Re: the "algorithmic authority" sidelight.
I'd love to trust what he says, but he uses an argument by John Searle, and I just can't take him seriously because his Chinese Room thought experiment so clearly misses the point...
:)
And now it isn't. Fixed while I was reading the rest of the thread, I guess. :)
abi @24: your link "notable" is broken.
The argument against compulsory helmet laws is interesting. I note that some of it is the same as the arguments against compulsory car safety belt laws, and with enough experience of those now I think consensus is that they're a good idea, but the other argument, basically that they reduce the number of cyclists on the roads (which is a bad thing both from the point of view of reducing the number of cyclists and for increasing danger to those who remain) is interesting. I'd like to see more evidence supporting that, but it's kind-of hard to collect, which is unfortunate.
Michael Roberts @671: My question is whether Geoffrey Rush will be involved. He kinda has to be, since Barbosa last had possession of the Black Pearl.
ISTR seeing somewhere that he said was interested in doing it. I somehow doubt, given this, that they wouldn't write him into the story _somehow_.
Steve Taylor @3: In the UK, I've never heard any order other than LGBT.
Re. my yoghurt making experiments.
I'm pleased to say the latest was a success; no more lumps, so I guess an inadequately mixed starter culture was the problem. I also had one batch that completely failed to anything at all, so I'm thinking of switching from my current starter to something that'll hopefully be more reliable.
Even their example searches contain totally spurious results. I clicked on the "treatments for asthma" link. Apparently "SAG 4218 LENORE LANE" is such a treatment. And pharmacists, too. And "rhizome" is a good plant for treating it.
Their diabetes link contains both "transplantation" and "transplant" as possible treatments. Along with "mouse". Causes of diabetes include "injection" and "insulin resistance" (the latter, as I understand it, being like saying that ceasing to live is a cause of death).
On the subject of the metadata particle: did *anyone* test that system before putting it live, or did they think it was acceptable that it comes up with totally spurious results?
I mean, even putting the most obvious things in the search box turns up totally bizarre results. It wants a disease, symptom or treatment... OK, by far the most common symptom of any disease is fever. They *must* have tried that while testing it.
The drug & medication section at least looks reasonable, although I'm not quite sure what "vaccine" is doing on the list as it is neither a specific drug or medication nor useful for treating fever as far as I'm aware. Nor, AFAICT, does "CNS depressant" belong on that list. The other three hits sound sensible, though.
The treatments section is where it starts getting truly bizarre. Antibiotics sounds reasonable, but then we get to "bark". Which, drilling down into the results, seems to be primarily due to the fact that aspirin was first isolated from willow bark. Then we have "hyperthermia therepy", which AFAICT is totally unrelated, "song" (!), and "antibiotic therapy" which is just the first result repeated.
Food and plants? I'm not even sure what the section is doing here, but the only result even approximately relevant is "water". But its suggested subcategory of interest, "holy water", is frankly bizarre.
But, at least the page does have some purpose... it contains a link to "pros and cons of song", which has really got me thinking. Song will, apparently, help me choose a mate, achieve [a] higher position, achieve painting [?!], and activate [my] GABAergic neuron. But, unfortunately, it is costly, unimaginitive, and "sin, sin, sin". I'm not actually convinced that "already charming subversion" is actually a con, though, despite being listed as one.
Serge @397... yeah. The only Riverworld book I read was the second in the series (I hadn't realised it was a series at the time...) and even just from that limited perspective I can see what's wrong with that announcement.
Didn't know there was a film, though. Might have to look that up.
Serge @307: 'Guinea Pigs for Change' sounds like a catchy name for a campaigning group. What about 'Hamsters for Humanity'?
Rats for Reform?
Squirrels for the Future?
KeithS @284: Thanks; your link does suggest that I might not be mixing the starter thoroughly enough. I'll give it a try and post results tomorrow.
Serge @278; isn't that a bit cheesy?
Oh, you said Rochefort. Never mind.
On a related tangent, I've been trying home yoghurt making recently, and the results have been pretty good except for a large number of very small lumps that won't dissolve when I stir it. Does anyone have any idea what to do to prevent this?
Re the "antigravity garden" particle: there are of course downsides.
Leah @43: I see you've already had a little advice, but thought I'd add my own. I'll add the caveat that I've never worked professionally in game development, so I'm making assumptions about how that industry works that are possibly untrue.
The first thing to note is your suggested list of languages goes from one extreme of the spectrum to the other, Lua being a simple language with a very specific purpose, while C++ is an extremely complex language that is suited for almost all purposes. I'd aim for some middle ground, and given your background I'd suggest Python is probably the most useful of these languages; AIUI, most modern game engines are using Python as their story scripting language these days (LUA being used more for user interface scripting, C++ for back-end engine implementation). I'd suggest staying away from Flash as a beginner; you need an entirely different mindset to work with it that won't help with the others.
As to what kind of qualifications are accepted, my experience has been that most software development recruiters expect their candidates to be graduates, but don't care what the subject of the degree was. And those who know what they're doing consider certification irrelevant. The problem is that the certificates tend to concentrate on a subject (knowledge of the language and/or programming environment) that is almost completely orthoganal to what the recruiter is looking for (problem solving skill, essentially). Past experience is the only thing most are willing to consider.
The question of how to get this experience is problematic, but not overly so. There are, as I see it, two routes open:
* Computer science degree courses, with the caveat of avoiding online programs. A good CS course will include several group projects, and these can provide the kind of experience the recruiters are looking for. I believe there are even courses available that focus on game development skills, if you look in the right places.
* Getting involved in your own projects. Develop an indie-style game yourself, or get involved with an open-source game project.
The point is to get something that you can show to recruiters, tell them "I've done this, which is similar to the kind of thing you'll want me to do for you." This is much more important than any certificate you can show them.
Mark @10: I would comment, however, that due to the way google collapses any chunk of more than 2 results from the same site to the top 2 plus a "more from this site" link[1], it would be more productive to do so on as many different sites as possible.
As an aside, people may be interested in hearing a little more about the action that lead to Fletcher's securities fraud conviction. Fletcher was one of three directors of byteaudio.com at the time this was happening, and when the SEC press release states that byteaudio "maintained [its] own sales force to attract investors", that appears to have been Fletcher's role in the company.
[1]: To save people googling themselves: the top two Making Light links are currently parts 1 and 3 of this series, and show up in 2nd and 3rd places respectively. The 1st place is a writers.net discussion ("Robert M. Fletcher - EXPOSED!") The fourth is the unregistered securities order Jim linked to above; the fifth is a document from the same site that has Fletcher's name in the title but does not concern him. Sixth comes the absolutewrite discussion on LAG; next is a "zoominfo" page about Fletcher (a collection of articles scraped from various web sites that describe his business, in terms varying from "not recommended" to "[ST Literary Agency] is only the latest incarnation is what appears to be an ongoing string of cash-cow FRAUDS") Then we have Writer Beware, a page that seems to be scraped from Making Light's RSS feed, and finally an irrelevant page that isn't about Fletcher at all.
"WHEREFORE, for the foregoing reasons,"
As opposed to "wherefore for the following reasons?"
Hint to whoever wrote that: "wherefore" and "for the foregoing reasons" both mean the same thing. You come across as though either you don't understand what you're writing or you think the judge won't understand it. I'm sure you didn't want to imply the latter...
And now for something completely different: a new variation on the 419 scam.
Subject: YOU HAVE BEEN DEALING WITH THE WRONG OFFICE!!!
GOOD DAY.
MY NAME IS MRS.FARIDA WAZIRI THE NEW ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIME COMMISSION CHAIRPERSON IN NIGERIA,I HEREBY WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT,ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIME COMMISSION, UNITED NATION ECONOMIC FOR EUROPE,EUROPEAN UNION,RESERVE BANK OF INDIAN,AFRICAN UNION FINANCIAL REGULATORY OFFICE (AUFRO) HEARD A MEETING ABOUT THE IMPOSTER AND SCAMMERS.I HEREBY WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT,IF YOU HAVE BEEN SCAMMED BEFORE OR YOUR FUND IS PENDING,YOU ARE ADVISE TO CONTACT ME THROUGH MY EMAIL ADDRESS OR TELEPHONE NUMBER FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON HOW TO GET YOUR FUND RELEASE.
REGARDS
MRS.FARIDA WAZIRI
And now I have read it, I can summarise it: decision overturned both on state law and first amendment grounds.
I note you aren't the only one; the story is topping the list of Time's most read stories at the moment. As to Epacris's question, this appears to be the decision of the appeal; I haven't read it yet.
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