I have no idea.;-) I just figured I'd share it with you so that you could look into it if you wanted. You seemed both knowledgeable and interested in the subject and I'd recollected people talking about pushing memory limits in a prior thread so I hit up the mighty Google and found an example of a new game so that you'd not think I was a total lunatic. I'm only part lunatic.
Define, if you will, "fails as a desktop." Thanks. I'm genuinely curious as to why you think it has failed.
I'll go first:
Success means, to me, that the end user is happy/content with the product. The number of users is irrelevant to me. I have plenty of Windows licenses and the means to buy as many as I could ever possibly want. I don't even dislike Windows. I used it for years while Linux sat mostly idle on a spare partition. I'd boot to it, update it, poke a little, and then return to Windows.
I realized that I was getting mentally fat and lazy and not learning anything new. So, I switched to Linux exclusively. I'm happy with it. I poke and break and learn new things as my days from Solaris/Unix/RedHat return. I enjoy it. I'm both content *and* happy. That's what I call a success. What's your metric for determining success?
It has been 30+ years. I imagine that both Mario and Luigi are a bit bloated by now. FFS, how often do you see old and skinny plumbers? They rescued the princess, settled down, had three shit-for-brains children, plus they drink wine and eat pasta all day. Of course they're friggen bloated! You would be too.
I am not a gamer but I've read people here talking about indies who were still publishing games, commercial games obviously, for the NES and SNES? At least I have a clear recollection of it being discussed and I believe the conclusion was that some of the devs are doing great things still.
I didn't read it all but I skimmed and it's a new game.
Which leads to my question, my real question, are any of the *new* games pushing that limit? I'm guessing you don't know which is why I asked you. Not because I want to challenge you (I'm not the guy who argues with everyone) but because I think it might be something you're interested in learning about. Alas, I'm not a gamer. I just have some things that stick in my memory, wanted or not, and this is one of those things. I kind of clearly recall a few people pushing memory boundaries and doing great things.
Unfortunately, I know nothing more than that. I am not a gamer and haven't been a gamer for many, many years. If you, fine adventurer, so choose then your quest starts here!
Err... Or something like that. At any rate, I just figured you might find it interesting so I was asking and then I decided to Google and, sure enough, I found a new news story about a new game. (That's an awful sentence and I'm proud of it.)
That's actually kind of catchy. It doesn't make me want to be a terrorist, however. I do kind of want to use it as my ring-tone just to see if anyone ever notices but, alas, I don't have my phone on when I'm out and around people.
No beheading, no chucking people off buildings, no shootings... They want to censor that? They can fuck right off and die in a fire. I got their censorship right here! *grabs crotch* Seriously? I read the lyrics and, yeah, they're not that nice but I can probably find Gangster Rap that is encouraging violence on the same level and I don't support censoring that either.
Heh... It was a pretty catchy tune. And now the missus thinks I'm insane 'cause I'm rewindin' that bad boy and listening to it again. Why? Spite. Also, it's kind of catchy.
They could probably have that if they stopped using the ol' kill a bunch of innocents tactic. If they stopped killing people we'd probably leave 'em alone. It's like Israel and Palestinians. "Oh we want peace!!!" Well, stop killing the Israelis or at least stop trying to and they might stop killing you in retribution. If someone's kicking your ass over and over again, you don't antagonize 'em - especially if you started it.
You don't like DRM, eh? What's your Slashdot password? Or you just selectively dislike it?
Do you not recall the history of hating DRM and where it got its origins from? RMS, back at MIT, was bothered by the admins insisting that people use passwords. So, he went around and bugged everyone to get them to either use the same password or, better yet, leave it blank. Passwords are a form of digital rights management. As is CHMOD but that's a topic for another day.
So, how 'bout that password? I suspect you'll say some funny things if you're sincere about that hate for DRM.
And yes, in case you think I'm serious, I'm mostly just poking to see what sort of reply I get. I don't actually want your password and you don't seem to be as 'passionate' as some who decry DRM while, of course, being logged in and protecting their account with a password, which is where the whole thing really got its roots.
LOL It's okay. I was just feeling like ranting for a while. I generally assume you're joking when you're posting wiseass remarks. I even found it funny but I wanted a good excuse to rant and there it was.;-)
I think it only fair that I point out that it is nearly 70 outside here in PCB. The downside is, of course, I'm in Florida. Err... So take that!
But yeah, we do have a bunch of idiots in our party. It would be a bit antithetical to silence them or kick them out. I think the vast majority of people who self-identify as a Libertarian (note capitalization) don't actually understand the platform but are convinced it either means that they can be anarchists and greedy without remorse or limit. Also, they probably noticed some of us have a pro-choice drug use opinion.
I can't help it. Anyone can identify as a Libertarian if they want. It's not like we have a purity test (GOP) or insist on conformity by shaming (DNC). It's also not like I don't understand why some people are confused. I gotta be honest here, some Libertarians are straight up fruitcakes. We've got our share of zealots, idiots, and insane. It's not like we've been very forthcoming about telling people that they're idiots - we kind of wanted the attention and party memberships. "Give us your tired, your poor..." Yeah, we said, "Give us your crazy, degenerates, and imbeciles." In our defense, we were probably quite drunk at the time.
(You're about the only one I trust - there are a couple of others who come close - to give meaningful, insightful, factual, and unbiased comments on these types of stories.) I hope to see more of your comments scattered throughout as I read the thread. (I was busy yesterday or I might have driven down to see if we could get to see the launch and landing. I'm up in the panhandle.)
You're not alone except I'm quite a bit older than you (I suspect). This may sound crass but seeing the first stage land was absolutely fucking awesome! I even admit it gave me a little bit of pride in my country for a few seconds. I know, I know, but allow an old man his feeble dreams. This may be a private company but, America! Fuck yeah!
Seriously, there were people from all over the globe who helped and the science/engineering is done on the shoulders of giants but I still have the urge to say, "Yeah, lemme see *you* do it!"
So, indeed, it brings out the child in at least one or two of us. Heh... Go SpaceX!!! We should go back to all the old threads and see who's said what about this before and how it would never be accomplished and things like that.
Oh, and where's Rei? They're about the only one here that I trust to give good, fair, technical information in their posts. However, I can forgive them if they're pumping their fist and saying "fuck yeah" too.
You don't actually know any Libertarians, do you? *sighs* I am not typing this out again Pope. You know better. At least read the Wikipedia article (even just the first four paragraphs) before I have to type all this shit out all over again. I seriously need to start cutting and pasting.
*I* am a Libertarian and have been for some 40 years or so. I am further to the left of any elected official (probably even Bernie) and the difference is that I used logic and reason to come to my conclusions. Randians aren't Libertarians - they're idiots. Ashamed Republicans who self-identify as Libertarians don't even understand the platform. Anarco-capitalists are not Libertarians, they're just stupid.
Of course, you might call me a Classic Libertarian or even a Socialist Libertarian but you'd fucking KNOW that if you actually knew anything about Libertarianism. Sheesh. I gotta repeat this at least once a week. By the time I type it all out people are like, "Oh, well that's cool. I had no idea." Well, maybe if I'd stop writing novellas and try to fit it on bumper sticker you'd finally understand!
Ah well... I swear to Christ, I'm not typing it out again already this week. You can wait until the weekend for a Political Science lesson. Yes, me... The guy who admits he pays too little in taxes, donates, loves drugs and guns, supports single payer health care, supports a strong social safety net, and evens supports reasonable regulation and governance - is a Libertarian. Now, I do admit, we've got some straight up idiots in our party but they're no more or less idiotic than the ones you have in other parties. They just make the news more often because the bleat they loudest and say the stupidest things which means they get the ratings. Rand Paul is not a Libertarian. He's an idiot. His dad was a lunatic, I kind of liked him.
We need image macros. Grumpy Cat is appropriate here.
All those golden ages that I read about, watch about, and hear about? Yeah... Some of them might have had indoor plumbing but how many had the variety of porn we have right at our fingertips? Eh? Nae I say! Nae! We live in the best of times and I've cam4 to prove it!
Yeah, I can't find the NPR transcript either. (I know it was NPR 'cause that's all I listen to on the radio - it pisses the missus off but I've noticed she's listening.) And no, they're just detecting fluctuations and they appear to have found concentrations and our moon may impact them though they have no (observed) effect on the moon. That was how I understood it, at any rate. I'm still thinking it's unicorn farts. I bet I could wire up some math that looked good and checked out and attribute it to unicorn farts. I wonder if I can get it published?;-) April Fool's Day is coming up.
I've yet to find any compelling reason to stick around at a site that issued such a request. It'd also be a bit hard for me as of late. Lately, I've not used an ad blocker per se. I've just been using uMatrix. uMatix is a bit like NoScript on steroids. I still see them asking me to disable my ad blocker but, alas, I don't have one. I guess, I could enable the scripting and see the site but I'd rather not.
I'm a pretty generous guy. I'll send 'em a few bucks if they want. Just stop bugging me. Err... I'm a generous asshole. I'm unwilling to risk it in many areas and I really don't like ads. I generally visit no more than a dozen sites on a regular basis. Add another couple hundred sites a month into the mix. (I've been pretty darned lazy lately.) Bill me a few hundred bucks every three months and divide it up amongst yourselves and I'll install a handy dandy certificate and let me bypass the ads. I dunno, I'll pay if they figure it out. I'm still not enabling scripting though.;-) I'm pretty selective about that. I ran Windows, for way too long, with no AV at all but periodic scanning just to prove it can be done. I've kind of adjusted to my script-free web. I should note, lots of the web is broken without scripting but I've a huge whitelist now.
They were able to, according to NPR, detect it with something to do with minimal shifts in light with the moon and the theory is we're growing a beard of Dark Matter.
Yes, yes I phrased it just like that for you.:D Also, per your other comment, I'm betting it's Pink Unicorn Farts. What *is* interesting is that they were able to make some predictions and the maths worked out so that they were able to catch this on film. That's a damned good indicator but, alas, we still haven't a clue. It could, I guess, be magnets but we'd have to show that magnets are able to cause the lensing effects that are being seen. I am unaware of any properties that photons have that will be influenced by magnetic force.
Thanks and I enjoyed it as well. I think I understand your perspective but I simply can't agree with it - I've a different set of priorities. It would not be remiss for me to say, "Freedom at *almost* any cost." The person you were originally approaching is, well, probably not qualified to give a sound rebuttal based on logic and reason. In short, you were tearing them up and I just couldn't let that happen. Mostly, I couldn't let that happen because I figured you deserved a real, rational, and viable response.
Anyhow, much kudos for the Foreign Legion. You guys are rather tough. I seem to recall that your basic training is a full year and that becoming fluent in French is mandatory as well as all-weather training. I don't know much about your particular outfit (maybe Cambodia???) but I've read up on the Legion's history. I'm just not fluent in it as it was not a scholarly pursuit but an exercise in entertainment. My father, also a Marine, was stationed in Morocco on an old French base. I'm forgetting the details but I seem to recall the Legion had some action there and in the French Algiers. Possibly against the Boors but my memory is rather fuzzy.
That didn't seem impolite at all. I thought it quite polite and I respectfully disagree with pretty much everything you said. I'll address them in turn.
1. No, that establishes nothing though it does indicate a high probability of competency - the Foreign Legion is a rather respectable outfit but your participation means naught except, perhaps, competency.
2. I not only didn't say such, nor did I imply such. I specifically stated the ownership of property. Not the use of said property to do "whatever I wish." Let's try for honesty.
3. Yeah, that's called fear. You're scared that someone will access your firearms and use them in an inappropriate manner. It's a justifiable fear and you can act on that how you wish with your country.
4. That's well and good that you didn't personally bomb yourself into rubble but your country did and that's why you end up being afraid of things that go boom. It can be summed up as a cultural difference - up to and including the propensity for warring with your neighbors.
5. It's not undermining my argument. It's accepting that there are risks associated with freedoms. The fewer the restrictions you have, the greater the risks. Again, I'm not scared so I accept those risks. I don't deny them. I accept them, knowingly and well aware of the potential consequences.
6. Addiction? Hmm... Would you say you're addicted to your hobbies? I don't fawn or or obsess over firearms. To me they are either a tool or a source of entertainment. I don't think the United States needs more firearm regulation. I think the United States needs to enforce the regulations that they already have. I don't *think* I'm addicted to firearms.
It's not even the greatest enumerated right, in my opinion. If I'm addicted to anything it is liberty - a concept you should understand seeing as you were in the Foreign Legion. I'd be just as pissed if someone were trying to take away freedom of the press, to be secure in one's papers, or even religion - and I'm not even a religious person.
Now, the caricature that you seem to think I am does, unfortunately, exist in my country but they're not the majority. Even us firearm aficionados call them "gun nuts" and they do more harm then good, but they've a right to be who they are. The vast majority of us are safe, secure, knowledgeable, law-abiding, and are extremely unlikely to go shoot up a school, murder someone, or even handle our firearms in an unsafe manner. Knee-jerk responses based on fear are never the solution. Enforce the laws we've got and accept that bad things happen to otherwise good people. That's the price you pay for liberties.
Oh, and allowed to own a firearm and keep it in your home but you can't keep ammunition? Dude... Just buy a big stick at that point. Enacting laws to protect stupid people from themselves just means that knowledgeable people are further restricted for no cause of their own.
I do appreciate that you didn't trot out the tired line of "your murder rate is 3x our rate!" True but three times a small number is still a very small number.
I don't expect we'll ever agree on the matter. I have used both logic and reason to come to my conclusions. I'm not sure how many people would have to die before I changed my views on the subject, to be honest. Ownership of property and the ability to defend oneself are essential freedoms in my opinion. They're not the only ones (though I'd say property ownership is the cornerstone) and, as I said, I'd be just as irked if someone were trying to erode the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, or any other enumerated right.
And, ah, the irony... I spent eight years in the Marines and hold a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics. I actually wrote lots of software until I was able to afford to hire professionals to do it for me. My business was traffic modeling (vehicular and pedestrian) and I sold and retired some eight years ago. I'm a bit older than you, born in 1957. I am a horrible programmer. That's how I ended up on Slashdot.
It's okay, it's an easy mistake to make unless you're a WWII history buff. The Yamato's final journey was a one way trip to Okinawa where it would, effectively, kamikaze itself by beaching itself and using it's giant guns from there. It only had enough fuel for a one way trip.
However, it was spotted before it reached Okinawa and was summarily sunk by Naval aviators. Okinawa was a pretty costly fight, something like 25,000 dead and wounded Marines and Army and something like 110,000 Japanese and 75% of the civilian population *killed.* Had the Yamato (a very large ship) managed to beach itself as intended, it would not have changed the outcome but probably meant more Japanese deaths and a few more deaths on the US side.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (spelling?) was assassinated by way of P-38 lead poisoning or a sudden impact after the plane he was on crashed. Interestingly, he was a Harvard man. He was also aware that attacking Pearl Harbor would give the Japanese only about six months of free time to gather and secure the resources they wanted.
The Yamato-class battleships were the heaviest battleships ever and also fielded the largest naval artillery ever used. The gun and turret weighed about what the average destroyer of the time weighed. They could launch a 1.5 ton missile somewhere close to 25 miles.
So, no, you're not really expected to know that. I'm a bit of a fan of history and documentaries so I know that but it's entertainment and not scholarly pursuits in my case. I'm surprised you even knew about the Yamato.
Exactly what aircraft are these quad-copters a model of? Model has multiple meanings - I wonder how it's defined for this? It's not like they're models of real aircraft. (The ones in question - reading above indicates that the scale models that are traditionally flown might actually be exempt.)
You're just going to have to repeat it a week from now. It will probably be the same exact poster. They've had it explained, they know better, and they repeat it. If they repeat the lie often enough it becomes the truth - they hope. I guess I don't blame them too much. Humans do irrational things when they're scared. It's why we shouldn't let cowards write and enact legislation.
Firearm registries have, historically, led to confiscation. You can defend yourself with a firearm, as you so helpfully claim (even though I have a number of firearms not designed to kill). Using a remote controlled toy is an impractical way to defend yourself from a tyrannical government thus the burden caused by confiscation is lower.
The two are not even remotely similar and your silly statement about guns being designed for one purpose only reeks of ignorance. Can I still kill with a Match-grade pistol? Sure. That's not what it was designed for. Well, it was designed for the wanton slaughter of innocent bits of paper. I own a number of "target" firearms. They're definitely not designed to kill. They're designed to reliably put a round down range in the same spot each and every time - based on the skill of the operator. I have other firearms that are designed, specifically, to kill.
Perhaps you should spend a little while learning about firearms instead of being afraid of them. There's nothing wrong with some education. Hell, I'll be back in Maine in the spring. If you ever get up that way, go ahead and email me. If you're scared of firearms then I'll take a few hours out of my less than busy schedule and help you learn about them and how to operate them safely. Then we'll go out to the range and you can actually try a few out.
You never know, you just might like the hobby. I'm not a professional nor a certified instructor but I did spend my youth participating in both the rifle and pistol teams and I spent a good number of years enlisted in the Marines. I've probably been handling firearms for longer than you've been alive. Seriously, if you're ever in Maine and want to overcome that fear, let me know. I'll even let you do it for the low cost of nothing, I've got enough rounds stored to keep you busy for a lifetime.
I've a nice collection so you can try a bunch of different styles and see what you like. I don't have anything with a bullpup configuration but I have a friend with one and we can even get that over there so you can try it out. I have a properly licensed M22 (Chinese made AK-47/type 56) that is fully automatic. And, if you want to get really fancy, I've a friend who owns an Ontos. If you're nice, he *might* let you touch it.
I know what it's like to be scared. I have an almost-irrational fear of heights. I force myself to overcome that fear by doing things at great height. It's scary as hell. In the US you've got about a 35:1,000,000 chance of being murdered with a firearm. Can it happen? Yes. It's extremely unlikely and the numbers have been trending down for quite a while now. Liberty does come with risks, after all. With work, you can overcome your fear.
So, again, the two are not even remotely similar. If a tyrannical government confiscates you remote controlled toys then it sucks. Fortunately, you've got a firearm and can stop them from taking your toys. And that's why we don't want a firearm registry. (Even though they know about pretty much every firearm I own, I gave up that right when I purchased a fully-automatic firearm. They kind of want to know where *that* is located at.)
Slashdot Mirror
I have no idea. ;-) I just figured I'd share it with you so that you could look into it if you wanted. You seemed both knowledgeable and interested in the subject and I'd recollected people talking about pushing memory limits in a prior thread so I hit up the mighty Google and found an example of a new game so that you'd not think I was a total lunatic. I'm only part lunatic.
Define, if you will, "fails as a desktop." Thanks. I'm genuinely curious as to why you think it has failed.
I'll go first:
Success means, to me, that the end user is happy/content with the product. The number of users is irrelevant to me. I have plenty of Windows licenses and the means to buy as many as I could ever possibly want. I don't even dislike Windows. I used it for years while Linux sat mostly idle on a spare partition. I'd boot to it, update it, poke a little, and then return to Windows.
I realized that I was getting mentally fat and lazy and not learning anything new. So, I switched to Linux exclusively. I'm happy with it. I poke and break and learn new things as my days from Solaris/Unix/RedHat return. I enjoy it. I'm both content *and* happy. That's what I call a success. What's your metric for determining success?
It has been 30+ years. I imagine that both Mario and Luigi are a bit bloated by now. FFS, how often do you see old and skinny plumbers? They rescued the princess, settled down, had three shit-for-brains children, plus they drink wine and eat pasta all day. Of course they're friggen bloated! You would be too.
I am not a gamer but I've read people here talking about indies who were still publishing games, commercial games obviously, for the NES and SNES? At least I have a clear recollection of it being discussed and I believe the conclusion was that some of the devs are doing great things still.
Err... So, I checked Google. This news article is 4 hours old:
http://www.popularmechanics.co...
I didn't read it all but I skimmed and it's a new game.
Which leads to my question, my real question, are any of the *new* games pushing that limit? I'm guessing you don't know which is why I asked you. Not because I want to challenge you (I'm not the guy who argues with everyone) but because I think it might be something you're interested in learning about. Alas, I'm not a gamer. I just have some things that stick in my memory, wanted or not, and this is one of those things. I kind of clearly recall a few people pushing memory boundaries and doing great things.
Unfortunately, I know nothing more than that. I am not a gamer and haven't been a gamer for many, many years. If you, fine adventurer, so choose then your quest starts here!
Err... Or something like that. At any rate, I just figured you might find it interesting so I was asking and then I decided to Google and, sure enough, I found a new news story about a new game. (That's an awful sentence and I'm proud of it.)
There was a linked video above. It had a transcript - looked to be machine generated. You ready for this?
we don't afraid of anybody
ISIS is anon and they're trolling us!
That's actually kind of catchy. It doesn't make me want to be a terrorist, however. I do kind of want to use it as my ring-tone just to see if anyone ever notices but, alas, I don't have my phone on when I'm out and around people.
No beheading, no chucking people off buildings, no shootings... They want to censor that? They can fuck right off and die in a fire. I got their censorship right here! *grabs crotch* Seriously? I read the lyrics and, yeah, they're not that nice but I can probably find Gangster Rap that is encouraging violence on the same level and I don't support censoring that either.
Heh... It was a pretty catchy tune. And now the missus thinks I'm insane 'cause I'm rewindin' that bad boy and listening to it again. Why? Spite. Also, it's kind of catchy.
They could probably have that if they stopped using the ol' kill a bunch of innocents tactic. If they stopped killing people we'd probably leave 'em alone. It's like Israel and Palestinians. "Oh we want peace!!!" Well, stop killing the Israelis or at least stop trying to and they might stop killing you in retribution. If someone's kicking your ass over and over again, you don't antagonize 'em - especially if you started it.
Now tell me, why aren't the things on your list happening multiple times every day all over cities across the Western world?
Three words, really.
Chuck Fucking Norris!
That's why!
You don't like DRM, eh? What's your Slashdot password? Or you just selectively dislike it?
Do you not recall the history of hating DRM and where it got its origins from? RMS, back at MIT, was bothered by the admins insisting that people use passwords. So, he went around and bugged everyone to get them to either use the same password or, better yet, leave it blank. Passwords are a form of digital rights management. As is CHMOD but that's a topic for another day.
So, how 'bout that password? I suspect you'll say some funny things if you're sincere about that hate for DRM.
And yes, in case you think I'm serious, I'm mostly just poking to see what sort of reply I get. I don't actually want your password and you don't seem to be as 'passionate' as some who decry DRM while, of course, being logged in and protecting their account with a password, which is where the whole thing really got its roots.
LOL It's okay. I was just feeling like ranting for a while. I generally assume you're joking when you're posting wiseass remarks. I even found it funny but I wanted a good excuse to rant and there it was. ;-)
I think it only fair that I point out that it is nearly 70 outside here in PCB. The downside is, of course, I'm in Florida. Err... So take that!
But yeah, we do have a bunch of idiots in our party. It would be a bit antithetical to silence them or kick them out. I think the vast majority of people who self-identify as a Libertarian (note capitalization) don't actually understand the platform but are convinced it either means that they can be anarchists and greedy without remorse or limit. Also, they probably noticed some of us have a pro-choice drug use opinion.
I can't help it. Anyone can identify as a Libertarian if they want. It's not like we have a purity test (GOP) or insist on conformity by shaming (DNC). It's also not like I don't understand why some people are confused. I gotta be honest here, some Libertarians are straight up fruitcakes. We've got our share of zealots, idiots, and insane. It's not like we've been very forthcoming about telling people that they're idiots - we kind of wanted the attention and party memberships. "Give us your tired, your poor..." Yeah, we said, "Give us your crazy, degenerates, and imbeciles." In our defense, we were probably quite drunk at the time.
Hah! I knew I'd find your posts in this thread. LOL I mentioned it up above.
http://science.slashdot.org/co...
(You're about the only one I trust - there are a couple of others who come close - to give meaningful, insightful, factual, and unbiased comments on these types of stories.) I hope to see more of your comments scattered throughout as I read the thread. (I was busy yesterday or I might have driven down to see if we could get to see the launch and landing. I'm up in the panhandle.)
You're not alone except I'm quite a bit older than you (I suspect). This may sound crass but seeing the first stage land was absolutely fucking awesome! I even admit it gave me a little bit of pride in my country for a few seconds. I know, I know, but allow an old man his feeble dreams. This may be a private company but, America! Fuck yeah!
Seriously, there were people from all over the globe who helped and the science/engineering is done on the shoulders of giants but I still have the urge to say, "Yeah, lemme see *you* do it!"
So, indeed, it brings out the child in at least one or two of us. Heh... Go SpaceX!!! We should go back to all the old threads and see who's said what about this before and how it would never be accomplished and things like that.
Oh, and where's Rei? They're about the only one here that I trust to give good, fair, technical information in their posts. However, I can forgive them if they're pumping their fist and saying "fuck yeah" too.
And what of a Philosopher of Mathematics then, hmm? The highest order of science, indeed. ;-)
You don't actually know any Libertarians, do you? *sighs* I am not typing this out again Pope. You know better. At least read the Wikipedia article (even just the first four paragraphs) before I have to type all this shit out all over again. I seriously need to start cutting and pasting.
*I* am a Libertarian and have been for some 40 years or so. I am further to the left of any elected official (probably even Bernie) and the difference is that I used logic and reason to come to my conclusions. Randians aren't Libertarians - they're idiots. Ashamed Republicans who self-identify as Libertarians don't even understand the platform. Anarco-capitalists are not Libertarians, they're just stupid.
Of course, you might call me a Classic Libertarian or even a Socialist Libertarian but you'd fucking KNOW that if you actually knew anything about Libertarianism. Sheesh. I gotta repeat this at least once a week. By the time I type it all out people are like, "Oh, well that's cool. I had no idea." Well, maybe if I'd stop writing novellas and try to fit it on bumper sticker you'd finally understand!
Ah well... I swear to Christ, I'm not typing it out again already this week. You can wait until the weekend for a Political Science lesson. Yes, me... The guy who admits he pays too little in taxes, donates, loves drugs and guns, supports single payer health care, supports a strong social safety net, and evens supports reasonable regulation and governance - is a Libertarian. Now, I do admit, we've got some straight up idiots in our party but they're no more or less idiotic than the ones you have in other parties. They just make the news more often because the bleat they loudest and say the stupidest things which means they get the ratings. Rand Paul is not a Libertarian. He's an idiot. His dad was a lunatic, I kind of liked him.
We need image macros. Grumpy Cat is appropriate here.
All those golden ages that I read about, watch about, and hear about? Yeah... Some of them might have had indoor plumbing but how many had the variety of porn we have right at our fingertips? Eh? Nae I say! Nae! We live in the best of times and I've cam4 to prove it!
Yeah, I can't find the NPR transcript either. (I know it was NPR 'cause that's all I listen to on the radio - it pisses the missus off but I've noticed she's listening.) And no, they're just detecting fluctuations and they appear to have found concentrations and our moon may impact them though they have no (observed) effect on the moon. That was how I understood it, at any rate. I'm still thinking it's unicorn farts. I bet I could wire up some math that looked good and checked out and attribute it to unicorn farts. I wonder if I can get it published? ;-) April Fool's Day is coming up.
Hmm... Name checks out!
I've yet to find any compelling reason to stick around at a site that issued such a request. It'd also be a bit hard for me as of late. Lately, I've not used an ad blocker per se. I've just been using uMatrix. uMatix is a bit like NoScript on steroids. I still see them asking me to disable my ad blocker but, alas, I don't have one. I guess, I could enable the scripting and see the site but I'd rather not.
I'm a pretty generous guy. I'll send 'em a few bucks if they want. Just stop bugging me. Err... I'm a generous asshole. I'm unwilling to risk it in many areas and I really don't like ads. I generally visit no more than a dozen sites on a regular basis. Add another couple hundred sites a month into the mix. (I've been pretty darned lazy lately.) Bill me a few hundred bucks every three months and divide it up amongst yourselves and I'll install a handy dandy certificate and let me bypass the ads. I dunno, I'll pay if they figure it out. I'm still not enabling scripting though. ;-) I'm pretty selective about that. I ran Windows, for way too long, with no AV at all but periodic scanning just to prove it can be done. I've kind of adjusted to my script-free web. I should note, lots of the web is broken without scripting but I've a huge whitelist now.
Here's the first written piece I came across:
http://news.discovery.com/spac...
They were able to, according to NPR, detect it with something to do with minimal shifts in light with the moon and the theory is we're growing a beard of Dark Matter.
Yes, yes I phrased it just like that for you. :D Also, per your other comment, I'm betting it's Pink Unicorn Farts. What *is* interesting is that they were able to make some predictions and the maths worked out so that they were able to catch this on film. That's a damned good indicator but, alas, we still haven't a clue. It could, I guess, be magnets but we'd have to show that magnets are able to cause the lensing effects that are being seen. I am unaware of any properties that photons have that will be influenced by magnetic force.
Thanks and I enjoyed it as well. I think I understand your perspective but I simply can't agree with it - I've a different set of priorities. It would not be remiss for me to say, "Freedom at *almost* any cost." The person you were originally approaching is, well, probably not qualified to give a sound rebuttal based on logic and reason. In short, you were tearing them up and I just couldn't let that happen. Mostly, I couldn't let that happen because I figured you deserved a real, rational, and viable response.
Anyhow, much kudos for the Foreign Legion. You guys are rather tough. I seem to recall that your basic training is a full year and that becoming fluent in French is mandatory as well as all-weather training. I don't know much about your particular outfit (maybe Cambodia???) but I've read up on the Legion's history. I'm just not fluent in it as it was not a scholarly pursuit but an exercise in entertainment. My father, also a Marine, was stationed in Morocco on an old French base. I'm forgetting the details but I seem to recall the Legion had some action there and in the French Algiers. Possibly against the Boors but my memory is rather fuzzy.
That didn't seem impolite at all. I thought it quite polite and I respectfully disagree with pretty much everything you said. I'll address them in turn.
1. No, that establishes nothing though it does indicate a high probability of competency - the Foreign Legion is a rather respectable outfit but your participation means naught except, perhaps, competency.
2. I not only didn't say such, nor did I imply such. I specifically stated the ownership of property. Not the use of said property to do "whatever I wish." Let's try for honesty.
3. Yeah, that's called fear. You're scared that someone will access your firearms and use them in an inappropriate manner. It's a justifiable fear and you can act on that how you wish with your country.
4. That's well and good that you didn't personally bomb yourself into rubble but your country did and that's why you end up being afraid of things that go boom. It can be summed up as a cultural difference - up to and including the propensity for warring with your neighbors.
5. It's not undermining my argument. It's accepting that there are risks associated with freedoms. The fewer the restrictions you have, the greater the risks. Again, I'm not scared so I accept those risks. I don't deny them. I accept them, knowingly and well aware of the potential consequences.
6. Addiction? Hmm... Would you say you're addicted to your hobbies? I don't fawn or or obsess over firearms. To me they are either a tool or a source of entertainment. I don't think the United States needs more firearm regulation. I think the United States needs to enforce the regulations that they already have. I don't *think* I'm addicted to firearms.
It's not even the greatest enumerated right, in my opinion. If I'm addicted to anything it is liberty - a concept you should understand seeing as you were in the Foreign Legion. I'd be just as pissed if someone were trying to take away freedom of the press, to be secure in one's papers, or even religion - and I'm not even a religious person.
Now, the caricature that you seem to think I am does, unfortunately, exist in my country but they're not the majority. Even us firearm aficionados call them "gun nuts" and they do more harm then good, but they've a right to be who they are. The vast majority of us are safe, secure, knowledgeable, law-abiding, and are extremely unlikely to go shoot up a school, murder someone, or even handle our firearms in an unsafe manner. Knee-jerk responses based on fear are never the solution. Enforce the laws we've got and accept that bad things happen to otherwise good people. That's the price you pay for liberties.
Oh, and allowed to own a firearm and keep it in your home but you can't keep ammunition? Dude... Just buy a big stick at that point. Enacting laws to protect stupid people from themselves just means that knowledgeable people are further restricted for no cause of their own.
I do appreciate that you didn't trot out the tired line of "your murder rate is 3x our rate!" True but three times a small number is still a very small number.
I don't expect we'll ever agree on the matter. I have used both logic and reason to come to my conclusions. I'm not sure how many people would have to die before I changed my views on the subject, to be honest. Ownership of property and the ability to defend oneself are essential freedoms in my opinion. They're not the only ones (though I'd say property ownership is the cornerstone) and, as I said, I'd be just as irked if someone were trying to erode the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, or any other enumerated right.
And, ah, the irony... I spent eight years in the Marines and hold a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics. I actually wrote lots of software until I was able to afford to hire professionals to do it for me. My business was traffic modeling (vehicular and pedestrian) and I sold and retired some eight years ago. I'm a bit older than you, born in 1957. I am a horrible programmer. That's how I ended up on Slashdot.
It's okay, it's an easy mistake to make unless you're a WWII history buff. The Yamato's final journey was a one way trip to Okinawa where it would, effectively, kamikaze itself by beaching itself and using it's giant guns from there. It only had enough fuel for a one way trip.
However, it was spotted before it reached Okinawa and was summarily sunk by Naval aviators. Okinawa was a pretty costly fight, something like 25,000 dead and wounded Marines and Army and something like 110,000 Japanese and 75% of the civilian population *killed.* Had the Yamato (a very large ship) managed to beach itself as intended, it would not have changed the outcome but probably meant more Japanese deaths and a few more deaths on the US side.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (spelling?) was assassinated by way of P-38 lead poisoning or a sudden impact after the plane he was on crashed. Interestingly, he was a Harvard man. He was also aware that attacking Pearl Harbor would give the Japanese only about six months of free time to gather and secure the resources they wanted.
The Yamato-class battleships were the heaviest battleships ever and also fielded the largest naval artillery ever used. The gun and turret weighed about what the average destroyer of the time weighed. They could launch a 1.5 ton missile somewhere close to 25 miles.
So, no, you're not really expected to know that. I'm a bit of a fan of history and documentaries so I know that but it's entertainment and not scholarly pursuits in my case. I'm surprised you even knew about the Yamato.
Hmm... So, yeah... You have me thinking...
Exactly what aircraft are these quad-copters a model of? Model has multiple meanings - I wonder how it's defined for this? It's not like they're models of real aircraft. (The ones in question - reading above indicates that the scale models that are traditionally flown might actually be exempt.)
You're just going to have to repeat it a week from now. It will probably be the same exact poster. They've had it explained, they know better, and they repeat it. If they repeat the lie often enough it becomes the truth - they hope. I guess I don't blame them too much. Humans do irrational things when they're scared. It's why we shouldn't let cowards write and enact legislation.
Firearm registries have, historically, led to confiscation. You can defend yourself with a firearm, as you so helpfully claim (even though I have a number of firearms not designed to kill). Using a remote controlled toy is an impractical way to defend yourself from a tyrannical government thus the burden caused by confiscation is lower.
The two are not even remotely similar and your silly statement about guns being designed for one purpose only reeks of ignorance. Can I still kill with a Match-grade pistol? Sure. That's not what it was designed for. Well, it was designed for the wanton slaughter of innocent bits of paper. I own a number of "target" firearms. They're definitely not designed to kill. They're designed to reliably put a round down range in the same spot each and every time - based on the skill of the operator. I have other firearms that are designed, specifically, to kill.
Perhaps you should spend a little while learning about firearms instead of being afraid of them. There's nothing wrong with some education. Hell, I'll be back in Maine in the spring. If you ever get up that way, go ahead and email me. If you're scared of firearms then I'll take a few hours out of my less than busy schedule and help you learn about them and how to operate them safely. Then we'll go out to the range and you can actually try a few out.
You never know, you just might like the hobby. I'm not a professional nor a certified instructor but I did spend my youth participating in both the rifle and pistol teams and I spent a good number of years enlisted in the Marines. I've probably been handling firearms for longer than you've been alive. Seriously, if you're ever in Maine and want to overcome that fear, let me know. I'll even let you do it for the low cost of nothing, I've got enough rounds stored to keep you busy for a lifetime.
I've a nice collection so you can try a bunch of different styles and see what you like. I don't have anything with a bullpup configuration but I have a friend with one and we can even get that over there so you can try it out. I have a properly licensed M22 (Chinese made AK-47/type 56) that is fully automatic. And, if you want to get really fancy, I've a friend who owns an Ontos. If you're nice, he *might* let you touch it.
I know what it's like to be scared. I have an almost-irrational fear of heights. I force myself to overcome that fear by doing things at great height. It's scary as hell. In the US you've got about a 35:1,000,000 chance of being murdered with a firearm. Can it happen? Yes. It's extremely unlikely and the numbers have been trending down for quite a while now. Liberty does come with risks, after all. With work, you can overcome your fear.
So, again, the two are not even remotely similar. If a tyrannical government confiscates you remote controlled toys then it sucks. Fortunately, you've got a firearm and can stop them from taking your toys. And that's why we don't want a firearm registry. (Even though they know about pretty much every firearm I own, I gave up that right when I purchased a fully-automatic firearm. They kind of want to know where *that* is located at.)