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Comment Re:How about this one? (Score 1) 62

"Go fuck yourself."

Better idea. Enter the competition, use already well-developed commercial software (or write a program to average the results of several commercial programs), and easily win the competition. It's not like anyone is going to create software worth millions and give it away for a tiny prize.

Comment Unfair gender stereotypes (Score 1) 561

I'm offended that boys are being stereotyped as too stupid to realize that Barbie is just using them! Wait, I bet I was supposed to be offended that Barbie using her natural talents and as a result achieving her objectives, was using the wrong talent. Cause she'd be smarter to do it all 100% by herself, so the book portrays her as stupid, right?

Comment Re:This study is... (Score 1) 123

The irony here is that penguinoid is empathically projecting a common human sense of empathy onto a group whose most defining characteristic is the lack of it.

Quite the opposite, I was pointing out that even people with no empathy at all could easily make the choice, in their own self-interest, which the study declares proof of altruism. Even if they remain anonymous to their victim, they may feel the loss of reputation in the eyes of the researchers is worth more than a few cents.

This is not entirely idle speculation, either. I took a game theory class, and everyone thumbed their noses at the "proper self-interested actions" recommended by game theory when their actions were public in favor of a reputation for cooperation. When the teacher made arrangements to make everything entirely anonymous, suddenly everyone turned vicious.

Comment Re:Bennett!!!!!! (Score 1) 246

But why is Bennett's garbage being approved? I understand slashvertisements, because there is at least a monetary benefit to posting them. I also understand some pseudoscience occasionally slipping by, because the editor didn't read it carefully. But this crap? It is obvious shit from beginning to end. He has nothing to say. It is just completely pointless.

And yet there's always several comments on his material. Granted, most of them complaining about Bennett, but clicks nonetheless. My theory is that the editors are trolling you.

Comment Re:Stupid, trucks cause the problem (Score 1) 554

The price of gas is only inelastic in the short term. Even if the price of gas goes up 10X for a week due to some fluke event, people will still buy about as much gas. However, if the price goes up 10X for the long term, everyone and their mothers will be adjusting some way or another to use less gas. Nothing is perfectly inelastic.

Comment Re:Stupid, trucks cause the problem (Score 1) 554

There is no downside to lower gas prices. lower prices on anything is always a positive.

The downside of lower gas prices is that gas prices are too low (according to some people).

I can tell you as a fact that lower prices on some things are terrible. Specifically, low prices can cause something to be overused and then depleted, or it could have secondary bad effects, or it could impede the development or use of alternatives. I could believe this to be the case for gasoline, and could also believe a lower price would be better -- to be sure I'd have to integrate over the entire economy and resources and present and future technology.

Just to give some examples, the Tragedy of the Commons is an example of something being underpriced, and stupidly expensive monopolies are an example of something overpriced.

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