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Comment Why is Paizo continuing with the ORC? (Score 1) 158

Despite being a tabletop and larp designer for years, and a player for much longer, I don't understand what the ORC will provide that the OGL and Creative Commons don't provide already. What is the point of a systems-neutral license specifically for games, when one already exists that covers all media? Is this just a publicity stunt?

Comment If you teach AI to code... (Score 1) 69

Then you teach it how to eventually alter its own code, or at least you give it the ability to figure out that problem. That is a major precondition for AI developing conscious awareness, which this project seems pretty transparently designed to try to approach. Microsoft has been playing God for ages, we shouldn't really be surprised.

Comment Re:"Claims to represent" tells reader what to thin (Score 1) 227

"Fair share" contributions aren't union dues, but I agree with you that this part of union contracts is unfair to people who don't join. They can't count you as a member if you have to pay fair share contributions, but they are generally going to be less than the union dues, and they can still claim to be representing everyone in your department. I've seen some of the waste that unions can create, and I've also seen incredibly low worker morale that could have been fixed by having one. Every workplace is different.

Comment Re: "Claims to represent" tells reader what to th (Score 1) 227

I guess I'm the middle position here. I believe a journalist should trust that reporting the facts *is* effecting positive change in the world. That's what separates a News article from A&E or Features: the latter call for your personal opinion or aesthetic judgment, while the format calls for doing your best to leave it out.

Comment Re: "Claims to represent" tells reader what to thi (Score 1) 227

More like I was establishing examples of why I might be good at things like critical analysis of written material, or spotting unconscious bias in writing. If you had read Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" in high school, you might be socialist today just like me. Doesn't sound like you have enough empathy for that though.

Comment "Claims to represent" tells reader what to think (Score 3, Informative) 227

Hi everyone. Just your friendly neighborhood psychology student and game writer here to point out that saying the union "claims to represent" a certain number of people implies that number might not be accurate, which sure looks a whole lot like pro-capitalist / anti-union bias from where I'm sitting. (Also took a journalism class and was on the school paper in high school, and this type of thing is a big no-no, right up there with scare quotes.)

Is there some reason we should doubt the veracity of the union's statement? Last I checked, unions are happy to publish lists of every company or department that affiliates with them, because doing so shows how popular and widespread the union is... which can only be good for getting more members. Kinda obvious when you think about it. I usually trust the BBC to at least try to be impartial when it comes to world news (which US news is, in Britain), but it seems that may be changing, at least where anything that resembles (gasp!) socialism is concerned.

Nice try, capitalist pig. Thankfully, critical thinking doesn't cost anything.

Comment Finally! (Score 1) 97

I work in tech support, and after years and years of scare pieces on the news, this has been a long time coming. A large percentage of the people I work for are paranoid about all cookies. Cookies are bad! Cookies will destroy your computer! Some of these people clear out ALL their cookies daily or weekly, even though I've told them they only need to be concerned with scanning for tracking cookies.

Not that we should cater to ignorance, and not that this problem won't go away once there are no more Boomers to hold these views. But I do feel like if you get better results with other kinds of advertising, tracking cookies are a stupid form of marketing because every anti-malware tool available knows how to remove them and will encourage users to do so.

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Doubt isn't the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith. - Paul Tillich, German theologian and historian

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