No, it's dead on! Do you think the US would be nosing around in other counties' business all around the world if the British hadn't redrawn the world's borders, putting groups who hate each other in the same country and telling them they must all abide by the same laws?
Let it not be forgotten the English were reds long before the communists were.
Not that I blame you personally, Anonymous British Coward, just stating the situation. I hold myself to the same responsibility as you for crimes committed by my government and my ancestors.
"The judge ruled against Microsoft today. Ironically the economy and technology stocks are up" - From CNN
Should have said "Obviously" instead of "Ironically". Everyone everywhere thought for one brief moment 'I will someday have a computer that works without ever crashing.' Thus giving them hope and encouraging them to spend money.
Well CD cases do come in different sizes. Baulder's Gate would have caught my eye faster if it were packaged in a triple wide CD case. (And in my case make more inclined to seek out the normal case of the DVD version) By the way, that really is the only thing package art is good for, to get attention. It has no berring on a decision to purchase. Biger boxes don't really do this as well as other technics. A single front window display takes up less space, is cheeper, more enviromentally friendly and is more effective. Of couse the publisher can never be sure their display is actually used so an eye catching package would still be neccessary. A good idea that I saw was a tiny package with a flashing LED on it. That paint can would have made a very effective display when placed on the checkout counter. But it sucks as a package.
No, private organizations can not call a Police department or FBI and ask for a background check on a person, only law enforcement has the right to run a background check on a person. But certain specific private organizations (private security firms and bounty hunters) are allowed access to varying amounts of information under certain circumstances. Usually while they can not check on a specific individual they can buy a partial copy of an entire database from an individual department. This incomplete database is traded and appended with other private companies' databases in a kind of corporate pokemon game. Then a third company can ask one of these 'privileged' companies for information on a specific individual in a roundabout way. They say we don't want Walter Midy if, he committed a felony, used drugs, has a chronic health condition, cheated on his taxes, has been institutionalized, etc... The privileged company can answer back, "Walter Midy checks out" or "Walter Midy failed one of your criteria". In some cases they are allowed to be a bit more specific and say "Walter Midy has been institutionalized". It's all done within the law of course. Note also that these databases contain more than just criminal activities, they can have records on purchases, medical information, and who knows what. Note also that while the internet could aid in these transfers of information most companies are still using paper and keyboards which are Much more prone to inaccuracy. So remember that next time your kongressman tries to weasel votes out of the public by supporting a "New and Improved Internet Privacy Law", better ask him if it applies to paper, ink and private databases of information.
I'm pretty sure this is old news. I mean MirCorp offered to give rides to space even before they officially owned the station. Some rich guy bought a ticket and when up and came back down with only the ussual incidents. This must artical must be refering to the second space tourist to make the trip.
Then why not fund research into cell repair? Because it would be an inefficient use of resources to set up a separate new project when we've already got trained people working on it. And when NASA is done they'll let everyone have the technology. A private firm would charge all their costs to the consumer, meaning higher health care cost for people who could never afford it even with insurance. Why divide and distribute research to private industry that will charge you too much for results when your tax dollars have already paid for NASA and they'll give you their results for free?
Why not send robots Robot's are more expensive an incapable of adapting to changing situations the way a human does. Murphy's Law to a robot means total failure, Murphy's Law to a human is merely a setback.
As for mitigating our popluation problems. Do you think we could lift 6*10^9 people to mars in 20 years? Yes. It's been called a "space bridge". It is a geostationary satellite extended by building away from and towards earth at the say time until one end reaches the surface of the earth. Then you've got scaffolding in to space upon which 6*10^9 people can be moved on in 1 year. This removes the first major barrier to space flight, achieving orbit (Something that is very expensive and in efficient now). The next obstacle is interplanetary travel, where cell damage comes onto play. The last barrier is Mars itself. Sending robots to Mars would take way to long. We need people there, people can decide what to do an do it without the communications delay. They can also study any unexpected events as soon as they happen. Robots cannot react to unexpected events like humans can, A new robot would have to be designed and sent, by then the even may have run it's course.
How about we deal with the problem instead of proposing a solution that has no chance. Well the problem of overpopulation is being dealt with, I don't happen to like any of the solutions. Just because *you* say something has no chance is no reason to stop.
real considered reasons, please. not sci-fi plots. Sci-Fi Plots! What world have you been living in! A spherical Earth that revolves around the sun was once Sci-Fi. The Number Zero was once Sci-Fi. The north and south American continents were once Sci-Fi. The horseless carriage was once Sci-Fi. The light bulb was once Sci-Fi. Wireless broadcasts were once Sci-Fi. X-rays were once Sci-Fi. Blood transfusions were once Sci-Fi. Breaking the sound barrier was once Sci-Fi. Atomic energy was once Sci-Fi. Genetics was once Sci-Fi. Microprocessors were once Sci-Fi. Rockets to the Moon was once Sci-Fi. Lasers were once Sci-Fi. Night Vision Goggles were once Sci-Fi. Cloning was once Sci-Fi. Computers than can out think humans was once Sci-Fi. Teleportation was once Sci-Fi. Breaking the speed of light was once Sci-Fi.
NO SCI-FI PLOTS! No one has ever been to Mars! It *is* a Sci-Fi plot. It can not be anything but a Sci-Fi plot, UNTIL WE DO IT! If something isn't science fiction then it's been done!
I know who you are hemul. You jailed Galileo for saying the Earth revolved around the sun. You sent Columbus away when he told you there was and western route to India. Every single time humankind has stood on the brink of discovery you have been there doing your best to stop it. You, hemul, are a plague on humanity. Constantly telling us "that's impossible", "your wasting your time", "things are fine the way they are", "you'll never succeed". You, hemul, are the last barrier to progress.
She probably checked that little box on the aplication that said "I want a copy of the background report" Without that she would have never known why. A typo by a temporyary employ for a company 20 times removed from the one doing background can destory multiple lives. And the only defense is asking for a copy of a background report on the aplication. The person who made the error can be held resonsible for the error only. Chances are that person will find another job before the mistake makes its mark. Uknowingly buying false information is not a crime, selling that information is not, believing it is not. However, while no crime was commited that doesn't mean you wouldn't win a civil suit.
Adventure had *the first* Easter Egg. But on a much more serious note. Atari did not give credit to their programmers, didn't pay them royalties and many programmers at Atari were paid less than the secretaries at Atari. He added this message secretly. Had he been found out he would have been fired, perhaps even sued by Atari. When Warren Robinett signed his name he changed the gamming industry forever.
I don't find it completly unbelievable that this Easter Egg was discovered by dman123 without help. After all, Atari didn't know, and Mr. Robinett told no one about it. But with in a few monthes it was discoverd first by a kid who played it. The kid called Atari and *told them*. Fortunately for Mr. Robinett, he was no longer working for Atari at the time.
To try, we must overcome vast difficulties and solve great mysteries. So that even if we fail we have still learn so much. I mentioned cell repair in another message. As in damaged cells being reconstructed on a mass scale. As in, elimination of Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Aging, Cancer, etc... Cell damage (do to unfiltered radiation in space) is a major problem that must be solved in order to go to Mars. Mars has been called a failed Earth, it was the right size, had the right chemicals (Water), was a good temperature, good distance from the sun, reasonable rotation and orbit, had a stable atmosphere and an appropriate level of geologic activity. An abode of life just waiting to happen. What went wrong? Can the same failure happen to Earth? Earth's population doubles something like every 20 years. Would you rather submit to forced sterilization, or add more living space? I suppose you'd be happy if we'd all stayed in the trees?
Dan Goldin has stated that the maned Mars mission can only happen after a way to repair damaged cells is developed. Am I to understand that this plasma propulsion reduces the travel time so much that cell damage is no longer a significant risk? I guess my point is, Mars is still a long ways off and I'd hate to see other projects sap money from repairing damaged cells. Realistically, I believe investment in cell repair will offer more benefits to us all than investment in plasma propulsion. The best solution would be to give NASA enough funding for both, but I never hold my breath waiting for kongress to come up with the best solution.
Has anyone here ever accually talked to a Sega employee, besides one that is paid to talk to the public? I have spoken to sega employees who didn't know Sonic the Hedghog was a Sega trademark. Sure they have alot of talented people, but they remind me of the Island of Laputa.
Do people acual think that just because we are the USA and everyone everywhere in the world should follow our laws? Lucifer was cast out of heaven for that additude. No wonder we are being called "The Great Satan"! Look, every country in the world is complaing the internet is being used to break their laws. It seems inevitable that some international group is needed to settle disputes. Where's the outrage about who enforces laws on international waters? If you don't like other countries having a say in the rules you have to abide by, then stay out of said country, unfortunatly that includes cyberspace.
It's been know for some time that water is found off earth. Ice on the Moon, Mars, Europa, even Mercury. It's probably on every planet and moon in the solar system, only in small quanties making hard to find. More an more evidence of planets outside our solar system suggest that solar systems (as opposed to suns-only systems) are the norm. Note it is all ice, and that is problem for most life. Liquid water seems to be required for life. So Ice is just not that exciting. Now if someone where to conclusivly prove that Europa's core was liquid water, or Mars had underground lakes and rivers of liquid water, or tides of liquid water were witnessed on one of those other planets outside our system, then that would be exciting news.
Hacking used to mean something along the lines of changing computer code to work better. Cracking was used to refer to breaking in to computer security systems. But popular media began refering to *illegal* cracking as hacking, there by making a hacker something bad instead of an aknowlegement of talent of a computer programmer. This hacking=cracking misconception was created by accident, out of ignorence. But as Mr. Stallman sugests more recent efforts seem to be purposeful attempts to misdefining terms. Companies are mixing up Piracy, Sharing, Emulation, Warez and I just wonder if there isn't something that can be done about it?
Well, you fail to provide any clue are too their current comprehension level, but.
I can honestly say my fist digital programming experience was with a toy. It was called "Big Trac" And if I recall it was the first toy (videogames are something other than toys I guess) with a microprocesser. Luckly for me my first digital programming experience was not C, I would have givin up the idea right then and there.
I learned BASIC, but don't recommend it. To this day I reflexivly think "GOTO". There are better basics these days though, Visual Basic, QBasic and the like.
I learn LOGO second, I found it much simpler that basic and not really a learning experience. On the other hand my teacher didn't know much about Computers (One of the teachers had to teach the computer class and it fell to the typing teacher, poor guy) and I learned LOGO after learning BASIC.
I notice LEGOs are mentioned alot in this discussion. That's a good toy (even if they are making them more specialised and less useful these days). Nice thing about legos is kids can be familiarised with them from birth and as they out grow putting things in their mouth and distructive behavior you can get the smaller and more intricate varities of LEGOs. LEGOs will teach the skills necciassry for many, many different things including programming. LEGOs are also great for exercising artistic expression and imagination (two things that are often discourage when learning programming in structered education, so engrain these values while you can). Another important thing later is to not let your kids think they should outgrow LEGOs.
Pascal is a good stepping stone to C.
I would recommend spending a week or so with HTML before any programming languages, this will let them see a computer interpreting their imagination (in a limited way) much better than most games will, easyer than programming language will and these creations can be shared with peers. Let them create a bit on your web page or even help them create their own pages.
All these are good choices but may lead to dissipointment, all these things require alot of effort for a little bit of result, most certianly from a child's perspective. Something that allows more instant gratification is game scripting. There are many games out their that let players create their own levels, not just graphically, but with events and enemy AI. AND ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT TO A KID, a game level is something they can share with others kids their age and STILL BE COOL. Not neccissasly so with C or even LEGOs. Some of these games accually feature programing *as* a gameplay element. Many of these games are innapropriate for some yonger children so it may take a little work to find the ones that are suitable. But they are worth looking for. I'm sorry I can't recommend very many but here's the ones I can think of right now:
Robot Odyssey (another RO page) An OLD but GOOD 'game' for 8086 computers. It takes some work to run it on modern computers but I HIGHLY recommend it. There's a small comunity of players. This game features logic gate programming as the main gameplay element.
Stunt Island An odd mix of flight sim, movie maker and event driven programming. Fairly old software, but it has a small 'web community' to share creations with.
Descent w/Mission Builder Shoot 'em up involing AI robots. This series by Interplay seems to still be arround. This is heavily GUI but construction of symeterical 3D Levels will bring up quite a few geometric math issues, common to 3D game programming
Unlimited Adventures An old software tool for creating AD&D advantures in the style of SSI's 'Gold Box' series of games.
Neverwinter Nights Upcomming AD&D online game, homemade worlds will be a major part of this game.
Creative Writer (Front Page Jr). Your kids can create a page with this program, then view and edit the HTML manually.
Thinkin' Things Collection 3 Not sure if this is accualy a game. But one of the elements of it is specifically to indroduce kids to computer programming.
LEGO MINDSTORMS Robotics Invention System Mentioned in other replies. "Possibly the decade's most important breakthrough in children's computing and toys". Blah! I's just an improvment on Robot Odyssey (copyright 1984), except the program is loaded into a real world robot intead of a computer simulation. Well it's certianly easier to run than Robot Odyssey. Ya know, I am seriously considering getting one of these, dispite being a loyal Technic user for as long as I can remeber.
Soda Constructor I'm can't put my finger on it, but I'm sure is has some sort of relevence here. If not, well it's really cool anyway.
Robot Battle A compition oriented game. Different scripts are pitted against each other in an arena to test them.
Nineveh was located on the coast and its fairly safe to say they did not worship the God of the Bible, why else would Jonah have been sent to Nineveh? The fish of the sea being their source of life, it is logical to say they worshipped fish or in the least they placed much importance on them. Also, there is Archaeological evidence they worshipped a giant fish as a god. After being swallowed then spat out by a giant fish Jonah goes to Nineveh telling the people of Nineveh he has has a message for them. This was marketing is it not? The message was presented in a unique way that targeted the People of Nineveh. Suppose Jonah had been swallowed by a leviathan instead, do you suppose the People of Nineveh would have listened as readily? Or he just showed up and told the People of Nineveh "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown". What would you do if a vagrant came to your door and said "in forty days your government will be defeated", would you give it a moments thought or worry? Yet if the leader of a foreign country announced on CNN "in forty days your government will be defeated" you'd likely give it a bit of though wouldn't you? The message was the same, only the presentation changed. Of course marketing to Christians (or any religion, creed, race, sex, age, type or demographic for that matter) can be used for evil, but can not it also be used for good as demonstrated by the story of Jonah?
For the record: And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
For the record: The Bible does not (to the best of my knowledge) tell what the religious practices of the people of Nineveh were, other than their actions as described above.
"Money is the root of all evil.", when in fact, it really says, "The LOVE of money is the root of all KINDS of evil."
Really!? I didn't realize this verse had so many capitol letters. Or worded without sarcasm, when you capitalized LOVE and KINDS didn't you do the same thing as the 'People' you spoke of
For the record, here is the uniformly formatted text in its entirety from the King James Version of the Bible.
Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort. If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Religion was a very effective tool (and still is) in keeping the masses under control. Think about it: If you do something "bad", your karma goes down, or your god (who sees everything. convenient that) will get angry. This saves a fortune on policing.
Well that's all well and good until someone decides God told them to piss one someone rug. Religion is no substitute for the law. For one thing the law almost always recognises the rights of the individual balanced against the right of the group, something not always practiced by religion where typically the average individual has no rights of his own (he shares the rights of the group) Has is escaped your attention how many awful things things have been done in the name of religion. Religion can be a double edged sword (yes I did mean that in any and all ways you can think of). While it takes away your 'freedom' to do some things it also gives people (often a few 'elite' individuals) the 'freedom' do have visions and decide what God's will is and the like. I guess I'm suggesting that people should not stop thinking for themselves and allow religion, TV or videogames to think for them. I'm pretty sure videogames are the least likely to cause non-thinking of the three since the average videogame requires thinking more so than religion (under certain conditions) and TV.
OOO! Good one! This has made me relise I'd actually forgotten that the bad guys of the Wolfenstein game where Nazis. I kept thinking that the player was just killing inocent blamless people. How'd that happen anyway? OH MY GOSH!!! I WAS BRAINWASHED BY THE MEDIA!!!
I was raised Mormon, I don't consider myself Mormon any more but I have respect for Mormon beliefs. I will say now you didn't really come up with very good slurs here. Seriously, they lack imagination and are ineffective.
"Mormons believe they will become gods themselves"
Ok, I'll admit that one was somewhat effective and not contrary to Mormon beliefs. But I'm curios, where did you find out about this one, I mean many Mormons don't know about this, I was not told myself until I was 15 and the bishop who told me got in trouble for saying so.
"Jesus came to the Americas"
There's no big deal about this one, anybody who's seen the LDS 'commercials' would know this is Mormon teaching. Any Mormon would know that this is the origin of the Mormon religion.
"They have another book, the book of Mormon"
Same as above.
The LDS commercials site Biblical evidence that Jesus words where heard in other places than what is recorded in the Bible. Many other religions besides Mormon claim The Savior or a Savior visited them. You should try reading the Bible and the other books your self to understand this more.
"Which is even more hole-ridden and contradictory than the scriptures in today's bible."
Is that possible? Seriously, I mean I have a great respect for the Bible an all but the modern Bible has been translated, re-translated, 'pop-culturalise', translated, re-translated, edited, translated, re-translated, censored, translated, re-translated and holywoodised. As far as I know The Book of Mormon has been translated only once and The Original Writings are still kept safe just incase there is a language discrepancy or some other controversy that cannot be cleared up by the American translation (although I don't think that is actually a reason Mormons would give). Sure one can doubt the truthfulness, factualness, historical accuracy, validity and value of the Book of Mormon but how many "Holy Writings" are still on this earth in their original form?
Also, not very well directed I'm afraid, you managed to 'get' many religions but attacking the Bible is not really directed entirly at Mormons is it?
FYI: Many religions have 'additional reading' to the Bible, it is not uniquely Mormon. Pureitians where especially strict on banning any writing but the Bible yet even they found room for 2 books in their religion.
"All mormon apostles are correct, even if they are not"
I think you made a leap from "inspired by God" to the term "correct". This is sutable ignorant to provoke. Uhmm... errr... congratulations, I guess. The very reason for Jesus' sacrifice is that no one is perfect not even God's profits, that is the belief of all 'Savior' religions isn't it?
"they are, after all, prophets"
Same as above where you talked about the Book of Mormon and Jesus coming to America. No can really dispute that are profits, any more than profits from other religions are or are not.
"They enjoy badgering us in the streets and brainwashing."
This is based on a personal experience? I'm sorry you feel that way, I guess you are talking about some Mormon Missionaries. If it makes you feel any better they give up 2 years and often more of their lives when they are called to do what they think is right, not when it's convinient. They put weedings on hold, sometimes they are separated from wives and even their children. They often have to give up good jobs or even carriers because lets face it how many employers will let an employee not show up for work for 2 years. They put off serving their country. They go to faraway countries where they could be jailed or killed for their beliefs. Can't you let them have just a little enjoyment out of this trying experience? But I seriously doubt these missionaries 'enjoyed badgering and brainwashing' as you call it.
All in all a disappointment. No mention of polygamy, no mention of seagulls, no mention of Jesus' current places of residence, no mention of the alien, Jewish, Greek or mason connections, no mention of the salamander letter, no mention of Hamlet Act 3 Scene 2. You didn't even slip in any Osmond or Battlestar Galactica jokes. Perhaps if you actually studied the Bible and the Book of Mormon your slurs would be more effective. By the way, just out of curiosity what effect where you going for?
A company called Color Dreams created a few unauthorised games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. On an odd note one of their titles was Hellraiser (based on the movie), although that title never actual saw commercial release that I know of. Later Color Dreams found God and changed it's whole cooperate philosophy, or at least their target audience. Actually their games didn't really change very much, they produced Baby Boom (a Zapper game that used the NES light gun but didn't involve killing anything resembling a living being) and other such violence reduced types while still calling themselves Color Dreams. The name was changed to WisdomTree and they produced some educational and a surprising number of non-educational christian/bible themed games (some would call them 'real games') for the Nintendo. They also published on PC, Macintosh, Genesis, Game Gear, Game Boy, Super NES and probably other platforms I can't remember. They hold the distinction of producing the only unauthorised Super NES to see commercial release, Super Noah's Ark 3D. Super Noah's Ark 3D is a doom like clone, actually is a Wolfenstein 3D clone and rumors are ID software lent them the engine. He's the kicker, Noah (the 1st person star) does not once in the game preform any action that could be considered violent. That's not to say it is entirely violence free, if the player is not careful the animals in the ark will spit, bit and kick him to unconsciousness. But it does not have the player preforming violence or rewarding violence, quite the opposite, the less violence that happens the easier one advances in the game. Despite this objective the game play is exactly like Wolfenstein, I know it sounds impossible, but it is true. All the characters, art, objects and weapons are still their only changed. You'd really have to play it to see for yourself. There is a Super 3D Noah's Ark FAQ and atleast a dozen sites that meation the game on the web if anybody reading this wants to know a smidgen more (Do a search for "Super 3D Noah's Ark").
But I'm getting off the subject. It's funny you use the term 'Christian Geeks' as there doesn't really seem to be any (NO FLAMES PLEASE LET ME CONTINUE). I consider myself to hold basic christian ideals, I consider myself a geek. There are likely many others who fit both descriptions. But they have not made themselves very well known in the gamming industry, as players, customers, creators or marketers of games. Worse still, they have remained silent while zealots WHO KNOW NOTHING OF VIDEOGAMES AND HAVE NEVER PLAYED THEM rant on about the evils of videogames. I applaud Theodore Beale and Andrew Lunstad for taking action (even though they waited to be told to do so). Keeping in mind I have not played "The War In Heaven" yet, I may like it, hate it, be offended by it and/or feel a need to excise it from my computer and repent for having ever played it. But no matter the game I still say it is a good thing that some 'christian geeks' finally said something and did something. I'm not suggesting their should be a lot of games designed to 'convert' or 'preach' but christian content alone could prove to be very interesting and profitable when used in videogames. After all Greek Myth has inspired a lot of videogame content and served to sell many videogames and very few of the customers are active devotes of the Greek Myths, nor where many of them converted by these games. It is odd that there are so many 'medieval' games that somehow skip so many of the religious connotations that permeated that era.
PS JonKatz, perhaps God does use email, read your messages carefully before you dismiss the idea. -- "The games of a people reveal a great deal about them." -Marshall McLuhan "Videogames are not for us. They're here to entertain the television." -Mel Brooks "7 May 1967 [I] Played [my] first two-player video game (I lost!)" - Ralph H. Baer "The only legitimate use of a computer is to play games." -Eugene Jarvis "I was always obsessed with games, even as a kitten" - David 'Dr. Cat' Shapiro "I keep a backup copy of my mind at http://www.g-o-l.com/uvl/" -Zerothis
Slashdot Mirror
AOL *is* a tax on stupidity.
No, it's dead on! Do you think the US would be nosing around in other counties' business all around the world if the British hadn't redrawn the world's borders, putting groups who hate each other in the same country and telling them they must all abide by the same laws?
Let it not be forgotten the English were reds long before the communists were.
Not that I blame you personally, Anonymous British Coward, just stating the situation. I hold myself to the same responsibility as you for crimes committed by my government and my ancestors.
"The judge ruled against Microsoft today. Ironically the economy and technology stocks are up" - From CNN
Should have said "Obviously" instead of "Ironically". Everyone everywhere thought for one brief moment 'I will someday have a computer that works without ever crashing.' Thus giving them hope and encouraging them to spend money.
Well CD cases do come in different sizes. Baulder's Gate would have caught my eye faster if it were packaged in a triple wide CD case. (And in my case make more inclined to seek out the normal case of the DVD version)
By the way, that really is the only thing package art is good for, to get attention. It has no berring on a decision to purchase. Biger boxes don't really do this as well as other technics. A single front window display takes up less space, is cheeper, more enviromentally friendly and is more effective. Of couse the publisher can never be sure their display is actually used so an eye catching package would still be neccessary. A good idea that I saw was a tiny package with a flashing LED on it.
That paint can would have made a very effective display when placed on the checkout counter. But it sucks as a package.
No, private organizations can not call a Police department or FBI and ask for a background check on a person, only law enforcement has the right to run a background check on a person. But certain specific private organizations (private security firms and bounty hunters) are allowed access to varying amounts of information under certain circumstances. Usually while they can not check on a specific individual they can buy a partial copy of an entire database from an individual department. This incomplete database is traded and appended with other private companies' databases in a kind of corporate pokemon game. Then a third company can ask one of these 'privileged' companies for information on a specific individual in a roundabout way. They say we don't want Walter Midy if, he committed a felony, used drugs, has a chronic health condition, cheated on his taxes, has been institutionalized, etc... The privileged company can answer back, "Walter Midy checks out" or "Walter Midy failed one of your criteria". In some cases they are allowed to be a bit more specific and say "Walter Midy has been institutionalized". It's all done within the law of course. Note also that these databases contain more than just criminal activities, they can have records on purchases, medical information, and who knows what. Note also that while the internet could aid in these transfers of information most companies are still using paper and keyboards which are Much more prone to inaccuracy. So remember that next time your kongressman tries to weasel votes out of the public by supporting a "New and Improved Internet Privacy Law", better ask him if it applies to paper, ink and private databases of information.
I'm pretty sure this is old news. I mean MirCorp offered to give rides to space even before they officially owned the station. Some rich guy bought a ticket and when up and came back down with only the ussual incidents. This must artical must be refering to the second space tourist to make the trip.
Then why not fund research into cell repair?
Because it would be an inefficient use of resources to set up a separate new project when we've already got trained people working on it. And when NASA is done they'll let everyone have the technology. A private firm would charge all their costs to the consumer, meaning higher health care cost for people who could never afford it even with insurance. Why divide and distribute research to private industry that will charge you too much for results when your tax dollars have already paid for NASA and they'll give you their results for free?
Why not send robots
Robot's are more expensive an incapable of adapting to changing situations the way a human does. Murphy's Law to a robot means total failure, Murphy's Law to a human is merely a setback.
As for mitigating our popluation problems. Do you think we could lift 6*10^9 people to mars in 20 years? Yes. It's been called a "space bridge". It is a geostationary satellite extended by building away from and towards earth at the say time until one end reaches the surface of the earth. Then you've got scaffolding in to space upon which 6*10^9 people can be moved on in 1 year. This removes the first major barrier to space flight, achieving orbit (Something that is very expensive and in efficient now). The next obstacle is interplanetary travel, where cell damage comes onto play. The last barrier is Mars itself. Sending robots to Mars would take way to long. We need people there, people can decide what to do an do it without the communications delay. They can also study any unexpected events as soon as they happen. Robots cannot react to unexpected events like humans can, A new robot would have to be designed and sent, by then the even may have run it's course.
How about we deal with the problem instead of proposing a solution that has no chance.
Well the problem of overpopulation is being dealt with, I don't happen to like any of the solutions. Just because *you* say something has no chance is no reason to stop.
real considered reasons, please. not sci-fi plots.
Sci-Fi Plots! What world have you been living in! A spherical Earth that revolves around the sun was once Sci-Fi. The Number Zero was once Sci-Fi. The north and south American continents were once Sci-Fi. The horseless carriage was once Sci-Fi. The light bulb was once Sci-Fi. Wireless broadcasts were once Sci-Fi. X-rays were once Sci-Fi. Blood transfusions were once Sci-Fi. Breaking the sound barrier was once Sci-Fi. Atomic energy was once Sci-Fi. Genetics was once Sci-Fi. Microprocessors were once Sci-Fi. Rockets to the Moon was once Sci-Fi. Lasers were once Sci-Fi. Night Vision Goggles were once Sci-Fi. Cloning was once Sci-Fi. Computers than can out think humans was once Sci-Fi. Teleportation was once Sci-Fi. Breaking the speed of light was once Sci-Fi.
NO SCI-FI PLOTS! No one has ever been to Mars! It *is* a Sci-Fi plot. It can not be anything but a Sci-Fi plot, UNTIL WE DO IT! If something isn't science fiction then it's been done!
I know who you are hemul.
You jailed Galileo for saying the Earth revolved around the sun.
You sent Columbus away when he told you there was and western route to India.
Every single time humankind has stood on the brink of discovery you have been there doing your best to stop it. You, hemul, are a plague on humanity. Constantly telling us "that's impossible", "your wasting your time", "things are fine the way they are", "you'll never succeed". You, hemul, are the last barrier to progress.
I'm speachless
She probably checked that little box on the aplication that said "I want a copy of the background report" Without that she would have never known why. A typo by a temporyary employ for a company 20 times removed from the one doing background can destory multiple lives. And the only defense is asking for a copy of a background report on the aplication. The person who made the error can be held resonsible for the error only. Chances are that person will find another job before the mistake makes its mark. Uknowingly buying false information is not a crime, selling that information is not, believing it is not. However, while no crime was commited that doesn't mean you wouldn't win a civil suit.
Adventure had *the first* Easter Egg. But on a much more serious note. Atari did not give credit to their programmers, didn't pay them royalties and many programmers at Atari were paid less than the secretaries at Atari. He added this message secretly. Had he been found out he would have been fired, perhaps even sued by Atari. When Warren Robinett signed his name he changed the gamming industry forever.
I don't find it completly unbelievable that this Easter Egg was discovered by dman123 without help. After all, Atari didn't know, and Mr. Robinett told no one about it. But with in a few monthes it was discoverd first by a kid who played it. The kid called Atari and *told them*. Fortunately for Mr. Robinett, he was no longer working for Atari at the time.
To try, we must overcome vast difficulties and solve great mysteries. So that even if we fail we have still learn so much.
I mentioned cell repair in another message. As in damaged cells being reconstructed on a mass scale. As in, elimination of Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Aging, Cancer, etc... Cell damage (do to unfiltered radiation in space) is a major problem that must be solved in order to go to Mars.
Mars has been called a failed Earth, it was the right size, had the right chemicals (Water), was a good temperature, good distance from the sun, reasonable rotation and orbit, had a stable atmosphere and an appropriate level of geologic activity. An abode of life just waiting to happen. What went wrong? Can the same failure happen to Earth?
Earth's population doubles something like every 20 years. Would you rather submit to forced sterilization, or add more living space?
I suppose you'd be happy if we'd all stayed in the trees?
Dan Goldin has stated that the maned Mars mission can only happen after a way to repair damaged cells is developed. Am I to understand that this plasma propulsion reduces the travel time so much that cell damage is no longer a significant risk? I guess my point is, Mars is still a long ways off and I'd hate to see other projects sap money from repairing damaged cells. Realistically, I believe investment in cell repair will offer more benefits to us all than investment in plasma propulsion. The best solution would be to give NASA enough funding for both, but I never hold my breath waiting for kongress to come up with the best solution.
Has anyone here ever accually talked to a Sega employee, besides one that is paid to talk to the public? I have spoken to sega employees who didn't know Sonic the Hedghog was a Sega trademark. Sure they have alot of talented people, but they remind me of the Island of Laputa.
Do people acual think that just because we are the USA and everyone everywhere in the world should follow our laws? Lucifer was cast out of heaven for that additude. No wonder we are being called "The Great Satan"! Look, every country in the world is complaing the internet is being used to break their laws. It seems inevitable that some international group is needed to settle disputes. Where's the outrage about who enforces laws on international waters? If you don't like other countries having a say in the rules you have to abide by, then stay out of said country, unfortunatly that includes cyberspace.
It's been know for some time that water is found off earth. Ice on the Moon, Mars, Europa, even Mercury. It's probably on every planet and moon in the solar system, only in small quanties making hard to find. More an more evidence of planets outside our solar system suggest that solar systems (as opposed to suns-only systems) are the norm. Note it is all ice, and that is problem for most life. Liquid water seems to be required for life. So Ice is just not that exciting. Now if someone where to conclusivly prove that Europa's core was liquid water, or Mars had underground lakes and rivers of liquid water, or tides of liquid water were witnessed on one of those other planets outside our system, then that would be exciting news.
Hacking used to mean something along the lines of changing computer code to work better. Cracking was used to refer to breaking in to computer security systems. But popular media began refering to *illegal* cracking as hacking, there by making a hacker something bad instead of an aknowlegement of talent of a computer programmer. This hacking=cracking misconception was created by accident, out of ignorence. But as Mr. Stallman sugests more recent efforts seem to be purposeful attempts to misdefining terms. Companies are mixing up Piracy, Sharing, Emulation, Warez and I just wonder if there isn't something that can be done about it?
I can honestly say my fist digital programming experience was with a toy. It was called "Big Trac" And if I recall it was the first toy (videogames are something other than toys I guess) with a microprocesser. Luckly for me my first digital programming experience was not C, I would have givin up the idea right then and there.
I learned BASIC, but don't recommend it. To this day I reflexivly think "GOTO". There are better basics these days though, Visual Basic, QBasic and the like.
I learn LOGO second, I found it much simpler that basic and not really a learning experience. On the other hand my teacher didn't know much about Computers (One of the teachers had to teach the computer class and it fell to the typing teacher, poor guy) and I learned LOGO after learning BASIC.
I notice LEGOs are mentioned alot in this discussion. That's a good toy (even if they are making them more specialised and less useful these days). Nice thing about legos is kids can be familiarised with them from birth and as they out grow putting things in their mouth and distructive behavior you can get the smaller and more intricate varities of LEGOs. LEGOs will teach the skills necciassry for many, many different things including programming. LEGOs are also great for exercising artistic expression and imagination (two things that are often discourage when learning programming in structered education, so engrain these values while you can). Another important thing later is to not let your kids think they should outgrow LEGOs.
Pascal is a good stepping stone to C.
I would recommend spending a week or so with HTML before any programming languages, this will let them see a computer interpreting their imagination (in a limited way) much better than most games will, easyer than programming language will and these creations can be shared with peers. Let them create a bit on your web page or even help them create their own pages.
All these are good choices but may lead to dissipointment, all these things require alot of effort for a little bit of result, most certianly from a child's perspective. Something that allows more instant gratification is game scripting. There are many games out their that let players create their own levels, not just graphically, but with events and enemy AI. AND ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT TO A KID, a game level is something they can share with others kids their age and STILL BE COOL. Not neccissasly so with C or even LEGOs. Some of these games accually feature programing *as* a gameplay element. Many of these games are innapropriate for some yonger children so it may take a little work to find the ones that are suitable. But they are worth looking for. I'm sorry I can't recommend very many but here's the ones I can think of right now:
An OLD but GOOD 'game' for 8086 computers. It takes some work to run it on modern computers but I HIGHLY recommend it. There's a small comunity of players. This game features logic gate programming as the main gameplay element.
An odd mix of flight sim, movie maker and event driven programming. Fairly old software, but it has a small 'web community' to share creations with.
Shoot 'em up involing AI robots. This series by Interplay seems to still be arround. This is heavily GUI but construction of symeterical 3D Levels will bring up quite a few geometric math issues, common to 3D game programming
An old software tool for creating AD&D advantures in the style of SSI's 'Gold Box' series of games.
Upcomming AD&D online game, homemade worlds will be a major part of this game.
(Front Page Jr). Your kids can create a page with this program, then view and edit the HTML manually.
Not sure if this is accualy a game. But one of the elements of it is specifically to indroduce kids to computer programming.
Mentioned in other replies. "Possibly the decade's most important breakthrough in children's computing and toys". Blah! I's just an improvment on Robot Odyssey (copyright 1984), except the program is loaded into a real world robot intead of a computer simulation. Well it's certianly easier to run than Robot Odyssey. Ya know, I am seriously considering getting one of these, dispite being a loyal Technic user for as long as I can remeber.
I'm can't put my finger on it, but I'm sure is has some sort of relevence here. If not, well it's really cool anyway.
A compition oriented game. Different scripts are pitted against each other in an arena to test them.
There are others out there.
Nineveh was located on the coast and its fairly safe to say they did not worship the God of the Bible, why else would Jonah have been sent to Nineveh? The fish of the sea being their source of life, it is logical to say they worshipped fish or in the least they placed much importance on them. Also, there is Archaeological evidence they worshipped a giant fish as a god. After being swallowed then spat out by a giant fish Jonah goes to Nineveh telling the people of Nineveh he has has a message for them. This was marketing is it not? The message was presented in a unique way that targeted the People of Nineveh. Suppose Jonah had been swallowed by a leviathan instead, do you suppose the People of Nineveh would have listened as readily? Or he just showed up and told the People of Nineveh "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown". What would you do if a vagrant came to your door and said "in forty days your government will be defeated", would you give it a moments thought or worry? Yet if the leader of a foreign country announced on CNN "in forty days your government will be defeated" you'd likely give it a bit of though wouldn't you? The message was the same, only the presentation changed. Of course marketing to Christians (or any religion, creed, race, sex, age, type or demographic for that matter) can be used for evil, but can not it also be used for good as demonstrated by the story of Jonah?
For the record:
And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
For the record:
The Bible does not (to the best of my knowledge) tell what the religious practices of the people of Nineveh were, other than their actions as described above.
"Money is the root of all evil.", when in fact, it really says, "The LOVE of money is the root of all KINDS of evil."
Really!? I didn't realize this verse had so many capitol letters.
Or worded without sarcasm, when you capitalized LOVE and KINDS didn't you do the same thing as the 'People' you spoke of
For the record, here is the uniformly formatted text in its entirety from the King James Version of the Bible.
Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort. If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Religion was a very effective tool (and still is) in keeping the masses under control.
Think about it: If you do something "bad", your karma goes down, or your god (who sees everything. convenient that) will get angry.
This saves a fortune on policing.
Well that's all well and good until someone decides God told them to piss one someone rug.
Religion is no substitute for the law. For one thing the law almost always recognises the rights of the individual balanced against the right of the group, something not always practiced by religion where typically the average individual has no rights of his own (he shares the rights of the group)
Has is escaped your attention how many awful things things have been done in the name of religion. Religion can be a double edged sword (yes I did mean that in any and all ways you can think of). While it takes away your 'freedom' to do some things it also gives people (often a few 'elite' individuals) the 'freedom' do have visions and decide what God's will is and the like.
I guess I'm suggesting that people should not stop thinking for themselves and allow religion, TV or videogames to think for them. I'm pretty sure videogames are the least likely to cause non-thinking of the three since the average videogame requires thinking more so than religion (under certain conditions) and TV.
OOO! Good one! This has made me relise I'd actually forgotten that the bad guys of the Wolfenstein game where Nazis. I kept thinking that the player was just killing inocent blamless people. How'd that happen anyway? OH MY GOSH!!! I WAS BRAINWASHED BY THE MEDIA!!!
I was raised Mormon, I don't consider myself Mormon any more but I have respect for Mormon beliefs. I will say now you didn't really come up with very good slurs here. Seriously, they lack imagination and are ineffective.
"Mormons believe they will become gods themselves"
Ok, I'll admit that one was somewhat effective and not contrary to Mormon beliefs. But I'm curios, where did you find out about this one, I mean many Mormons don't know about this, I was not told myself until I was 15 and the bishop who told me got in trouble for saying so.
"Jesus came to the Americas"
There's no big deal about this one, anybody who's seen the LDS 'commercials' would know this is Mormon teaching. Any Mormon would know that this is the origin of the Mormon religion.
"They have another book, the book of Mormon"
Same as above.
The LDS commercials site Biblical evidence that Jesus words where heard in other places than what is recorded in the Bible. Many other religions besides Mormon claim The Savior or a Savior visited them. You should try reading the Bible and the other books your self to understand this more.
"Which is even more hole-ridden and contradictory than the scriptures in today's bible."
Is that possible? Seriously, I mean I have a great respect for the Bible an all but the modern Bible has been translated, re-translated, 'pop-culturalise', translated, re-translated, edited, translated, re-translated, censored, translated, re-translated and holywoodised. As far as I know The Book of Mormon has been translated only once and The Original Writings are still kept safe just incase there is a language discrepancy or some other controversy that cannot be cleared up by the American translation (although I don't think that is actually a reason Mormons would give). Sure one can doubt the truthfulness, factualness, historical accuracy, validity and value of the Book of Mormon but how many "Holy Writings" are still on this earth in their original form?
Also, not very well directed I'm afraid, you managed to 'get' many religions but attacking the Bible is not really directed entirly at Mormons is it?
FYI: Many religions have 'additional reading' to the Bible, it is not uniquely Mormon. Pureitians where especially strict on banning any writing but the Bible yet even they found room for 2 books in their religion.
"All mormon apostles are correct, even if they are not"
I think you made a leap from "inspired by God" to the term "correct". This is sutable ignorant to provoke. Uhmm... errr... congratulations, I guess. The very reason for Jesus' sacrifice is that no one is perfect not even God's profits, that is the belief of all 'Savior' religions isn't it?
"they are, after all, prophets"
Same as above where you talked about the Book of Mormon and Jesus coming to America. No can really dispute that are profits, any more than profits from other religions are or are not.
"They enjoy badgering us in the streets and brainwashing."
This is based on a personal experience? I'm sorry you feel that way, I guess you are talking about some Mormon Missionaries. If it makes you feel any better they give up 2 years and often more of their lives when they are called to do what they think is right, not when it's convinient. They put weedings on hold, sometimes they are separated from wives and even their children. They often have to give up good jobs or even carriers because lets face it how many employers will let an employee not show up for work for 2 years. They put off serving their country. They go to faraway countries where they could be jailed or killed for their beliefs. Can't you let them have just a little enjoyment out of this trying experience? But I seriously doubt these missionaries 'enjoyed badgering and brainwashing' as you call it.
All in all a disappointment. No mention of polygamy, no mention of seagulls, no mention of Jesus' current places of residence, no mention of the alien, Jewish, Greek or mason connections, no mention of the salamander letter, no mention of Hamlet Act 3 Scene 2. You didn't even slip in any Osmond or Battlestar Galactica jokes. Perhaps if you actually studied the Bible and the Book of Mormon your slurs would be more effective. By the way, just out of curiosity what effect where you going for?
A company called Color Dreams created a few unauthorised games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. On an odd note one of their titles was Hellraiser (based on the movie), although that title never actual saw commercial release that I know of. Later Color Dreams found God and changed it's whole cooperate philosophy, or at least their target audience. Actually their games didn't really change very much, they produced Baby Boom (a Zapper game that used the NES light gun but didn't involve killing anything resembling a living being) and other such violence reduced types while still calling themselves Color Dreams. The name was changed to WisdomTree and they produced some educational and a surprising number of non-educational christian/bible themed games (some would call them 'real games') for the Nintendo. They also published on PC, Macintosh, Genesis, Game Gear, Game Boy, Super NES and probably other platforms I can't remember. They hold the distinction of producing the only unauthorised Super NES to see commercial release, Super Noah's Ark 3D. Super Noah's Ark 3D is a doom like clone, actually is a Wolfenstein 3D clone and rumors are ID software lent them the engine. He's the kicker, Noah (the 1st person star) does not once in the game preform any action that could be considered violent. That's not to say it is entirely violence free, if the player is not careful the animals in the ark will spit, bit and kick him to unconsciousness. But it does not have the player preforming violence or rewarding violence, quite the opposite, the less violence that happens the easier one advances in the game. Despite this objective the game play is exactly like Wolfenstein, I know it sounds impossible, but it is true. All the characters, art, objects and weapons are still their only changed. You'd really have to play it to see for yourself. There is a Super 3D Noah's Ark FAQ and atleast a dozen sites that meation the game on the web if anybody reading this wants to know a smidgen more (Do a search for "Super 3D Noah's Ark").
But I'm getting off the subject. It's funny you use the term 'Christian Geeks' as there doesn't really seem to be any (NO FLAMES PLEASE LET ME CONTINUE). I consider myself to hold basic christian ideals, I consider myself a geek. There are likely many others who fit both descriptions. But they have not made themselves very well known in the gamming industry, as players, customers, creators or marketers of games. Worse still, they have remained silent while zealots WHO KNOW NOTHING OF VIDEOGAMES AND HAVE NEVER PLAYED THEM rant on about the evils of videogames. I applaud Theodore Beale and Andrew Lunstad for taking action (even though they waited to be told to do so). Keeping in mind I have not played "The War In Heaven" yet, I may like it, hate it, be offended by it and/or feel a need to excise it from my computer and repent for having ever played it. But no matter the game I still say it is a good thing that some 'christian geeks' finally said something and did something. I'm not suggesting their should be a lot of games designed to 'convert' or 'preach' but christian content alone could prove to be very interesting and profitable when used in videogames. After all Greek Myth has inspired a lot of videogame content and served to sell many videogames and very few of the customers are active devotes of the Greek Myths, nor where many of them converted by these games. It is odd that there are so many 'medieval' games that somehow skip so many of the religious connotations that permeated that era.
PS JonKatz, perhaps God does use email, read your messages carefully before you dismiss the idea.
--
"The games of a people reveal a great deal about them." -Marshall McLuhan
"Videogames are not for us. They're here to entertain the television." -Mel Brooks
"7 May 1967 [I] Played [my] first two-player video game (I lost!)" - Ralph H. Baer
"The only legitimate use of a computer is to play games." -Eugene Jarvis
"I was always obsessed with games, even as a kitten" - David 'Dr. Cat' Shapiro
"I keep a backup copy of my mind at http://www.g-o-l.com/uvl/" -Zerothis