The name of the site hosting the article pretty much says it all: "Insert Credit". Free-to-Play models harken back to the coin-eating arcades of our youth. Why did you have a limited number of lives or continues? Why was there a time limit to clear a board? To get you to pump more coins into the machine, to make money. Enticing you to keep paying to play is nothing new. Some companies have simply discovered a new way to develop a sustainable revenue stream from modern console and PC games.
As much as the F2P model is applauded for boosting interest in lagging MMO's and giving gamers a chance to see if they're interested in a game without putting money into it, its a very shady deal. I'd honestly rather pay a subscription fee. At least then I know exactly how much I'll be paying for content and I don't have to contend with constant in-game come ons to buy diamonds, doubloons, etc. Or, how about Valve's Steam Trading system or the real-money auction house in the upcoming Diablo 3. Both are optional ways to buy something extra for your gaming experience, but they also allow you the opportunity to get something back - either by trading or outright selling virtual items. They're optional, there's opportunity for a two-way exchange, and the companies still get their cut of transaction fees, etc.
If the poster was of 1940's Ronald Reagan dressed as a cowboy with the same quote, people probably would've been leaving flowers and candles at the door.
Its not very clear from the article, but it sounds like the WriteCheck service would encourage students to properly cite references and paraphrase (rather than copy/paste) in order to avoid plagiarism. Isn't that a good thing? I'm sure it'd help avoid a lot of unintentional plagiarism via incorrect citations, excessive use of block quotes, substandard paraphrasing, etc.
That said, I wouldn't completely trust either of the highlighted systems. Grammar check is the first thing I turn off when I sit down at a word processor for my own work. When grading student papers, I can usually spot uncited or copied material, with Google to back me up. Best of all, nobody charges me fees to use my own brain (yet).
Thank you for helping to create and evolve a unique, trustworthy, and fun source of vital information in a comparatively barren web! When students ask me to recommend sources of science news,/. is always at the top of the list! Enjoy your semi-retirement. Maybe you could start a food truck that sells a variety of Mexican-American items . . .
Wow, you're right. All someone who hates my screen name has to do is bribe a bunch of ISP and/or FCC employees (I hear they like straw) in the region of the country I've stated living in and they can hunt me down. These modern times we live in sure are scary. Next thing you know they'll be printing up big lists of everyone's name, address, and phone number and just giving them away Imagine how unsafe we'd all be then!
I live in northern NJ and didn't even know there was a quake until I saw it on the web. As a geology teacher I'm really disappointed because I've never actually experienced an earthquake directly. Maybe I'll get lucky and there'll be some strong aftershocks. That would rock!
I wasn't aware we now have access to AI this advanced. Spell check and (maybe) grammar check are reasonable, but how does a computer assess a student's understanding and mastery of a topic? How does the computer recognize originality, creativity, or intuitive leaps? Can the software recognize an effective argument, a convincing solution?
I'm a geology and earth science professor. When I give writing assignments, I'm usually more interested in the content than the mechanics. I'll tolerate a few spelling and grammar mistakes if the content of the essay or paper demonstrates that the student understands concepts presented in class and, even better, is THINKING about the implications.
For intro. writing classes, where grammar and structure are the point of the assignment, computerized grading is understandable; especially if your school has you teaching classes with more than 50 students (which is another issue entirely). But, in my experience at least, proficiency at writing is not always directly correlated with proficiency at class material.
I share an office and computer with a colleague at work. The school's network requires us to change our login and password every 60 days (I think) and won't let us reuse any entries. So, we've got a piece of paper taped to the desk next to the keyboard with an ongoing record of logins and passwords. Whoever's turn it is to come up with the new login info crosses out the last one and writes down a new one.
Fortunately, we keep the login list key encrypted - we're always careful to lock the office door on our way out.
To be fair, I doubt the average person is aware that a password can include symbols unless they are specifically advised that they are allowable. I know I've been scolded by many computers, web sites, and electronic systems for using symbols in the past so its no wonder that they are rarely used.
The AMNH is probably one of the finest natural history museums in this part of the world. Definitely worth spending a couple days at.
In the NYC area, you might also try the Liberty Science Center in Liberty State Park (the NJ side). LSC is a science and technology museum, with both permanent and traveling exhibits. It skews towards the youth end of the spectrum, but there's usually something to interest anyone. They also have an "Omnimax" theatre - essentially IMAX movies projected on the interior of a dome. Sit at the back/top of the theatre and the screen fills your peripheral vision!
My opinions may be biased, however, since I've done research at the AMNH and volunteered at LSC in high school;)
I don't understand why its a good thing for one company to release a product that interacts with another company's products without their permission? If I'm a software developer, don't I have to license an SDK or get other permissions from Microsoft or Apple? If I were to create and market a console that runs PS3 games, Sony would have a problem with it. If I'm going to manufacture replacement parts for Honda vehicles, shouldn't I have to check in with Honda and make sure I'm doing it right? If I set up a website that copied Slashdot stories and reader comments and reposted them under a different banner, I'm pretty sure the Linux-powered cyborgs who operate this site would be angry.
Apple's success comes from maintaining the quality and compatibility of its software and hardware. If iTunes eats a Pre owner's media collection because of some incompatibility between iTunes and the PalmOS, who's responsibility is that?
Gaia Theory, as I learned it back in college, is simply a way of expressing the variety of organic/inorganic cycles that mediate conditions on a planet. The carbon cycle is an excellent example of this. Photosynthetic plankton absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, die, and eventually become seafloor sediment. That carbonate rock is eventually subducted into the lower mantle where it melts and fuels volcanic eruptions, rereleasing the CO2 into the atmosphere. Long-term changes in plankton populations can lead to changes in volcanic CO2 output, which can lead to changes in climate and plankton populations . . . and so on.
However, Gaia theory does not presuppose that life will appear on a planet simply because there is water and CO2. It just explains how living and nonliving systems can interact to maintain the necessary conditions for life, once it appears. Just because a house has a thermostat doesn't mean people live there.
On Venus, a runaway greenhouse effect early in the planet's history lead to extremely hot, arid conditions which essentially dehydrated the planet before bacterial life had a chance to develop. As far as we can tell, the only thing that kept the same scenario from occurring on Earth was our distance from the Sun. Cooler temperatures allowed water vapor to condense into oceans and subsequent absorb the excess CO2.
I've never heard that one before. I know that tidal forces are slowing down the Earth-Moon system's rotation and are causing the Moon to drift farther from the Earth. But, it makes sense that the distribution of ocean water would impart some variability to the equation. I wonder if the Tharsis Bulge on Mars has similar effects . . .
You know, I always tell my students (I'm an earth science professor at a community college in NYC) that Plate Tectonics explains everything on Earth. This is another great example. I'll have to figure out how to work it into one of my lectures. It'll make their ears bleed just a little bit more than usual >)
Planetary rotation and the presence of moons has nothing to do with plate tectonics. The moon's gravity isn't strong enough to move whole sections of the planet's crust. The direction of plate motion varies from place to place and over time. If it were affected by the Earth's rotation, plates would only move CCW or CW. Plate motion on Earth is powered by mantle convection - magma from the lower mantle rising towards the surface, cooling, sinking back down, heating up, rising, etc. The recycling of magma essentially drags the plates around, like a conveyor belt.
Venus has a kind of tectonic cycle, but it works much differently. Based on the presence and relative age of craters and volcanoes on the surface, Venus seems to undergo catastrophic, global volcanism every 500Ma. This massive periodic volcanism, among other things, replenishes the planet's super-thick CO2 atmosphere. Otherwise, solar winds would have long ago stripped Venus of its atmosphere, since the planet has no significant magnetosphere.
I remember seeing a story on Dateline or 20/20 a while back about several blind people who are already using this method of echolocation. One of them, a young boy, taught himself to see with sound by listening to how a desktop fan changed sound when he spoke into it. Now he can ride a bike around his neighborhood, navigate, avoid cars, etc.
With all due respect to Dr. Hawking, the idea that humanity evolves differently from other species is nothing new amongst paleontologists and evolutionary biologists.
Most plant and animal species evolve by natural selection (or mutation, or whatever the current fad alternative theory is) over generations and hundreds of years. If local climate becomes colder, mammals with favorable cold adaptations such as thicker coats gain a selective advantage. Over time, the gene for thick coats becomes fixed in the population. For humans, if it starts to get cold out, we put on a coat. Or we build insulated enclosures that feature heated swimming pools.
Because of our ability to alter the environment, communicate abstract ideas, and store information outside our genetic code, humanity is able to adapt to environmental changes in real time, rather than geologic time. Its still evolution - change over time, adapting to new environmental factors - but much faster.
And, more often than not, the environmental changes are of our own making. We adapt to new technologies, new life styles, and new information as society progresses. Those adaptations spread quickly through the social environment via education and mass communication. You need to use a blackberry to be successful in your new job, but you're not sure if you inherited the texting gene from your parents? No need to mate with a slashdotter and pass the job off to your kids, just read the instruction manual!
There are two reasons the US has not yet converted to the Metric System. 1) Americans are too lazy to bother learning a new system of measurements and 2) America is the wealthiest nation in the world, so nobody can force us to switch. But, as I tell my students at the beginning of the obligatory "Intro. to Earth Science - Lab 1: The Metric System", if we continue being lazy, we'll stop being the wealthiest nation in the world.
And, honestly, I think that came true about 10 years ago anyway.
My family has lived in northern NJ for most of my life. My dad went out to visit friends in Arizona a few weeks back and he returned home gushing over the natural beauty. When he started talking about all the stars at night, I asked him if he noticed the white cloudy streaks across the sky. When I told him what those were he was astounded. Its the first time I ever saw someone literally star-struck.
I actually agree with the OP's feeling about B&N. No matter how gigantic the store is, the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section of the typical B&N consists of a half-dozen shelves off in a corner next to the Teen Readers section. The books are in order by author, rather than genre, which makes it difficult to find a particular type of book if you don't have an author in mind.
Unless, of course, you're looking for a vampire book or a generic medieval fantasy. Just throw a dart at the shelves and you're likely to hit one. If you happen to ask a salesperson about a title not in stock, they direct you to their web site.
A useful piece of advice that I haven't seen posted yet is to check the personal web sites of some favorite authors. They sometimes recommend books or authors that influenced their writing and may point you in a new direction.
1) There are 6.5 billion people in the world. How many tigers are there?
2) The people involved had a wall, moat, opposable thumbs, the largest brain-to-body-weight ratio in the animal kingdom, sentience, and at least 12 years of general education between them and the tiger. Who has the advantage in this scenario?
Quite tragic, as tigers are nearly extinct in the wild. Why does the myth of animals thirsting for human blood after killing a person continue to persist?
Slashdot Mirror
Chicky . . . SMASH!
The name of the site hosting the article pretty much says it all: "Insert Credit". Free-to-Play models harken back to the coin-eating arcades of our youth. Why did you have a limited number of lives or continues? Why was there a time limit to clear a board? To get you to pump more coins into the machine, to make money. Enticing you to keep paying to play is nothing new. Some companies have simply discovered a new way to develop a sustainable revenue stream from modern console and PC games.
As much as the F2P model is applauded for boosting interest in lagging MMO's and giving gamers a chance to see if they're interested in a game without putting money into it, its a very shady deal. I'd honestly rather pay a subscription fee. At least then I know exactly how much I'll be paying for content and I don't have to contend with constant in-game come ons to buy diamonds, doubloons, etc. Or, how about Valve's Steam Trading system or the real-money auction house in the upcoming Diablo 3. Both are optional ways to buy something extra for your gaming experience, but they also allow you the opportunity to get something back - either by trading or outright selling virtual items. They're optional, there's opportunity for a two-way exchange, and the companies still get their cut of transaction fees, etc.
If the poster was of 1940's Ronald Reagan dressed as a cowboy with the same quote, people probably would've been leaving flowers and candles at the door.
Its not very clear from the article, but it sounds like the WriteCheck service would encourage students to properly cite references and paraphrase (rather than copy/paste) in order to avoid plagiarism. Isn't that a good thing? I'm sure it'd help avoid a lot of unintentional plagiarism via incorrect citations, excessive use of block quotes, substandard paraphrasing, etc.
That said, I wouldn't completely trust either of the highlighted systems. Grammar check is the first thing I turn off when I sit down at a word processor for my own work. When grading student papers, I can usually spot uncited or copied material, with Google to back me up. Best of all, nobody charges me fees to use my own brain (yet).
Thank you for helping to create and evolve a unique, trustworthy, and fun source of vital information in a comparatively barren web! When students ask me to recommend sources of science news, /. is always at the top of the list! Enjoy your semi-retirement. Maybe you could start a food truck that sells a variety of Mexican-American items . . .
Wow, you're right. All someone who hates my screen name has to do is bribe a bunch of ISP and/or FCC employees (I hear they like straw) in the region of the country I've stated living in and they can hunt me down. These modern times we live in sure are scary. Next thing you know they'll be printing up big lists of everyone's name, address, and phone number and just giving them away Imagine how unsafe we'd all be then!
I live in northern NJ and didn't even know there was a quake until I saw it on the web. As a geology teacher I'm really disappointed because I've never actually experienced an earthquake directly. Maybe I'll get lucky and there'll be some strong aftershocks. That would rock!
Wow, how many clams would a car like that cost you?
I wasn't aware we now have access to AI this advanced. Spell check and (maybe) grammar check are reasonable, but how does a computer assess a student's understanding and mastery of a topic? How does the computer recognize originality, creativity, or intuitive leaps? Can the software recognize an effective argument, a convincing solution?
I'm a geology and earth science professor. When I give writing assignments, I'm usually more interested in the content than the mechanics. I'll tolerate a few spelling and grammar mistakes if the content of the essay or paper demonstrates that the student understands concepts presented in class and, even better, is THINKING about the implications.
For intro. writing classes, where grammar and structure are the point of the assignment, computerized grading is understandable; especially if your school has you teaching classes with more than 50 students (which is another issue entirely). But, in my experience at least, proficiency at writing is not always directly correlated with proficiency at class material.
Scientists have finally found a purpose for AM radio!
I share an office and computer with a colleague at work. The school's network requires us to change our login and password every 60 days (I think) and won't let us reuse any entries. So, we've got a piece of paper taped to the desk next to the keyboard with an ongoing record of logins and passwords. Whoever's turn it is to come up with the new login info crosses out the last one and writes down a new one.
Fortunately, we keep the login list key encrypted - we're always careful to lock the office door on our way out.
To be fair, I doubt the average person is aware that a password can include symbols unless they are specifically advised that they are allowable. I know I've been scolded by many computers, web sites, and electronic systems for using symbols in the past so its no wonder that they are rarely used.
The AMNH is probably one of the finest natural history museums in this part of the world. Definitely worth spending a couple days at.
;)
In the NYC area, you might also try the Liberty Science Center in Liberty State Park (the NJ side). LSC is a science and technology museum, with both permanent and traveling exhibits. It skews towards the youth end of the spectrum, but there's usually something to interest anyone. They also have an "Omnimax" theatre - essentially IMAX movies projected on the interior of a dome. Sit at the back/top of the theatre and the screen fills your peripheral vision!
My opinions may be biased, however, since I've done research at the AMNH and volunteered at LSC in high school
Call them "virile overlords". Perhaps they will show us mercy . . .
I don't understand why its a good thing for one company to release a product that interacts with another company's products without their permission? If I'm a software developer, don't I have to license an SDK or get other permissions from Microsoft or Apple? If I were to create and market a console that runs PS3 games, Sony would have a problem with it. If I'm going to manufacture replacement parts for Honda vehicles, shouldn't I have to check in with Honda and make sure I'm doing it right? If I set up a website that copied Slashdot stories and reader comments and reposted them under a different banner, I'm pretty sure the Linux-powered cyborgs who operate this site would be angry.
Apple's success comes from maintaining the quality and compatibility of its software and hardware. If iTunes eats a Pre owner's media collection because of some incompatibility between iTunes and the PalmOS, who's responsibility is that?
Gaia Theory, as I learned it back in college, is simply a way of expressing the variety of organic/inorganic cycles that mediate conditions on a planet. The carbon cycle is an excellent example of this. Photosynthetic plankton absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, die, and eventually become seafloor sediment. That carbonate rock is eventually subducted into the lower mantle where it melts and fuels volcanic eruptions, rereleasing the CO2 into the atmosphere. Long-term changes in plankton populations can lead to changes in volcanic CO2 output, which can lead to changes in climate and plankton populations . . . and so on.
However, Gaia theory does not presuppose that life will appear on a planet simply because there is water and CO2. It just explains how living and nonliving systems can interact to maintain the necessary conditions for life, once it appears. Just because a house has a thermostat doesn't mean people live there.
On Venus, a runaway greenhouse effect early in the planet's history lead to extremely hot, arid conditions which essentially dehydrated the planet before bacterial life had a chance to develop. As far as we can tell, the only thing that kept the same scenario from occurring on Earth was our distance from the Sun. Cooler temperatures allowed water vapor to condense into oceans and subsequent absorb the excess CO2.
I've never heard that one before. I know that tidal forces are slowing down the Earth-Moon system's rotation and are causing the Moon to drift farther from the Earth. But, it makes sense that the distribution of ocean water would impart some variability to the equation. I wonder if the Tharsis Bulge on Mars has similar effects . . .
You know, I always tell my students (I'm an earth science professor at a community college in NYC) that Plate Tectonics explains everything on Earth. This is another great example. I'll have to figure out how to work it into one of my lectures. It'll make their ears bleed just a little bit more than usual >)
Planetary rotation and the presence of moons has nothing to do with plate tectonics. The moon's gravity isn't strong enough to move whole sections of the planet's crust. The direction of plate motion varies from place to place and over time. If it were affected by the Earth's rotation, plates would only move CCW or CW. Plate motion on Earth is powered by mantle convection - magma from the lower mantle rising towards the surface, cooling, sinking back down, heating up, rising, etc. The recycling of magma essentially drags the plates around, like a conveyor belt.
Venus has a kind of tectonic cycle, but it works much differently. Based on the presence and relative age of craters and volcanoes on the surface, Venus seems to undergo catastrophic, global volcanism every 500Ma. This massive periodic volcanism, among other things, replenishes the planet's super-thick CO2 atmosphere. Otherwise, solar winds would have long ago stripped Venus of its atmosphere, since the planet has no significant magnetosphere.
I remember seeing a story on Dateline or 20/20 a while back about several blind people who are already using this method of echolocation. One of them, a young boy, taught himself to see with sound by listening to how a desktop fan changed sound when he spoke into it. Now he can ride a bike around his neighborhood, navigate, avoid cars, etc.
With all due respect to Dr. Hawking, the idea that humanity evolves differently from other species is nothing new amongst paleontologists and evolutionary biologists.
Most plant and animal species evolve by natural selection (or mutation, or whatever the current fad alternative theory is) over generations and hundreds of years. If local climate becomes colder, mammals with favorable cold adaptations such as thicker coats gain a selective advantage. Over time, the gene for thick coats becomes fixed in the population. For humans, if it starts to get cold out, we put on a coat. Or we build insulated enclosures that feature heated swimming pools.
Because of our ability to alter the environment, communicate abstract ideas, and store information outside our genetic code, humanity is able to adapt to environmental changes in real time, rather than geologic time. Its still evolution - change over time, adapting to new environmental factors - but much faster.
And, more often than not, the environmental changes are of our own making. We adapt to new technologies, new life styles, and new information as society progresses. Those adaptations spread quickly through the social environment via education and mass communication. You need to use a blackberry to be successful in your new job, but you're not sure if you inherited the texting gene from your parents? No need to mate with a slashdotter and pass the job off to your kids, just read the instruction manual!
There are two reasons the US has not yet converted to the Metric System. 1) Americans are too lazy to bother learning a new system of measurements and 2) America is the wealthiest nation in the world, so nobody can force us to switch. But, as I tell my students at the beginning of the obligatory "Intro. to Earth Science - Lab 1: The Metric System", if we continue being lazy, we'll stop being the wealthiest nation in the world.
And, honestly, I think that came true about 10 years ago anyway.
My family has lived in northern NJ for most of my life. My dad went out to visit friends in Arizona a few weeks back and he returned home gushing over the natural beauty. When he started talking about all the stars at night, I asked him if he noticed the white cloudy streaks across the sky. When I told him what those were he was astounded. Its the first time I ever saw someone literally star-struck.
I actually agree with the OP's feeling about B&N. No matter how gigantic the store is, the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section of the typical B&N consists of a half-dozen shelves off in a corner next to the Teen Readers section. The books are in order by author, rather than genre, which makes it difficult to find a particular type of book if you don't have an author in mind.
Unless, of course, you're looking for a vampire book or a generic medieval fantasy. Just throw a dart at the shelves and you're likely to hit one. If you happen to ask a salesperson about a title not in stock, they direct you to their web site.A useful piece of advice that I haven't seen posted yet is to check the personal web sites of some favorite authors. They sometimes recommend books or authors that influenced their writing and may point you in a new direction.
Yes its harsh, but . . .
1) There are 6.5 billion people in the world. How many tigers are there?
2) The people involved had a wall, moat, opposable thumbs, the largest brain-to-body-weight ratio in the animal kingdom, sentience, and at least 12 years of general education between them and the tiger. Who has the advantage in this scenario?
Quite tragic, as tigers are nearly extinct in the wild. Why does the myth of animals thirsting for human blood after killing a person continue to persist?