I don't know that it's such a stretch to call them terrorists, really.
As I understand it, Scientologists use scare tactics to convince people that they are infected with ancient alien souls which are causing health complaints, and then take advantage of their victims' vulnerable (and gullible?) state to extort money.
That qualifies as terrorism in my book.
I get that Dungeons & Dragons is Satan's Game and all that, but this all seems rather beside the point to me.
These people are in there because they committed serious crimes, and are supposed to be facing the consequences of their crimes, doing hard labour, and learning to reintegrate into society.
Sitting around playing games and watching TV all day while the state ensures you're well fed doesn't exactly sound like the kind of negative reinforcement that would spur a behavioural change.
Some of us actually do work on our machines... without ripping it off from the Internet.
Some dudes run it on VNC from their iPhones...
Is that close enough?
I'm playing Devil's advocate here a little, but I suppose the trouble is what happens at the latter end of the curve.
When we're down to 12 sources, what then? Supposing they need to drum up revenue to support doing the research once done by thousands of others, so as to give us accurate and factual news, they might consider charging for their content. Once they do, let's say the public decides they will go get the content for free by reading blogs or aggregators, which provide handy summaries of the news, alongside helpful (if biased) interpretations. What then?
If the dying-off trend continues, all we're left with is partisan news which gets its funding from something other than doing good research and writing quality articles. Or we're reading the blog posts of the relatively-informed, and trusting them to abide by some kind of journalistic standard.
That's not really a good thing, now, is it?
Good journalism costs money.
So he is doing the Battle Angel Alita film? Cool.
However, the most recent example of this I can think of is the Original Arnie Terminator they included in Terminator: Salvation.
That, too, only got away with being CGI because it was MEANT to look a little bit alien and disturbing. Try the same thing with Humphrey Bogart or Clint Eastwood, and you're still going to have trouble getting it realistic.
Because they're looking to cash in on the morbid fascination of seeing a sexy, healthy-looking person who died of some non-obvious disease (such as certain cancers) get stripped down and cut to pieces.
It's much less can't-look-away horrifying if they're cutting up an 80-year-old. Who'll want to buy ads in THAT half-hour?
Actually, it could very well get worse.
The exact same image (or rather, one even more accurate) could be recreated just by turning down the surface-transparency on a medical scan (such as a CT scan). Once all those subcutaneous organs are properly filtered out of the scan, what's left is a high-resolution, extremely-accurate naked image of your child.
Moreover, it's in 3D!
When the for-the-children lobby figure that one out, perhaps we ought to expect most hospitals (already terrified of lawsuits) to start delaying or refusing potentially life-saving diagnostic scans on the grounds that they may constitute illegal child pornography.
Perhaps Second Life has simply been killed off by the far superior offering that is Sony's "Home".
Had you going there, didn't I? Yeah, it's still awful.
Incidentally, though, it would seem that Sony's Home is also plagued by sex fiends. Maybe it is shaping up to become a worthy successor?
If they'd also evolved kitty-ears and a characteristic love of french-maid outfits, they would be the master race.
That depends entirely on what you're sharing.
If you're lending a book, chances are it's probably allowed.
If it's a DVD, I wouldn't be so sure...
Finally, a use for my PhD!
My reaction was exactly the same when I saw that website. Why should I willingly enter all my medical data on any webpage, let alone one that is run by Microsoft?
1. Because Microsoft is not subject to HIPAA (as far as I'm aware this is why they are allowed to run such a site in the first place), and are able to use that information to provide a variety of extremely useful health-related services above and beyond customising your game avatar, such as personalised reminders or health tips relevant to your health profile.
2. Because two unrelated pharmacists might not know what other drugs you are taking, and HealthVault will tell you when mixing two medicines will kill you.
3. Because personalised healthcare is the future of medicine and requires that 'baseline' data about your fitness while you are healthy be collected unobtrusively as part of your day-to-day life, and:
4. Because having your medical records in one easily-accessible online repository could save your life in an emergency.
Also, you don't enter the data. You authorise Microsoft to digitally transfer it from your hospital or GP to their servers.
Dude... what century did you post this from?
It seems like every other story on Slashdot was about exactly that, not too long ago.
Only reason it's not in the news any more is 'cause things are getting even worse down here in Australia, so we're making you guys look good.
Does that mean you've captured the video, and are now trying to edit the file in iMovie?
If so, you should be able to use an app called MPEG Streamclip to do the conversion.
You may have to purchase Apple's MPEG2 component for Quicktime, however.
FORTRAN is not a flower but a weed -- it is hardy, occasionally blooms, and grows in every computer. -- A.J. Perlis
