The windfall from automation is what is paying for the tax. The idea is we don't fight automation but everyone shares in the windfall. The owners still get a bigger piece but everyone wins.

I've heard the most effective tactic is to write to your local newspaper and mention a few congresspeople who are on the wrong side of this by name. That is much more difficult for elected representatives to ignore. And it can work even if you aren't in that person's district.

First off, I think there is something to be said for not being a single issue voter. Secondly, I do have to wonder what we should attribute the lack of 9/11 scale attacks in the domestic US since 9/11 too. I'm sincerely asking. I've heard the answer 'People abroad simply don't want to do that any more'. I'm not sure I find that entirely plausible. Of course, that isn't to say that the alphabet agencies are the answer either.

Actually, the visuals don't just invoke Empire. Really the original 'The Thing' from the 1950s (based on the John Campbell short story from the 40s) has a shot that looks much like the first one. And I suppose Aliens vs. Predators used a setting that wasn't such a far cry from this as well.

Just because the two don't always overlap, it doesn't mean they never do. Furthermore, there is ample data to suggest what the 'race to the bottom' exists everywhere there is competition. What little social mobility actually rewards a lack of morals.

It was a legitimate and interesting statistic not a "green hook".

> So now burning (hint, just a chemical action) some dead dinosaur is releasing the energy equivilent of 160 TONNES?

You actually upmodded this as insightful slashdotters? I am sad. Global warming happens not because of combustion of fossil fuels but rather because energy (overwhelmingly solar) gets trapped on the earth. Notice how it is cooler at night than in the day? Ever wonder why? There is this big yellow splotch in the sky. Maybe you noticed it.

So just to recap, greenhouse gasses, created by burning those fossil fuels trap the sun's energy here on earth and raises the temperature/energy level.

Our relationship with Pakistan is complicated. I don't think anyone calls them "good" friends, but they are friendly, with adequate social lubricant (financial aid) and that has a lot of huge upsides.

Also your signature is sort of offensive.

Gee, too much vaccine. What an awful problem. Let's impeach Obama!

I hope we never have to find out if this stuff works, but there might be good reasons to stockpile an experimental vaccine that the armchair presidents of slashdot aren't aware of.

Slashdot seems fairly right wing anymore...

I'm not certain I like the idea of putting the problem of dl speed on to the game designers. I'd rather have physical media and have more options early in a game.

That said, it would be nice if the next gen had either an SSD or a hybrid SSD/spindle system that you can load the game into and then dispense with the disk. The whole hassle of disk swapping actually makes me not want to buy another console.

<quote> <p> For Sony and Microsoft to refresh their console lines after only 5 years means taking a huge loss on the last generation of consoles. It took them 3-4 years to stop making a loss on every bit of HW sold, they still haven't paid back the R&amp;D yet. The PS3 in particular really does need a 10 year life span to pay itself off. Both MS and Sony subsidise their console divisions from more profitable areas (OS and Office from MS, TV's and computers for Sony). The hardware was designed to be a loss leader, with the profit being made up in game licensing (this is why BF3 for console is $10-20 more expensive then the same game for PC. There are no per-disc licenses for PC's)

Nintendo does not have this problem. They made a profit from the word go so they've paid off all costs incurred in producing the Wii. This realistically should put the final nail in the coffin for the PC-alike consoles. Console gamers want actual consoles that are fun to play, not weak PC's with limited control schemes. I dont think we'll see another "high powered" console war like we saw between the Xbox360 and PS3 after the low powered Wii ate their lunch. MS will likely copy Nintendo with the next Xbox. Sony may not be so quick to learn and another loss like the PS3 may sink the PS brand.</p></quote>

I've heard people make this claim before, and I believe I've also seen it debunked before. Can you cite some sources proving that Sony took a loss on PS3s early in the cycle and that Nintendo didn't on Wiis?

As long as we're discussing how characters in game generally take unreal amounts of damage, Bushido Blade is one game that was much better about this. One hit would kill or at least seriously maim you so that you would have to find with a limp or one handed.

Of course, I don't know how connected this sort of realism is to narratice style. I'd say it is a convention, much like when you go to see a play it is accepted that if the lights go down and the props onstage are changed, the actors are now portraying the characters in a new location/time.

I believe the First Doctor episodes are still intact. Some of the Second Doctor is missing though.

The kill switch wouldn't need any fine print. The IP infringement stuff is impossible to police, as well as the NSA and FBI stuff. Big brother does watch, but not in the omniscient way you think. Its simply not logistically possible.