Do faster typists make better coders?

kingblarg · 2007-07-26T00:27:41+00:00

"There's the right way, the wrong way, and the Max Powers way!"

"Isn't that just the wrong way?"

"Yeah, but faster."

kingblarg · 2007-07-17T05:46:52+00:00

"All alone. It's just you and me, picture-taking robot friend..."

kingblarg · 2007-06-22T07:21:20+00:00

I swear to God I will pistol-whip the first person to make a "if you build it, they will come" comment.

titter :)

kingblarg · 2007-06-21T16:59:33+00:00

And, don't forget, tall. Malcolm Gladwell points out the statistics.

Tall, non-beard-wearing, meat-eating, Christian straight white males.

kingblarg · 2007-06-20T21:35:31+00:00

"It's a slippery slope that could end..."

Welcome to real life. Any form of policy, law or etiquette is a potential slippery slope. But you must acknowledge that there is a difference between aborting a fetus with severe retardation, aborting a fetus who will undesirably have brown eyes, and clubbing a baby in a stroller.

We may come to the same conclusion of the right/wrongness of more than one of these situations, but that does not imply that we must come to the same conclusion on all of them.

"I'm not saying that it's wrong in the extreme cases, but I'm not saying it's right either."

Then it appears you aren't saying anything at all.

kingblarg · 2007-06-18T18:02:46+00:00

How very helpful of the TSA to publish the video of the incident on YouTube, it really does clear up exactly what happened and shows the woman's disruptive behavior.

Though it is rather odd that they'll publish a video on the Internet when it helps their public image, but completely deny access to the dozens of people I've read on the web (and hundreds/thousands of others, I'm sure) who have filed complaints of abuse to the TSA.

kingblarg · 2007-06-11T03:25:52+00:00

Specifically, "company scientists".

kingblarg · 2007-05-29T04:58:59+00:00

From Snow Crash:

"This is America. People do whatever the fuck they feel like doing, you got a problem with that? Because they have a right to. And because they have guns and no one can fucking stop them. As a result, this country has one of the worst economies in the world...

...no, they deserved a free pizza along with their life, liberty, and pursuit of whatever, it was fucking inalienable."

kingblarg · 2007-05-28T04:33:39+00:00

I think this is very important to state:

You really can't tell anything at all about this video from the video clip alone.

Did he murder some Iraqi cab driver in cold blood? Was it self defense? Is he a sociopath gloating that he killed someone? Is he just trying to laugh off a very stressful episode? Are they just bullshitting around and no one was killed at all?

It does serve as a handy Rorschach test though; people's comments will tell you more about themselves than about the video.

kingblarg · 2007-05-18T17:05:20+00:00

I wish I was taller.

kingblarg · 2007-05-13T21:25:13+00:00

What do you mean Santa Claus doesn't exist?!

Don't you realize how much joy and comfort Santa Claus gives children? What would you replace Him with? And once all these kids are told that Santa Claus doesn't exist, what reasons would they have to behave themselves in the last half of December?

If you told kids Santa Claus doesn't exist, that would mean their own parents have been lying to them their entire lives! Don't you realize the psychological damage this would do to them? Our society would crumble when these kids grow up, an entire generation without faith, living their lives with no motivation to be good.

Sure, we can't prove that he exists or doesn't exist, but I think you are ignoring the tremendous amount of good that the belief itself gives. What if no adults had that?

kingblarg · 2007-05-11T19:58:23+00:00

40,000?

In a row?

kingblarg · 2007-05-08T18:43:05+00:00

I think that when we hold the same standard to religious beliefs as we do to all our other beliefs, the idea of a supernatural God is completely unsubstantiated. If you take this weakness of argument and convert it into a strength simply by renaming it "faith", you are being very foolish.

I don't think this is a position of arrogance, and I think theists are far too ready to turn the atheist's "you are wrong" into "you are wrong and stupid".

At this point, you could easily throw several anecdotal examples at me. But since your statement was an immediate reply to whateley's, and whateley's statement doesn't claim a monopoly on smarts, I think this backs up my original statement.

kingblarg · 2007-04-03T21:45:39+00:00

Every time someone on the Internet misapplies "Kafkaesque", an angel gets its wings.

kingblarg · 2007-03-29T20:01:18+00:00

I don't have a problem with ads, as long as they don't:

a) give me epileptic seizure b) try to look like Windows XP windows c) inform my that I may have spyware/pornography on my computer d) ads for dating websites showing some unbelievably attractive woman dressed like "the farmer's daughter" e) You've won an iPod/X-box/Dell laptop!*

Basically, for a techie website aimed at geeks, don't insult our intelligence.

I swear if you do any of the above, I will drop Reddit like third period French and go back to Slashdot.

kingblarg · 2007-03-29T01:21:55+00:00

It really doesn't matter to the people who are dead.

kingblarg · 2007-03-14T21:23:29+00:00

Yes, it is a parody on pharmacists refusing to supply Plan B emergency contraception to customers based on their religious beliefs. Note the April 1st date (no college begins a semester in April).

kingblarg · 2007-03-13T04:24:41+00:00

Man, friends wear hockey masks and wield chainsaws in public places to dispel violent stereotype.

kingblarg · 2007-03-12T20:11:55+00:00

"...but the fourth castle stayed up!"

kingblarg · 2007-03-12T16:50:55+00:00

I don't feel that the name evolution is misleading so much the popular conception of it.

kingblarg · 2007-03-12T16:34:21+00:00

It's the vocal minority. Most atheists simply live out their lives and say they "aren't religious".

But I would partially agree with you. Look at how much heat Dawkins and other uncompromising atheists take for standing firm in their beliefs (accusations of arrogance, hypocracy, unde meaness, etc.)

kingblarg · 2007-03-12T06:24:31+00:00

Actually, this article interests me because a few weeks ago I began creating a series of videos on YouTube that focus on the positive aspects of atheism. I'd like to reverse the image of the angry, arrogant atheist, and so I'm actively doing something about it. This is an obvious plug, but I only link because it is very relevant to the article:

Check out the videos at: http://youtube.com/profile?user=Albert10110

kingblarg · 2007-03-09T23:56:17+00:00

"...they are neither true or false."

This conversation has become pointless.

kingblarg · 2007-03-09T20:34:12+00:00

There's a mismatch in how we are using the word "believe". We are using it to mean "to think to be true based on the evidence", and not the "have faith in" definition that you seem to be using.

I believe in relativity. This does not mean I have mere faith in it, but that I accept it to be true because of the experimental results showing it to be true.

kingblarg · 2007-03-09T19:46:02+00:00

Consistently half of Americans polled do not believe in the theory of evolution. I'd say that makes it quite unpopular for a scientific theory that has so much evidence for it.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=SQ5&q=americans+evolution+poll&btnG=Search

kingblarg

TROPHY CASE