I'm not sure I really fault the developers that much, although I hear the PC release is a fucking hot mess atm... Some of the complaints come across as, "The developer should have warned me it wasn't going to live up to my completely unrealistic expectations".

Why is it that when people see a trailer for a movie that view it with a degree of healthy skepticsm, but when its a trailer for an enormously ambitious game made by a small studio with a release date 2 years or so away people lose their fucking minds. And its not even just poor lil jimmy consumer, the game/tech press apparently forgot the lessons of Spore completely in 2014. I guess hype gets more pageviews?

I imagine that in 5 years time they'll be hailing another messiah that has apparently created an entire universe because maths. Turns out being God is actually quite a difficult feat. WHO'D HAVE THUNK? -props to whatever divine may exist btw - we're really struggling to create a sequel that justifies the original.

On the plus side the soundtrack by 65daysofstatic is ace. Their music probably contributed in a large degree to the "success" of that E3 trailer, so, you know, maybe it wasn't completely unrepresentative of the final product.

"I didn't think I would ever be in position that I would ever have to take somebody else's life"

That's the opening quote, from somebody in the military flying armed drone strikes. I am gonna call that unrealistic expectations, the army and military are not about negotiating with the enemy, their purpose is the threat of violence and death should negotiations fail. If you don't expect taking a life to be part of military operations, you didn't understand the entire concept of a military.

Then it's compounded, with this gem of a quote:
"I thought we were trying to rebuild their democracy"
Where did there exist a democracy in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen or anywhere else he might have been flying a drone? Violent, repressive military dictatorships and stateless anarchy were the precursors.

Somewhere in between the cries to kill all Muslims and the Chomsky like claims that everything is the fault of the West is a middle ground I wish people would pay attention to and discuss.

There are parts of the world that are completely lawless, and for all intents and purposes have NO government despite the land itself falling within declared national borders. Tribal Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as many African states like Yemen and Somalia are relevant examples. There are powerful non-state organizations waging war from this regions. Al Qaeda and the TTP being only the most popular examples, Al-Shabab and Boko-Haram are others. These non-state entities are pushing ideologies that are not simply counter to western values, but that violate all UN agreed notions for basic human rights.

The question isn't drones good or drones bad. It isn't America good or America bad. It's not even killing good or killing bad. That's all just propaganda.

The real question is when powerful non state actors wage war with the declared goal of revoking many globally upheld human rights, how do we respond? The idea that drones should never be part of that answer seems equally facile to the idea that they always should be.

@oritteropo

There is a long history of Latin American currency crises which I would refer you to as examples of disorderly collapse. That Tsipras would break most of his electoral promises in his recent 4 month extension agreement should tell you that he knows how catastrophic it would be. You can't quantitatively approximate these kinds of events but qualitatively* (TYPO) the following is likely to occur:

1) Bank run - You saw significant withdrawals even leading up to the meeting with the Troika because of the possibility funding will abruptly stop. A stop to euro lending will see mass outflows with the expectation of bank collapse which will itself likely lead to the collapse of multiple banking institutions.

2) Foreign flows of currencies will dry up - Greek bond yields will spike, in effect no one will lend to the Greek government from overseas. Since like any economy, Greece needs to pay its public sector workers and requires foreign capital for imports, to preserve what it has, it will rapidly convert back to using the Drachma which it can issue and print/create. It is likely the banks will follow in turn and convert deposits to Drachma (another reason why people will withdraw money from banks as soon as they think euro support is over).

3) Drachma collapse - The Drachma will then depreciate rapidly. Again, the expectation of depreciation pretty much causes the depreciation. If people expect their currency to be worth less in the future, they will sell it, causing it to be worth less. Any existing savings accounts remaining will be decimated in value. Wages will fall drastically for everyone. Suddenly the cost of anything that relies on imported products (hint, a lot in any economy, especially Greece) will rise several-fold. This will lead to further job cuts, collapse of industries, which will precipitate further job loss, unemployment, output loss etc etc etc.

The tl;dr version of this is that government funding crises whether caused by debt or currency collapse in the first instance are self reinforcing and the consequences of an unmanaged collapse are all but guaranteed to be much worse than austerity but order. There is some evidence that countries who have a massive collapse and see their currency depreciate are then about to recover faster afterwards (a cheap currency boost exports, tourism etc) but the human toll is much more sudden and much more severe.

As far as IMF estimates being unrealistic, sure. All I'm arguing about is what is likely to happen and which outcome Greeks should prefer.

Sure Syriza has talked about the good kind of reform, but he's also promised the rest of what I talked about. None of which the Troika will let him do if he wants retain their funding. Anyone following this should have known he would not be allowed any of these promises he made in his election. Surely Tsipras himself knew this. It was either posturing/bluster or pure politics. Now the stability of his government is going to depend on how he can manage down his unrealistic expectations.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/28/alexis-tsipras-athens-lightning-speed-anti-austerity-policies

It's easier at that age. All anyone cares about in high school is that you're attractive and friendly. By 25, everyone is suspicious and paranoid and has unrealistic expectations.

>> ^dag:

The lesson was for the sorry sayer, not the receiver. Saying sorry and meaning it is an acknowledgement of causing harm - minor empathy, most definitely Not sociopathic.>> ^criticalthud:
yes, learn how to say sorry when you don't mean it in order to make someone else feel a certain way, and to quickly forgive purposeful aggressive action.
good sociopathic training
dunno. what you guys see a dutiful lesson in good manners I see as training to be disingenuous.
and who is the lesson for? are you condoning that your child should expect an apology every time she's bumped into?
if you train your child to be a princess that the world should be apologizing to, make sure she stays in the USA.



ok, the first action was purposeful. did the first girl learn a lesson or learn that she could commit purposeful actions and then be forgiven for uttering a phrase? The lesson learned here for a little girl is that she can purposefully act, with malice, and be forgiven right after without ever having to examine her reasoning for committing the malicious act. The catholic church allows for the same behavior. it is essentially saying that you may escape responsibility for your actions by apologizing for it. this is pure fallacy, and a poor way to raise a child.

"say you're sorry" - learning how to say something in response is not learning appropriate behavior.

As to who receives the lesson in the second scene - who is the impressionable one here? who is in their formulative years? if you teach your child at this age that they are special and that they should (creating unrealistic expectations) expect an apology every time someone bumps into them, and the world must be polite to them, you're not doing them any favors.

in the second scene also, most here are in agreement that the older girl should be punished in some way, even though her actions lacked any intent. this is not how the law works, and for good reason.

but seriously, let's breathe for a second and reflect upon just how idiotic it is to force someone to say something they don't mean. this kind of junk in ingrained into our society and you guys are mirroring it. Fight Club got it right.

In my particular specialty, I have no choice but to be my brother's keeper, which is as it should be. I treat with the same diligence the drug dealer shot by the police or the 5 year old child bitten by the family pet. Every physician I work with does the same. No medical decisions are based on anything other than what is in the best medical interest of the patient. My comments on personal responsibility are made from the perspective of my being a tax-paying citizen of a country that struggles under the weight of a medical system that is a bloated bureaucracy servicing a population of consumers with unrealistic expectations.
I totally agree with your comments on addiction. It's poorly understood and hard to treat. If we had a therapy that was effective, I'd be all for paying for it. But we don't. Psychological counseling is of little benefit. A person doesn't stop smoking, or lose weight, until they are ready. Too often it's because they have a debilitating disease caused by same. I have a few friends that smoke. I've tried to get them to quit. I've described the slow death of emphysema, the air hunger, feeling like you're running a race that never ends, although it does when you die. There's not many worse ways to go. But their response is the same, "I'm not ready to quit." Too bad.
One of the great misconceptions US citizens have, is the criticism that physicians are "controlled" or "puppets" of the system, that they receive kickbacks for referrals, etc. These people have never had experience trying to manage physicians, that's for sure. There's not a more fiercely independent group in any work force. They HATE being told what to do and they are the most ethical group of professionals I've ever encountered.

>> ^ChaosEngine:

Nice speech, now do something about it.


I agree, BUT:
I think that we have unrealistic expectations about Presidents being proactive and "getting things done" in all sorts of policy areas, when the reality of the checks and balances between different branches of government makes it so they actually can't do all of these things. Congress / the legislative branch sets tax rates, so the president has little to do with it, other than veto/approval of what congress puts on his desk.

So, making a speech is pretty much the only way that he actually can "do something about it".

The fact that every single president or presidential candidate makes campaign promises about things like this that are in reality almost entirely out of their control is frustrating, but on the other hand "if I get any tax increase bills from Congress, I will most likely try to veto it unless it is attached as a rider onto some other item that I am unable to veto" doesn't make for quite as good a sound-bite as "read my lips, no new taxes" (even if it turns out that you're just flat-out lying).

To get elected, you have to make promises that you can't actually follow through on, at least not without seriously adjusting the definition of "follow through".

I like the idea, especially @Deano's channel theme tip. If you ever get to the jazz channel, I'll put myself up for participation.

I'm only afraid that there will be too little subject material. The activity on the sift comes and goes, and I have a hard time imagining what interesting could come out of discussing the discussion on the latest cat video. The majority of what "happens" on the Sift over a week revolves around the top 15 videos, and while the quality of the comments are usually above youtube level, I have to admit that they are not always newsworthy. And I hate to say it, but when you say "talking about what's happened on the Sift over the past week" I visualize @dag and @kronosposeidon gossiping about the latest Sift drama / Siftquisition and what it means for the future of the community. As entertaining as that might be, such dramas are best left untouched after they have fizzled out, in my opinion.

What I'm trying to get at with all these unnecessary words is that it would be good to hear a little more precise what you think to fill the time spot with. I'm sure you have some ideas, since you have come so far as to propose starting a podcast. I'd just hate to see a good initiative fizzle out because of unrealistic expectations.


Wow, I'm such a spoilsport. I promise that my next comment will be more positive.

>> ^kymbos:

I'm continually impressed with how well he presents and delivers a message. And he's right about reform in general, and health care in particular. People have unrealistic expectations about timeframes and political process.
That said, prudential regulation - the cause of the fincancial crisis - is not rocket science. It doesn't require Government ownership, or limits on salaries and bonuses.


Yeah I'd be impressed to if he wasn't lying. Also I don't like his assassination policy in foreign countries...Drones keep killing innocent people...Obama keeps smiling.

I'm continually impressed with how well he presents and delivers a message. And he's right about reform in general, and health care in particular. People have unrealistic expectations about timeframes and political process.

That said, prudential regulation - the cause of the fincancial crisis - is not rocket science. It doesn't require Government ownership, or limits on salaries and bonuses.

An excellent speech. I'm still in Obama's corner. I believe he cares and sadly I also believe he isn't magic... and that doesn't give me unrealistic expectations.

>> ^djsunkid: He suggests that if you accelerate towards mars at 9.8m/s^2 then you will get half way there in only 4 days...8 days to Mars! That's MAD! This video says 39 days. ALSO MAD! Very exciting stuff.



From back of the handing your numbers I worked out that the mars trip they are talking about only requires a constant acceleration of .035m/s², and a peak speed of about 60km/s.

As jwray suggested this is interplanetary (very cool), but not inter-steller, since access to power (solar being the only real option) would diminish as you travel, you would have to accelerate at something like 1M*g to get up to .25c by the time your solar power failed.

The questions are how small, in theory, can this thing be made, and how efficiently can it use the gas it uses to generate the plasma. After running those numbers I would be surprised if this tech, even it its most refined, could get a probe to another star in a human life time.

Looks like I have to wait for warp technology. Damn you Sci-Fi for unrealistic expectations!!!

Interesting how all the witness flight paths differ. And, coincidentally, they all show a flight path that starts "directly over their own heads" and continues in a straight line to the impact zone. Doesn't sound at all suspicious to me that all witnesses interviewed claim the plane flew directly over their heads.

Now, the conflicting eye witness reports are used as evidence against the digitally recorded data and the physical evidence of downed light poles? And what about the damn surveillance video SHOWING THE PLANE APPROACHING THE BUILDING IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE EXPLOSION? Hmm...

In my opinion, people have unrealistic expectations form watching too many CIS/Forensic Detective shows. Truthfully, we do not have the ability to predict every physical interaction and result from a collission of that magnatude. Any number of physcial reactions could have taken place to account for the aftermath as it was observed in the days and weeks following the collision. Certainly amateur attempts to produce data the supports preconceived ideas is to be handled with some skepticism.

Personally, I find the conspiracy theories concerning this event pretty insulting. But I suppose once Buzz Aldrin started punching people it wasn't fun anymore to make up moon landing conspiracies.

Convenient for you to just give up and post a message saying nothing at all.

Just admit that you know how to fix your pc and expect others to be able to do the same, even though that is an unrealistic expectation.