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Comment Great Idea, probably won't affect consumers (Score 1) 175

by TheRon6 (#31012468) Attached to: Next X-Prize — $10M For a Brain-Computer Interface
I *love* this idea. Neural interfaces are still very much in their infancy with the best commercially available probably being the OCZ NIA and even it is mostly a glitchy gimmick at this point. But the standards they're considering for this X-Prize seem very high. Providing vision to the blind and being able to control virtual bodies both require an understanding of very intricate neural operations that we probably won't see for many years. Sure, there's been devices created that can sort of do these things already but not on levels that can significantly help the disabled. All the more reason that this prize is a good idea since it will hopefully draw interest to the appropriate fields of study. Unfortunately the kind of things that they're talking about will almost certainly require implants. Further advancement in non-implanted interfaces will undoubtedly be much slower so don't assume that you're going to be roaming the hills of Azeroth as if you were actually there any time in the next 20 years. But hey, hopefully I'm wrong.

Comment Re:"Not for ________ use" (Score 1) 422

by TheRon6 (#30803256) Attached to: Wii Balance Board Gives $18,000 Medical Device a Run For Its Money

What we really need is transparency is pricing for all medical costs. Force manufacturer's to provide their component costs for everything like eqiupment, drugs, and consumables, so that the consumer can see exactly what kind of markup their paying for.

I agree with the spirit behind this idea in that companies should be required to justify costs to prevent price fixing but I'm sorry, this just wouldn't work in the real world. The companies would make the cost breakdowns nearly impossible to reasonably interpret to hide the $10,000,000 worth of "consultant fees". (For people not familiar with business, a "consultant fee" is the cash that goes into the pockets of the CEOs and their buddies who come and hang out at the office for a few days a year.)

I really don't think we're going to fix problems like this until there's no such thing as greed in society anymore... which isn't going to happen until we achieve a perfect utopia where money is no longer really required anyways.

Comment Re:My psychic prediction (Score 2, Insightful) 306

by TheRon6 (#30773758) Attached to: Martian Microbe Fossils, Not So Debunked Anymore

we here on earth are all alone in the great big dark.

If that's true, it's an awful waste of space.

Not to be disagreeable but saying that it's a "waste of space" implies that space is specifically supposed to be used for something. (Your statement implies that its purpose is to contain life but that's not entirely relevant here.) What you're essentially doing is assigning a meaning to space itself, but "meaning" (not to be confused with cause-and-effect as it so frequently is in philosophical arguments) is a totally human created concept so the "waste of space" argument is unfortunately invalid.

That said, I really, REALLY hope that life is abundant in the universe. I just don't think that much can be said to predict whether or not it is until we get out there and look for it which is exactly what they're doing here.
Idle

Colorado Newspaper Looking for Marijuana Reviewer 171

Posted by samzenpus from the missed-this-at-the-job-fair dept.
Westword, an "alternative" newspaper in Denver, has placed an ad for a medicinal marijuana reviewer. The paper has been running reviews by a staff writer, but the writer "wanted to return to the day job," opening up the position. Applicants must write a short essay on "What Marijuana Means To Me," and a MacGyver-like ability to make a bong out of common household objects is a plus.

Comment Re:wth (Score 2, Insightful) 391

by TheRon6 (#29687199) Attached to: Photoshop Disaster Draws DMCA Notice For Boing Boing

I propose that, for the simple reason that any male involved in fashion is gay (not a homophobic troll, hear me out!)

*Goes on to imply that men participating in stereotypically feminine activities or caring about their appearance is wrong for no particular reason other than it being "gay" and that having such interests somehow makes men inherently weak.*

Yeah... not a homophobic troll at all.
Games

How Video Games Reflect Ideology 244

Posted by Soulskill from the my-level-80-priest-provides-universal-health-care dept.
A recent article at Bitmob sought to tackle the question of whether games could carry political meaning, arguing the negative since "The money, the media representation, and the general shadow of 'triviality' will always trail the word 'game,' because that is what makes it open to all markets." An opposing viewpoint has been posted by Lee Bradley, who says, "Perhaps the most profound shift in the games industry in the last few years has been the explosion of co-op. Not only are developers dedicating more and more time to providing co-op experiences in their games, they are also finding new ways of exploring the dynamic within it. ... Even in games where the co-operative element of co-op is less pronounced, the ideology is the same; you are not on your own anymore, you are part of a team. What's more, that team is more than likely multi-cultural and/or multi-gender. ... Now, this isn't to say that the lone white-guy hero has been eradicated. Far from it; the bald, white space-marine is one of the most over-used characters in modern gaming. But it increasingly rare that they are lone heroes. A shift towards team-based, co-op featured games is undeniable. In this way, mainstream video games, even those seemingly void of political statement, are implicitly political. While for the most part they are not designed to tackle political issues head-on, or carry overt political messages, they do reflect the values and the popular ideology of the culture in which they were created."

Comment Re:There must be more to this story... (Score 2, Interesting) 364

by TheRon6 (#29263167) Attached to: Woman Fired For Using Uppercase in Email

I'd bet there was a more personal confrontation, possibly with a superior, and that email was simply seen as a better excuse to get rid of her than the real reason.

My thoughts exactly. I don't see this as a story about someone being fired for using caps lock. I see it as a story about a manager who was too stupid to have a legitimate reason to fire her prepared ahead of time and has cost their company $17k as a result. One of my coworkers was fired several months ago because he didn't have one of the certifications that's required of everyone in my department. He'd never had the certification of course but that hadn't stopped my company from hiring him and letting him work there for a year. But he was *really* fired for getting into a very long, personal argument with our supervisor. Clever managers will always have some excuse stashed away to get rid of anyone if needed. Sounds like this manager wasn't nearly clever enough.
Television

Futurama Voices Could Be Recast 260

Posted by Soulskill from the bite-my-shiny-metal-*** dept.
Svippy writes "According to reports surfacing on the Internet, Futurama may be recast. The animated series is due to return next year on Comedy Central, but may not be the same as we once knew it. 'As part of the announcement, the show's producers said stars including West, Sagal and DiMaggio had all signed on to return. Turns out that wasn't true. The stars had all expressed interest in returning. But with the budget for Futurama dramatically slashed, the salary offers came in well below what the thesps were asking.' Phil LaMarr posted 20th Century Fox's request for auditions on his Facebook page. However, some are skeptical about whether it's a real casting call or purely a stunt to reduce the salaries of the voice actors."

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