[sunnykerr]

The PS3 price will plummet, you mean?

Or the X-box One price will plummet once the PS3 comes out?

Or both?

I'm sorry. I'm confused.

[quaist]

I guess Dan meant that the PS3 will go down in prices once its successor, the PS4, comes out.

That remark was probably meant as a suggestion for you to consider buying a PS3 -- capable of playing Blu-Rays yet reasonably priced

[sunnykerr]

Ah, thanks for translating.

It's a good point.

But I'm asking for my Wii console as a birthday present. I'd feel awful asking for something that was even more expensive than what the Wii will cost.

[sunnykerr]

Wireless code sets caps on data, roaming charges The CRTC is putting caps on extra data and international roaming charges to prevent “bill shock” and says Canadians can cancel cellphone contracts after two years without a cancellation fee, as part of a new wireless code of conduct it unveiled Monday morning. The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission says its new code “will make it easier for Canadians to understand their contracts and sets out their basic rights.” The code will apply, starting on Dec. 2, 2013, to new contracts for cellphones and other mobile devices, whether they are signed as a stand-alone service or part of a bundle. “Every day, Canadians rely on wireless devices while in their homes, at their jobs, at school or travelling abroad,” CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais said in a statement. “The wireless code will contribute to a more dynamic marketplace by making it possible for Canadians to discuss their needs with service providers at least every two years.” The code comes out of public hearings held earlier this year, during which the agency heard from consumers angry about lengthy contracts, cancellation fees, roaming charges and other issues. Canadians were also able to share their frustrations via letter and in an online forum. The new code: Says consumers can cancel their wireless contract after two years without paying a cancellation fee, even if their contract is for a longer term. Caps extra data charges at $50 per month and international data roaming charges at $100 per month within one billing cycle to prevent “bill shock.” Allows consumers to have their cellphones unlocked after 90 days, or immediately if the device is paid for in full. Allows a cellphone to be returned within 15 days and specific usage limits if the customer is unhappy with the service. Says consumers can accept or decline changes to certain elements of a fixed-term contract. The code also requires that service providers “communicate with customers using plain language,” and that contracts and other documents be “written in a way that is clear and easy for customers to read and understand.”

Source

I've never had a cellphone, so it's hard for me to comment on these developments.

I will say that, at first glance, they seem to be beneficial to users.

I suppose time will tell if that turns out to be true.

[Future husband of Kelly.]

Albert Einstein's nonsense being exposed at long last

l always roll my eyes when people speak about Einstein being a genious, for he was the funny fellow that came up with the ABSURD theory that nothing can travel faster than light, LOL. Us meditators have always known different and have always seen that guy for what he was, a guy full of nonsense.

Scientists examine new speed of light theory – USATODAY.com
Was Einstein wrong? Speed of light appears to have been broken | TG Daily

Even some of Einstein's colleagues referred to him as an "idiot". When further investigation occured, it looks like he was a plant trying to dumb down western science with silly man made theories with no grounding on reality. l am glad this fraud has finally been exposed.

[Future husband of Kelly.]

Originally Posted by quaist (View Post) There's got to be lazy days as well, April ^ Not quite the right thread, but don't you think it goes a bit too far calling Einstein an 'idiot' because the speed of light theory might prove to be wrong? It's not as though he did only come up with that theory...

Yes, his colleagues were too rough in calling the poor man an idiot. But they probably knew much more about his abilities than we do, and maybe the rumours are true that he wasn't too bright and was used as a misinformation plant and a public face....kinda similar to how the [rumoured] illiterate William Shakespeare was supposed to have been used.

We need to expose these misinformation agents as much as possible.

[sunnykerr]

This is the first time I've heard that colleagues of Einstein used to call him an idiot. I tried looking it up, to see what sort of genius would find Albert Einstein worthy of such an epithet, but the only thing I could come up with was a wikiquote entry arguing that a quote attributed to Einstein could not be duly attributed to him.

So, help me out here, which of his colleagues called him an idiot? I'm sure he must have been called an idiot at some point. I'd just be curious to find out by whom.

As to his theory of relativity being proven wrong by CERN's blasted neutrinos... I would just like to point out, with respect, that you're referencing articles published in 2011. Nothing wrong at all with that, but I have a couple of articles I found by typing "neutrinos speed of light debunked" into a Google search that seem to indicate that, as of 2012, the scientific community remained satisfied that Einstein theory on the speed of light being the fastest there is still held.

Science Insider
The Week
New York Times - Science Section



I've said it before and allow me to say it again. Science is not really my thing. I don't really understand most of it, to be honest. Which is ironic considering that I'm the daughter of a physicist and the sister of a aerodynamics mechanical engineer, and that I work in Patent Law. That's neither here nor there. I'm just trying to say that I don't expect anything I post here to be taken over seriously.

It does occur to me, though, that science is constantly evolving. Isn't it the whole point of science, that it keeps evolving?

Anyway, taking that as my premise, I would argue that had Einstein's theory (heck, had all of his theories) proven to be nothing but old tosh... I'm not really sure that would make him an idiot.

A lot of scientists in Ancient Greece have been proven completely wrong on just about every level. Doesn't mean they were idiots.

As for meditation in relation to the theory of the speed of light... this might be the part where I demonstrate beyond the shadow of a doubt the depth of my own foolishness, but I was under the impression that Einstein had published his theory of relativity under the title "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies," by which I assumed he meant physical bodies. Not, you know, astral or otherwise.

[quaist]

Originally Posted by Future husband of Kelly. (View Post) Yes, his colleagues were too rough in calling the poor man an idiot. But they probably knew much more about his abilities than we do, and maybe the rumours are true that he wasn't too bright and was used as a misinformation plant and a public face....kinda similar to how the [rumoured] illiterate William Shakespeare was supposed to have been used. We need to expose these misinformation agents as much as possible.

And those colleagues were probably much more envious of Einstein's success than we are.

Honestly, I'm all for exposing misinformation agents, I just fail to see how refuting that theory of Einstein's would simultaneously prove that he had been used as a misinformation plant?

Plus, as Sunny's links point out, it hasn't even been proved that those faster-than-light neutrinos actually were faster than light...

[sunnykerr]

Yeah, I should have said that I'm also all for exposing charlatans and frauds.

I'm just not sure Einstein was one.

[sunnykerr]

Black hole-bound gas cloud 'stretched like spaghetti' The giant gas cloud heading for the black hole at the centre of our galaxy has begun its death spiral. The cloud, known as G2 is now being stretched out like a piece of spaghetti by the black hole's extreme gravity. This gravitational field has caused the head of the cloud to accelerate around the black hole and to speed back towards us. Astronomers have been closely observing G2, hoping to catch it being ripped apart and eaten by the black hole. Details of the latest observations are outlined in the Astrophysical Journal. The cloud of gas - three times larger than Pluto's orbit but with a total mass just three times that of the Earth - was first spotted on its course toward the galaxy's centre in 2011. The mass of the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way is estimated to be four million times that of the Sun and is formally known as Sagittarius A (Sgr A*). It is the closest known "supermassive" black hole and is therefore considered the best places to study these dense objects in detail. "The most exciting thing we now see in the new observations is the head of the cloud coming back towards us at more than 10 million km/h along the orbit - about 1% of the speed of light," said Reinhard Genzel, from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany. "This means that the front end of the cloud has already made its closest approach to the black hole." The origin of the gas cloud remains unclear, although a variety of ideas have been proposed. These range from its recent formation due to a collision between stellar winds and the interstellar medium to its origins as a jet emerging from the galactic centre to a faint star that is losing increasing amounts of gas. The new observations argue against the cloud possessing a stellar core that would constantly be supplying new gas. "We see that the cloud is now being stretched so much that it resembles spaghetti. This means that it probably doesn't have a star in it," said Stefan Gillessen, also from the Max Planck Institute, who has been leading the observing team. "At the moment we think that the gas probably came from the stars we see orbiting the black hole." Due to the tidal forces stretching G2, the front of the cloud is now moving about 500 km/s faster than its tail. The astronomers have been using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile to study G2. As the gas cloud is stretched its light gets harder to see. But by staring at the region close to the black hole for more than 20 hours of total exposure time with the VLT's Sinfoni instrument, the team was able to measure the velocities of different parts of the cloud as it streaked past the central black hole.

Source

The truth is that I understand very little of these articles explaining outerspace exploration bits like that.

But the images they have are so spectacular, even when you know it's an artist rendering.

And there's just something mind-blowing even thinking about a cloud slowly making its way across space towards a black hole.

[quaist]

Online pornography to be blocked by default, PM announces Most households in the UK will have pornography blocked by their internet provider unless they choose to receive it, David Cameron has announced. In addition, the prime minister said possessing online pornography depicting rape would become illegal in England and Wales - in line with Scotland. Mr Cameron warned in a speech that access to online pornography was "corroding childhood". The new measures will apply to both existing and new customers. Mr Cameron also called for some "horrific" internet search terms to be "blacklisted", meaning they would automatically bring up no results on websites such as Google or Bing. He told the BBC he expected a "row" with service providers who, he said in his speech, were "not doing enough to take responsibility" despite having a "moral duty" to do so. He also warned he could have to "force action" by changing the law and that, if there were "technical obstacles", firms should use their "greatest brains" to overcome them. 'Innocence' In his speech, Mr Cameron said family-friendly filters would be automatically selected for all new customers by the end of the year - although they could choose to switch them off. And millions of existing computer users would be contacted by their internet providers and told they must decide whether to use or not use "family-friendly filters" to restrict adult material. The filters would apply to all devices linked to the affected home Wi-Fi network and across the public Wi-Fi network "wherever children are likely to be present". Customers who do not click on either option - accepting or declining - will have filters activated by default, Tory MP Claire Perry, Mr Cameron's adviser on the sexualisation and commercialisation of childhood, told the BBC. The UK's biggest internet service providers have agreed to the filters scheme meaning it should cover 95% of homes. Other measures announced by the prime minister included: New laws so videos streamed online in the UK will be subject to the same restrictions as those sold in shops Search engines having until October to introduce further measures to block illegal content Experts from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre being given more powers to examine secretive file-sharing networks A secure database of banned child pornography images gathered by police across the country will be used to trace illegal content and the paedophiles viewing it Mr Cameron also called for warning pages to pop up with helpline numbers when people try to search for illegal content. He said: "I want to talk about the internet, the impact it is having on the innocence of our children, how online pornography is corroding childhood. "And how, in the darkest corners of the internet, there are things going on that are a direct danger to our children, and that must be stamped out. "I'm not making this speech because I want to moralise or scaremonger, but because I feel profoundly as a politician, and as a father, that the time for action has come. This is, quite simply, about how we protect our children and their innocence." But former Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre boss Jim Gamble told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was important to "get to the root cause" of illegal pornography, by catching those responsible for creating it. He added: "You need a real deterrent, not a pop-up that paedophiles will laugh at." But Ms Perry argued filters would make a difference, saying that the killers of schoolgirls April Jones and Tia Sharp had accessed legal pornography before moving on to images of child abuse. She added: "It's impossible to buy this material in a sex shop... but it's possible to have it served up on a computer every day." In his speech, Mr Cameron said possession of online pornography depicting rape would be made illegal. Existing legislation only covers publication of pornographic portrayals of rape, as opposed to possession. "Possession of such material is already an offence in Scotland but because of a loophole in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, it is not an offence south of the border," Mr Cameron said. "Well I can tell you today we are changing that. We are closing the loophole - making it a criminal offence to possess internet pornography that depicts rape." The move has been welcomed by women's groups and academics who had campaigned to have "rape porn" banned. Holly Dustin, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said the group was "delighted". "The coalition government has pledged to prevent abuse of women and girls, so tackling a culture that glorifies abuse is critical for achieving this," she said. "The next step is working with experts to ensure careful drafting of the law and proper resourcing to ensure the law is enforced fully." 'No safe place' Mr Cameron, who has faced criticism from Labour over cuts to Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre's funding, insisted the centre's experts and police would be given the powers needed to keep pace with technological changes on the internet. "Let me be clear to any offender who might think otherwise: there is no such thing as a safe place on the internet to access child abuse material," he said. A spokesman for Google said: "We have a zero tolerance attitude to child sexual abuse imagery. Whenever we discover it, we respond quickly to remove and report it. "We recently donated $5m (£3.3m) to help combat this problem and are committed to continuing the dialogue with the government on these issues." According to some experts, "default on" can create a dangerous sense of complacency, says BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones. He says internet service providers would dispute Mr Cameron's interpretation of the new measures, insisting they did not want to be seen as censors.

Sounds reasonable to me.

Everyone wanting to watch porn could still easily do that by switching this filter off, while children would finally be saved from unintentionally clicking on some funny link.

[sunnykerr]

Hm.

The thing is that I like a lot of it, but I wonder how realistic it all is.

I mean, obviously, as a woman, I'm all for banning porn depicting rape.

If it's a real rape.

I'm not really into monitoring people's fantasies and, let's face it, plenty of actual bona fide films have depictions of rape, and I don't think they're about to be made illegal.

Not a fan of rape (in case that actually needs to be mentioned).

I just wonder how a government legislates fiction.

But, overall, I think this is a great move.

[quaist]

I don't even think that monitoring every downloaded or streamed porn is possible on such a scale as to make sure there's no material depicting rape circulating

[sunnykerr]

Well, I know someone who once worked for the Canadian "censorship" board and basically her job was to look at porn to make sure that the actresses didn't seem like they were under duress and were credibly "of age."

So obviously there are some ways of monitoring stuff, although I've no idea how that applies to the web, to be honest.

I still can't believe I come down on the side of allowing rape porn videos to be distributed.

But I do think that it can be a pointless effort.

[sunnykerr]

Nevada bar uses Facebook to publicly shame patron over unpaid tab RENO, Nev. -- A Nevada brewpub irked that a patron left without paying his $100 tab turned to Facebook earlier this week to publicly shame him. The Brewer's Cabinet in Reno posted a picture of smiling patron Saul Zelaznog on Tuesday, urging users to remind him to pay up and warning other businesses to watch out for future freeloading. "And, while you're at it, you could tell him that visiting restaurants with your friends, running up a huge bill, roughing up servers and then bailing is pretty uncool ... pathetic, really," the post reads. "Get a life, man." The post had more than 600 shares on Facebook by Thursday. Chris Kahl, a co-owner of the Brewer's Cabinet, told the Reno Gazette-Journal he contacted police after the dine-and-dash. "All his friends paid and left, and he was the last one," Kahl said. "The server needed to collect his money. He said he forgot his wallet." Other restaurants and bars in the area -- including Imperial, Campo and Chapel Tavern -- told KRNV-TV they believe they've also been his victims. When contacted by the newspaper, Zelaznog -- who also goes by the name Saul Gonzalez, according to public records -- said he had forgotten a method of payment when he visited Tuesday, but planned to return to pay the tab. He said he was involved in a similar situation at another Reno-area restaurant, where he said he left a "nice watch" as collateral. "I'm not trying to burn bridges around town," he told the paper. "This is a small little town." Zelaznog said he was asking relatives to wire him money in hopes of paying the bill by Thursday, although restaurant manager Ed Griggs said the money hadn't showed up by midday.

Source

Well, obviously, it's cruddy not to pay the money you owe.

But I think it's a bit cruddier of his friends to have left him with that tab. I mean, even if he racked it all up on his own, what kind of friends are these that they can't spot him the cash for a spell?



Obviously, what Zelaznog did was wrong. Of course.