For a simple critique... the game has many small issues, which most other games have already dealt with.
Their auction house is a disaster. The quests are fine, except it becomes a simple grindfest way to early. It's an instanced world, similar to Guild Wars, not an open world like Eve, or even EQ or WoW. It's very linear. That can be fine, but don't expect to simply go out and explore and achieve anything.
The graphics are good, and run pretty smooth. The skill acquisition and character development (feats and enhancements) is very nicely done, and allows for a several different ways to play any of the classes. While you do define your class and race from the start, there are a number of ways you can customize your toon to your vision of it.
One big drawback for free players is there are limitations to things which Turbine doesn't quantify, such as: there's a limit to gold you can have per level, but nothing ever tells you how much.. until you sell something in the auction house and can't get your gold from the mailbox because you've gone over a non-disclosed limit. Pure frustration there.
While overall it's a game I'd recommend, I'd have to say it has one other significant downside, that being the seriously myopic players. Not all of them obviously, but the few truly hostile ones to anyone new, and anyone who has anything good to say about any other game puts this crew into the "worst" category of people I've dealt with in online games, ranging all the way back to the original Diablo.
But try the game, it's enjoyable enough, if you can ignore some of the "D&D started everything, bow down to us" crowd. My caveat is, i started playing D&D in 1977, no need to be rude or arrogant about it.. it is after all, just a game.
One is, indeed: "a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents"
One is also: "a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents"
Any system of belief, or religion, is a cult by definition. Whether or not it is the brainwashing, kool-aid drinking type, is based on it's individual merits (or psychosis).
That theory is all well and good, except you're missing one obvious point.... NASA has faked the space shuttle program for decades. HA HA, I can't believe you fell for that one!!
Obviously he's been reading up on the game on cheater sites. It's widely known that you have to threaten the entire bar, and insult the judge before you get flagged for the shotgun power-up on level 3. If you don't get that, you're really screwed by the time you hit level 5 and have to get past the mental institute guards to get to see the alien.
"Firms will no longer need to own/maintain the boxes that they use to run their firm's apps. With no need to touch a box, there will be no need to have the IT staff co-located with the boxes."
...and in further news: Rocks, Paper, Scissors poised for a comeback as non-IT personal try to establish who it is that has travel half way across the continent to push the "on" button.
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;"
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
.... No Air Force mentioned, too bad for the flyboys.. they're unconstitutional.
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
.... So, a standing army is not authorized in the constitution.
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof."
The anti-federalists lost their argument over 200 years ago, do we really need to go back to it? We obviously need to increase the amount of US government class time required to graduate from high school. Insulting people just because they don't agree with you doesn't make you look intelligent, just thugish.
It also doesn't mention in the Constitution that we should be, by force, spreading democracy through the world.
Sadly, it is next to impossible to reason someone out of something they weren't reasoned into. No amount of fact will straighten out a person with an irrational belief.
Both the Harrier and the Warthog (turbofans) were designed specifically not to have speed though; being ground support aircraft means increased time over target is imperative. Remember, the best ground support aircraft in Vietnam was a prop driven one (Skyraider) when all fighters were jets.
In the joint X-15 hypersonic research program that NASA conducted with the Air Force, the Navy, and North American Aviation, Inc., the aircraft flew over a period of nearly 10 years and set the world's unofficial speed and altitude records of 4,520 mph (Mach 6.7--on Oct. 3, 1967, with Air Force pilot Pete Knight at the controls) and 354,200 feet (on Aug. 22, 1963, with NASA pilot Joseph Walker in the cockpit) in a program to investigate all aspects of piloted hypersonic flight.
Early flights of the aircraft initially flew with two XLR-11 engines, producing a thrust of 16,380 lb. Once the XLR-99 was installed, the thrust became 57,000 lb.
First, the lead-in posted to the article hear is very misleading.
Second, some people seem to be under some misperceptions, and haven't taken the time to read the article itself. SETI doesn't get money from the government. Reading the article actually explains that very early on.
Old convention is, advanced species would be visiting for a reason, not simply to visit. The two major lines of reasoning is: 1 - scientific exploration/knowledge; or, 2 - colonization/expansion. So, should we be concerned? Sure, and at the same time realize that if first contact is fucked up, it's probably going to be because of our fears and prejudices.
As has been said.. We don't have to be so concerned about finding little green men; we need to be concerned with finding the large green motherfuckers.
...And ask for his comments, Florida anti-gaming lawyer Jack Thompson took a moment to share his views with us:
"This is not a situation in where the ESRB will be blind-sided by hidden or embedded content. This game promotes the killing of innocent people.
The goal is to make it such a negative thing that the retailers won't carry it. This thing hasn't really reached critical mass as a public relations problem yet; that's what I'm trying to do.
Towards that goal, I have half a mind to sue the Department of Defense and get this whole thing scrapped."
On a related note, 96% of the 1081 people polled agreed with Mr. Thompson. As one person stated: "Of course it's obvious, Jack Thompson has half a mind."
I'd suggest Tiahuanaco as being a good choice too, although i agree.. we didn't really need a new list... and to answere that question (filter through the mystisism)....
The second rule of business is: The customer may not always be right, but they are NEVER wrong.... so, it's a lack of training for the CS people. CS jobs, sadly, often go to people who don't actually know how to treat other people with respect (no offence intended, i've worked various CS jobs; some people just are not cut out for it). Yes, that's a generalization, but it's also indicative of how our society has progressed. You see the same disregard for people in many things.
All of the decent Sys.admins have left Superb (apparently wanting to make more than 40k a year as a Unix admin in DC area is a bad thing at Superb/HopOne), and the owner is running half his NOC with no UPS; can get no more power from the building; and is lying to customers about a generator (one that wouldn't power the area he needs power to) being "backordered" when his 100% uptime goes down for extended periods.
They put the KVM up so you could do it yourself, because it saves them money, and half their admins don't have the basic knowledge of how to help you.
Superb used to be decent... when the owner decided to fire everyone making over $38,000 a year, well.. that included all the people that had helped him build that NOC in the first place, and all the ones that actually knew what they were doing.
Climate change/global warming has become the same as the evolution debate.... a handful of people understanding what the evidence shows, and the masses listening to people who don't have a clue, but have some form of plan to gain power/make money off argueing.
Both sides agree that it is happening, although they still disagree a bit about what the effect will be (as someone mentioned, climate models are not all that accurate). Ultimately, the question shouldn't be: Is man causing, or accelerating climate change? The question should be: What can we do to mitigate the negatives of climate change?
It's a far harder question to answer, and is a lot less likely to be answered before it's too late with the continued bickering.
I do not understand where they think they have derived the right to force everyone to think the same way they do.
It's mirroring the political/religious standpoint of the last 20-30 years. Is it right? No. It's pompous and arrogant. It's what happens when those in positions of power stop being leaders, and start being those in control.
While the two are distinctive, they are not mutually independant. To have freedom OF religion, people must also have freedom FROM religion. If you have no freedom from religion, then religion absolutely WILL intrude on everyones lives, regardless of their personal choice.
I can't write it any better than Fran Lebowitz did in this exerpt (http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2004/ 10/lebowitz_excerpt200410), which is a great read through and through:
"And let us admit that where there is less religion there is more progress. And that this has been true not only throughout the entire history of the whole world but even in the United States of America. And let us understand that if you do not have a greater belief in democracy than you do in your religion you will eventually have less democracy. And that you may even lose your religion, because, as it turns out, the only people who are really tolerant of other people's religions are people who are really not that religious."
Slashdot Mirror
I'm trying out DDO, again.
For a simple critique... the game has many small issues, which most other games have already dealt with.
Their auction house is a disaster. The quests are fine, except it becomes a simple grindfest way to early. It's an instanced world, similar to Guild Wars, not an open world like Eve, or even EQ or WoW. It's very linear. That can be fine, but don't expect to simply go out and explore and achieve anything.
The graphics are good, and run pretty smooth. The skill acquisition and character development (feats and enhancements) is very nicely done, and allows for a several different ways to play any of the classes. While you do define your class and race from the start, there are a number of ways you can customize your toon to your vision of it.
One big drawback for free players is there are limitations to things which Turbine doesn't quantify, such as: there's a limit to gold you can have per level, but nothing ever tells you how much.. until you sell something in the auction house and can't get your gold from the mailbox because you've gone over a non-disclosed limit. Pure frustration there.
While overall it's a game I'd recommend, I'd have to say it has one other significant downside, that being the seriously myopic players. Not all of them obviously, but the few truly hostile ones to anyone new, and anyone who has anything good to say about any other game puts this crew into the "worst" category of people I've dealt with in online games, ranging all the way back to the original Diablo.
But try the game, it's enjoyable enough, if you can ignore some of the "D&D started everything, bow down to us" crowd. My caveat is, i started playing D&D in 1977, no need to be rude or arrogant about it.. it is after all, just a game.
There's several usages for the word cult. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cult
One is, indeed: "a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents"
One is also: "a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents"
Any system of belief, or religion, is a cult by definition. Whether or not it is the brainwashing, kool-aid drinking type, is based on it's individual merits (or psychosis).
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/hyperrev-x15/ch-0.html
perhaps one of the tags should have been "been there, done that"
That theory is all well and good, except you're missing one obvious point.... NASA has faked the space shuttle program for decades. HA HA, I can't believe you fell for that one!!
A bad city is one that doesn't eat all of its veggies.
Obviously he's been reading up on the game on cheater sites. It's widely known that you have to threaten the entire bar, and insult the judge before you get flagged for the shotgun power-up on level 3. If you don't get that, you're really screwed by the time you hit level 5 and have to get past the mental institute guards to get to see the alien.
"Firms will no longer need to own/maintain the boxes that they use to run their firm's apps. With no need to touch a box, there will be no need to have the IT staff co-located with the boxes."
...and in further news: Rocks, Paper, Scissors poised for a comeback as non-IT personal try to establish who it is that has travel half way across the continent to push the "on" button.
....but, he is a tool.
"Section. 8. (pertinent points)
.... No Air Force mentioned, too bad for the flyboys.. they're unconstitutional.
.... So, a standing army is not authorized in the constitution.
The Congress shall have Power....
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;"
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof."
The anti-federalists lost their argument over 200 years ago, do we really need to go back to it? We obviously need to increase the amount of US government class time required to graduate from high school. Insulting people just because they don't agree with you doesn't make you look intelligent, just thugish.
It also doesn't mention in the Constitution that we should be, by force, spreading democracy through the world.
Sadly, it is next to impossible to reason someone out of something they weren't reasoned into. No amount of fact will straighten out a person with an irrational belief.
Both the Harrier and the Warthog (turbofans) were designed specifically not to have speed though; being ground support aircraft means increased time over target is imperative. Remember, the best ground support aircraft in Vietnam was a prop driven one (Skyraider) when all fighters were jets.
X-15 Hypersonic Research Program (from http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-052-DFRC.html)
In the joint X-15 hypersonic research program that NASA conducted with the Air Force, the Navy, and North American Aviation, Inc., the aircraft flew over a period of nearly 10 years and set the world's unofficial speed and altitude records of 4,520 mph (Mach 6.7--on Oct. 3, 1967, with Air Force pilot Pete Knight at the controls) and 354,200 feet (on Aug. 22, 1963, with NASA pilot Joseph Walker in the cockpit) in a program to investigate all aspects of piloted hypersonic flight.
Early flights of the aircraft initially flew with two XLR-11 engines, producing a thrust of 16,380 lb. Once the XLR-99 was installed, the thrust became 57,000 lb.
First, the lead-in posted to the article hear is very misleading.
Second, some people seem to be under some misperceptions, and haven't taken the time to read the article itself. SETI doesn't get money from the government. Reading the article actually explains that very early on.
Old convention is, advanced species would be visiting for a reason, not simply to visit. The two major lines of reasoning is: 1 - scientific exploration/knowledge; or, 2 - colonization/expansion. So, should we be concerned? Sure, and at the same time realize that if first contact is fucked up, it's probably going to be because of our fears and prejudices.
As has been said.. We don't have to be so concerned about finding little green men; we need to be concerned with finding the large green motherfuckers.
...And ask for his comments, Florida anti-gaming lawyer Jack Thompson took a moment to share his views with us:
"This is not a situation in where the ESRB will be blind-sided by hidden or embedded content. This game promotes the killing of innocent people.
The goal is to make it such a negative thing that the retailers won't carry it. This thing hasn't really reached critical mass as a public relations problem yet; that's what I'm trying to do.
Towards that goal, I have half a mind to sue the Department of Defense and get this whole thing scrapped."
On a related note, 96% of the 1081 people polled agreed with Mr. Thompson. As one person stated: "Of course it's obvious, Jack Thompson has half a mind."
"....and we are clearly superior to monkeys...."
You obviously have not been keeping up on world events....
Monkeys (chimpanzees if you not on a first name basis with them) are used to supervise the trainees, at the rate of one chimp to two trainees... DUH!
http://innergardenart.com/Apg5angkorwat.html
.. and to answere that question (filter through the mystisism)....
I'd suggest Tiahuanaco as being a good choice too, although i agree.. we didn't really need a new list.
http://www.crystalinks.com/tiahuanaco.html
Mod the parent up. It's called the triple alpha sequence (process)... and has been written about since the 50's.
i plealph.html for more light reading.
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/energy/tr
The second rule of business is: The customer may not always be right, but they are NEVER wrong.... so, it's a lack of training for the CS people. CS jobs, sadly, often go to people who don't actually know how to treat other people with respect (no offence intended, i've worked various CS jobs; some people just are not cut out for it). Yes, that's a generalization, but it's also indicative of how our society has progressed. You see the same disregard for people in many things.
All of the decent Sys.admins have left Superb (apparently wanting to make more than 40k a year as a Unix admin in DC area is a bad thing at Superb/HopOne), and the owner is running half his NOC with no UPS; can get no more power from the building; and is lying to customers about a generator (one that wouldn't power the area he needs power to) being "backordered" when his 100% uptime goes down for extended periods.
They put the KVM up so you could do it yourself, because it saves them money, and half their admins don't have the basic knowledge of how to help you.
Superb used to be decent... when the owner decided to fire everyone making over $38,000 a year, well.. that included all the people that had helped him build that NOC in the first place, and all the ones that actually knew what they were doing.
... Who?"
"Guess Who!"
".. not Them!!!!"
"YES!"
"i didn't know anyone remembered those mental Zombies."
Climate change/global warming has become the same as the evolution debate.... a handful of people understanding what the evidence shows, and the masses listening to people who don't have a clue, but have some form of plan to gain power/make money off argueing.
Both sides agree that it is happening, although they still disagree a bit about what the effect will be (as someone mentioned, climate models are not all that accurate). Ultimately, the question shouldn't be: Is man causing, or accelerating climate change? The question should be: What can we do to mitigate the negatives of climate change?
It's a far harder question to answer, and is a lot less likely to be answered before it's too late with the continued bickering.
Of probable noteworthy addition is.. those prices in 1983, and 1996, led to an anti-trust pricefixing lawsuit brought by 43 states.
http://musiccdsettlement.com/english/default.htm
It's mirroring the political/religious standpoint of the last 20-30 years. Is it right? No. It's pompous and arrogant. It's what happens when those in positions of power stop being leaders, and start being those in control.
While the two are distinctive, they are not mutually independant. To have freedom OF religion, people must also have freedom FROM religion. If you have no freedom from religion, then religion absolutely WILL intrude on everyones lives, regardless of their personal choice.
/ 10/lebowitz_excerpt200410), which is a great read through and through:
I can't write it any better than Fran Lebowitz did in this exerpt (http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2004
"And let us admit that where there is less religion there is more progress. And that this has been true not only throughout the entire history of the whole world but even in the United States of America. And let us understand that if you do not have a greater belief in democracy than you do in your religion you will eventually have less democracy. And that you may even lose your religion, because, as it turns out, the only people who are really tolerant of other people's religions are people who are really not that religious."
That paragraph sums up what people really forget.