I think it depends on who is the butt of the joke. In the case of the first two posts, it seems more that the posters are making fun of themselves... "Oooh! Cartoon boobies! Lemme see, lemme see!"
I agree that sexism and racism are very serious problems, but let's have a little perspective here.
I've been hacking/typing since I was 11, that's 24 years now. I have never experienced RSI or CTS or any of that stuff, and I'm overweight ("obese" according to the WHO guidelines, but just moderately overweight according to my quack who still uses the old U.S. guidelines).
I think most of the problem stems from poor ergonomics at the workstation, i.e. bad keyboard height, improper mouse positioning, etc. 'Course my favorite coding position is with my feet propped up on my desk and the keyboard on my lap or thighs.
Also, you need to get up out of your chair from time to time and do something else, even if it is just watch the trains out the window. (I work near railroad tracks.) Focusing on anything at a constant distance for too long is not good for the eyes, or so I've been told.
Take a break every hour or two for a few minutes.
The only time that I've ever experienced pain in my forearms has been after hours of playing video games either on a console with their crappy controller or on a PC using the mouse almost exclusively.
Re:It's a problem with the videogames NOT the movi
on
Why Game Movies Stink
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· Score: 1
No, the problem isn't the "painful death of the art of narrative cinema" its the "painful dearth of art in popular video games."
I'll agree with you for the most part, but there have been some exceptions.
The Marathon Trilogy easily comes to mind. The original was a 2.5D first person shooter, but it had an interesting story, and if you were a thinking player, it made you face the question of just who or what your onscreen counterpart really is. Are/were you human? Are you the missing Mjolnir cyborg? That question was never fully resolved, I think deliberately, to let you ponder that question and to leave room for doubt.
There's also a great tie-in with Bungie's previous game, "Pathways into Darkness." Because a lot of the same concepts pop up in both, and the pre-story is much the same.
I'd go a step further and say that videogames are a different kind of art from cinema, and the one does not always translate well to the other. Just like making films from novels, some work and some don't.
The company also said it had no plans to use the technology in any of its products.
Illustrates exactly what is wrong with the patent system as it stands. If you're not making a product that uses the technology, then whey patent it? You have no real invention to protect. You shouldn't be allowed to patent something unless you're actually making something with what you've patented.
When the seat belt was made mandatory in Kentucky, the helmet law for motorcycles was repealed at the same time.
An acquaintance of mine, who was in the legislature at the time, explained the decision to me as follows:
The insurance companies told us that seat belts make a huge difference in what they pay out in medical claims in an auto accident. Helmets don't make a difference in what they pay in medical claims in motorcycle accidents.
So, the decision ultimately came down to dollars and cents....
And then I would be the first person to LEAVE your ISP if you did not do backup s of ANY system.
Why? If you hire an ISP to provide you with Internet Service, then what do you care if they backup their servers or not? If all you want from them is an Internet connection, then it doesn't matter, so long as they meet their contract with you.
If you're using their SMTP and POP3 servers, and you're relying on email to conduct your extremely important business communications, I suggest you read the RFCs and find out exactly how email works. There's no guarantee that any given message is every going to reach its intended destination. Email is only slightly more reliable than the US Postal Service.
I don't backup any of the mail servers that I'm responsible for administrating because it's a pointless waste of time. Email is ephemeral, and I remind everyone that they should not bet the farm on email.
(my experience has been that half of my teammates on group projects have no idea how to write a program)
That's been my experience working in the software industry for ten years.
Back on topic: Yeah, I saw Tron when it came out. I was 12. I had just gotten my own computer at home and begun hacking. I haven't stopped since. I'm not sure how much influence Tron had on my interest in programming, but I really enjoyed the film then and did again when I saw it several years later.
In this era where we worry so much about identity theft, this sort of thing really makes you wonder what the point really is.
The point is, that there isn't any point.:)
It's exactly that kind of thing, and the real lack of concern that I've witnessed from gov't agencies and financial institutions all along, concerning everything from someone's actual name and SSN being used as an alias by a known felon (and the SSA refusing to issue a new SSN for the "victim") to loan officers that say that there's so much junk data on credit reports that they often ignore a lot of it, that caused me not to worry if my "identity" is "stolen."
Never mind. I'm a doofus. I was thinking that patents only last 17 years from date of issue. Turns out its 20 years from application date as hinted at below.
I found an interesting site about patents in the U.S. here:
First computer that I owned was a birthday present: a Commodore Vic-20. (I may still have it and the cassette tape drive still in a box somewhere.) I must have been in 5th or 6th grade when I got it.
However, I used an Apple-II for programming at school before getting the Vic.
Like I said, I'm no MBA or JD.;) I was just making assumptions based on what was in that little summary that passed for an article at the main link. Guess, I'm wrong again.:)
I think a lot of folks here have missed the point. The article's author is making an intellectual exercise in asking out loud and in public if companies that violate the GPL in their software are not also violating Sarbanes-Oxley.
This is because they are required to list what intellectual property the company owns to shareholders and if it is later found out that the company doesn't really own it, because it is based on a GPL'd software, then is that a Sarbanes-Oxley violation.
I'd have to say, it looks like one, but I'm no MBA, nor a JD.
A midi file is much like a score. It contains instructions on what instrument in the midi synthesizer plays what note, for how long, and when.
Distributing a midi file is like distributing a music score, and so likely an infringement if distributed without permission.
Playing a midi file is like performing the music in that score, and so also likely an infringement depending on the circumstances.
In this case, however, it would not be the RIAA to whom money is owed, because a midi is not a recording by a RIAA artist. Rather the money would be owed to the music publisher and their collection agents, ASCAP and BMI in most cases.
That's my non-lawyer opinion based on some experience with both MIDI and the publishing industry in general.
Slashdot Mirror
I think it depends on who is the butt of the joke. In the case of the first two posts, it seems more that the posters are making fun of themselves... "Oooh! Cartoon boobies! Lemme see, lemme see!"
I agree that sexism and racism are very serious problems, but let's have a little perspective here.
Yes, and some people need to buy a sense of humor.
Actually, I thought that the piece on avatar racism in Second Life that was linked to in the article was more interesting.
You make the very common mistake of assuming that they are "freely elected" in the first place.
I've been hacking/typing since I was 11, that's 24 years now. I have never experienced RSI or CTS or any of that stuff, and I'm overweight ("obese" according to the WHO guidelines, but just moderately overweight according to my quack who still uses the old U.S. guidelines).
I think most of the problem stems from poor ergonomics at the workstation, i.e. bad keyboard height, improper mouse positioning, etc. 'Course my favorite coding position is with my feet propped up on my desk and the keyboard on my lap or thighs.
Also, you need to get up out of your chair from time to time and do something else, even if it is just watch the trains out the window. (I work near railroad tracks.) Focusing on anything at a constant distance for too long is not good for the eyes, or so I've been told.
Take a break every hour or two for a few minutes.
The only time that I've ever experienced pain in my forearms has been after hours of playing video games either on a console with their crappy controller or on a PC using the mouse almost exclusively.
No, the problem isn't the "painful death of the art of narrative cinema" its the "painful dearth of art in popular video games."
I'll agree with you for the most part, but there have been some exceptions.
The Marathon Trilogy easily comes to mind. The original was a 2.5D first person shooter, but it had an interesting story, and if you were a thinking player, it made you face the question of just who or what your onscreen counterpart really is. Are/were you human? Are you the missing Mjolnir cyborg? That question was never fully resolved, I think deliberately, to let you ponder that question and to leave room for doubt.
There's also a great tie-in with Bungie's previous game, "Pathways into Darkness." Because a lot of the same concepts pop up in both, and the pre-story is much the same.
I'd go a step further and say that videogames are a different kind of art from cinema, and the one does not always translate well to the other. Just like making films from novels, some work and some don't.
This one quote:
The company also said it had no plans to use the technology in any of its products.
Illustrates exactly what is wrong with the patent system as it stands. If you're not making a product that uses the technology, then whey patent it? You have no real invention to protect. You shouldn't be allowed to patent something unless you're actually making something with what you've patented.
I dunno. You do away with that "megadamage" bullshit, like my group did when we played this PnP, and it could be much more balanced.
There's actually a group that has a Neverwinter Nights server and module based on the Palladium fantasy world.
I liked the Palladium games that I played.
Yeah, the mechanics were a bit wonky, but the mechanics of most RPGs are wonky in spots.
Why can't you have it both ways?
What about rhythmic gymnastics? Is it art or is it sport? Is it both?
Ditto for figure skating, ballet, etc.
Interesting thing about helmet laws:
When the seat belt was made mandatory in Kentucky, the helmet law for motorcycles was repealed at the same time.
An acquaintance of mine, who was in the legislature at the time, explained the decision to me as follows:
The insurance companies told us that seat belts make a huge difference in what they pay out in medical claims in an auto accident. Helmets don't make a difference in what they pay in medical claims in motorcycle accidents.
So, the decision ultimately came down to dollars and cents....
(Naturally, I'm paraphrasing the citation above.)
Wish I had moderator today. I'd give you Funny on all three posts......
And then I would be the first person to LEAVE your ISP if you did not do backup s of ANY system.
Why? If you hire an ISP to provide you with Internet Service, then what do you care if they backup their servers or not? If all you want from them is an Internet connection, then it doesn't matter, so long as they meet their contract with you.
If you're using their SMTP and POP3 servers, and you're relying on email to conduct your extremely important business communications, I suggest you read the RFCs and find out exactly how email works. There's no guarantee that any given message is every going to reach its intended destination. Email is only slightly more reliable than the US Postal Service.
I don't backup any of the mail servers that I'm responsible for administrating because it's a pointless waste of time. Email is ephemeral, and I remind everyone that they should not bet the farm on email.
(my experience has been that half of my teammates on group projects have no idea how to write a program)
That's been my experience working in the software industry for ten years.
Back on topic: Yeah, I saw Tron when it came out. I was 12. I had just gotten my own computer at home and begun hacking. I haven't stopped since. I'm not sure how much influence Tron had on my interest in programming, but I really enjoyed the film then and did again when I saw it several years later.
In this era where we worry so much about identity theft, this sort of thing really makes you wonder what the point really is.
:)
The point is, that there isn't any point.
It's exactly that kind of thing, and the real lack of concern that I've witnessed from gov't agencies and financial institutions all along, concerning everything from someone's actual name and SSN being used as an alias by a known felon (and the SSA refusing to issue a new SSN for the "victim") to loan officers that say that there's so much junk data on credit reports that they often ignore a lot of it, that caused me not to worry if my "identity" is "stolen."
No, the tool IS part of the problem in such cases. If the programmer was not that good at C then C was the wrong tool and thus part of the problem.
"It's a poor craftsman who blames his tools."
Never mind. I'm a doofus. I was thinking that patents only last 17 years from date of issue. Turns out its 20 years from application date as hinted at below.
I found an interesting site about patents in the U.S. here:
http://www.bitlaw.com/patent/
If the patent was granted in 1988, doesn't that mean it expired last year?
Did they change the duration of patents?
First computer that I owned was a birthday present: a Commodore Vic-20. (I may still have it and the cassette tape drive still in a box somewhere.) I must have been in 5th or 6th grade when I got it.
However, I used an Apple-II for programming at school before getting the Vic.
Actually, your problem can easily be solved with a fifth of Bourbon.
Like I said, I'm no MBA or JD. ;) I was just making assumptions based on what was in that little summary that passed for an article at the main link. Guess, I'm wrong again. :)
I think a lot of folks here have missed the point. The article's author is making an intellectual exercise in asking out loud and in public if companies that violate the GPL in their software are not also violating Sarbanes-Oxley.
This is because they are required to list what intellectual property the company owns to shareholders and if it is later found out that the company doesn't really own it, because it is based on a GPL'd software, then is that a Sarbanes-Oxley violation.
I'd have to say, it looks like one, but I'm no MBA, nor a JD.
Hmm, and here I was thinking that I'd actually add a little search box on my web site to search my site's content via Google.....
Who's leeching whom?
Wikipedia is not analogous to a bathroom wall. It is one of the busiest, most visible, most used websites on the Internet.
How does that make it different from a bathroom wall? The bathroom is generally one of the busiest, most used places in a building....
LOL. I wish had mod points. I'd mod that funny!
A midi file is much like a score. It contains instructions on what instrument in the midi synthesizer plays what note, for how long, and when.
Distributing a midi file is like distributing a music score, and so likely an infringement if distributed without permission.
Playing a midi file is like performing the music in that score, and so also likely an infringement depending on the circumstances.
In this case, however, it would not be the RIAA to whom money is owed, because a midi is not a recording by a RIAA artist. Rather the money would be owed to the music publisher and their collection agents, ASCAP and BMI in most cases.
That's my non-lawyer opinion based on some experience with both MIDI and the publishing industry in general.