Slashdot Mirror


User: globaljustin

globaljustin's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
2,844
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 2,844

  1. Six years ago, Billboard started counting YouTube plays

    Interesting. Sure we can surmise they are just looking to boost Billboards own conglomerate usage stats, but it seems like in this case a rising tide raises all boats.

    I'm happy to see artists getting credit for things like this. Somewhere, sometime, someone in Japan thought their song was good and used it in their art. That deserves recognition if technically possible.

  2. tech hype nonsense on Bill and Melinda Gates: Textbooks Are Becoming Obsolete · · Score: 1

    Even the best text can't figure out which concepts you understand and which ones you need more help with. It certainly can't tell your teacher how well you grasped last night's assigned reading. But now, thanks to software, the standalone textbook is becoming a thing of the past

    Words and pictures. It's all words and pictures a book is just a delivery system. Computers are another.

    It's beyond foolish to say "[insert kind of book] is dying"...it's still content.

    Books are a persistent, non digital, non-powered storage medium for information.

    Computers are another.

    Yes, computers can show the user several pictures quickly such that it appears to be moving (video) but the existence of video doesn't negate the existence or render useless the data not contained in video format.

    This is just micro$oft trying to enter a new market through charitable donations

  3. China or India are not possible on NASA's Plans To Build A Human Settlement on The Moon (discovermagazine.com) · · Score: 1

    I'm shocked at the inaccuracy of your comment.

    First, the US is without question the most advanced spacefaring nation. Our probes are Roving Mars now, exploring asteroids, and of course New Horizons and let's not forget Voyager. Russia is obviously a close #2.

    Our discussion has to start with that understanding.

    I doubt NASA will ever get decent funding

    NASA obviously gets "decent" funding....funding enough to do the most advanced spacefaring in human history.

    The idea that NASA can't get funding to do a project is clearly contradicted by several successful examples currently exploring the universe.

    My guess is China or possibly India will have a better chance of accomplishing that than the US

    China is a polluted cesspool with a population crisis and it is broke. It has no resources like intellectual base, creativity, or experience to do this. The country is a constant disaster and all the Chinese government can do is keep things from imploding day to day.

    Same with India...only worse. I'll grant you that over time, India will eclipse China due to the deterious effects of communism on a populace. India at least values free thinking.

    Plus, China and India have no experience, compared to the US's 60 years of sending people and machines to other worlds

  4. Bluetooth isn't a replacement on Apple To Unveil High-End AirPods, Over-Ear Headphones For 2019 (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 2

    Just came here to say that "just get bluetooth" isn't a solution and that (though better than M$) Apple is behaving foolishly with their whole "the future has no ports!" design philosophy.

    Apple should've never gotten rid of the 1/8 jack. It's a universal audio AND data port that is backwards compatible with tech 100 years old. Samsung has proven you can make a waterproof phone with a 1/8 jack. /rant

  5. Hype and PR, apparently on California May Soon Allow Passengers In Driverless Cars (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    Looks like you've bought into the hype.

    We can fully be "on the forefront of a developing technology" and not buy into hype and bullshit...both can exist simultaneously.

    The tech isn't ready and won't be for awhile...companies are scrambling to be the first on the road and they really don't care about anything else.

  6. I use pip install all the time...well pip3 install

    pypl is great but they could increase their security at bit and still keep the same level of functionality. This malware is kind of obvious, or at least it seems like it should be obvious to security people.

    I remember thinking on more than a few occasions that pypl could be easily misused by beginners.

  7. ...people will be like, "Out of nowhere, Google suddenly has financial trouble"

    This kind of program is an example of why.

    How much money that could have gone to R&D or fiber infrastructure investment has gone into marketing for Google?

    I mean, Microsoft is one of the most anti-user companies of all time and they're still around (and actually improving, though they haven't changed their core anti-user villainy). Oracle still gets huge contracts.

    But yeah, this is the kind of thing that is a red flag for a company. Rough times ahead.

  8. Enmerkar is building a tower/temple to the goddess Inana at Eridu. He asks her for permission to collect a tribute from Aratta. The messenger is told to threaten to destroy Aratta and disperse the people if they don't pay up, and to chant a song asking Enki to fix the languages - "change the speech in their mouths, as many as he had placed there".

    Right but this isn't like the Tower of Babel story at all.

    There is a structure, which may or may not be a tower. Languages and a dispersion of a group of people are mentioned.

    But that's it. The Tower of Babel was an already built and well known tower. There was no tribute involved, no threat of destruction.

    I guess I'm hung up on your phrase, "Another version of..."

    The test for "versionality" can't be this broad. I don't see this story a actually related to the Tower of Babel story at all. They share elements, maybe from the same source in some sense, but if this is all it takes to be "another version of..." then so many texts meet that test it's absurd.

  9. Re:I played the demo on Ask Slashdot: What Modern PC Games Would You Recommend For An Old School Gamer? · · Score: 1

    I can't subscribe to that jibber-jabber. My dad played C64 games when I was a kid then PC games well in to his 60's.
    I think the major difference is as a kid you can afford the time and energy to just think of one thing, not 1000 other things like job, money, kids, why does my neck hurt, blah.

    This is exactly right.

    People are too quick to play armchair neuroscientist these days b/c of pop science and TED talks.

  10. Re:game within a game within a game on Ask Slashdot: What Modern PC Games Would You Recommend For An Old School Gamer? · · Score: 1

    Not everyone can handle it. That's what makes it fun.

    "handle"?

    OP is saying the game is both not fun to play and full of obtuse asshats. That's not something you "handle" it's something a rational person avoids.

    This isn't like SEAL training where only the best can "handle" it.

    EVE Online is more like CrossFit for nerds with poor social skills.

    This is all imho of course. It's gaming and if people want to play it fine. But as far as an honest summary when making a recommendation, OP is basically right on.

  11. all articles need same level of journalism on Medium Will Now Pay Writers Based On How Many 'Claps' They Get (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    Claps are basically Medium's equivalent of a Like

    It's not like pay-per-click or 'like' or whatever hasn't been tried before. Probably hundreds have tried it.

    Journalism. That's the "problem" in a sense. If you want actual journalism, you need an article that gets 2000 clicks to have the same level of journalistic quality as one that gets 20000000.

    Journalism all needs to be of a minimum level of quality. In a free market economy there will be a fair market price for that minimum level.

    Unless the pay-per-clap thing is a bonus *beyond* fair market pay, or they set the rates to equal fair market pay intentionally, this will fail as inevitably writers will only do stories that will get a minimum number of clicks. Otherwise it won't be worth their time.

  12. The joke's on me here in a sense. You're trolling. You most likely aren't honestly participating in this discussion. Your response uses such faulty logic that is enough evidence of trolling on the face of it. Your sig just kind of confirms what your logic hints at. Anyway, said all that to say you are probably trolling.

    But for posterity I will go ahead and analyze your response:

    Oh? Pay more and a crowd of new people will instantly become journeyman bricklayers, having completed training and years of apprenticeship?

    This logical trickery is easy to spot. I didn't say anything of the sort. I affirmed OP's point that the problem is many employers who can afford to pay a proper wage do not, and that there is no "labor shortage" just a lack of employers willing to pay a fair wage.

    I didn't say some kind of thing would appear or anything of that nature.

    If it paid a fair wage it would attract qualified bricklayers, many of whom are doing something in construction already. Further, it would attract current construction workers to extend their existing skills.

    You're creating a false binary, really...as if there are only two options: 1. People with absolutely zero construction experience, and 2. "journeyman bricklayers, having completed training and years of apprenticeship"

    That's ridiculous. There are all kinds of workers in between, many who could be trained in a matter of days.

    That's one flaw in your point analyzed deeply. Your point has many flaws, but I'm only going to go in-depth a few.

    You have a shallow and simple-minded view of things, I'd say.

    This is just more evidence you are probably trolling. There's no point to saying this, especially in reply to someone who was simply affirming what someone else wrote.

    So there. I guess if future generations get bored enough to read this thread, at least they'll...well I don't even know at this point.

  13. Re:"a painful labour shortage"?! Bollocks! on Bricklaying Robots and Exoskeletons Are the Future of the Construction Industry (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    It's a shortage of employers willing to pay the wage required to properly compensate people for doing the work. Pay a proper wage and this "labor shortage" will disappear immediately.

    100% correct

  14. We called them what they are: control freaks

    yep, that's them

  15. Instead of avoiding the allergen, the treatment is designed to reprogram the immune system's response to peanuts and eventually develop a tolerance.

    I can't help but think part of the whole 'peanut allergy' thing has to do with helicopter parents who micromanage their child's comfort beyond all rationality.

    For parents like this (helicopter parents isn't the best term, can't think of a better one now), a doctor telling them their kid *cannot* have a single peanut is almost like crack to them. It gives them an outlet for their OCD: Guard child against deadly peanuts.

    To these parents, the idea of sensitizing their kid over time is anathema..."I will not slowly poison my child!" I guess the only way to really see what I mean is to hop over to some of those "parenting" message boards about peanut allergy...

  16. Re:It's rare and the universe is big on Astrophysicist Believes Technologically-Advanced Species Extinguish Themselves (sciencedaily.com) · · Score: 1

    Pardon my formatting error....post should read as such:

    You're trying to prove a negative which you can't do.

    Not trying to prove a negative.

    My side doesn't need to prove anything because...*The burden of proof is on those claiming intelligent life exists*

    You have to understand this for us to have any hope of rational discussion.

    The status quo is that we have absolutely no evidence, for that reason, the burden of proof is on those who say "Most likely there are many intelligent civilizations".

    smh...I blame Star Wars and GOP defunded education system for this...it's not entirely your fault if you can't grasp this...

  17. Re:It's rare and the universe is big on Astrophysicist Believes Technologically-Advanced Species Extinguish Themselves (sciencedaily.com) · · Score: 1

    You're trying to prove a negative which you can't do.

    Not trying to prove a negative.

    My side doesn't need to prove anything because...*The burden of proof is on those claiming intelligent life exists*

    You have to understand this for us to have any hope of rational discussion.

    The status quo is that we have absolutely no evidence, for that reason, the burden of proof is on those who say "Most likely there are many intelligent civilizations".

    smh...I blame Star Wars and GOP defunded education system for this...it's not entirely your fault if you can't grasp this...

  18. Re:It's rare and the universe is big on Astrophysicist Believes Technologically-Advanced Species Extinguish Themselves (sciencedaily.com) · · Score: 1

    Because people of science require evidence, and right now the information we have is piss poor.

    Nope, wrong. Completely wrong.

    The burden of proof is on people saying life exists elsewhere, not the other way around hotshot.

  19. Re:It's rare and the universe is big on Astrophysicist Believes Technologically-Advanced Species Extinguish Themselves (sciencedaily.com) · · Score: 1

    Either A: they are not there; or B: they are there, but the universe is so big we'll just never encounter them. Those two ideas are opposite of each other.

    Not from an observer's stand point. We will never be able to visit all of the universe, so it's irrational to think someone could "prove" no other intelliegent life exists by direct observation.

    Your problem is twofold:

    1. you are not truly taking into account the size of the universe

    2. you are mistaking where the burden of proof lies

  20. Re:It's rare and the universe is big on Astrophysicist Believes Technologically-Advanced Species Extinguish Themselves (sciencedaily.com) · · Score: 1

    The evidence for no other intelligent life is that we haven't seen any, and there are numerous plausible scenarios in which we would have detected other intelligent life. There's also plausible scenarios where they're out there and we haven't detected them for a variety of reasons. I know of no hypotheses treated as fact with such little evidence.

    everything you said there is wrong

    First, the burden of proof is on the claim that intelligent life *does* exist not the other way around.

    2nd, ever heard of General Relativity?

    Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity predicted that the gravity of stars could brighten and bend the light coming from other stars like a magnifying lens. Yet this is something Einstein did not think we could ever see due to the great distance between stars, writing in a 1936 article that "there is no hope of observing this phenomenon directly."

    Yet, as science persists, this phenomenon, called “gravitational microlensing”, has now been observed by an international team of researchers

    Source

    We have several Physics theories that we treat as fact but haven't proven with direct observation, like General Relativity until this year.

    I don't think you are aware enough of the facts of this topic to converse intelligently, so I'm done here.

  21. Re:It's rare and the universe is big on Astrophysicist Believes Technologically-Advanced Species Extinguish Themselves (sciencedaily.com) · · Score: 1

    I don't see any evidence that humanity progresses faster through war.

    Just because some technology was advanced by war necessity doesn't mean it's the only or best way at all.

  22. Re:It's rare and the universe is big on Astrophysicist Believes Technologically-Advanced Species Extinguish Themselves (sciencedaily.com) · · Score: 1

    They don't accept it because it's just a hypothesis, and although it is reasonable, it is just one of many hypotheses that explain the current evidence.

    In the absence of further evidence, there will be no way to tell which of the hypotheses is correct, and choosing one prematurely isn't helpful.

    Good feedback.

    In response I'd say let's compare to Physics theories that are "just a hypothesis" that have weaker evidence yet treated as fact. I think that *comparatively* we have more reason to think "they aren't there" because life is rare in a large universe than we have evidence for many physics theories that are "Just hypothesis" but are generally accepted as true.

  23. Re:It's rare and the universe is big on Astrophysicist Believes Technologically-Advanced Species Extinguish Themselves (sciencedaily.com) · · Score: 1

    If humans managed all that in some 300 years, you'd almost expect they would be broadly interstellar in the next 1000.

    I *think* the author touched on this in the text (maybe in one of the 'in universe' scientific papers in the index?).

    I think the jump to a new star is huge, but the jump to another galaxy is just sort of beyond anything we can rationally predict given the advances in tech to do such a thing. We'd have to have some kind of 'time ship' like in ST:Voyager to visit another galaxy and report anything back in any useful manner. That or some kind of wormhole we make similar to Interstellar...which would require producing energy on scales beyond what we could even predict.

    It's always possible our minds somehow evolve to manipulate energy by pure thought (and something quantum-related idk) but again that's so far-fetched we couldn't even put that in a prediciton model.

  24. Re:bad solution to real problem on The 2017 Hugo Awards (thehugoawards.org) · · Score: 1

    Yeah the whole "slate" thing was egregious and embarassing to behold such pettiness.

  25. Re:bad solution to real problem on The 2017 Hugo Awards (thehugoawards.org) · · Score: 1

    Almost like the people doing the bad/sad puppies thing were just as bad as the initial sexism, and then the overcorrection towards SJ type subjects

    agree.

    "You're very clever, hugo awards, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's overcorrections all the way down!"