The seventh guest was one of the first PC games I bought with my own money. It’s the kind of game you don’t see much anymore, but back then it was a great. Puzzle and adventure games went by the wayside for a while, but I’m glad to see them picking back up in the age of tablet gaming. I can’t wait to see what comes of this project.
The 7th Guest: The Collector aims to harness new tech and live-action human emotion | Polygon.
Somewhere there’s a database programmer surrounded by empty Mountain Dew bottles whose husband thinks she’s dead. And if these people stop, the world burns. Most people don’t even know what sysadmins do, but trust me, if they all took a lunch break at the same time they wouldn’t make it to the deli before you ran out of bullets protecting your canned goods from roving bands of mutants.
…
I’m not required to be able to lift objects weighing up to fifty pounds. I traded that for the opportunity to trim Satan’s pubic hair while he dines out of my open skull so a few bits of the internet will continue to work for a few more days.
This is a perfectly written vent on the psychological challenge of writing code for a living. And while it feels good to bitch every now and then I still love what I do enough that I rarely consider getting out (which is usually only when I’m feeling a bit of the old imposter syndrome).
The only accurate way to report that one out of four Americans are skeptical of global warming is to say, ‘A poll finds that one in four Americans are wrong about something.’
Brilliant! Spot on criticism of the false equivalency news media give to deniers of science. Most scientists across the globe agree that global warming is real and that it is at the very least influenced by human society. And still a majority believe the current warming rate is caused (not just influenced) by human society.
Oliver is turning out to be quite the firebrand now that he’s running his own show.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO): Climate Change Debate – YouTube.
“Isn’t it a problem when science guys attempt to bully other people?†Cupp asked Nye, before coming to the aid of Heritage Foundation economist Nicholas Loris. “Nick here had to say, ‘I’m not a denier.’ He had to get it out: ‘I’m not a denier.’ Because really, the science group has tried to shame anyone who dares question this, and the point I’m trying to make is, it’s not working with the public.â€
It’s a funny thought to imagine a science geek bullying a non-science geek. I’ve no doubt there’s a bit of shaming going on (not by Nye, but from the science community in general), but seriously, people who deny climate change, deny the human impact, or deny that we should be doing something should be ashamed. Still, few people respond well to public shaming … though I really don’t have a clue how to get the point across when a denial it’s refuses to recognize the fact, or cherry picks those facts or statements which conform to their existing beliefs.
What I thought remarkable about the clip is that someone from the Heritage Foundation agreed that a) climate change exists, and b) humans are responsible to some degree.
Kentuckians only hate Obamacare if you call it Obamacare – Vox.
This, more than anything, is what I find most disturbing about the arguments against “Obamacare.” It has been shown that many people against Obamacare don’t even know what it is and that they just hate it because President Obama’s name is attached to it. Even worse, when you ask many of these same people about individual aspects of the law they actually approve more often than not. It’s not an argument over policy, it’s an argument over politics and “who you’d like to drink a beer with.”
The way in which this fairly reasonably reported news item is titled is just ridiculous: U.S. domain deregulation could fragment World Wide Web into ‘Splinternet’.
Reading that title you would be forgiven for thinking that the U.S. had suddenly made it possible for restrictive regimes to better control the Internet in their countries. Read the actual article and you realize that the title bears absolutely no relation to the actual content. In fact, the actions of the U.S. government (in the case of ICANN) have absolutely nothing to do with other countries clamping down on speech and access. The ICANN issue was presented as an example of U.S. attempts to distance itself from the regulatory bodies that manage the web while other countries (like Turkey) are seeking to further control and regulate the Internet. Counties can regulate, monitor, and control the Internet regardless of who manages the wider network infrastructure (see China).
The sub-head is actually more closely matches the text and should have been made the actual title: “Some governments ponder decoupling from World Wide Web and create an intranet.”
I don’t know if this is a politically motivated title or just a cynical attempt at generating traffic. Probably both (the Times historically being a conservative-leaning rag). If nothing else the title just further pumps the volume in the anti-Obama echo chamber.
All that being said, I did find the actual article entertaining (if not particularly informative) thanks if nothing else than to this quote:
When Turkish communications minister Lutfi Elvan told daily newspaper Hurriyet last week that he was planning to “detach†Turkey from the global Internet, he quickly became a target of ridicule around the World Wide Web.
“The man is clearly an idiot,†Andrew Duff, a member of the European Parliament, tweeted in one derisive response.
Though I quested whether or not Duff meant to post that. I don’t know his politics, and he quickly followed up with the opposite sentiment.
There have been plenty of explainers about this issue. What’s amazing is that it’s still the primary (and not going anywhere) issue that video streaming services have to deal with. It’s the main reason I decided to jump back on the DVD-by-mail bandwagon. I see no reason why the DVD/BlueRay market should be going anywhere. Well, except for the massive competition from online video (hat tip to YouTube).
New York Times:Â Why Movie Streaming Sites So Fail to Satisfy – NYTimes.com.
Verbatim: What Is a Photocopier? – Video – NYTimes.com.
In 2012, on my Facebook feed, I stumbled across a hilarious excerpt from a legal transcript. In a deposition in Ohio, a lawyer became embroiled in an absurd argument about the definition of a photocopier.
D: When you say “photocopying machine,†what do you mean?
PL: Let me be clear. The term “photocopying machine†is so ambiguous that you can’t picture in your mind what a photocopying machine is in an office setting?
This is so great. More please!
‘Smart’ Firearm Draws Wrath of the Gun Lobby – NYTimes.com.
This sounds like pretty decent tech. I’m not surprised that the pro-gun lobby is against it, but I am disturbed by the tactics of some gun nuts who feel that they can harass and even threaten someone because they dislike the tech. If you don’t like the laws (in NJ) then change them. If you don’t like the tech, don’t buy it.