.
First, H1-B is a temporary visa. People come here, settle down, buy a home, start a family, become part of the community. But unless they take steps to achieve a more permanent status, such as citizenship or having a green card, they can be kicked out of the country at a moments notice. And with the current political climate, I wouldn't recommend overstaying your visa in the USA right now.
Second, H1-B is sponsored by a company. The worker only has the legal right to work for that company. Don't like your working conditions? Don't think you're getting a fair wage? Fine, then leave your home, family, and friends and leave the country. H1-Bs can't quit a job and look for other work. It's hard not to get settled in and used to a place after a couple years, so there are plenty of stories of people who thought of themselves as permanent residents getting shipped off.
Third, part of the requirements for H1-B is workers get paid prevailing wages. One of the ways companies get around that is bringing in people with little experience. "Sure, the H1-B doesn't get paid as much as the citizen engineer. But one has 1 year experience and the other has 10, so you can't make a direct comparison." But what happens as the years go by as the worker with the visa gets more experienced and worth more in the marketplace? As the disparity between the prevailing rate and the H1-B's salary grows, the company as two choices. They can give the guy a raise. Although if they wanted to do that, they could of kept the original citizen worker that got laid off.
The other option is to ship the guy or gal back to India and replace with a fresh new import. I'm not knocking India, but remember, this worker has spent years in the USA. May be married. May have kids who are citizens. But if that worker is H1-B, and the sponsoring company says buh-bye, then worker is taking a little one-way trip.
Abuses of the H1-B program hurt the native workers here in the USA AND the foreign nationals who come here.
And most importantly, it's meant to fill positions for which qualified legal workers are not available. If the Rolling Stones want to tour the USA, sure, let 'em in. No one here does quite what they do. However if a company is not only laying off workers and replacing them with folks with H1-Bs, but also not paying them the prevailing wages citizens get, that company is breaking both the spirit an the letter of the law.
In the end this case boils down to who has the better lawyer. Sun has already had similar suits dismissed.
Batman is a bad example because Michael Keaton just is Mr. Mom.
Have you ever read an actual Batman comic book? Batman is one seriously screwed in the head guy. When DC made a role playing game, the #1 rule was heroes don't kill, or even allow a bad guy to die through in action. The ONLY exception was Batman.
He just doesn't give a dam. He's so obsessed with the whole vigilante thing, he doesn't even get worked up over innocent bystanders (greater good and all that).
Mr. Mom just didn't carry the weight of that psychosis for me.
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cheap royalties or running joke?
on
Lucky Wander Boy
·
· Score: 1
I would think the holding of video game controllers and the dialogue about, "Hay, let's play video games" would clue the viewer they're not watching a show about people watching car races. And it's not "Pac-man or Space Invader sounds" or a composition of stereotypical video game sound, it's Pac-Man for the Atari 2600.
I've heard it on at least a dozen different sit coms, for range of game--road racers, FPS, etc. I can't be the only person who's noticed this.
Slashdot Mirror
Inflammable means flammable? What a country!
You're comparing apples to apple trees.
"A typical push-type lawn mower is run for an average of 25 hours per year, according to the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute"
So, the pollution put out by a lawn mower in a year is in the range put out by your average car in two months.
Put another way, the PAH emissions put out by "a typical four-stroke, four horsepower lawn mower engine" in one hour are similar to the emissions put out by a car driving approximately...one hour! (If you don't like my driving, stay off the sidewalk.)
No doubt the typical lawn mower is inefficient and polluting, but your numbers don't really make the case.
IIRC, ET does die (or at least is very sick [insert ob. Holy Grail joke here]) before returning to full health and ascending to the heavens.
However I don't remember the part where ET comes back and tells Elliot to move out to the desert and get a bunch of wives.
Well, that rules out /. Anyone who spends a lot of time here certainly doesn't get dates all over the place.
What did he do on December 31 of leap years?
*shutter*
The market for little TVs is huge. Just think of all the 'fans' at televised sporting events that are posing for the cameras instead of watching the game. They need to make sure the folks watching at home get their 'good side'.
And have you ever tried to eat, have sex, and watch TV at the same time? Well, it ain't easy. The size and portability of a PDA opens up a range of new possibilities in this area.
Since most of the sites linked in articles end up slashdotted, forcing people to go to mirrors, why not skip the original sites altogether and link right to the mirrors?
"Surrealism in th' Service of Sanity Is No Sin"
Actually, you'd have legal precedent behind your argument, depending on what type of doll you were playing with.
Entertainment Law Digest has the details on a case concerning this distinction. At least for purposes of calculated inport tariffs in the USA, dolls are human. Robots mutants and the like are decidedly not human, and there are not dolls.
Don't you feel better?
Now go play with your dolls, girly-man.
The relationship of advanced calculating machines and tea was documented by this guy.
Dad's having an antacid trip.
That's why the phrase 'mob mentality' stands for a thoughtful gathering of people having a calm discussion until a rational conclusion is agreed upon.
Oh, wait. It doesn't mean that at all. It means soccer riots and looting. Societies DO act as groups. (Hint: that's why they're called societies, not a bunch of individuals that happen to be near each other.)
As my calendar says, "None of us is as dumb as all of us."
Nope, now folks who got As run things, while people who managed only Cs get to wave at the cameras and say things like, "I think anybody who doesn't think I'm smart enough to handle the job is underestimating"
God bless America!
What do you have against Mad Dog?
It's the best damn wine two bucks can buy!
I think it is important to challenge to challenge the axiom, people think. Not because I challenge the idea that people think, but rather we need a process by which we determine whether thought is present. For almost as long as humans have been making tools, we've imagined tools in our own image, whether they be robots that look like us or Turing machines that converse like us.
It is important to keep in mind any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Right now, with current technology, the workings of the brain are magic. We need to be mindful we don't fool ourselves with our own technology into thinking we're seeing magic.
A conversational Turing test is just too easy. Part of the problem is the rules of grammar and conversation are (relatively) easy to map out. Part of the problem is the particular type of conversations we test machines with, cocktail small-talk with strangers. "What's your name?" "Hi, $A, what do you like to do?" "Well, $A, I like $B, too."
Am I a machine? Am I trying to engage a person in a room full of strangers? You can't tell. Now try to replicate a conversation I might have with someone I've known for years--that would be an accomplishment.
A better test than the conversational Turing test is an emotional Turing test. The machine outputs, 'I like baseball,' and you can't tell if it's lying or not--no big deal. The machine outputs, 'Please don't turn me off; I don't want to die.' Or 'When you leave, I am lonely,' and you can't tell if it's lying or not--that's when the rules of the game change.
The day a machine we've created can make a self-referential, emotional statement, AND WE BELEIVE IT, is the day we are in big, big trouble. I think that day will come, an when it does, we will be buying our own snake oil. We are purposely working towards creation of machines that mimic us in as many ways as is possible. They will respond to world as we do, as we think and feel. It doesn't mean these machines think; it doesn't mean they feel.
Personally, if a computer even tells me it's lonely, I'll reprogram it with a sledgehammer.
Well, sure, for you or I.
But for tan-master Hamilton, tis but a healthy glow.
You are an ass. Try this: either you're at work, or you're at the movies. Stop trying to do both. Before you tell me how important your job is and how you NEED to have the phone, some how the human race survived and shit got done before cell phones. Doctors and other emergency personnel managed to keep the human race from killing itself off before cell phones even existed, they should be able to go the theater without their phones now.
Yeah, it really sucks your job keeps you on a leash, but don't punish those around you. So your phone is on vibrate. Do you also sit on the aisle in the last row by the exit?
I think you're right.
In the good ole US of A, chapter 11 is reorganization. This gives a the company protection from creditors to get its house in order. Companies often come out of chapter 11.
Chapter 7 is liquidation. This company, as they say, is no more. This is for companies that are looking for an organized sell-off of assets.
More info at 411bankruptcy.com.
So SonicBlue is not necessarily gone for good. However, if they are selling off their major product lines, I wonder how they plan to achieve profitability.
Howdy,
Most of the comments so far are from the point of view of the displaced worker, but the H1-B program has a lot of pit falls for the foreign nationals who come to the USA.
First, H1-B is a temporary visa. People come here, settle down, buy a home, start a family, become part of the community. But unless they take steps to achieve a more permanent status, such as citizenship or having a green card, they can be kicked out of the country at a moments notice. And with the current political climate, I wouldn't recommend overstaying your visa in the USA right now.
Second, H1-B is sponsored by a company. The worker only has the legal right to work for that company. Don't like your working conditions? Don't think you're getting a fair wage? Fine, then leave your home, family, and friends and leave the country. H1-Bs can't quit a job and look for other work. It's hard not to get settled in and used to a place after a couple years, so there are plenty of stories of people who thought of themselves as permanent residents getting shipped off.
Third, part of the requirements for H1-B is workers get paid prevailing wages. One of the ways companies get around that is bringing in people with little experience. "Sure, the H1-B doesn't get paid as much as the citizen engineer. But one has 1 year experience and the other has 10, so you can't make a direct comparison." But what happens as the years go by as the worker with the visa gets more experienced and worth more in the marketplace? As the disparity between the prevailing rate and the H1-B's salary grows, the company as two choices. They can give the guy a raise. Although if they wanted to do that, they could of kept the original citizen worker that got laid off.
The other option is to ship the guy or gal back to India and replace with a fresh new import. I'm not knocking India, but remember, this worker has spent years in the USA. May be married. May have kids who are citizens. But if that worker is H1-B, and the sponsoring company says buh-bye, then worker is taking a little one-way trip.
Abuses of the H1-B program hurt the native workers here in the USA AND the foreign nationals who come here.
"The H-1B visa allows a professional worker from abroad to be employed by a U.S. employer" with a couple caveats. It requires workers be paid prevailing wages, so it shouldn't be used as a tool to get cheap workers. It's a temporary visa--it's not meant to permanently replace citizen employees.
And most importantly, it's meant to fill positions for which qualified legal workers are not available. If the Rolling Stones want to tour the USA, sure, let 'em in. No one here does quite what they do. However if a company is not only laying off workers and replacing them with folks with H1-Bs, but also not paying them the prevailing wages citizens get, that company is breaking both the spirit an the letter of the law.
In the end this case boils down to who has the better lawyer. Sun has already had similar suits dismissed.
Batman is a bad example because Michael Keaton just is Mr. Mom.
Have you ever read an actual Batman comic book? Batman is one seriously screwed in the head guy. When DC made a role playing game, the #1 rule was heroes don't kill, or even allow a bad guy to die through in action. The ONLY exception was Batman.
He just doesn't give a dam. He's so obsessed with the whole vigilante thing, he doesn't even get worked up over innocent bystanders (greater good and all that).
Mr. Mom just didn't carry the weight of that psychosis for me.
"is donated" should be "are donated"
"dope a dime" should be "drop a dime"
"submit" should be "preview"
I would think the holding of video game controllers and the dialogue about, "Hay, let's play video games" would clue the viewer they're not watching a show about people watching car races. And it's not "Pac-man or Space Invader sounds" or a composition of stereotypical video game sound, it's Pac-Man for the Atari 2600.
I've heard it on at least a dozen different sit coms, for range of game--road racers, FPS, etc. I can't be the only person who's noticed this.