On 1/26/2012 12:23, Patrick Elliott wrote:
> 1. Karma doesn't happen "now", its generally punishment for action in a
> *prior* life.

I think that depends on whether you ask Buddhists or Wiccams/

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   People tell me I am the counter-example.

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On 1/23/2012 2:42, Invisible wrote:
> On 23/01/2012 10:29 AM, John VanSickle wrote:
>> Wait, isn't Pipa some gal who's in the tabloids a lot?
>
> I wouldn't know; I don't read comic books.

"I'm not into Pokeman."

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   People tell me I am the counter-example.

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On Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:17:37 -0800, Darren New wrote:

> On 1/23/2012 2:42, Invisible wrote:
>> On 23/01/2012 10:29 AM, John VanSickle wrote:
>>> Wait, isn't Pipa some gal who's in the tabloids a lot?
>>
>> I wouldn't know; I don't read comic books.
> 
> "I'm not into Pokeman."

I didn't know you were that into Herman Cain. ;)

Jim

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On 27/01/2012 04:17 AM, Darren New wrote:
> On 1/23/2012 2:42, Invisible wrote:
>> On 23/01/2012 10:29 AM, John VanSickle wrote:
>>> Wait, isn't Pipa some gal who's in the tabloids a lot?
>>
>> I wouldn't know; I don't read comic books.
>
> "I'm not into Pokeman."

Is it bad that I realise it's actually spelt Pokémon?

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>> I'm not saying it's unnecessary to know anything about technology. I'm
>> saying it seems unnecessary to know about technology we're not actually
>> using. (Whether it would help my job prospects is another matter... but
>> you have to find jobs to apply for first.)
>
> It's easier to find jobs to apply to when you have a broader awareness of
> the world than just what's relevant to you right now.

I doubt you're going to get that by reading some text on a screen. To 
understand what a new capability means, you often need to experience it 
for yourself.

>> I got the impression that Slashdot was more a forum for idle gossip and
>> bored people starting flamewars. I wasn't aware any useful information
>> existed there.
>
> It is, but the articles are good pointers to what's important.  I rarely
> read the comments (unless I'm bored).  But I have an RSS feed set up from
> the stories page so I can see what's 'hot', read the story, and follow
> the link to the source story so I can learn more.

OK, I have to ask: What the hell is this "RSS" everybody keeps mentioning?

>> I also got the impression that The Register was a satire site. Hell, it
>> even subtitles itself "biting the hand that feeds IT". I'm not making
>> this up. The few times I've read it, it was amusing, but contained no
>> real-world data.
>
> It has elements of satire, but it actually reports on real stuff.  They
> do hardware reviews and talk about software and technology companies in a
> real and non-satirical way.

I usually visit Tom's Hardware when I want to see what's happening in 
the hardware world.

Unfortunately, while there seem to be plenty of sites that track the 
latest up-to-the-minute developments, if you stop paying attention for a 
while, it seems very hard to get back up to speed. Every article assumes 
you've been following the story so far... There don't seem to be any 
high-level summaries around on the Internet. (Except for ones that are 
10 years old.)

>>>> PS. What is Netflix? And does it only operate in America?
>>>
>>> It's a streaming movie service, and if you'd been reading Slashdot or
>>> The Register, you'd know they've just started operating in Europe as
>>> well. :)
>>
>> I still don't comprehend what "streaming" actually means in this
>> context...
>
> 2 seconds with Google yielded this:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_media

I know what streaming *is*. (Indeed, I knew what it was 15 years ago.) 
I'm failing to comprehend how it applies in this situation.

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Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> > It's easier to find jobs to apply to when you have a broader awareness of
> > the world than just what's relevant to you right now.
>
> I doubt you're going to get that by reading some text on a screen. To
> understand what a new capability means, you often need to experience it
> for yourself.

You don't need that to have a broader awareness of the world, you need many
blurbs and often.


> > It is, but the articles are good pointers to what's important.  I rarely
> > read the comments (unless I'm bored).  But I have an RSS feed set up from
> > the stories page so I can see what's 'hot', read the story, and follow
> > the link to the source story so I can learn more.
>
> OK, I have to ask: What the hell is this "RSS" everybody keeps mentioning?

Crowned.



> >>>> PS. What is Netflix? And does it only operate in America?
> >>>
> >>> It's a streaming movie service, and if you'd been reading Slashdot or
> >>> The Register, you'd know they've just started operating in Europe as
> >>> well. :)
> >>
> >> I still don't comprehend what "streaming" actually means in this
> >> context...
> >
> > 2 seconds with Google yielded this:
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_media
>
> I know what streaming *is*. (Indeed, I knew what it was 15 years ago.)
> I'm failing to comprehend how it applies in this situation.

It means that now rather than going into the closest blockbuster and renting a
movie, or waiting for the movie to show up on TV on a schedule, or waiting for
the illegal torrent to download, you may simply turn on the tv, choose a movie
and watch it on-the-fly.

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On 1/27/2012 2:43 AM, Invisible wrote:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_media
>
> I know what streaming *is*. (Indeed, I knew what it was 15 years ago.)
> I'm failing to comprehend how it applies in this situation.

Its mostly taking the existing "streaming" technology, as understood on 
the net, and installing it in other devices, like DVRs, not to mention 
digital TVs. The reason this is possible is, of course, because its now 
broadcast digital, so uses the same streamable compression systems 
(though, in many cases, encrypted). It should be noted however that 
MP2/MP4, etc. was actually created to digitally store TV, and the like, 
in the first place, for "streaming" between the original source company, 
satellites, and base stations (which is to say, either your own dish, or 
your cable provider). The primary change has been that they no longer 
down-convert to analog. In principle, the same "data" as Youtube sends, 
or you get off your DVD, is being used to broadcast your TV programs 
now. Its just the encryption, and other key things, used to prevent the 
wrong people getting it, which changes at each point in the chain.

So, *everything* is not "streamed". And, its the reason why, if you have 
a DVR (no idea if you can do it with TVs), you can have "on demand" 
programming. Instead of just linking in to the stream that is already 
running, like you might do using say WinAmp and online radio, you are 
"requesting" the program to start sending to you, at the specific time 
you need it, just like you "request" Youtube start playing a movie from 
their site.

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On 1/26/2012 1:34 PM, Stephen wrote:
> On 26/01/2012 8:24 PM, Patrick Elliott wrote:
>>>
>>> You're not a fan of "My name is Earl", then?
>>>
>> Uh, don't think I have ever heard of it. lol
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Name_Is_Earl
>
>
>
Ah.. Yeah, not something I would have watched, short of having a 
lobotomy, sort of like 'The Ghost Whisperer'. I prefer my fiction to 
actually be fiction, like 'Being Human'. lol

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On 1/26/2012 3:04 PM, Le_Forgeron wrote:
> Le 26/01/2012 21:23, Patrick Elliott nous fit lire :
>> BTW, as clarification. My understanding of the "real" meaning behind
>> Karma would be more or less these rules:
>>
>> 1. Karma doesn't happen "now", its generally punishment for action in a
>> *prior* life.
>> 2. Its karma that determines if you are lucky/unlucky, born rich, or
>> poor, gain in business, of fail, and everything else.
>> 3. In the most extreme case, someone from the absolute top caste could
>> go nuts, murder someone in the bottom caste, and not be charged (at
>> least in the old days, though maybe less so now), based on the theory
>> that the higher status of the offender made it divine justice, and the
>> low caste of the victim made it karma, for something they did wrong, in
>> the prior life.
>>
>> The west has turned this into some idiot version of, 'like calls like',
>> mysticism, and uses the term to describe the fantastically rare cases
>> where someone does something bad and suffers a similar reward, almost
>> immediately, rather than the much more common thing, which is to get by
>> with it, or the nearly as common result of being hammered by some random
>> event, that is magnitudes out of proportion to the supposed "crime".
>> Though, the later is often taken as a "sign" that some sort of justice
>> was served via karma as well.
>
> Speaking of Karma without raising Darma seems a mooth point...
> Same as looking at the worshipers of Shiva (goddess of "destruction")
> and not understanding their points.
>
> Karma is a concept... judging a concept by its application is like
> looking at the concepts of communism applied to Russia, China, Vietnam
> and North Korea. The main issue of communism is that the axiom of
> rational people is damn wrong. It's a story for 6 year old children so
> far in its theory... used to abuse so many millions of people.
> (Capitalism is not better, it's just more reality based about the
> human's nature).
Its fairly irrelevant if the "concept" can be reduced to some silly 
false causality, which makes people feel better. Just because we would 
*like* life to be fair, doesn't mean that universe gives a shit, or 
corrects things in the long run. It doesn't. Often, as long as someone 
has power, and/or wealth, they can do great harm, and not suffer. 
Others, can do no harm their entire lives, and do nothing *but* suffer. 
Those are often "poor" people, or those with no power at all.

Its not about its "application". Its about whether or not it has any 
basis, what so ever, in reality. And, it simply doesn't.

However, if you are talking about the original origins of the principle, 
and how it was used, then you *do* have to look at its application. And, 
must like the "divine right of kings", its purpose wasn't to explain why 
bad things happened, or give some sort of hope (save in the entirely 
false sense, rather like the after life of Christianity), but to 
maintain how things already are. If you don't have a next life, or there 
isn't someone telling you, "If you do all the right things, it will be 
better next time", you will act to change things. If you think your 
deserve what you get, or will be rewarded for suffering it, then, the 
very act of apposing it is, by definition of how what those rules say 
about your caste, life, choices, failures, and even luck, evil (or bad 
karma).

Its not about hope, its about conformity. Adding other words to it, like 
Darma, as though anything in that concept mitigates it, just helps 
perpetuate the original purpose.

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On 1/26/2012 9:15 PM, Darren New wrote:
> On 1/26/2012 12:23, Patrick Elliott wrote:
>> 1. Karma doesn't happen "now", its generally punishment for action in a
>> *prior* life.
>
> I think that depends on whether you ask Buddhists or Wiccams/
>
Yeah, well.. I didn't say that they modern twits that believe the new 
version didn't manage to mangle half a dozen other things in the process 
of getting there. lol But, yeah, they took the name, and the general 
concept, from India, mixed in a heavy dose of Wicca, and came up with 
something that is less oppressive, but also at least as much based in 
reality (which is to say, not at all).

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