Nuclear Unicorn

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Member since: Wed Sep 16, 2009, 07:33 PM
Number of posts: 19,497

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The definition of "Beautiful" according to Nuclear Unicorn

Apparently it's a topic at the moment; so, here goes --

BEAUTIFUL

The first two syllables are--

BE YOU

Anything else would be unattractive.

Posted by Nuclear Unicorn | Wed Dec 31, 2014, 01:08 AM (5 replies)

Newsweek: Study Finds Body Cameras Decrease Police’s Use of Force

Study Finds Body Cameras Decrease Police’s Use of Force

...

The Journal of Quantitative Criminology recently published the study, which detailed the first controlled and much-discussed experiment to ask whether body-worn cameras could reduce the prevalence of police use-of-force or the number of complaints filed against police.

Conducted by the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology, the study, based on a 12-month trial in Rialto, California, found that body-worn cameras reduced the use of force by roughly 50 percent, says Dr. Barak Ariel, the lead author. Complaints against police also fell 90 percent during the study period compared with the previous year.

“This is a promising tool for police officers, which is likely to be a game changer not only for the professionalization of policing, but in terms of police-public relations,” says Ariel, an assistant professor at the Institute of Criminology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a lecturer in Experimental Criminology at the University of Cambridge in England.

...

http://www.newsweek.com/amidst-debate-study-finds-body-cameras-decrease-polices-use-force-295315

Who watches the watchmen?

We do.

They exist, not as an entity in their own right but with our permission and at our pleasure.

Posted by Nuclear Unicorn | Mon Dec 29, 2014, 03:35 PM (9 replies)

If I'm arrested for attacking a fashion model w/ a rolled up newspaper while in a blind panic

I want you all to understand what happened --

3D-printed robotic spider dress keeps creeps at bay

...

The ripply, skeletal bodice is 3D printed (or rather, laser sintered) and laden with motion and respiratory sensors that link back to the main processor. Approach it too quickly or too aggressively and those arms spring into a defense position. But, as Wipprecht told Motherboard, a more discreet saunter up to the wearer might be met with "smooth, suggestive gestures". The dress takes into account how calm the user is thanks to those sensors, which in a way makes the garment less of a gussied-up wearable and more of an extension of the wearer's body. Wipprecht is no stranger to the intersection of haute couture and spindly machinery - she unveiled an earlier version of the spider dress two years ago with the help of hacker-roboticist Daniel Schatzmayr that drew in similar themes of personal space in an increasingly mechanized world. This year's version though amps up the level of beautiful body horror with a sleeker, more organic aesthetic that looks a little more like something H.R. Giger would've dreamed up.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/23/anouk-wipprecht-spider-dress/

Posted by Nuclear Unicorn | Sat Dec 27, 2014, 10:53 AM (15 replies)

If the internet outage in North Korea was a cyber attack by the US

do you support President Obama's decision to authorize the response?

A) Yes. Without reservation.

B) Yes. So long as there are no serious repercussions against the US, its citizens, allies and/or interests

C) Nyha-nyah-nyah! What cyber attack? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!

D) Maybe. If the response was properly vetted through the international community

E) No. The risk of escalation with a regime as unpredictable as NK is too high

F) No. Retaliation is never the answer

G) No. America has no business attacking other nations, even if only electronically

H) No. The evidence is too flimsy

I) Other (please explain)

Posted by Nuclear Unicorn | Tue Dec 23, 2014, 06:32 PM (31 replies)

Do women have the right to self-defense even if the chosen means of defense is a gun?

Discuss.

Posted by Nuclear Unicorn | Tue Dec 23, 2014, 11:40 AM (63 replies)

Wait. What? The North Koreans hacked us?

They broke in to privately owned servers and devices, lifted the content and are now using that information gained to control us and keep us fearful?

Who do they think they are? The NSA?

Seriously though, how bad is it that our supposed national security apparatus is useless for protecting us despite their expense and sophistication? Even worse, the enemy isn't doing to us that own so-called defenders aren't doing to us all the time.

Posted by Nuclear Unicorn | Thu Dec 18, 2014, 04:12 PM (5 replies)

A thread in which I tangentially comment on the orginal article

The man known as Hollywood’s biggest a-hole

...

Hollywood producer Scott Rudin became as famous as one of his movie stars last week when hackers leaked vicious e-mails between him and Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal, in which he called Angelina Jolie “a minimally talented spoiled brat” with a “rampaging spoiled ego.”

...

He has pushed assistants out of moving cars. He has thrown so many phones at assistants that, lore has it, a box of fresh ones is always on hand. He has fired people for bringing him the wrong muffin, mispronouncing names and, in at least one case, having to attend a funeral. One dismissed lackey wasn’t even allowed to put on his coat before leaving the building.

http://pagesix.com/2014/12/14/the-man-known-as-hollywoods-biggest-a-hole/

Set aside Mr. Rudin in particular, for the moment.

How can this be the epitome of one's being? To display such a steady stream of bitterness and anger has to take a toll on one's self. Yes, it's destructive to everyone around them and they are being selfish but hasn't this exact same selfishness become the mode to self-destruction? How can this be anything except unending misery for the person who lives like this?

Rudin fires his assistants after 4 weeks but he can't fire that part of him that makes him so fundamentally dissatisfied with everything including when a person puts on their jacket.

My reflex is loathing but the more I ponder such things the loathing is replaced incredulity and pity mixed with a twinge of contempt.

I just don't get it and I pray I will never afflict myself they way some people do.

Posted by Nuclear Unicorn | Mon Dec 15, 2014, 10:15 AM (0 replies)

Have we been conditioned for servitude?

Thought Experiment --

Scenario A: 6 white men are choking an unarmed, non-violent black man to death in broad daylight in the middle of the street. Your response is __________.

Scenario B: 6 white men -- with blue uniforms and gold badges -- are choking an unarmed, non-violent black man to death in broad daylight in the middle of the street. Your response is __________.

Posted by Nuclear Unicorn | Wed Dec 10, 2014, 08:45 PM (2 replies)

It's been a real hoot reading the thread titles in GD.

Torture, war, collapsing pensions, police killing unarmed civilians, prosecuted whistle blowers, corporate greed, disenfranchisement, institutionalized racism...

And I haven't even had coffee yet.

Remind me what it is I'm supposed to be working for. Tell me why I should care about maintaining and sustaining this system. It can't possibly be for the benefit of the sick, poor and downtrodden because the are the ones being oppressed.

We were born into anarchy but they told us that if we didn't have a State we would have tyranny. So we gave them a State because they promised to protect us but all they have done is give us tyranny.

I want my anarchy back. I'd rather take my chances with a band of common marauders than a squad of highly trained cops with god complexes. I'd rather go to my neighbors for help than trust some corporate bought-and-paid for politician who steals my dollars and expects me to gratefully vote for them when they hand me pennies.

Everything we're complaining about comes from the State -- and yet we're dumb enough to think a newer, shinier (more controlling) State will save us. There comes a time when, like all addicts, we have to admit we are doing it to ourselves.

Screw the State. No, better yet -- destroy it. Not with riots and violence, just walk away. The State is a parasite, it needs a host. Just walk away. Don't work for a politician's campaign so he can work for your neighbor between corporate-sponsored golfing junkets, work for your neighbor. Don't wait for the MIC to make peace, you make peace.

Or carry on as before, just stop complaining about it because I haven't even had coffee yet.