Anyone ever see the musical We Will Rock You? It's based on the music of Queen and is definitely tongue in cheek, but the premise is that the world is ruled by a giant corporation, and all music is written by computers. They even have a great pseudo timeline at the beginning (starting with real events and then moving into fake ones in the future), which includes such great things as "ugly people no longer allowed to be rock stars".
Um, most PEOPLE do not work 60-80 hour work weeks, they work a standard 40. If I need to work more than a standard 40, that means someone (possibly myself, but more likely someone above me) planned badly for a schedule.
And anyone who spends most of their energy and that much of their time on their work needs to loosen up and have a life. Family is, in fact, more important than the job. There are other jobs to be found that will not impose those kinds of requirements on you.
Although there are people that, as I understand it, ARE allowed to break down your door without a warrant. They're called bounty hunters. (note: this is what I have heard to be true. Rules may vary by state. void where prohibited)
They're also harmful to other individuals that did not choose to partake in that activity.
Okay, I say the government can regular morality, and we'll use my morals to do it. I'm a Baptist with standard Baptist moral decisions... so, no drinking and no gambling allowed. After all, it's not good for society.
I know a lot of people are jumping up to defend their old school, but here's one more...
I attended Rose Hulman Institute of Technology. They score fairly low on the computers to students ratio, and there's a good reason for that... students are required to buy laptops as freshman.
They don't offer any classes online. They are a very small campus, and pride themselves on not even having TAs teach classes, so I can't imagine them offering them online. Well, and the majority of students live on campus, so there's no point... the same pretty well applies to streaming campus radio. When campus radio is in that dorm a few minutes walk away, why bother?
My graduating class was the first to require laptops; I was a freshman in fall of '95.
(This is in response to someone modded -1 troll, in case you're trying to figure out what the heck I'm saying)
I find your comments about women "bumbl[ing] through life searching for a hard working educated man to take care of them" highly amusing. I'm a successful programmer with a BS in computer science from one of the top three private undergrad tech colleges and currently I'm putting my husband, who got laid off, through getting his MBA because he got tired of tech stuff. Wow, I have to ditch him so I can find someone that'll let me stay home and do laundry or something...
While I've never been a computer game programmer, I'm a programmer and a table-top and MMORPG player, and I have to say that this is a very insightful article.
I'm very happy that the place I work seems to have no problems hiring female programmers... but I'm still one of two female programmers on my approx 20 person team. Because there aren't that many women out there, because so many women were discouraged from technical fields for so long.
I have felt the atmosphere that discourages women frequently in gamer circles, when I'm around gamers I don't know - guys who tend to be crude, rude, and are there just to hack n'slash. My gaming circle is playing a campaign that features a lot more political intrigue, as well as has major male and female npcs who are more than window dressing. My group is nearly half and half on gender. It's wonderful.
Anyway, the more we make the reasons known, the less we'll have people claiming it's all just "well, women don't want to do that" or "men and women are wired differently, that's all".
Well, it seems like many people I know vote how their families raised them to vote, more or less. And, in general, someone raised in a Baptist household is exposed to more conservative influences than not.
In my case, I like to think the influences were such that I could make up my own mind - my mother, like my grandfather, tends very much towards republican, while my father, an ex-union steward, is fairly rapidly democrat.
Well, I was going to moderate on this discussion, but oh well...
Anyway, I'm a Baptist. And not only do I not think that Bush is annointed by God, but I'm voting for Kerry. I believe that the government has no business regulating morality, really, so I'm voting for the person who I think will do better for the things I think the government should be regulating.
Just because someone is religious doesn't make them have a head full of mush.
The big problem is that, IMHO, the module they sent to the stores SUCKED.
Well, pardon me, one of them. I only played one. The one I played was an Eberron module, from their new setting (the one they own lock, stock and barrel), and turned out to be in the back of the Eberron source book!
It was designed for four 1st level characters, in theory, and did not come with pregenerated characters, so you have something that's supposed to help introduce players to D&D and/or the Eberron setting and they have to make their own characters. Oh, or play the lame "Iconic characters" that have nothing to do with the Eberron setting.
And, on top of that, the module contained some insanely overpowered combats for a group of level ones. We had a fighter, a rogue, a cleric and a sorcerer, nicely balanced. And we have two characters go unconscious once, and one twice. We only survived due to using Eberron's action points (which are just a little too similiar to Spycraft's (www.alderac.com) action dice, but ah well.
Our special anniversary "swag" was a choice of 30th anniversary pen or mechanical pencil, a button advertising the anniversary that said "Experience Counts", a window clingy and a bookmark. And a bag to put it in.
Frankly, if WotC does stop making D&D, I'm looking forward to what some other awesome companies will do to replace D20, such as Paradigm Concepts, the makers of the Arcanis setting, a wonderful, wonderful world setting.
Oh, and for all those joking about it, I'll identify myself as a married female gamer. Married to a gamer, too.
"I dont know when a republican candidate gets Ted Kennedy, maybe the only man more liberal than Kerry"
I assume this is in response to accusations about the liberalness factor of Kerry and Edwards voting patterns. This information is purported by those that quote it to be taken from non-partisan statistics.
It is. But the part they selected covers exactly one year - the year that both were absent from many votes while campaigning. It stands to reason that the votes they would be present for would be more contested votes, ones where they would probably come out on the liberal side of things.
While I'm sure that many will tromp over this site, here's a good page showing the total numbers Daily Howler
Forgive me for no longer having a link to the article, but actually, what I had read is that the more education you have, the more likely you are to be polarized to one side or the other.
Is this true in real life situations? I really don't know - I find asking my friends questions related to politics results in less friends...
While this will obviously never be modded up, with all of the negative SG-1 comments you've gotten, I thought someone should show that there are people who agree with you.
Namely, I think it's a wonderful show, and even makes a more interesting RPG than Star Wars, since you don't have to worry about wannabe Jedi who don't pay attention to the Jedi code... anyway, as far as I can tell, my friends fall into two groups: those that like SG-1 quite a bit, and those who have never watched it, really. (ie, they may have caught an episode or two)
Indiana is a state that is a give-me for the Republicans for Presidential elections, but frequently has Democrat governors and other elected officials.
The idea of looking at how the potentially offensive content is presented is also reflected in a very decent reviewer over at Yahoo Movies, labled as "movie mom" reviews - mainly, she's reviewing for whether you want your kids to see it, and contains a breakdown for that, but her overall number is not based on what age - it's a numeric score for how good she thinks the movie is, plus a recommended viewing age.
What can I say, your comments were just a good jumping off point for mine.:)
I just wanted to emphasize that science camps for women are not a bad idea, and do seem to actually work if run well. I realize that you were going for humor value.
Well, actually, I attended a total of three summer events at colleges, while I was in Junior High or High School.
The first one was called Summerquest and was at Eastern Michigan University. It was for both genders and covered a wide variety of topics. I was there for the Creative Writing part. I don't think anyone from that group is earning their living through writing...;)
The second one was called Summerscience for Girls, later, I believe, renamed, though I could be wrong. This was obviously just for females and included groups on Physics, Chemistry, etc. I was in the Physics group. I truly do believe that more of us ended up with an interest in science. In addition, I heard quite a few stories from girls who really had been discouraged by teachers and other adults from science and math, and I think that this summer program may have given them a bit more strength on that.
The third program I attended was the Michigan American Legion Auxillary Girls' State. Essentially, it was a thing for learning more about politics, and many of the girls who went were ones that were very involved in school politics and the like. While some of them were very bright, it was definitely not true of all of them, and I enjoyed it considerably less than the other two, where participants were sent based on academic record. It also totally turned me off any idea of going into law (I was my "city" lawyer) or politics.
I, personally, have not had a problem with _teachers_ or _parents_ discouraging me from science and math. I've been exposed to computers since I was four (ah, the TI 99-4/a), and always told I can do whatever I put my mind to do. On the other hand, I have certainly felt discouraged by peers, while I was in high school, at any rate, with the typical ridicule for getting good grades, being "too smart for my own good", and reading too much.
Despite the fact that I went to a college (www.rose-hulman.edu) that was only allowing women in in my class, the class of '99, I did not feel that there was anything wrong with my being there. I feel very little pressure of that nature here at work, despite being a programmer on a defense project.
IIRC from the discussions on the DVDs, Train Robbery or whatever the episode was called was written and filmed veryvery quickly because the Fox execs didn't like the slower paced, less action oriented Serenity pilot ep.
Maybe it's just that I don't know much about guns, but wouldn't they need oxygen for the propellant to burn?
Like I said, I don't know anything about guns really, but just a hypothesis... and of course, most of their guns aren't really bullet propelling guns, I would guess from the sounds, so who knows what they need...
Actually, astromech driods typically have these jets, and apparently it has been established in some of the novels that R2's wore out/broke in some other fashion. Forgive me for not being more detailed, but it's my husband who loves those books, not me.:)
My college (www.rose-hulman.edu) started to require students to buy a particular laptop and software suite starting in my freshman year. It was found, gradually, that there is incredibly high wear and tear to take your laptop to every class, to set it up and tear it down four times a day, etc, etc. Some of this was just totally unexpected - before we graduated most of us ended up with out memory superglued in after having been to the computing center four or five times for loose memory.
Of course, it didn't help that the first year (1995) they could only find one company who could promise to deliver 450 identical laptops, and they were pretty cruddy - we kept having case cracks and some MechEs finally proved there was a structural flaw in the cases.
Slashdot Mirror
Anyone ever see the musical We Will Rock You? It's based on the music of Queen and is definitely tongue in cheek, but the premise is that the world is ruled by a giant corporation, and all music is written by computers. They even have a great pseudo timeline at the beginning (starting with real events and then moving into fake ones in the future), which includes such great things as "ugly people no longer allowed to be rock stars".
Um, most PEOPLE do not work 60-80 hour work weeks, they work a standard 40. If I need to work more than a standard 40, that means someone (possibly myself, but more likely someone above me) planned badly for a schedule.
And anyone who spends most of their energy and that much of their time on their work needs to loosen up and have a life. Family is, in fact, more important than the job. There are other jobs to be found that will not impose those kinds of requirements on you.
Although there are people that, as I understand it, ARE allowed to break down your door without a warrant. They're called bounty hunters. (note: this is what I have heard to be true. Rules may vary by state. void where prohibited)
They're also harmful to other individuals that did not choose to partake in that activity.
Okay, I say the government can regular morality, and we'll use my morals to do it. I'm a Baptist with standard Baptist moral decisions... so, no drinking and no gambling allowed. After all, it's not good for society.
I know a lot of people are jumping up to defend their old school, but here's one more...
I attended Rose Hulman Institute of Technology. They score fairly low on the computers to students ratio, and there's a good reason for that... students are required to buy laptops as freshman.
They don't offer any classes online. They are a very small campus, and pride themselves on not even having TAs teach classes, so I can't imagine them offering them online. Well, and the majority of students live on campus, so there's no point... the same pretty well applies to streaming campus radio. When campus radio is in that dorm a few minutes walk away, why bother?
My graduating class was the first to require laptops; I was a freshman in fall of '95.
Perhaps you're thinking of www.factcheck.com that Cheney inadvertantly pointed people to during the vice-presidential debates?
factcheck.org is very definitely non-partisan. Go there and look at their "About us" section.
(This is in response to someone modded -1 troll, in case you're trying to figure out what the heck I'm saying)
I find your comments about women "bumbl[ing] through life searching for a hard working educated man to take care of them" highly amusing. I'm a successful programmer with a BS in computer science from one of the top three private undergrad tech colleges and currently I'm putting my husband, who got laid off, through getting his MBA because he got tired of tech stuff. Wow, I have to ditch him so I can find someone that'll let me stay home and do laundry or something...
While I've never been a computer game programmer, I'm a programmer and a table-top and MMORPG player, and I have to say that this is a very insightful article.
I'm very happy that the place I work seems to have no problems hiring female programmers... but I'm still one of two female programmers on my approx 20 person team. Because there aren't that many women out there, because so many women were discouraged from technical fields for so long.
I have felt the atmosphere that discourages women frequently in gamer circles, when I'm around gamers I don't know - guys who tend to be crude, rude, and are there just to hack n'slash. My gaming circle is playing a campaign that features a lot more political intrigue, as well as has major male and female npcs who are more than window dressing. My group is nearly half and half on gender. It's wonderful.
Anyway, the more we make the reasons known, the less we'll have people claiming it's all just "well, women don't want to do that" or "men and women are wired differently, that's all".
Here you go, although I doubt anyone will get a chance to read this: www.factcheck.org's debunking of Kerry being the most liberal senator, etc.
Factcheck.org
Well, it seems like many people I know vote how their families raised them to vote, more or less. And, in general, someone raised in a Baptist household is exposed to more conservative influences than not.
In my case, I like to think the influences were such that I could make up my own mind - my mother, like my grandfather, tends very much towards republican, while my father, an ex-union steward, is fairly rapidly democrat.
Well, I was going to moderate on this discussion, but oh well...
Anyway, I'm a Baptist. And not only do I not think that Bush is annointed by God, but I'm voting for Kerry. I believe that the government has no business regulating morality, really, so I'm voting for the person who I think will do better for the things I think the government should be regulating.
Just because someone is religious doesn't make them have a head full of mush.
The big problem is that, IMHO, the module they sent to the stores SUCKED.
Well, pardon me, one of them. I only played one. The one I played was an Eberron module, from their new setting (the one they own lock, stock and barrel), and turned out to be in the back of the Eberron source book!
It was designed for four 1st level characters, in theory, and did not come with pregenerated characters, so you have something that's supposed to help introduce players to D&D and/or the Eberron setting and they have to make their own characters. Oh, or play the lame "Iconic characters" that have nothing to do with the Eberron setting.
And, on top of that, the module contained some insanely overpowered combats for a group of level ones. We had a fighter, a rogue, a cleric and a sorcerer, nicely balanced. And we have two characters go unconscious once, and one twice. We only survived due to using Eberron's action points (which are just a little too similiar to Spycraft's (www.alderac.com) action dice, but ah well.
Our special anniversary "swag" was a choice of 30th anniversary pen or mechanical pencil, a button advertising the anniversary that said "Experience Counts", a window clingy and a bookmark. And a bag to put it in.
Frankly, if WotC does stop making D&D, I'm looking forward to what some other awesome companies will do to replace D20, such as Paradigm Concepts, the makers of the Arcanis setting, a wonderful, wonderful world setting.
Oh, and for all those joking about it, I'll identify myself as a married female gamer. Married to a gamer, too.
"I dont know when a republican candidate gets Ted Kennedy, maybe the only man more liberal than Kerry"
I assume this is in response to accusations about the liberalness factor of Kerry and Edwards voting patterns. This information is purported by those that quote it to be taken from non-partisan statistics.
It is. But the part they selected covers exactly one year - the year that both were absent from many votes while campaigning. It stands to reason that the votes they would be present for would be more contested votes, ones where they would probably come out on the liberal side of things.
While I'm sure that many will tromp over this site, here's a good page showing the total numbers Daily Howler
Forgive me for no longer having a link to the article, but actually, what I had read is that the more education you have, the more likely you are to be polarized to one side or the other.
Is this true in real life situations? I really don't know - I find asking my friends questions related to politics results in less friends...
While this will obviously never be modded up, with all of the negative SG-1 comments you've gotten, I thought someone should show that there are people who agree with you.
Namely, I think it's a wonderful show, and even makes a more interesting RPG than Star Wars, since you don't have to worry about wannabe Jedi who don't pay attention to the Jedi code... anyway, as far as I can tell, my friends fall into two groups: those that like SG-1 quite a bit, and those who have never watched it, really. (ie, they may have caught an episode or two)
Indiana is a state that is a give-me for the Republicans for Presidential elections, but frequently has Democrat governors and other elected officials.
The idea of looking at how the potentially offensive content is presented is also reflected in a very decent reviewer over at Yahoo Movies, labled as "movie mom" reviews - mainly, she's reviewing for whether you want your kids to see it, and contains a breakdown for that, but her overall number is not based on what age - it's a numeric score for how good she thinks the movie is, plus a recommended viewing age.
What can I say, your comments were just a good jumping off point for mine. :)
I just wanted to emphasize that science camps for women are not a bad idea, and do seem to actually work if run well. I realize that you were going for humor value.
Well, actually, I attended a total of three summer events at colleges, while I was in Junior High or High School.
;)
The first one was called Summerquest and was at Eastern Michigan University. It was for both genders and covered a wide variety of topics. I was there for the Creative Writing part. I don't think anyone from that group is earning their living through writing...
The second one was called Summerscience for Girls, later, I believe, renamed, though I could be wrong. This was obviously just for females and included groups on Physics, Chemistry, etc. I was in the Physics group. I truly do believe that more of us ended up with an interest in science. In addition, I heard quite a few stories from girls who really had been discouraged by teachers and other adults from science and math, and I think that this summer program may have given them a bit more strength on that.
The third program I attended was the Michigan American Legion Auxillary Girls' State. Essentially, it was a thing for learning more about politics, and many of the girls who went were ones that were very involved in school politics and the like. While some of them were very bright, it was definitely not true of all of them, and I enjoyed it considerably less than the other two, where participants were sent based on academic record. It also totally turned me off any idea of going into law (I was my "city" lawyer) or politics.
I, personally, have not had a problem with _teachers_ or _parents_ discouraging me from science and math. I've been exposed to computers since I was four (ah, the TI 99-4/a), and always told I can do whatever I put my mind to do. On the other hand, I have certainly felt discouraged by peers, while I was in high school, at any rate, with the typical ridicule for getting good grades, being "too smart for my own good", and reading too much.
Despite the fact that I went to a college (www.rose-hulman.edu) that was only allowing women in in my class, the class of '99, I did not feel that there was anything wrong with my being there. I feel very little pressure of that nature here at work, despite being a programmer on a defense project.
IIRC from the discussions on the DVDs, Train Robbery or whatever the episode was called was written and filmed veryvery quickly because the Fox execs didn't like the slower paced, less action oriented Serenity pilot ep.
Maybe it's just that I don't know much about guns, but wouldn't they need oxygen for the propellant to burn?
Like I said, I don't know anything about guns really, but just a hypothesis... and of course, most of their guns aren't really bullet propelling guns, I would guess from the sounds, so who knows what they need...
R2-D2 FLYING?!?!
:)
Actually, astromech driods typically have these jets, and apparently it has been established in some of the novels that R2's wore out/broke in some other fashion. Forgive me for not being more detailed, but it's my husband who loves those books, not me.
My college (www.rose-hulman.edu) started to require students to buy a particular laptop and software suite starting in my freshman year. It was found, gradually, that there is incredibly high wear and tear to take your laptop to every class, to set it up and tear it down four times a day, etc, etc. Some of this was just totally unexpected - before we graduated most of us ended up with out memory superglued in after having been to the computing center four or five times for loose memory.
Of course, it didn't help that the first year (1995) they could only find one company who could promise to deliver 450 identical laptops, and they were pretty cruddy - we kept having case cracks and some MechEs finally proved there was a structural flaw in the cases.
Odd, but true. For a long time, all of his pants were purple. And after that, perhaps they were occasionally purple.
:)
Isn't the English language fun?
Here, we have a hero made of Concrete. I don't read it, so I can't really say what other powers he has.
Anyway, apparently Concrete was standing near a building where someone fell. "Catch her, Concrete, save her!"
SPLAT.
*Concrete looks down at his arms covered in goo.* I'm made of CONCRETE!