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Jack Thompson Sues Microsoft
An anonymous reader writes to mention that Jack Thompson, in his latest bout of zealotry, has set his sights on Microsoft for their recent release of Halo 3. GameAlmighty has posted the letter to Bill Gates. "Here's the deal, Mr. Gates: Either Microsoft undertakes dramatic, real steps, through its marketing, wholesale, and retail operations to assure that Halo 3 is not sold, via the Internet and in stores, directly to anyone under 17, or I shall proceed to make sure that Microsoft is held to that standard by appropriate legal means. I have done that before successfully as to Best Buy, and I shall do so again as to Microsoft and all retailers of Halo 3."
Thanks for setting the record straight on the title. The more I read articles on the Internet, the more I see misleading, over-stated article titles meant to grab extra attention. Frankly I'm getting tired of it.
And what's this nonsense?
Yeah... killer training... because pushing buttons on a controller is exactly like firing a rifle.
Seems like more grandstanding. I'd say Thompson is off his meds... but frankly, I'm not sure he was ever on them.
A Human Right
No, no, Falwell has at least 20 more years of being a jackass than jack does. God doesn't always answer prayers on your timeframe.
No beer is the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Why would you want Microsoft to lose? You really want to set a precedent that he can use to rip into every other game manufacturer on the planet? Not that I think they would, Best Buy caved more for publicity purposes than legal requirements.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the ESRB's rating system have no legal ground at all? Therefore it's not illegal for stores to sell to u-18s....depends on store policy.
I really had to concentrate.
I still have to concentrate. Keeping a journal helps (I use TiddlyWiki). By creating regularly a journal, you can do a summary of what you have accomplished, and you can map out what you want to do.
It comes down to planning. Start with a plan, then concentrate on the separate steps of the plan.
It is a little bit like repeating a mantra. Sometimes working on a project gets boring, or you desperately need to understand something, or design something, repeat to yourself the end goal of your target.
Also, try to stop thinking about the mountain of work that lies ahead of you. If you have a large project, thinking about the amount of work that needs to be done can very easy demotivate you. When that happens, concentrate on the small thing that you need to accomplish NOW.
I started my project in August last year. I started with a kind of plan. I had the following goals :
By creating a plan, and always concentrate on my end goal, I was able to start this project, and write pages of upfront documentation before implementing each part of the digital library.
By the end of November, most of this library was complete, in December I started designing my architecture, and the ISA was ready by Januari.
Do not get distracted by possible optimisations. Once I got together my ISA and implementation architecture, I had to go ahead with building a real system from the libraries I designed, even when there where some small, non-critical errors in it. Keeping a journal can help here, too. Write about your possible changes in it, so that you have a reference, but let them alone until your system works.
One has to keep oneself in line with the desired goal. For some people this comes natural (although I tend to assign to such people a lack of imagination), for others, especially with a vivid imagination, this is not so easy. I presume it comes down to conditioning.
I was also tired of myself, of not being able to do something that I really wanted, or at least start something and really go through with it, until it was finished, and note merely barely working.
Do not forget to take rest, but take a rest which clears your head. For that I have my garden, and I like to read, but not difficult things (this should only be done in the context of your project). It should relax your brain from the concentration that you need to focus on your project.
The above list is just a summary of the things that I have done. I think it comes down to : concentrate on your plans, concentrate on your goals, file away things that are not relevant to what you want to do.
And I think one more important aspect : be prepared from the onset to say to yourself that you will not be sorry dumping all the rest of your ideas, at the advantage of the one thing that you would like to work on.