Comment Re:Fuck ads (Score 1) 660
There might be a good point in there, but it's blinded by your arrogant entitled attitude.
Are Women Getting More Beautiful? 834
FelxH writes "Scientists have found that evolution is driving women to become ever more beautiful, while men remain as aesthetically unappealing as their caveman ancestors.
The researchers have found beautiful women have more children than their plainer counterparts and that a higher proportion of those children are female. Those daughters, once adult, also tend to be attractive and so repeat the pattern." I just thought my
standards were changing as I got older, but it turns out it's just science!
California Continues To Push For Violent Game Legislation 167
Back in February, the US Court of Appeals shot down a California law that banned the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. Shortly thereafter, State Senator Leland Yee petitioned the US Supreme Court to review the case. Now, along with California's Psychiatric and Psychological Associations, Yee has filed an amicus curiae brief with Court that elaborates on the reasoning behind the law. Within the brief (PDF) are some interesting quotes: "Parents can read a book, watch a movie or listen to a CD to discern if it is appropriate for their child. These violent video games, on the other hand, can contain up to 800 hours of footage with the most atrocious content often reserved for the highest levels and can be accessed only by advanced players after hours upon hours of progressive mastery. ... Notably, extended play has been observed to depress activity in the frontal cortex of the brain which controls executive thought and function, produces intentionality and the ability to plan sequences of action, and is the seat of self-reflection, discipline and self-control." The video game industry has filed its own amicus brief to dispute Yee's claims.
Pickens Calls Off Massive Wind Farm In Texas 414
schwit1 writes with this excerpt from an AP report:
"Plans for the world's largest wind farm in the Texas Panhandle have been scrapped, energy baron T. Boone Pickens said Tuesday, and he's looking for a home for 687 giant wind turbines. Pickens has already ordered the turbines, which can stand 400 feet tall — taller than most 30-story buildings. 'When I start receiving those turbines, I've got to ... like I said, my garage won't hold them,' the legendary Texas oilman said. 'They've got to go someplace.' Pickens' company Mesa Power ordered the turbines from General Electric Co. — a $2 billion investment — a little more than a year ago. Pickens said he has leases on about 200,000 acres in Texas that were planned for the project, and he might place some of the turbines there, but he's also looking for smaller wind projects to participate in."
Comment Re:Is this it? (Score 1) 329
That would suck if it's the former. If you hate when people bitch about getting the flu after they get the flu shot, just wait...
Palm Pre Is Out, Time For Discussion 283
caffiend666 writes "Palm Pre is out, let's discuss the status and compare stories. The first day seems to have gone as well as expected, with many selling out before noon. I bought the second at the local Sprint store, and so far I like it. Much more one-hand friendly than the iPhone. I haven't gotten the main apps to sync with Linux, but the media portion functions much like a thumb-drive with my Fedora-8 Linux system. For the Pre-verts out there, here's some Palm Pre dismantling pictures."
Don't Panic, It's Towel Day! 164
An anonymous reader writes "Today, as every May 25th, geeks all over the world celebrate Towel Day and carry a towel in honor of Douglas Adams. The popular author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy died in 2001 at the age of 49, but his work lives on. According to the book, a towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Hence its symbolic role in this celebration. This year, for the first time as far as we know, Towel Day is being supported by the British publisher of Adams' books, who organizes a photo competition."
Comment As long as I live a good life... (Score 4, Insightful) 575
... I don't care what age I go.
I drink, and I like it.
I smoke (cannabis), and I like it.
I smoke (tobacco) sometimes, and I like it.
I really enjoy good food, and maybe I overindulge sometimes.
I'm 23, going on 24, and if I make it to 60 under the same quality of life I have now, I'll be peachy fucking keen.
Comment Re:Under 60: Health and Suicide (Score 4, Interesting) 575
My mother has Crohn's, and it almost killed her. So I can sympathize with what you are going through.
Have you ever considered medicinal marijuana? I've only done preliminary research, but it seems like it's something worth trying. At the very least, it might help your quality of living so that you won't want to end it.
I implore you, if you are so desperate as to take your own life, to first consider the psychological aid of Psilocybin (aka, "magic") mushrooms. They have done wonders for others with chronic illnesses like cancer, and if not changing your mind completely, they might just put you at mental and spiritual ease before euthanasia. At least give it some research.
Good luck to whatever you do.
Comment Re:Obvious answer is immortality (Score 1) 575
If you are 50 years old and the average life expectancy is 80, then when you're 51 the average life expectancy is 81.3, and at 52 your projected death age is 83, you can see that modern medicine is the elixir of life.
The problem with that is that updated life expectancies seem to apply only to newborns. After all, if I lived through all the shit that plagues humanity, that's going to decrease my life expectancy. The newborns, never living through it due to technological and social advances, are unscathed and as a result have a higher expectancy than I.
So unless technological advances can erase past destructive experience (damage to lungs from second hand smoke, for instance), updated life expectancies have little to no relevance to us already living.
Comment Re:Indefinitely (Score 1) 575
I'm not religious, so I believe that my entire mind (no soul required) is governed by the logical patterns made by the neurons and electrical impulses in my brain. There is no good reason a computer cannot reproduce these structures. I think that a simulation of consciousness is as conscious as the biological model it is based on - after all, what does it matter if the machine that houses my mind's pattern isn't biological in nature?
If I make a copy of a program on my computer, the two copies are not the same instance. In other words: you will still die, but your clone will continue to live in its electronic brain.
Comment Re:Expect? (Score 1) 575
Replace Lord with Universe.
Same thing. Of course I'm a pantheist.
Comment Obviously they feel pain... (Score 3, Interesting) 628
..if you define pain as a physiological response to damaging stimuli. Animals need that in order to survive.
The question is does their form of pain "hurt"? We'll never know that. After all, we don't even know why pain hurts for us humans; all we know is that it does indeed hurt and is not something we like to experience (unless you're masochistic).
This problem is at root a philosophical one. It's impossible to know how things are through the eyes of another. See qualia. I don't know what red looks like to you, nor do I know how a flame touching your finger feels like to you. I can guess, because we have similar physical and mental faculties, but it's still just a guess.
Quick Boot Linux Hopes To Win Over Windows Users 440
Al writes "A company called Presto hopes to exploit the painful amount of time it takes for Windows computers to start up by offering a streamlined version of Linux that boots in just seconds. Presto's distro comes with Firefox, Skype and other goodies pre-installed and the company has also created an app store so that users can install only what they really need. The software was demonstrated at this year's Demo conference in Palm Desert, CA. Interestingly, the company barely mentions the name Linux on its website. Is this a clever stealth-marketing ploy for converting Windows users to Linux?"
Is Salacious Content Driving E-Book Sales? 215
narramissic writes "Having already abandoned ebooks once, Barnes & Noble is jumping back into ebooks with the purchase this week of ebook seller Fictionwise. Why is the format suddenly hot? Look no further than the top 10 Fictionwise bestsellers, says blogger Peter Smith. Once again it seems like 'porn is blazing a path to a new media format. Of the top 10 bestsellers under the 'Multiformat' category, nine are tagged 'erotica' and the last is 'dark fantasy.' Need more proof that folks (let's take a leap and call them women) who read 'bodice rippers' like the privacy of ebooks? Author Samantha Lucas (who writes for publishers like Cobblestone Press and Siren Publishing) tells Smith that she sells almost all of her novels in ebook format."
