Actually, now that you mention it, that's exactly what I did. Too many cell phones, and not one of them a decent deal. I hate phones anyway, so I dumped my cell and I use e-mail almost exclusively. I only have a landline for emergency purposes, and I pay the minimum I could find for that.
A pacemaker doesn't beat a heart. It sends a signal (sets a pace) to cause a heart to beat of it's own accord. It is possible that the vibrations from that much moving flesh/blood could translate into an useful amount of energy back into the battery.
"That's something that always pissed me off about Star Trek (even as a fan): everyone was a super-genius"
Imagine that, they put the best of the best in the Command Staff of the FLAG SHIP! What did you expect? Seriously, is it hard to imagine that high profile assignments get high profile personnel? If one pays close enough attention to the show, other ships don't fair quite as well as the Enterprise.
Does the U.S. Military NOT do this?
However, the initial idea might have relevance. It's called Division of Labor.
Ability to use a slide rule and log tables are not survival traits. I don't need to know the math behind a ballistics trajectory in order to throw a spear at a deer. I don't need to know how to calculate logrithms in order to calculate how many water purificaiton tabs I need per gallon of water. I'm not going to die if I suddenly can't use my calculator.
And I use a calculater because its faster. I am perfectly capable of doing nearly as much with a pencil and paper. I admit, Calculus is a bit more difficult, if it's not a simple integration. But skill with a calculator does not mean that I never learned how to do it the hard way.
And I don't know the Dewey Decimal system either. Guess what? I can still use a card catalog, because they are arranged by title, and that tells me where to look for the book. They're numbered. Seriously, use of a computer instead of the CC is simply an efficiency matter, since I can look up keywords and the like on the computer which I can't in the CC.
Old != Good
Even if I were to buy every console and every game, it still wouldn't cost me as much as one bad trip to Vegas. My beef isn't that it's impossible to get addicted to games. I'm tired of people blaming the subject matter and not the problem. Games are designed to be fun and engaging, so is gambling/TV/alcohol. I don't blame the gambling/TV/alcohol for people being addicted to them.
Where do you draw the line between engaging and addicting? Games are designed to get and keep an audience, that's where they make their money. Any and every activity that becomes popular enough to involve a sufficient number of people eventually also includes addicts. This has less to do with the games being addictive, and more to do with a person having an addictive personality, imo. I believe that more often than not, if an addict is denied one addiction, they will find another addiction (subject to reason, of course, I'm not saying that taking away a gamer's consoles will make them become a cocaine addict)
And I wasn't making fun, the parent post only mentioned WoW, so I addressed that specifically, as many so-called WoW addicts don't play other games, and therefore don't incur those other costs.
Yes, there is a difference. Fees for WoW cost $15/month at worst. And if you don't break the Terms of Use, you won't be buying gold. And trust me, the true Addicts have no need for bought gold. On-line gambling can completely drain anyone's bank account if they are sufficiently addicted. WoW costs $15 a month... on-line gambling costs rent/food/gas/everything else money. Big Difference.
Gaming isn't addictive by itself, not everyone who touches it get addicted. Not even a sizable percentage. Gaming gets a bad rap off of people who naturally have addictive tendancies, who also happen to play games. Every leisure activity has it's members who abuse them. The difference is that MMO's are finally getting a large enough following that people are starting to take notice of the abusers.
That was addressed the the Scifi novel 'Earth' by David Brin, after a fashion. In the book, the major downfall of direct interfaces is that they are either too insensitive, and therefore unresponsive, or too sensitive, and they pick up everything that might flit across your brain, and therefore have more concepts flying across the screen than the computer, (or your eyeballs, depending on the system) can process.
Actually, there was a time when Tony Stark spent quite a bit of time looking sickly, considering the heart condition. Drunk might simulate that nicely.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, now that you mention it, that's exactly what I did. Too many cell phones, and not one of them a decent deal. I hate phones anyway, so I dumped my cell and I use e-mail almost exclusively. I only have a landline for emergency purposes, and I pay the minimum I could find for that.
I beleive Ctrl-Alt-Delete gives the best response to this. http://cad-comic.com/comics/20060513.jpg No one gives a shit.
A pacemaker doesn't beat a heart. It sends a signal (sets a pace) to cause a heart to beat of it's own accord. It is possible that the vibrations from that much moving flesh/blood could translate into an useful amount of energy back into the battery.
"That's something that always pissed me off about Star Trek (even as a fan): everyone was a super-genius" Imagine that, they put the best of the best in the Command Staff of the FLAG SHIP! What did you expect? Seriously, is it hard to imagine that high profile assignments get high profile personnel? If one pays close enough attention to the show, other ships don't fair quite as well as the Enterprise. Does the U.S. Military NOT do this? However, the initial idea might have relevance. It's called Division of Labor.
Ability to use a slide rule and log tables are not survival traits. I don't need to know the math behind a ballistics trajectory in order to throw a spear at a deer. I don't need to know how to calculate logrithms in order to calculate how many water purificaiton tabs I need per gallon of water. I'm not going to die if I suddenly can't use my calculator. And I use a calculater because its faster. I am perfectly capable of doing nearly as much with a pencil and paper. I admit, Calculus is a bit more difficult, if it's not a simple integration. But skill with a calculator does not mean that I never learned how to do it the hard way. And I don't know the Dewey Decimal system either. Guess what? I can still use a card catalog, because they are arranged by title, and that tells me where to look for the book. They're numbered. Seriously, use of a computer instead of the CC is simply an efficiency matter, since I can look up keywords and the like on the computer which I can't in the CC. Old != Good
Even if I were to buy every console and every game, it still wouldn't cost me as much as one bad trip to Vegas. My beef isn't that it's impossible to get addicted to games. I'm tired of people blaming the subject matter and not the problem. Games are designed to be fun and engaging, so is gambling/TV/alcohol. I don't blame the gambling/TV/alcohol for people being addicted to them. Where do you draw the line between engaging and addicting? Games are designed to get and keep an audience, that's where they make their money. Any and every activity that becomes popular enough to involve a sufficient number of people eventually also includes addicts. This has less to do with the games being addictive, and more to do with a person having an addictive personality, imo. I believe that more often than not, if an addict is denied one addiction, they will find another addiction (subject to reason, of course, I'm not saying that taking away a gamer's consoles will make them become a cocaine addict) And I wasn't making fun, the parent post only mentioned WoW, so I addressed that specifically, as many so-called WoW addicts don't play other games, and therefore don't incur those other costs.
Yes, there is a difference. Fees for WoW cost $15/month at worst. And if you don't break the Terms of Use, you won't be buying gold. And trust me, the true Addicts have no need for bought gold. On-line gambling can completely drain anyone's bank account if they are sufficiently addicted. WoW costs $15 a month... on-line gambling costs rent/food/gas/everything else money. Big Difference. Gaming isn't addictive by itself, not everyone who touches it get addicted. Not even a sizable percentage. Gaming gets a bad rap off of people who naturally have addictive tendancies, who also happen to play games. Every leisure activity has it's members who abuse them. The difference is that MMO's are finally getting a large enough following that people are starting to take notice of the abusers.
That was addressed the the Scifi novel 'Earth' by David Brin, after a fashion. In the book, the major downfall of direct interfaces is that they are either too insensitive, and therefore unresponsive, or too sensitive, and they pick up everything that might flit across your brain, and therefore have more concepts flying across the screen than the computer, (or your eyeballs, depending on the system) can process.
Shhh! you'll give them ideas!
Actually, there was a time when Tony Stark spent quite a bit of time looking sickly, considering the heart condition. Drunk might simulate that nicely.