The tag "suddenoutbreakofcommonsense" is one of the most overused tags on Slashdot; along with "hardhack" (when the article is obviously about a softhack) and "goodluckwiththat". I'd like to see those three tags used a little more sparingly, since tags are used to look up older articles. "Oh, it was tagged with 'hardhack'. I'll just... fuck... three hundred pages of results...".
I've never been able to decide if I like a weight based inventory (like The Elder Scrolls) or a slot inventory (like Diablo) more. Both systems have their pros and cons, but I think a mix would be best. Sometimes really small things can be very heavy, while large things can be light. A slot inventory that gets dynamically adjusted based on the weight of things you are carrying would be good. Small heavy things would reduce the available slots, while large light things might give back half the space they take. It probably sounds a little half-baked, but I haven't fully worked out how I'd implement it yet, so it IS half-baked:P
People who like ogg files probably have Rockbox on their media player. I was very disappointed with my 5th generation iPod (I consider it the stupidest purchase I've made in a long time, since if I'd waited a year I could have bought an EEE PC or something of the like) until I installed Rockbox on it. I still use the original software for video playback though.
"RTFA" is a common enough phrase on Slashdot, but I see a very near future in which "OFFSALRTFS" will be used often. "Oh For Fuck's Sake! At Least Read The Fucking Summary"
The Australian dollar is roughly equal with the US one these days (varying over a range of a few cents), and we still pay $100+ for console games and $70+ for DS games. More, if the developer wants to charge more, as in the case of GTA IV. Australians were paying $120 a copy to buy it off the shelf. It's cheaper to the tune of more than 40% to import, and I refuse to prop up the Australian gaming industry until they bring their prices down to sane levels.
I've only been reading Slashdot for about two years now, and I've noticed a decline too. Maybe it's just the novelty of actually reading news I care about finally wearing off, but I don't think so. When I wake up in the morning, there's usually about seven or eight stories posted on the front page while I sleep; I used to read all of them in full, now I find myself skipping about five of them because they just aren't interesting. And when Slashdot does get something interesting, chances are I've read it already on OS News or Ars Technica. About the only things I come to Slashdot for now are the legal and medical articles.
Already, if your government wants to find you, it can probably check where your phone is, or where your car's navigator is; we even voluntarily install security systems designed to tell the police where the car is in the event it's stolen. I think having a government record of where I was at any given time would make a good alibi for the physically impossible speeding fines which would put me in two places at once. The only caveat I'd want on the system if the data were stored for any amount of time is easy access to data about my own vehicle(s), for use in such cases.
A device for generating heat based on the constricted flow of subatomic particles through metallic pathways, embedded in a fabric base for easy folding and heat distribution! I call it an "electric blanket":)
every geek in the world would be getting free internet access from some Wiley Coyote style setup in their back yard. Note: Stealing the next door neighbour's unencrypted WiFi doesn't count. That's just too easy.
"Pensive", without the e after the i, was a word before Harry Potter. It's an adjective meaning (from Wiktionary) "having the appearance of thinking" or "looking thoughtful, especially from sadness".
My friends and I, when I was living on campus, usually found the only real ping pong table already in use. Then, one of us got a Wii, and we played Wii Sports' Tennis as beer pong:P. Sure, there wasn't a glass to knock the ball into, but that didn't stop us getting more than a little tipsy:P
What is it about LaTeX that makes it so special? Can't scientific documents be laid out correctly in a word processor? I ask out of ignorance, not rhetoric.
so I'm blundering into this discussion totally ignorant of what are probably very important facts, but when the buzz about high definition television broadcast started, and when it became apparent there would be multiple resolutions classed as 'high definition', I thought the natural battleground in the market would have been who can broadcast the highest resolution the cheapest. Instead, what we're probably seeing, is companies colluding on just how much to screw the customers out of. Just like every other industry in the world.
As a consumer, I'm not seeing a whole lot of reason to cough up for pay TV. It's just easier to download high definition video and watch it on my computer. And even at lower resolutions, the image quality on my small (compared to my TV) computer screen is higher anyway, thanks to the size of the pixels.
While I don't like the look of mixing the Lego and Duplo with the old architecture, it is an interesting idea. A more structurally sound version of Lego could, one day, be the standard tool for patching damaged walls. If the Lego were designed to be rough on the sides, it might hold concrete render or skimcoat, so the finished product would be indistinguishable from the rest of a rendered or skimcoated wall.
I've always thought a small solar panel on the back of the screen would be a good idea; solar panel technology has been a little limiting for that, though. While it wouldn't be able to power the whole computer, maybe, if the technology is good enough and cheap enough, it could be used for a little refrigeration. I wouldn't want it to go below about 28 Celsius here, anyway, since I live in the tropics. The humidity would condense if the computer were kept much colder.
I expected a rant from a screenwriter about video game movies (and perhaps comic book movies) choking out other purpose-written scripts, because of the popularity of the game or comic automatically ensuring a box office hit, while a new script is a total unknown.
Try teaching something that will instantly set off the endorphin rewards. You certainly know a whole lot more about what makes him tick than anyone on Slashdot, but most teenagers, myself included (though I'm 20 now...) play games. Get him started on Python and PyOpenGL, that way he can easily get some 3D graphics on screen.
For some reading on education in general, in case you're curious, Dimensions of Learning is a good place to start. It's a relatively current teaching model. I have the textbook on it, but you can find general outlines of it everywhere; though, curiously, it doesn't have it's own Wikipedia page. I might need to do something about that, unless it's in another article.
Slashdot Mirror
The tag "suddenoutbreakofcommonsense" is one of the most overused tags on Slashdot; along with "hardhack" (when the article is obviously about a softhack) and "goodluckwiththat". I'd like to see those three tags used a little more sparingly, since tags are used to look up older articles. "Oh, it was tagged with 'hardhack'. I'll just... fuck... three hundred pages of results...".
I've never been able to decide if I like a weight based inventory (like The Elder Scrolls) or a slot inventory (like Diablo) more. Both systems have their pros and cons, but I think a mix would be best. Sometimes really small things can be very heavy, while large things can be light. A slot inventory that gets dynamically adjusted based on the weight of things you are carrying would be good. Small heavy things would reduce the available slots, while large light things might give back half the space they take. It probably sounds a little half-baked, but I haven't fully worked out how I'd implement it yet, so it IS half-baked :P
People who like ogg files probably have Rockbox on their media player. I was very disappointed with my 5th generation iPod (I consider it the stupidest purchase I've made in a long time, since if I'd waited a year I could have bought an EEE PC or something of the like) until I installed Rockbox on it. I still use the original software for video playback though.
"RTFA" is a common enough phrase on Slashdot, but I see a very near future in which "OFFSALRTFS" will be used often. "Oh For Fuck's Sake! At Least Read The Fucking Summary"
The Australian dollar is roughly equal with the US one these days (varying over a range of a few cents), and we still pay $100+ for console games and $70+ for DS games. More, if the developer wants to charge more, as in the case of GTA IV. Australians were paying $120 a copy to buy it off the shelf. It's cheaper to the tune of more than 40% to import, and I refuse to prop up the Australian gaming industry until they bring their prices down to sane levels.
Here I was thinking it was some screwy setting in my browser.
I've only been reading Slashdot for about two years now, and I've noticed a decline too. Maybe it's just the novelty of actually reading news I care about finally wearing off, but I don't think so. When I wake up in the morning, there's usually about seven or eight stories posted on the front page while I sleep; I used to read all of them in full, now I find myself skipping about five of them because they just aren't interesting. And when Slashdot does get something interesting, chances are I've read it already on OS News or Ars Technica. About the only things I come to Slashdot for now are the legal and medical articles.
Already, if your government wants to find you, it can probably check where your phone is, or where your car's navigator is; we even voluntarily install security systems designed to tell the police where the car is in the event it's stolen. I think having a government record of where I was at any given time would make a good alibi for the physically impossible speeding fines which would put me in two places at once. The only caveat I'd want on the system if the data were stored for any amount of time is easy access to data about my own vehicle(s), for use in such cases.
A device for generating heat based on the constricted flow of subatomic particles through metallic pathways, embedded in a fabric base for easy folding and heat distribution! I call it an "electric blanket" :)
I was thinking something like a dynamite powered ornithopter for dumping boulders covered in data on the desired destination, but that works too :P
every geek in the world would be getting free internet access from some Wiley Coyote style setup in their back yard. Note: Stealing the next door neighbour's unencrypted WiFi doesn't count. That's just too easy.
"Pensive", without the e after the i, was a word before Harry Potter. It's an adjective meaning (from Wiktionary) "having the appearance of thinking" or "looking thoughtful, especially from sadness".
The "pensieve" is a stone bowl that the user can put their memories in for viewing later, and was used to reveal some important plot points.
My friends and I, when I was living on campus, usually found the only real ping pong table already in use. Then, one of us got a Wii, and we played Wii Sports' Tennis as beer pong :P. Sure, there wasn't a glass to knock the ball into, but that didn't stop us getting more than a little tipsy :P
It definitely has my money! There are giant robots with eye-beams in it! :P
Wow... +5 Insightful goes really cheaply these days. I was aiming for +3 Funny :P
I like it. Sisyphus has a nice... playful ring to it!
"Sucks to be you!"
Then, at least, you know you're supposed to look stupid doing it :P
What is it about LaTeX that makes it so special? Can't scientific documents be laid out correctly in a word processor? I ask out of ignorance, not rhetoric.
so I'm blundering into this discussion totally ignorant of what are probably very important facts, but when the buzz about high definition television broadcast started, and when it became apparent there would be multiple resolutions classed as 'high definition', I thought the natural battleground in the market would have been who can broadcast the highest resolution the cheapest. Instead, what we're probably seeing, is companies colluding on just how much to screw the customers out of. Just like every other industry in the world.
As a consumer, I'm not seeing a whole lot of reason to cough up for pay TV. It's just easier to download high definition video and watch it on my computer. And even at lower resolutions, the image quality on my small (compared to my TV) computer screen is higher anyway, thanks to the size of the pixels.
While I don't like the look of mixing the Lego and Duplo with the old architecture, it is an interesting idea. A more structurally sound version of Lego could, one day, be the standard tool for patching damaged walls. If the Lego were designed to be rough on the sides, it might hold concrete render or skimcoat, so the finished product would be indistinguishable from the rest of a rendered or skimcoated wall.
I've always thought a small solar panel on the back of the screen would be a good idea; solar panel technology has been a little limiting for that, though. While it wouldn't be able to power the whole computer, maybe, if the technology is good enough and cheap enough, it could be used for a little refrigeration. I wouldn't want it to go below about 28 Celsius here, anyway, since I live in the tropics. The humidity would condense if the computer were kept much colder.
I expected a rant from a screenwriter about video game movies (and perhaps comic book movies) choking out other purpose-written scripts, because of the popularity of the game or comic automatically ensuring a box office hit, while a new script is a total unknown.
Try teaching something that will instantly set off the endorphin rewards. You certainly know a whole lot more about what makes him tick than anyone on Slashdot, but most teenagers, myself included (though I'm 20 now...) play games. Get him started on Python and PyOpenGL, that way he can easily get some 3D graphics on screen.
For some reading on education in general, in case you're curious, Dimensions of Learning is a good place to start. It's a relatively current teaching model. I have the textbook on it, but you can find general outlines of it everywhere; though, curiously, it doesn't have it's own Wikipedia page. I might need to do something about that, unless it's in another article.