As I understand it, the function copyright serves in a society is to protect and encourage creativity. It's hard to think that it's serving it's purpose when teens who create their own music video for a popular song get it DMCA'd.

Software piracy is theft, but what if, as an amateur programmer, I was to re-purpose some of your code? Do we protect the work you did so that creators are properly reimbursed for their efforts, or do we allow a large degree of "remixing" that would allow me to build on your work without restriction, and then for others to build on mine? How do we balance the approach, and who decides how to balance it?

Yeah, sadly I upvoted too soon -- because I LOVE robots.

I was expecting it to have more speed and some decent leg movement for that godawful 12k price tag. Between my brother, father and myself, we own, at the worst, $500 worth of robots, and they're all just as capable -- and more reliable -- than this.

We've gotten them at swap meets, craigslist, robotics fairs, etc. and never have paid more than 100 bucks a piece. Most of them are from 20-50 dollars a piece -- and they have smart phone apps which control them remotely.

This robot is rubbish. Either that or the instructions given to Norton went over his head.

Robots of this variety have the capacity for complex choreography involving programmable while loops -- and we see NONE of that in this clip. They could have had a basic program run that Norton would interrupt via voice/remote control and it could have been AMAZING!

Why does he have to keep tapping on the idiot robot's head? Weeeaaaaaakkk...

It does, doesn't it? The real beauty of the programme though is that we will probably never know for sure...

I would ask that if you have any interest in this particular game, look up MachineGames. Look up the previous videos they've uploaded.

They're PC developers and programmers. The consoles are an afterthought to them on a personal level. Beth/Zenimax seem to have given them free rein on this one.

I couldn't help replacing giraffe with human; "It is perfectly natural sir. You will die anyway, but your dying now preserves the gene pool."
It was scary listening to the cold, clinical, matter of fact way in which he described it as nothing but the giraffes genes that condemned it. Forget that it was healthy and enjoying - if that's the right word - its confined existence. Yes, the killing of animals goes on everyday. But this execution was totally unnecessary.

As for zoos; If it's a breeding programme fine, but I hate zoos that exist simply to have people pay to gawp at the caged animals. It is totally unnatural for them and even those born into it can display psychotic behaviour. As for caging birds? Don't get me started...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26118748

"Joerg Jebram, who oversees the European endangered species programme for giraffes, told the AP news agency: "Zoos could design new giraffe facilities, but many don't have that option.

"A young bull could theoretically be sent to an all-female group as stud, but experts prefer a larger, more mature male for that, and Marius didn't fit that bill.

"A final option is sending the giraffe to a zoo that doesn't participate in the EAZA-led breeding programme, but that could leave the giraffe or its offspring being sold into worse circumstances, such as those of a circus or private collection."

Copenhagen Zoo had turned down offers from at least two other zoos to take Marius and an offer from a private individual who wanted to buy the giraffe for 500,000 euros ($680,000).

Bengt Holst, Copenhagen Zoo's scientific director, said it had turned down an offer from Yorkshire Wildlife Park in the UK, which is a member of EAZA, because Marius' older brother lives there and the park's space could be better used by a "genetically more valuable giraffe"."

So yah. Who knew that the guys who made caring for animals their like, profession and stuff might actually have some like, reasons. and stuff. I know, I know, it doesn't make as great a headline as "Zoo murders and mutilates innocent giraffe in front of children. also aidsrape."

Actually I'm about as English as they come but crucially I spent my advanced academic career studying Philosophy and rhetoric (lamentably only to Hons. due to laziness) and consequently have an ingrained habit of arguing around a problem rather than relying on established parameters (not always entirely helpful when discussing more day to day matters as I'm sure you've by now gathered but it is essential to working with advanced epistemological problems and so serves me well none the less). I'm also prone to poor punctuation and odd patterns of grammar when I'm not going back over everything I write with a fine tooth comb which has likely not helped. (A consequence of learning to describe tangent after tangent when trying to thoroughly encapsulate some conceptual problems with language alone)

That said, while I may have gone around the houses so to speak I think my conclusion is entirely compatible with what I now understand your own to be.

I didn't want to describe my original counter-point by simply working with the idea that weight is lower on the moon relative to the earth (though I did not try to refute this either) because that would not illustrate why a 2-300kg man in a space suit still takes some shifting (relatively speaking) even if there were no gravity at all. (Would have been faster to just crunch some numbers but that's not what I specialise in)

Sure you could move anything with any force in 0G (which I do understand is technically relative as every object in the universe with mass exerts gravitational forces proportionately (and inversely proportional to the distance between)) but the resulting velocity is directly proportional to mass vs force applied. Weight here then, can be seen as another competing force in the equation rather than the whole thing which it can be convenient to treat it as for a simple calculation (which is what I think you are doing).

To put that another way I was applying a different/deeper linguistic/descriptive paradigm to the same objective facts because that's what we philosophers do. Single paradigm approaches to any subject have a dangerous habit of making one believe one possess such a thing as truly objective facts rather than interpretations only (which are all that truly exist).


In other terms weight alone isn't the whole story (as I assume you well know). Overcoming inertia due to mass scales up all by itself, then gravity comes along and complicates matters. This is why rocket scientists measure potential thrust in DeltaV rather than Watts, Joules etc. right? The mass of the object dictates how much velocity a given input/output of energy would equal.

Gravity and thus the force in newtons it induces (weight) in these terms is an additional force which depending upon the direction in which it is acting multiplies the required DeltaV to achieve the same effect. Moreover when concerning a force of inconstant nature (such as pushing up/jumping or a brief burn of an engine) brings duration into play also. (the foundations of why rocket science gets its fearsome reputation for complexity in its calculations)


Man on the moon lies on the ground and pushes off to try and stand back up.
This push must impart enough DeltaV to his body to produce a sufficient velocity and duration to travel the 2 meters or so needed to get upright so he can then balance the downward gravitational force with his legs&back and successfully convert the chemical/kinetic energy from his arms into potential energy as weight (the energy he uses to stand up is the same energy that would drag him down again right?).

One could practically speaking reduce this to a simple calculation of weight and thrust if all one wanted was a number. Weight would be the only number we need here as it incorporates the mass in it's own calculation (weight = mass x gravity)

But where's the fun in that? My way let's one go round all the houses see how the other bits of the paradigm that support this basic isolated equation function and inter-relate.

Plus (and probably more accurately) I've been playing loads of Kerbal Space Programme lately and have ended up conditioning myself to think in terms of rocketry and thus massively overcomplicated everything here for basically my own amusement/fascination.


Basically few things are more verbose and self indulgent than a bored Philosopher, sorry .


Re: Your challenge. (And I'm just guessing here) something to do with your leg muscles not being able to deliver the energy fast/efficiently enough? (as your feet would leave the ground faster/at a lower level of force?). This is the only thing I can think of as it's easier to push away from things underwater and it certainly looks difficult to push away hard from things when people are floating in 0g.

So lower resistance from gravity = less force to push against the floor with?

Warm? Even in the Ballpark? (Regardless I'm really pleased to discover you weren't the nut I originally thought you to be! (though I imagine you now have some idea what a nut I am))


If I got any of that wrong I'd be happy for you to explain to me why and where (assuming you can keep up with my slightly mad approach to syntax in the 1st place). I'm an armchair physicist (not that I haven't studied it in my time but I'm far from PHD) I'm always happy to learn and improve.

Were you not paying attention in physics class the day they explained the difference between mass and weight? As @Payback pointed out the energy required to overcome inertia is the same no matter what the gravity, low gravity simply allows you to "spread the duration" of the force like a fulcrum.

I.e. it would be easier than on earth but you still have to apply enough force to move 2-300kg of mass, you just have the option of doing so less rapidly (making it easier but not easy).

Even if this were not the case your argument still makes no sense. If it was indeed faked then surely they were on wires anyway? How else are you proposing they replicated the effects of low gravity?

The fact your comment got 3 likes is rather depressing. As someone who makes researching conspiracy theories a borderline obsessive hobby I can say with some confidence that the whole faked moon landing thing is about the most debunk-able one ever conceived. It is an insult to the very term "conspiracy theory" and helps give the rest of us a bad name .

Radiation belt? = 7 mins of expertly calculated exposure, there is a 1000ish page NASA manual on how they did this.

Cameras? = they had about 20 DIFFERENT cameras & much like anyone else would the crappy poorly framed or exposed shots weren't used for publicity

Multiple light sources? = The surface of the moon is both highly reflective and uneven. (mythbusters did the shit out of that one)

Most complicated machine ever built? = Actually launched, several times, to the freaking moon and back!

Waving flag? = Funny how every single shot of the flag waving is when someone is holding/touching it eh? (& what kind of retard leaves evidence of wind in the most expensive coverup of all time?)

The Russian space programme? = They just turned a blind eye to their arch rivals lauding it over them? They were in on it? You have to get really paranoid before that one starts to make any sense whatsoever.

etc. etc. etc.

I have a lot of time for conspiracy theories and I'm happy to speculate with the best of them but I've yet to find a single good argument for the landing not happening. I can maybe work with the possibility that some things were omitted/covered up (Monoliths etc.) because this could not be conclusively refuted by empirical facts. Suggesting that it never happened however is so easy to disprove it blows my mind that people still have time for the idea.

For your own sake try looking into the opposing arguments. There are plenty people with PHD's and direct experience who are happy to take you through the counters to all this stuff. And they back it up with actual evidence and experiments rather than conjecture and selective information. Your mind will thank you for it

Actually what I mean is, they made a console that responds to voice commands but didn't think that there should be words or names to be blacklisted. I realize that the voice command capabilities have to do with Kinect, but considering nearly every vocal command starts with "Xbox", any usernames starting with the same word or letters (it is voice recognition software after all) should have been unable to be registered as a valid profile name. It is a major over site by either the programmers of the software or by the people who tested the product to 'work the bugs out'.

...and those programmed to be left-leaning are as distracted by bread and circuses as the worst of the clueless right-The real power comes for the left if gears change and the focus becomes financial institutions and political lackeys who fool you into thinking your power is in a vote or a cause-They hook you with bleeding-heart pet-causes and the distraction continues-

There is no stopping the insanity of a world controlled by a hi-jacked economy and you are powerless unless this becomes the focus of all activism. The FBI is untouchable today, as well as the surveillance infrastructure. All these pieces of the puzzle become powerless when you stop paying attention to the farcical slave-economy and the coming world police state.

The real success of programming shagen, comes from each generation becoming thicker, stupider, and programmed to be slaves for shit-tickets to buy more 'stuff' with.

All you need is food and love babies, and they have almost cornered the market on edibles that are not toxic for body, mind, and soul.

The shit they are capable of today makes Cointelpro look like a kindergarten spelling test.


Wholly disagree with the idea that the exposure of Coinitelpro caused the government to "reign-in" a GODDAMN thing. They simply do what all failing or exposed nefarious empires do when their shit starts to stink to everyone....They go into hiding or became instantly more sophisticated then provided a suitable distraction with money and television bullshitting.

Hardly much more sophisticated, the fucking president a year later used his own intelligence resources to break-into the Watergate hotel-A lot of sleepy motherfuckers on this sight should wake the fuck up and stop smelling their own farts long enough to realize that the 'left' and 'right' are the same fucking illusion.

Humans are easily-programmable units and universities are a perfect place to begin a new era of bullshit.

The program has never changed, and these fucks hold all cards except the mind and soul cards.

Someone had to show their ass and who the FUCK gives a rat's ass about Bill O'Reilly (insert Maddow here)? Keep drinking the media's Kool Aide™ and side with whatever schlock-programmer tells you to.

The world has plenty of media whores and the lackeys line-up in lock step to tout the flavor of how to be completely clueless and distracted.

It always makes me cringe when I hear, "Can you take account of X special circumstance?"

This is what makes a programmer drink coffee to get through the day and alcohol to forget it all at night. Make it a double if they add, "That shouldn't be too hard."

It's nice to hear I'm not the only one!

http://jdp.co.uk/programmes/dolphins-spy-in-the-pod

"The Spy Creatures were designed to infiltrate the dolphins’ hidden lives by looking like the marine creatures a dolphin might encounter in their everyday lives. The intention wasn’t to fool them, they’re far too clever for that! These novel devices tweaked the curiosity of the dolphin pods, encouraging the dolphins to let them into their lives, allowing them to capture behaviour that has never been seen before."

Tags for this video have been changed from 'automaton, the writer, programmable, computer, pierre jaquet droz' to 'automaton, the writer, programmable, computer, pierre jaquet droz, automaton, hugo' - edited by lucky760

Maybe the pet fawn is a way for the programmers to deny the game's inherent violence? All I wanna do is raise that thing into a full-grown accomplice for my next flying-tank and gasoline-tanker jewelry heist with optional jet-pack getaway...