61

Technology & Information / Re: Getting a new smartphone

« on: November 21, 2014, 10:13:32 PM »

Alright, so after some investigation it looks like the article is referring to a new upgrade fee that didn't exist when I signed my first contract. It isn't referring to the old upgrade fee for upgrading mid-contract. Apparently they charge $30 now just for upgrading to a new phone and renewing your contract.

Verizon: the shittiest phone company around.

Granted, AT&T isn't much better.

Come to Canada. Literally the worst phone companies in the world. Even paying a warlord in human blood to make a call would be an improvement.

I pay $30/mo for 6gigs of data, and I use voip. $2/mo for unlimited incoming calls, and I use Google Hangouts to make free outgoing calls.

62

Technology & Information / Re: Getting a new smartphone

« on: November 21, 2014, 06:50:10 PM »

They charge you money to sign a new contract? That seems like something that shouldn't exist, and would cause people to switch to a different carrier when their existing contract is up.

63

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Anime thread

« on: November 06, 2014, 02:15:55 PM »

I typically watch everything subbed. Like Dave, I make exceptions to things that I'm already used to dubbed.

64

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Anselm's Ontological Ham Sandwiches

« on: November 05, 2014, 10:28:36 PM »

What if they've got celiac? Then both whole wheat, and white are bad choices.

65

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Anselm's Ontological Ham Sandwiches

« on: November 05, 2014, 09:16:28 PM »

Only then I could conceive of a being greater than either of those. You see, you ultimately get to one, greatest.

If there was a greater conceivable being, then how could the first one have been the greatest?

66

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Anselm's Ontological Ham Sandwiches

« on: November 05, 2014, 02:15:07 PM »

As for the Ontological Argument, it only proves the existence of One God. Not necessarily the Abrahamic God, but One God. I can conceive of a Being a greater than which cannot possibly be conceived. Who said we were talking about any particular understanding of God? Now, I could go from there and try to prove the biblical God, but that is not what I am trying to do with this particular argument. That would be stupid.

I may not be able to conceive of a greater being, but I could conceive of an additional, equally great being.

67

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Anselm's Ontological Ham Sandwiches

« on: November 05, 2014, 05:15:11 AM »

Well, on a totally different subject, we are now stuck with Joni Ernst, the Tea Party whore, for the next six years, as our Senator in Iowa. Ultimately, this state is royally fucked.

And here I thought Romney was winning by a landslide.

68

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Ask a Jew anything.

« on: October 28, 2014, 07:35:19 PM »

I don't understand how God simply making his presence  known to modern humans would turn us all into robots. Care to elaborate on this point?

Well, it would certainly deny our free will, at least to a point. If God were literally standing over us as the Divine Taskmaster, forcing us to obey, would that not be a loss of free will?

It's true, Moses had no free will.

69

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Sid Meier's Civilization

« on: October 28, 2014, 03:54:27 PM »

Yes, that was wonderful!

It doesn't happen in this game.

70

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Sid Meier's Civilization

« on: October 27, 2014, 08:31:07 PM »

I like the technology web. I hope they carry that forward to future Civ games.

71

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Sid Meier's Civilization

« on: October 25, 2014, 04:46:58 AM »

I'm installing Civ: Beyond Earth right now. I'll give you guys my impressions at a later date.

EDIT: My first impression is that the initial conditions are quite variable, but the game itself seems simpler than previous versions. Definitely not a worthy successor to Alpha Centauri, but it's still quite fun.

72

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Ask a Jew anything.

« on: October 24, 2014, 05:13:36 AM »

In the Bronze Age, the Creator of the universe does what he needs to do to keep his Chosen People alive to reach this day.

That seems like a reasonable way to keep people safe.

73

Science & Alternative Science / Re: Natural Medicine is better than Unnatural Medicine

« on: October 24, 2014, 04:59:17 AM »

It might be all the copypasta in their diet.

74

Science & Alternative Science / Re: Natural Medicine is better than Unnatural Medicine

« on: October 22, 2014, 08:52:18 PM »

The only objection I have to what you just wrote was that organic fruits and vegetables are almost certainly not pesticide/herbicide free. It's also not necessarily true that organic pesticides are any safer/better for you, or the environment.

75

Technology & Information / Re: Life in 4K

« on: October 16, 2014, 10:00:43 PM »

You could also buy a Dell 5k monitor for the same price as the iMac when it ships later this year.

76

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Pandemic Alert!

« on: October 16, 2014, 09:42:30 PM »

Okay, Thork stated that there are usually 100 deaths a year. Currently there have been 4500, which is one order of magnitude increase over normal. If we start getting 10,000 new cases a week, then the total number of deaths will be in the 10s of thousands in short order, which would be 2 orders of magnitude over normal rates.

77

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Pandemic Alert!

« on: October 16, 2014, 08:01:39 PM »

If it progresses as predicted, it will be 2 orders of magnitude greater before the end of the year.

Predicted by whom? You think 400,000 deaths is likely? Total nonsense.

400,000 would be 3 orders of magnitude.

78

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Pandemic Alert!

« on: October 16, 2014, 05:40:44 PM »

If it progresses as predicted, it will be 2 orders of magnitude greater before the end of the year.

79

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: On the notion of nuclear power

« on: October 15, 2014, 11:51:26 PM »

Per square cm, yes. So a 230MW power station would take up 10,000,000cm², or 1,000m², or a quarter acre, which would power about 75,000 homes.

EDIT: If you look at how big a solar, wind, or tidal plant has to be to produce that power, and it doesn't produce 24 hours a day, the size is quite reasonable. Also, please check my math if you think it may be inaccurate, it very well might be.

Also Thork, really? Aircraft passengers? A thin piece of metal with holes in it stops microwaves from getting out, I think an aircraft hull would do a sufficient job.

80

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: On the notion of nuclear power

« on: October 15, 2014, 11:38:38 PM »

From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-based_solar_power

At the Earth's surface, a suggested microwave beam would have a maximum intensity at its center, of 23 mW/cm2 (less than 1/4 the solar irradiation constant), and an intensity of less than 1 mW/cm2 outside the rectenna fenceline (the receiver's perimeter).[73] These compare with current United States Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) workplace exposure limits for microwaves, which are 10 mW/cm2,[74] - the limit itself being expressed in voluntary terms and ruled unenforceable for Federal OSHA enforcement purposes.[citation needed] A beam of this intensity is therefore at its center, of a similar magnitude to current safe workplace levels, even for long term or indefinite exposure. Outside the receiver, it is far less than the OSHA long-term levels[75] Over 95% of the beam energy will fall on the rectenna. The remaining microwave energy will be absorbed and dispersed well within standards currently imposed upon microwave emissions around the world.