[Non-political] News that makes you Laugh/Cry/Both...

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 8:19 am

Korgan0 wrote:
...You Lost Me wrote:YES YES YES YES YES
I'm actually slightly scared by this- Google run online advertising, online searches, phone operating systems, a decent chunk of social networking, online video, and now they're making an incredibly competitive attempt at home internet.

Why? High-speed internet service in America is already a group of distinct regional monopolies with very little overlap who deliberately avoid competition with eachother and are already actively engaged in collaborative efforts to control content access in the name of piracy prevention. The scary corrupt monopoly doing scary corrupt things is what we have now. Google injecting some competition into the market is great; and even if Google wins and becomes a new giant monopoly... well, Google isn't ran by angels descended from the heavens to bring us intertubes, but their track record for dealing with consumers is better than any major ISP I have ever heard of.

Korgan0 · Post by **Korgan0** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 8:35 am

DSMatticus wrote:
Korgan0 wrote:
...You Lost Me wrote:YES YES YES YES YES
I'm actually slightly scared by this- Google run online advertising, online searches, phone operating systems, a decent chunk of social networking, online video, and now they're making an incredibly competitive attempt at home internet.
Why? High-speed internet service in America is already a group of distinct regional monopolies with very little overlap who deliberately avoid competition with eachother and are already actively engaged in collaborative efforts to control content access in the name of piracy prevention. The scary corrupt monopoly doing scary corrupt things is what we have now. Google injecting some competition into the market is great; and even if Google wins and becomes a new giant monopoly... well, Google isn't ran by angels descended from the heavens to bring us intertubes, but their track record for dealing with consumers is better than any major ISP I have ever heard of.

No, I have no doubt that Google would be a far better ISP than any of the Baator-esque organizations that masquerade as telcoes these days. My concern is that Google seems to be moving towards having a disproportionate amount of influence over the sum total of the data that flows through the internet as a whole, not just over provision of physical internet access.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 9:06 am

You know, even if you liken Google to cthulhu.... I'd prefer that over Mephistopheles...

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 9:08 am

I started hating Google recently. I google something to buy and every link on the first page is a hit from a single online store. Which is new and obviously seo'ed into the stratosphere, so I'm okay with it being the First Useless Link. But not EVERY FUCKING LINK ON FIRST PAGE.

Youtube. Again, I am searching something on Google, and every fucking link on the first AND second pages is youtube. I end up searching "-youtube".

Preview. To receive a link to the cached page, I need to forbid javascript on Google; if I don't, it shows the page preview instead. For Google's features to work (gmail etc), I need to turn it back on. F-F-F-U-U-U-U-

Masturbation. Yes, seriously. I block ads on the PC, but my phone can't handle Mozilla. Editing the hosts file to block ads means google ads get through. I google lyrics for a Soviet song (to find out the author's name, on a bet) and get a "context" ad for "masturbation". (About the only porn-related thing I do on the internet is reading 4chan.)

TL;DR: switched to Bing.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 9:12 am

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/151 ... gaming-min

So, this is kind of cool. Reaper seems to do some of the better fantasy minis out there, and they started a line of polymer, "quality and price sweet spot" minis. They're currently doing a kickstarter to increase production.

I really wish I had $2000 to give them. Not that I've played any one character long enough but...

K · Post by K » Fri Jul 27, 2012 9:13 am

That pricing is pretty good. Hard to argue with $0 a month for 7 years after the initial $300.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 9:19 am

Starmaker wrote:I started hating Google recently. I google something to buy and every link on the first page is a hit from a single online store. Which is new and obviously seo'ed into the stratosphere, so I'm okay with it being the First Useless Link. But not EVERY FUCKING LINK ON FIRST PAGE.

Youtube. Again, I am searching something on Google, and every fucking link on the first AND second pages is youtube. I end up searching "-youtube".

Preview. To receive a link to the cached page, I need to forbid javascript on Google; if I don't, it shows the page preview instead. For Google's features to work (gmail etc), I need to turn it back on. F-F-F-U-U-U-U-

Masturbation. Yes, seriously. I block ads on the PC, but my phone can't handle Mozilla. Editing the hosts file to block ads means google ads get through. I google lyrics for a Soviet song (to find out the author's name, on a bet) and get a "context" ad for "masturbation". (About the only porn-related thing I do on the internet is reading 4chan.)

TL;DR: switched to Bing.

Dude, there is something seriously borked with your google record or something.

npc310 · Post by **npc310** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 5:56 pm

Obama spends $70 Million of our money to upstage Romney in Israel

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 6:21 pm

Dude, that was announced back in May. And it's not like Mitt the Twit wouldn't have given them the money.

Anywho, this is the non-politics thread.

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 6:56 pm

Yeah, you're probably looking for this thread. 278 pages of politics and counting.

npc310 · Post by **npc310** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 7:30 pm

Dammit, you're right. I got the wrong thread.

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Wed Aug 15, 2012 7:18 pm

Latest Gallup Poll shows religious people in US dropped from 73% to 60%

Edit: This actually wasn't a Gallup poll. It was conducted by WIN-Gallup International, which is now separate. Just wanted to correct that.

...You Lost Me · Post by **...You Lost Me** » Wed Aug 15, 2012 7:29 pm

I think that might be political. I don't know. Anyways, it kind of makes me happy.

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Wed Aug 15, 2012 7:51 pm

...You Lost Me wrote:I think that might be political. I don't know. Anyways, it kind of makes me happy.

I thought about putting it in there, but I felt this was a better fit.

It makes me happy too. I was surprised to see a drop that fast.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 1:20 am

Apparently, some vocal Mass Effect fans that that watching My Little Pony is morally equivalent to perpetrating the Holocaust.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 1:30 am

...why?

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 2:08 am

Prak_Anima wrote:...why?

Probably because they're immature little boys who are afraid that looking at a picture of N7 Commander Pinkie Pie will give them cooties.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 2:57 am

RobbyPants wrote:Latest Gallup Poll shows religious people in US dropped from 73% to 60%

Awesome. Related, the town (it calls itself a city, but even someone from an Australian capital city would piss themselves with laughter - anyone from any fucking country with actual big cities at all, cities where you could not jog from one side to the other with ease would just assume it's sarcasm) I'm in used to have the nickname of God's Waiting Room. For two reasons. 1. It's where you retire to when you're ready for the grave. So many elderly people, and to some extent it shows in regards to council priorities and such. 2. Very Christian.

Although nothing can fix the former, short of a particularly severe influenza outbreak or either L party deciding "KILL EVERYONE ON A PENSION" and forgetting that that includes the elderly and said people are their main supporters, the latter is waning - it's now dropped below 50%. As in, if this were Uni, god just gave us a failing grade. Or if the End of Times came and god chose to be a lazy fuckhead about it, this town would now fall under the "Under half? Screw it, nuke them." category.

I shouldn't put it like that, though - that makes it sound like I think it's a bad thing, and nothing could be further from the truth. It's like hearing that serious mental illness has dropped below 50% - concerning it was that high to begin with, but a positive sign that we're getting the problem under control.

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 12:46 pm

I should make a correction I noticed since I posted this: It actually wasn't a Gallup poll. It was conducted by WIN-Gallup International, which is now separate. I don't think it invalidates it, I just should edit the post above to say it's not a Gallup poll.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 2:14 pm

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57493 ... or-dinner/

3D Printed Meat . .

I guess we'll call this FTP - Flesh Transfer Protocol

Parthenon · Post by **Parthenon** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 4:40 pm

So sort of like this?

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 2:10 am

PUSH BUTTON. RECEIVE BACON.

Voss · Post by **Voss** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 3:15 am

RobbyPants wrote:Latest Gallup Poll shows religious people in US dropped from 73% to 60%

Edit: This actually wasn't a Gallup poll. It was conducted by WIN-Gallup International, which is now separate. Just wanted to correct that.

Sadly, I drove through Arkansas on Tuesday. They were definitely afoot out there, and the churches pay for lots and lots of billboard space.

The one that stood out the most (to the point that I refused to stop for gas or food anywhere in the state at all, which I could do because my car is a product of science and gets good mileage):

'Use the rod on your child, it will save his life'

There were so many fucking things wrong with this, starting with the
'Yay, child abuse!' and ending with 'well... what about the girl children?' (it wasn't clear if they couldn't be saved, weren't worth saving or somehow deserved to be killed)

After that all the little things didn't matter anymore, like the charred areas of highway where cars had burned down to the gravel bed, or the construction that brought traffic to a complete halt on an interstate highway because they were trying to work on both sides of the road simultaneously (and coupled with multiple signs reading 'right lane closed' coupled with barrels that directed traffic into the right lane).

Every so often I hear people ragging on the southern states, and someone invariable gets upset about how mean it all is. Then I pass through them, and get to see the hate and ignorance first hand, and then get to happily tell people in civilized places that no, really, it is just that fucked up down there.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 4:36 am

Life imitates art.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 3:06 pm

Voss wrote: 'Use the rod on your child, it will save his life'

There were so many fucking things wrong with this, starting with the
'Yay, child abuse!' and ending with 'well... what about the girl children?' (it wasn't clear if they couldn't be saved, weren't worth saving or somehow deserved to be killed)

Where gender is unknown, it is grammatically correct, appropriate, and prefered to default to male pronouns. So sayeth Strunk and White.