>>The universe and us are one and the same – there is no us without it, there is no it without us
>I’m pretty sure the universe would still exist without us. Plenty of other ‘species’ have become extinct and the universe didn’t end.

That’s not what I mean – the universe would undoubtably exist without us in the future. But we are a creation of the universe in the same way the stars and galaxies are. And yet, short of other life, there is nothing about the stars or galaxies that means they can make value judgements about significance.

As for other life, yes – it would experience the universe. There’s nothing to suggest that it would ascribe value to it in the way we do. Equally, there’s nothing to suggest that it wouldn’t – but given the sheer number of variables I would suggest it is unlikely that other life will be the same as us.

Concerning our destruction tendencies – as a living system we consistently increase the entropy of our surroundings to minimise the entropy within our own system. As life brings an entropy increase within the walls of its own system, the net entropy increase of the universe is minimised through life.
The sun doesn’t do this.

And anyway – significance is only a system of classification, a lazy and simple comparison between different things. Why is significance significant? ;)

One definition of significance is that it indicates meaning. The universe knows no such thing as meaning. There is however meaning to be found in our own minds as a result of stimulus from the universe.

Another definition is that something that is significant is worthy of note. Worthy of note to whom? The universe cannot note anything. Only we ‘note’ things.
As such, significance is an entirely human creation & condition. Without us, there is no such thing as significance, and nothing to experience it. Surely that’s significant?

It’s beautiful because we are a part of the universe. The universe and us are one and the same – there is no us without it, there is no it without us, because we are a product of the same interactions that created everything.

Dire Straits

hehehehehe

There’s always choice

I know. That’s what I said.

:o)

:o)
Cofffeeeeeeeeeee

Had the italian style ones from Domninos? I have, and I’ve also eaten from Italian street vendors.

Like molgrips, I also have had both of these pizzas.
Also like molgrips’, my statement alone proves nothing :D

These are all choices.

As is the choice not to jump off a cliff. There’s always choice, it’s just the circumstances that influence the choices possible. Circumstances which are beyond many people’s reasonable control, so we all settle into our equilibrium of effort/quality of life.
Whatever happened to trying?

Mayans are awesome!

That’s 15:C on the 15.C.8E2 in base 15!
Silly humans and their numbers

Chrome is ‘made by’ a large corporation which makes money through ad revenue, that used to sort of have a motto ‘Don’t be evil’, but they don’t say anything about that anymore.

Firefox is ‘made by’ The Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes openness, innovation and participation on the Internet.

:D

Cougar, this made the b3ta newsletter!
Woo, yay, houpla!

I like the Metro article.
It quoted someone’s tweet about Instagram using your photos for financial gain, in the process using the tweet as ‘content’ for Metro’s advertising platform, for financial gain.
Smirk.

Fair enough Cougar. Just to add to your anecdotal evidence pile, I don’t think you get that update problem with new PS3s anymore – I don’t remember having to wait long when I recently set up a brand new superslim console. I can’t comment on the slow and clunky user experience bit because I don’t know what I’m missing, but I’m certainly not frustrated when I play my PS3 online.

Are these new 12gb PS3s Ok for GT5 and the like

The 12GB PS3 hasn’t got a hard drive – it uses flash. You can get a PS3 HDD mounting bracket (about £10 on amazon) and buy a seperate hard drive, it all fits inside neat and tidy. It works out much cheaper than getting a PS3 with a hard drive from the start.

Xbox Live Gold you have to pay for, but IME it’s worth the premium over Sony’s offering. £30 / year.

Why / How?

that’s still an awful long way they could have got, even subluminally.

But it’s nothing compared to infinity. The numbers need to at least approach infinity for any of this to apply.

Because if they were so far away that nothing from there could reach here (infinite distance), then that wouldn’t be part of our universe would it?

It would reach here, given infinite time. We just wouldn’t likely be around to experience it.

Yup, i can see that, but it still means they have been here

The time since the universe began is not infinite.
Unles we’re doing the infinite recurring universes thing, in which case there has been a universe where Hitler and Jesus were the same person.

* technically Mathematically above light speed speeds are possible[ that is they don’t violate Einstein’s theory] but not for entities that exist below light speed. the barrier separating subluminal and superluminal velocities requires infinite energy

APC Petite Standards
Selvedge 511s

Straight cut – tight on the thigh, loose round the knees. Looks good with anything*

*Within reason.

Oh, and 28/32 ;)

I reckon given enough time and the right team I could write some software to automatically “photoshop” the images before they were sent back. Actually scratch that – a couple of days messing around would probably do it.

In 1969? Really?

I have no way of knowing if the other entrants parents solicited votes from people they don’t know on an Internet forum with several thousand individual visits per week.

It won with 595 Votes.

I <3 GMJ

Teh mountains, TEH MOUNTAINS. They’re the same in every picture! Almost like… They’re… absolutely massive mountains?

Operation Flashpoint/Arma/Arma 2/Arma 3.
The game engine is used to train troops.
Footage taken from the game was mistaken for actual world footage of a 1988 IRA attack and used in a documentary.
It’s banned in Iran!
This big cross-over between the virtual and the real world makes it a contender in my eyes, sets a tone for the future.

Based on 12.5p / kWh and the figures used in the above “Scientific Study”, to acheive a 5 degree rise every day, the return on investment of the Dyson Hot over the standard heater is ~43 years.
:)

Pah, what a fad. They’ll never catch on.

Brilliant! Thanks for sharing

Yum yum yum yum yum!

His fans wouldnt change his voice for the world.

Hitler had his supporters, too
(I couldn’t resist…)

This is a daft question – where do you all put them when you’re not using them? Are they OK sitting in your pockets in da club grinding da ladies?

Have a look into getting him a decent headset (headphones with attached microphone) – essential kit for a decent online gaming experience.

Load vs Quiet – don’t worry about it. You can make PCs quiet easily, the internet is full of forums full of kids your son’s age dedicated to tinkering with this sort of thing. Modern non-OEM CPU heatsinks use large, quiet fans – as do modern PSUs. Modern GPUs have quieter dual slot cooling. There won’t be anything in the case that’s loud – it’ll just be the case fans themselves. These are easy and cheap to muck about with later down the line.

Audacity![/url]

There’s no such thing as a useless feature in social networking! Every new development must be pounced upon to better cultivate your personal brand!

It just comes up randomly on their screen ‘Does X know about Y?’ with a choice between yes and no.
I like receiving skill endorsements from people I hardly know concerning skills I barely possess.
:D

What about partially blind/deaf/mobile – when do they become disabled? Is it when society doesnt make allowances to use what vision/hearing/mobility because it would get in the way of “normal” life. Impairments tend to be conditions – disabilities are the effects of those conditions. Disabilities change with situation.

OK, Glupton, we all get your point. Now tell us a story about punching people or go away.

Hah.. if we end up with a government determined to abuse human rights to that extent, a black box in your car is the least of your worries.

To what extent?

what’s a board level report position?

Secretary ;)

It’s all about Drive.

Got Ryan Gosling’s Face drive? Degree not necessary.

It’s all OK. Smoking exists. Just keep educating your kids about the smelly morons in an non-judgemental way. That way, when your more-grown-up kid sees some people smoking (because Mum or Dad haven’t managed to change the entire world to prevent their children from ever witnessing anything bad) they’ll know that it’s moronic. You’ll have taught them why it’s moronic, and they’ll be part of the large (and increasing) proportion of people who have never smoked. No indignation required.

If, however, they’re blowing smoke on your kids, fetch your bombers.

i get pissy when his step brothers smoke outside and he can see them. I dont want him to smoke, nor do I want him to think its acceptable / cool.

Have you told you kid this?

It’s such a mind dumbingly moronic habit that I just don’t even want my kids seeing other people smoke much like I would not want them seeing other people drunk.

Have you told your kids that?