Humodour

What is the perfect "end of the world" song list? I stole this question from some random here: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/409092

I always suspect Mr. Jobs was up to something. Apple is buying up all the gravity waves! http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Google

Wow, this is interesting: scientists can't find gravity waves. They're going to try again with an experiment 1000 times larger and if they still don't find any that's a pretty big shake-up of QM and string theory. http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/08/21...Waves?art_pos=4

I think the biggest problem is to sell these projects to people. There are no tangible benefits in such projects, so it lacks the "no holds barred" monetary backing to make quantum leaps. People can see the immediate benefits of smaller, energy friendly cars, faster computers and crops that are resistant to pests, so that is where the research money goes. You've clearly never worked in venture capital. people don't see the benefits of those things. they like big objects, objects that make loud bangs, and really really tiny objects which could either make them biullionairres or kill everyone. They don't like anything else, least of all energy friendly boringness. How very British of you.

You could holster your lightsabre in Jedi Knight 2. If you didn't, it scared people. That was cool.

Are you a troll/bot?

Well then maybe Rorie could shed some light on the problem with holstering weapons. Pretty sure you could opt for no weapon/a holstered weapon in Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Red Faction, and No One Lives Forever. For reference, here's what a casual gamer's PC looks like these days: http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/

Memory is cheap nowadays! Or are you saying 2 GB RAM isn't enough to be able to not hold a gun? Don't worry, I have 4! Most computers these days are dual-core and have ****loads of RAM even, if they don't have the best CPUs or graphics cards, so... So... yes.

I hear they have unicorns in Minnesota.

Au naturale appreciation thread.

Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit

Let me know what you think when you finished. Bloodlines tends to suffer somewhat from KOTOR2 syndrome.

*clenches teeth, eyes narrow* Alright, that's it... I'm not buying this game. "Sorry!" We gladly accept your offer.

I want to see OpenGL support for Onyx. Please.

Understandable but still kind of lame.

IIRC, the North Korean economy actually was doing pretty well (better than SKorea's) up until about the 1970's when their 7 year central plans started failing epically and their communist leaders all collectively started losing their minds. A big part of the reason for their economic failure at this point (besides ever less rational central planning) was the fact that they spent 25% or so of their GDP on military, which was a problem even huge amounts of Chinese and Soviet aid couldn't fix.

If we keep piling up cash like this then we may be able to pay the North Korean government to come get him. Haven't we got double their annual GDP as it is already? 'We'? Australia has a GDP of 1 trillion dollars. South Korea has a GDP just shy of 1 trillion. America has a GDP of 14 trillion. North Korea has a GDP of 0.025 billion. Oh wait, I get it. lol.

Well millions have died from NK government induced famine, so I think your figures are a bit low.

He's actually pretty hilarious once you realise he's a troll, but troll or not, some interesting things get brought up in his absurd threads that are worthy of some mental enquiry.

I disliked that they ditched a bunch of things that made HL1 great. Unfortunately a lot of those things are intangible, like atmosphere and art direction, so that's always hard to get right, and is also kind of subjective. I can replay HL1 just because it's so fun. Same for Portal. I have no desire to replay HL2 or Episode Two. (OK, so I'd like to replay Episode One but that's an exception.) Having said all that, HL2 was still above average... for an FPS. Edit: I've also replayed System Shock 2 and Deus Ex.

What happens when the politicians realise they don't need to be accountable if they just, say, close down that television studio, or order the disappearence of that journalist?

Bold claim! At this moment, I am not weaving a tapestry. I've never done it before, and I'd need to gather some resources and knowledge to do it, but if I wanted to, I could. Does that mean it's impossible for me to weave a tapestry? This is not a question of science, Aristes, it's a question of technology. Again you conflate the two. Can we recycle organic matter and water? Yes. Speak to Europe. Or the ISS. Can we build novel power sources suited to the environment they'll be needed for? Yes - choose one. I'd opt for solar and nuclear personally. Can we shield our structures from radiation? Quite clearly - the astronauts on the ISS aren't dead yet, and nor are nuclear power station workers. Can we genetically engineer plants and bacteria to suit our needs? Yes - though we often don't because it gives people the heebejeeves. Can we repair existing human structures 100 years after they've been built? Yes. Can we repair structures in space? Yes. Can we build structures in space? Yes. Can we recycle and purify air? Yes. I mean exactly what part of science would prevent us (let's say the collective capacity of Earth, entirely devoted to the project, just to throw you a bone) from making a space colony right now if we wanted to, Aristes? Because you keep claiming this and I'm intrigued as to what I'm forgetting. I imagine Australia alone has plenty such resources lying around. Ask the Chinese. Just how big do you think this thing has to be? Who told you that? What aspect of physics do you believe prevents us from scaling our space ships to be 10, 100, 1000 times bigger, integrating all the things I mentioned above? Space doesn't care about aerodynamics, and I should think the existence of the space station would be evidence enough of the viability of creating a large, permanent manned structure in space. This post has largely focused on a space colony, but similar considerations apply to a planet-bound colony.

Well, yes, because you have been arguing that the laws of physics might prevent us sorting out what are effectively logistical issues. The Europeans are already doing experiments with FTL communication. If you can transmit info faster than light, then it isn't impossible to imagine FTL travel I think they might be facing an uphill battle, since current quantum theory (which is admittedly by no means complete) seems to prevent FTL information transmission via entanglement... at least at full fidelity. I can't see how FTL travel of fermions (i.e. us) would ever be possible by quantum entanglement (Edit: but that perhaps doesn't rule out other means of FTL travel). I do, however, see how you could devise a machine to construct a replica of something based on information sent FTL (if possible) via quantum entanglement. Destroy something at one end, recreate it at the other end. $10 says I can find you a photon that travels slower than the speed of light and, likewise, a particle (that's not a photon) that travels faster than the speed of light. I am of course cheating by comparing speeds across different media (e.g. a vacuum vs water) and that brings me to the fascinating glow of Čerenkov radiation - emitted when a (charged) particle travels faster in a medium faster than the speed of light in that medium.

Because in practice, all communist regimes have been totalitarian. And to be honest, I think what you're aiming for is socialist democracy which, while not unworkable, teetters far too close to totalitarian for my liking, because the government has so much raw power.

Well, yes, because you have been arguing that the laws of physics might prevent us sorting out what are effectively logistical issues.