I can verify this to be true. I once tried removing the last bug from a program and squeezing out the last instruction (with some divine assistance) and boom, the program did thereupon rise into code heaven where it shall spend the rest of eternity in infinite bliss, never again to be categorized under the mere term of "program".:-)
...or should I say cents. Supply and demand, folks. What am I missing here? There's no reason whatsoever for most of these high tech companies to hang out in these high cost areas. You're jacking up the price for everyone else to live there just so you can form some geographical "high-tech band" in the US, when no industry could be farther from geocentricity than the high tech industries who've now finally gotten a clue. Take your business anywhere you can find electricity. For the price you're paying to run your company in the "high tech band" you could probably house all your employees and their families in dream homes in Iowa or someplace.
I'm no authority, but I am just glad to see things finally evening out a bit. A town isn't meant to consist 100% of high tech profitable firms. They need teachers and "sanitation engineers" and whatnot -- the guys who don't make a zillion dollars a year to pay for the housing.
It blows my mind to imagine how far gaming will go in the next 40 years. I'd say I can't wait, but I'm sure there will be so many interesting steps along the way. Who thinks 3D is overrated and we're gonna see some totally unexpected forms of games come out that aren't entirely headed toward VR/HoloGaming?:)
What are we talking about here "prototricity" instead of electricity? Or does ice conduct electricity? If so, do the protons all flow out of the ice and become replaced with electrons or what!?
... still baffled by the fact that the whole place went up with less energy than is required to heat a cup of coffee, the investigators have taken to drinking frappuccino.
Scully can't die. She's immortal since "death" took someone else's life instead of hers. And the guy who could see into the future even said she never dies in a separate episode, I believe.
OK, the ";)" was supposed to clarify the sense of irony if it wasn't already obvious enough, but apparently that didn't work. Apparently I have to draw the picture: my *point* was that a fork is about as good a comparison to an XBox as it is to an apartment or a car. An XBox has to be considered for what it is, not compared to something completely irrelavent. Different circumstances call for different rules. There's no reason an XBox should abide by the same rules as a fork.
Of course I'm familiar with the concept of analogies, but I'm just saying, I think the fork analogy is a bad one.
OT: As for the the moderators, the only reason I mention the "flamebait" moderators is because those are the moderations (not just against my own posts) that seem to be suspect. I've seen my own and others' (IMO) insightful posts moderated as flamebait recently. Just because a post invites an opposing view shouldn't make it flamebait (especially when its relavent).
Hm... and if you don't need a license to operate a fork, why should you be required to have a license to operate a car? And what's with all this rental stuff -- let me pay rent once and KEEP the dang apartment; after all I only have to pay once for a fork!;)
(Cowering in fear of the "Flamebait" mederators...)
Unless you're referring to software, I don't believe this is the case for PS2. It was hard to get a hold of when it came out, which may have allowed certain people to sell their PS2 at higher prices, but I stood in line the day of release (no pre-orders) and got my PS2 at what I believe is still the official price. I don't remember now what that price was... I think maybe $299. Has the official price fallen? (I thought I would have noticed if it had.)
Can this be extrapolated to a point where computers start to look like they were modeled off of brains? Very simple processors combining their efforts into a larger group effort, but retaining individuality from other similar groups. These groups are further combined (based on task/area of functionality) into larger groups which merge again into a simplified single I/O pipe for the whole super-group. Groups could be arbitrarily nested to any number of levels. Each level would be responsible for multiplexing I/O between the single I/O pipe to the higher level and the multiple sub-groups at the current level. At the top you end up with huge groups operating somewhat similar to a left brain and a right-brain with a fat I/O pipe between them acting like a corpus colossum (sp?). Talk about a huge bus width. What would that be -- a few hundred gigabit bus:)
Just some pie in the sky amusement and speculation.
Ah, but maybe you *do* have to purchase the "license" to access the extra features and higher quality (extra pixels? extra pixel durability?) of the DVD version:)
I don't know about other programmers, but I tend to be (or try to be) a "renaissance man" when it comes to game programming. I do all my own music, sound effects, graphics, map editing, coding, documentation etc. Of course if you have a big project and a deadline, one person probably can't handle it all. But for a person with a vision, I think the best product comes from one single coherent mind, not from multiple people trying to fit their respective pieces together based on some arbitrary separations/standards (there's a lot of overhead in person-hours dealing with that kind of thing).
I think it's a good idea for the programmer to practice art. Programmers aren't inherently non-artists... many just tend to spend a lot more time practicing coding and a lot less time drawing. Anyone can play around with graphics software and music composition on a computer. Not only does this make one better able to create a complete product on their own, but it would also be great practice in being part of a team where the work *does* need to be split up. If you have such people working on all aspects of a product, they can better understand and more quickly deal with others' aspects of a project. When anyone has a really brilliant inspiration, it's best to minimize the boundaries preventing them from realizing that, even if it's not their *supposed* area of expertise.
Practically, though, I don't suppose you run across a lot of experts covering such a wide range. I myself focus more on programming (which is why my Scrolling Game Development Kit doesn't come with a whole lot of sound effects or graphics). I think what one has to do is just find people with the appropriate experience. Maybe you can't expect a particular artist to design map graphics because of the technical limitations involved (maybe the particular artist can't work in the confines of graphics that have to be tilable). And maybe the programmer isn't qualified to draw anything. The terms "Artist" and "programmer" don't necessarily fit well into every project and maybe you need to be asking for "technical artists" or "texture designers". Maybe your map editor should have some concept of plot... fitting the world into an exciting story. The categories of people you look for need to fit the project. I think the biggest distance between any "artist" and any "programmer" is simply practice. Ideally the person who is designing maps for a new project is someone who has practiced exactly that and knows how to deal with the technical and artistic aspects of that task.
Oh, I'm afraid you missed a cool lot of the game... maybe you can get an emulator for Pitfall 2 and finish. IIRC, he jumps around for a while and then runs off the left edge of the map onto a new map.
I think that's only the end of the first half of the game. Isn't there a second half in which the whole game ends with the hero climbing up a snake coming out of a basket to the tune of a flute?
Isn't 1 mole = 6.82 * 10^23? If that's true, a yottabyte is on about the same order of magnitude as 1 mole of bytes isn't it. So even if you use single atoms to store the bits, you'd need 8 times that much (still about the same order of magnitute though) to store that many bytes. There's no way you're going to fit that (and the equipment necessary to read it) into a space less than (or probably even equal to) a standard 5.25" bay. Of course I suppose there's the possibility of technology unfathomable today... like storing multiple bytes in single quanta of energy or subatomic particles in multiple dimensions or something. But if that's even possible, it's gotta be a *long* ways off.
I think the point is that you'd have to add energy to cancel the sound waves. In generating a cancelation sound wave you need energy to do it. And in the process of generating it you're creating more heat (although, possibly at a different location).
I believe there was an experiment that involved many tons of lead under a mountain (to block out cosmic radiation that could intefere with the experiment) in which proton(s?) could be detected decaying as it/they emitted some sort of energy in the process. My memory on this, however, is very foggy.
Heh, that occured to me as I was submitting the message, but I was too lazy to come up with another point... "Why ruin a perfectly good post with logic?":)
Sure, the earth has lasted for billions of years, but I think 50,000 years is way too long for this time capsule to be out there -- at least for a first attempt (at least I *think* it's a first attempt). I don't think it'll last... and if it does, I doubt that it would be more useful to whatever is on this planet in 50,000 years than it would be to the inhabitants of this planet in 1,000 years.
I also think it would be more useful to *include* a playback device (rather than a manual for constructing one) as well as a suggestion that, if this message is received, *then* you try something longer term (and include this data with it, adding to it whatever you think is appropriate).
Also, I don't know what the plans are, but I sure hope they have some major electromagnetic disturbance being transmitted in conjunction with this satellite's de-orbiting; something to get the attention of the planet's inhabitants.
Just think, 1000-2000 years ago there's sure a lot of information that would be interesting to historians today. 50,000 years ago? The human race was almost unrecognizable, civilization didn't even exist (did it?), and there would be some very disappointing holes left in history in the meantime.
Think about it. Is there *anything* madmade in the world at all that has ever survived near that long. The oldest manmade things I can thing of are about 5,000 years old, and hard to find (and piece together) at that. Sure space might not weather away at an object, but the atmosphere is also protective. This satellite will be subject to super-high-speed micrometeorites and solar effects etc. for thousands of years.
Okay, this is not something that would succeed in widespread application, I think, but in the application to which it is being applied (dentistry school, if I read correctly) it does make some sense. Some points behind my reasoning:
1) In the medical field, it is crucial that practitioners have the most current information.
2) The cost of buying these DVD's could very well be much less that buying all this material in printed form
3) The cost of "leasing" this information (especially if for just a short period of time) could be much less than permanently buying the rights
4) In some sense there's less waste in that you don't pay for information you don't care about after it "expires"
Slashdot Mirror
I can verify this to be true. I once tried removing the last bug from a program and squeezing out the last instruction (with some divine assistance) and boom, the program did thereupon rise into code heaven where it shall spend the rest of eternity in infinite bliss, never again to be categorized under the mere term of "program". :-)
...or should I say cents. Supply and demand, folks. What am I missing here? There's no reason whatsoever for most of these high tech companies to hang out in these high cost areas. You're jacking up the price for everyone else to live there just so you can form some geographical "high-tech band" in the US, when no industry could be farther from geocentricity than the high tech industries who've now finally gotten a clue. Take your business anywhere you can find electricity. For the price you're paying to run your company in the "high tech band" you could probably house all your employees and their families in dream homes in Iowa or someplace.
I'm no authority, but I am just glad to see things finally evening out a bit. A town isn't meant to consist 100% of high tech profitable firms. They need teachers and "sanitation engineers" and whatnot -- the guys who don't make a zillion dollars a year to pay for the housing.
It blows my mind to imagine how far gaming will go in the next 40 years. I'd say I can't wait, but I'm sure there will be so many interesting steps along the way. Who thinks 3D is overrated and we're gonna see some totally unexpected forms of games come out that aren't entirely headed toward VR/HoloGaming? :)
What are we talking about here "prototricity" instead of electricity? Or does ice conduct electricity? If so, do the protons all flow out of the ice and become replaced with electrons or what!?
... still baffled by the fact that the whole place went up with less energy than is required to heat a cup of coffee, the investigators have taken to drinking frappuccino.
Scully can't die. She's immortal since "death" took someone else's life instead of hers. And the guy who could see into the future even said she never dies in a separate episode, I believe.
OK, the ";)" was supposed to clarify the sense of irony if it wasn't already obvious enough, but apparently that didn't work. Apparently I have to draw the picture: my *point* was that a fork is about as good a comparison to an XBox as it is to an apartment or a car. An XBox has to be considered for what it is, not compared to something completely irrelavent. Different circumstances call for different rules. There's no reason an XBox should abide by the same rules as a fork.
Of course I'm familiar with the concept of analogies, but I'm just saying, I think the fork analogy is a bad one.
OT: As for the the moderators, the only reason I mention the "flamebait" moderators is because those are the moderations (not just against my own posts) that seem to be suspect. I've seen my own and others' (IMO) insightful posts moderated as flamebait recently. Just because a post invites an opposing view shouldn't make it flamebait (especially when its relavent).
Hm... and if you don't need a license to operate a fork, why should you be required to have a license to operate a car? And what's with all this rental stuff -- let me pay rent once and KEEP the dang apartment; after all I only have to pay once for a fork! ;)
(Cowering in fear of the "Flamebait" mederators...)
Unless you're referring to software, I don't believe this is the case for PS2. It was hard to get a hold of when it came out, which may have allowed certain people to sell their PS2 at higher prices, but I stood in line the day of release (no pre-orders) and got my PS2 at what I believe is still the official price. I don't remember now what that price was... I think maybe $299. Has the official price fallen? (I thought I would have noticed if it had.)
Can this be extrapolated to a point where computers start to look like they were modeled off of brains? Very simple processors combining their efforts into a larger group effort, but retaining individuality from other similar groups. These groups are further combined (based on task/area of functionality) into larger groups which merge again into a simplified single I/O pipe for the whole super-group. Groups could be arbitrarily nested to any number of levels. Each level would be responsible for multiplexing I/O between the single I/O pipe to the higher level and the multiple sub-groups at the current level. At the top you end up with huge groups operating somewhat similar to a left brain and a right-brain with a fat I/O pipe between them acting like a corpus colossum (sp?). Talk about a huge bus width. What would that be -- a few hundred gigabit bus :)
Just some pie in the sky amusement and speculation.
Except they have no 0 so... ?
Ah, but maybe you *do* have to purchase the "license" to access the extra features and higher quality (extra pixels? extra pixel durability?) of the DVD version :)
You haven't read the game programming newsgroups lately have you? According to them, ideas are a dime a dozen.
Wow... look at those words fight each other!
I think it's a good idea for the programmer to practice art. Programmers aren't inherently non-artists... many just tend to spend a lot more time practicing coding and a lot less time drawing. Anyone can play around with graphics software and music composition on a computer. Not only does this make one better able to create a complete product on their own, but it would also be great practice in being part of a team where the work *does* need to be split up. If you have such people working on all aspects of a product, they can better understand and more quickly deal with others' aspects of a project. When anyone has a really brilliant inspiration, it's best to minimize the boundaries preventing them from realizing that, even if it's not their *supposed* area of expertise.
Practically, though, I don't suppose you run across a lot of experts covering such a wide range. I myself focus more on programming (which is why my Scrolling Game Development Kit doesn't come with a whole lot of sound effects or graphics). I think what one has to do is just find people with the appropriate experience. Maybe you can't expect a particular artist to design map graphics because of the technical limitations involved (maybe the particular artist can't work in the confines of graphics that have to be tilable). And maybe the programmer isn't qualified to draw anything. The terms "Artist" and "programmer" don't necessarily fit well into every project and maybe you need to be asking for "technical artists" or "texture designers". Maybe your map editor should have some concept of plot... fitting the world into an exciting story. The categories of people you look for need to fit the project. I think the biggest distance between any "artist" and any "programmer" is simply practice. Ideally the person who is designing maps for a new project is someone who has practiced exactly that and knows how to deal with the technical and artistic aspects of that task.
http://www.sourceforge.net/?
Oh, I'm afraid you missed a cool lot of the game... maybe you can get an emulator for Pitfall 2 and finish. IIRC, he jumps around for a while and then runs off the left edge of the map onto a new map.
I think that's only the end of the first half of the game. Isn't there a second half in which the whole game ends with the hero climbing up a snake coming out of a basket to the tune of a flute?
Isn't 1 mole = 6.82 * 10^23? If that's true, a yottabyte is on about the same order of magnitude as 1 mole of bytes isn't it. So even if you use single atoms to store the bits, you'd need 8 times that much (still about the same order of magnitute though) to store that many bytes. There's no way you're going to fit that (and the equipment necessary to read it) into a space less than (or probably even equal to) a standard 5.25" bay. Of course I suppose there's the possibility of technology unfathomable today... like storing multiple bytes in single quanta of energy or subatomic particles in multiple dimensions or something. But if that's even possible, it's gotta be a *long* ways off.
I think the point is that you'd have to add energy to cancel the sound waves. In generating a cancelation sound wave you need energy to do it. And in the process of generating it you're creating more heat (although, possibly at a different location).
I believe there was an experiment that involved many tons of lead under a mountain (to block out cosmic radiation that could intefere with the experiment) in which proton(s?) could be detected decaying as it/they emitted some sort of energy in the process. My memory on this, however, is very foggy.
Hasn't had the chance!
... "Why ruin a perfectly good post with logic?" :)
Heh, that occured to me as I was submitting the message, but I was too lazy to come up with another point
Sure, the earth has lasted for billions of years, but I think 50,000 years is way too long for this time capsule to be out there -- at least for a first attempt (at least I *think* it's a first attempt). I don't think it'll last... and if it does, I doubt that it would be more useful to whatever is on this planet in 50,000 years than it would be to the inhabitants of this planet in 1,000 years.
I also think it would be more useful to *include* a playback device (rather than a manual for constructing one) as well as a suggestion that, if this message is received, *then* you try something longer term (and include this data with it, adding to it whatever you think is appropriate).
Also, I don't know what the plans are, but I sure hope they have some major electromagnetic disturbance being transmitted in conjunction with this satellite's de-orbiting; something to get the attention of the planet's inhabitants.
Just think, 1000-2000 years ago there's sure a lot of information that would be interesting to historians today. 50,000 years ago? The human race was almost unrecognizable, civilization didn't even exist (did it?), and there would be some very disappointing holes left in history in the meantime.
Think about it. Is there *anything* madmade in the world at all that has ever survived near that long. The oldest manmade things I can thing of are about 5,000 years old, and hard to find (and piece together) at that. Sure space might not weather away at an object, but the atmosphere is also protective. This satellite will be subject to super-high-speed micrometeorites and solar effects etc. for thousands of years.
That's why they force you to subscribe and always have access to the most current information.
Okay, this is not something that would succeed in widespread application, I think, but in the application to which it is being applied (dentistry school, if I read correctly) it does make some sense. Some points behind my reasoning:
1) In the medical field, it is crucial that practitioners have the most current information.
2) The cost of buying these DVD's could very well be much less that buying all this material in printed form
3) The cost of "leasing" this information (especially if for just a short period of time) could be much less than permanently buying the rights
4) In some sense there's less waste in that you don't pay for information you don't care about after it "expires"