There's a lot of independant companies here in Redmond that have no association with MS in any way.
Google has a HQ in Kirkland, but you don't see people saying "whatever Kirkland wants, Kirkland gets...." or maybe that's just because Kirkland is a Grade A dump.
Actually, the Republican party is mostly claiming that felons were illegally voting. The problem is, many of the people the Republicans are claiming are felons - aren't. Most have juvy crimes, which should have been sealed at 18 which did not affect their voting rights. Others, never had their rights removed at all, or had their voting privilages reinstated.
Meanwhile, in the Democratic heartland of King County, 50 valid ballots were found to have never been counted, and are still in their envelopes. What a mess. I just hope my vote isn't one of those 50.
The whole mess has been playing out in the papers for months now, it's getting very old.
They have different songs. Each new release of Ultramix (for the xbox) or Max/Extreme (for the ps2) has a different song lineup with different unlockables. So if I want to play Tsugaru, I have to load up Ultramix 1. If I want to dance to Ordinary World, it's got to be DDR Max.
I own four Konami DDR titles, and have plans to hunt down and buy the others, including the long out of print Konami original. Sure, the graphics are dated in the earlier titles, but the dance moves are solid and the same as the arcade versions, plus there's something wonderful about variety.
I also am planning to get In The Groove, a competitor product, just for more variety.
Anyway, I am glad they will run on the PS3 & Xbox 360. Because I do not want to keep my old consoles around just to play DDR, but I refuse to give up my old DDR.
Play an hour a day 5 times a week... see your fatty ass get slightly less fatty:)
Now they've created a customer who is more likely to bittorrent in order to get their TV. A customer who was formerly paying for his TV, now must get it for free...
On a side note, if I were you, I'd try to get DirectTV, maybe having your wife try to get DirectTV so it's registered in her name (they probably didn't blacklist her). Or your girlfriend or any close friend of yours who is willing to call up DirectTV and pretend they live there...
Or move to a place that is under a different cable system. But moving is such a hassle.
I can understand the MPAA suing distributors for supposed "loss of revenue", but cutting back their tv access - for which they were paying for - is just downright stupid. People will find a way to get their TV. It's just encouraging you - and others like you - to bittorrent more.
I have an Alienware Area 51-M laptop from 2003
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Alienware's Star Wars PCs
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· Score: 5, Informative
And it's really not worth the money I paid for it.
I am very disappointed with it. I can't wait for my next computer - which will NOT be alienware!
This computer runs real hot. So hot, that if you put it in your lap, you can get second degree burns within a few minutes. I got blisters all over my thighs once that took a week to go away. I put a pillow between me and it the next time, and the pillow's polyester fill melted. Now I use a wooden cutting board. What a hassle!
The computer runs so hot, you can't use any wireless cards on it. Those cards burn up, then cause the computer to freeze. Ach! I finally got it to be wireless by using one of those usb wireless cards, which because it hangs off the back, was able to stay cool enough to function. But I can never use my card slot on this computer, ever.
My graphics card - the ATI mobility radeon 9000 - is sorely outdated. It barely dragged its butt through thief III, but when I put Everquest II on it, it just choked. It's underpowered and most games are designed with a NVIDIA in mind, so my ATI mobility card looks even worse.
It weighs a ton. At 20 lbs, it wears me down if I have to take it long distances. Gah.
It's LOUD. The fan in the computer sounds like a hurricane. Plus even the power supply is loud! The power supply goes HISSSSS all the time, even when the computer is shut off, and it's very annoying. One guest thought we had escaping gas... turned out he was just hearing the power supply.
I cannot afford a new computer until December, but I am so looking forward to it. I have learned my lesson. I do not want my high end gaming machine on a laptop. I will keep my gaming machine in a tower so I can upgrade it properly, and get a LIGHTWEIGHT, SILENT, and COOL-RUNNING laptop that I can carry around with me so I can program wherever I go. This noisy, hot, heavy beast is just too cumbersome to program on, let alone play any games on its outdated graphics card!
Re:a shiny new xbox
on
10 Gateway Games
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Because it's insulting.
I'm a woman, and I can tell you my friends would not play ANY of those games mentioned, with the exception of Katamari Damacy. Most of them won't look "dorky" playing DDR... although I must confess, I play DDR for at least an hour a day.
"most women share a cluster of personality traits".... no, not really. We are individuals. Why do articles persist in lumping all women into one size fits all shoes?
Not all women like chick flicks. Not all women like Orlando Bloom. Not all women hate Star Trek, Star Wars, etc. Not all women watch Sex in the City or Friends.
My female non-gaming friends include an Astrophysist, a Mechanical Engineer working for the DOJ, an Anthropologist working at Borders (sigh), a web designer at Microsoft, and a no-career-direction who volunteers at the battered women's shelter (sorry Khaning).
We adore monty python. Want historicals, or asian martial arts films, or at the very least, some BIG explosions in movies. Watch Stargate SG1. Refuse to watch Sex in the City... get the picture?
NOT ALL WOMEN ARE PINK BUNDLES OF STUPIDITY PACKAGED IN A THICK PANCAKE OF MAKEUP AND MANICURED NAILS.
This article assumed we were too stupid to handle any sort of tactics, storyline, or strategy. We CAN do all of that, if we enjoy the game enough.
Now... to bring this remotely back on topic...
If I were to try and get my non-gaming friends into games... and I'm the only one who does play games...
I'd do:
Katamari Damacy Everquest II or Worlds of Warcraft Whiplash! Final Fantasy (any of them, except X-2) Civilization II Thief III Midnight Club II Artic Thunder (arcade version only, cause the ride seat vibrates so fast it's the best vibrator you can find outside of a sex shop, always worth the 1$ to play) Sims II Siberia
Whiplash! was funny as all get-out, sold for 20$, and yet, didn't even make a dent in sales.
I don't know what went wrong. Probably a lack of word-of-mouth, though I told all my friends about it and absolutely adore that game (it's wickedly funny humor on a very well written platform style game).
So the "sell cheap by a major studio" trick doesn't always work.
I don't understand why a video game store can't keep an "adult" section, just like a bookstore has the adult porn section. Tastefully closed off from the general public.
If Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was rated AO - which it probably should be considering it has rampant violence and Vice City at least had cartoon nudity (I have not yet played San Andreas, waiting for the XBOX version)... I would still buy it. And a lot of adults would still buy it. It would be stupid for stores not to sell it.
I think part of the problem is video game stores are fairly small. There really isn't room for a "back room" where an employee can make sure only adults go into, like in a bookstore or a video store. So rather than deal with the hassle of selling AO games, they just refuse to deal with it... which is stupid.
I'm 27 years old. I have a right to buy porn, to buy Grand Theft Auto, and to buy alcohol. While stores have a responsiblity to keep all of these items out of the hands of minors, them refusing to sell these items to me is just retarded.
I think your question, is Hubble obsolete, is the wrong question to ask.
Hubble IS obsolete. And will be replaced by the http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/JWST. But the JWST won't launch until August, 2011.
Hubble will die soon. So what are scientists to do from 2006 until August 2011? Although we have many world class telescopes on earth, all of them have to contend with the atmosphere, plus earth's orbit - its rotation around the sun affect which part of our sky is visible at night, and because of this annoying thing called "day", those telescopes can only be used at night, which further restrict which part of the universe can be viewed at any given moment.
I'm not insulting earth-based telescopes, but I do believe we need to keep Hubble functioning until the JWST is ready. For safety, Hubble should operate a few months after the JWST is launched, just in case the JWST has flaws that are only discovered after launch... remember Hubble's mirror flaw which required an additional flight to fix?
#1. There are some very good long stories. For example, listen to the audio tapes of Masterplan of the Daleks (12 episodes, 6 hours total). It has daleks, a horde of other aliens, twists and turns, not one but TWO companion's deaths... lots of fun.
Ok, so War Games, another 12 parter, got dull towards the end. But it has its moments and the overall story is interesting.
However the best stories, IMHO, are 4 parters. Logopolis. The War Machines. The Tomb of the Cybermen. Castrovalva. Remembrance of the Daleks.
45 minutes is just too short to tell a good scifi story.
#2. You're underestimating the abilities of the audience. They related fine to Tegan and her desire to return to Heathrow. They understood Susan and her dependance on her Grandfather. They related to Ace and her tormented childhood, to Leila and her barbaric ways.
The only other "bland" companion I can think of - disregarding Sara and Katarina cause they had only 1 story to express themselves in (well, Katarina had 1 1/2)... was Dodo. And Dodo was so boring that nobody picks her as "favourite companion"... heck, most people don't even remember her at all.
#3. I think this doctor is worse than #6. And that's saying a lot, especially as Colin Baker now resembles a beached whale....
I'm not so happy with the new Dr Who. I've seen the first three episodes so far, and they're okay, but...
1) The stories are too short. 45 minutes for an entire Doctor who story? Most old doctor who stories had 4 or more episodes at 30 mins each - 2 hours. So you don't get a chance to introduce anything other than the bluntest and most direct story, none of the intreague or complexity of the Old Who.
2) Rose is too bland. She's like Ace, but with no nitro-nine or boombox or bat. There's nothing that really defines "her" as a person.
3) The Doctor himself is too hyped on caffine/speed. He lacks the charm and the sheer brilliance of the old Doctors. Everything is so rushed, there's no feeling of thought or design in anything he does. There's no feeling of terror or wonder (a la the 2nd doctor), no vulnerability or confusion (a la doctor #1), or grace and style (doctor #3), or wit and genius (doctor #4)... I could go on. He's just a guy whose on drugs, rushing and running his way blindly through some pre-ordaned set of hoops.
I prefer Ultramix 2. It's got better graphics, and the songs are just - well - more fun. IMHO. I love "tough enough" by vanilla ninja, and "in your eyes". Now Ultramix 1 has "shiny disco balls" which is also fun.... but not as fun as tough enough.
Buy a good pad. The cheap one that you get bundled in with it dies so fast. Mine gives phantom down and side arrows when nobody is standing on it, and sometimes the up won't register. So I have to work twice as hard to get a decent score. I really need to invest in a new pad, but only RedOctane makes a pad that works on the xbox. The best pad ever, the Cold Fusion pad, only works on the PS2.:(
It's one of the hardest songs to beat (10 footer), and most people end up loosing just because they can't keep up with the steps:)
To answer your question: the more efficent people get, the harder and more notes a song has. So even if you are super efficent, there's always a song with an insane number of steps that makes you gasp for breath.
Well, I must confess I'm trying to loose weight with DDR myself. I'm doing Ultramix 2 at the moment. 1 hour a day, 5 days a week. I'm up to getting A's on 4 feet dances, passing some 5 feets (the hardness of a song in DDR is measured in feets, 1 feet being easy, 10 being suicide). My main goal is more on getting A's than passin harder songs, as I find I get better faster by practicing my techniques.
I've had a yo-yo problem with diets for the past four years. I've lost 30 pounds, put 10 back on, lost 5, put 10 back on... now I'm at 160 (175 was my max). I really want to be 140. Actually, what I really want is to wear size 10 jeans. Currently I wear size 12's. I'm female, 5'5". Yes, I'm fat, you don't have to tell me. But at least I'm trying.
I've done many different diets. I eat healthy. I don't ever eat at McDonalds or Burger King. I eat small portions of meat, low-fat frozen yogurt, no candy or chips. I usually stay under 1500 calories a day, 2000 max when I'm being bad. But my metabolism is very slow. I can only drop weight through dieting by going down to 1200 calories a day, then I get dizzy and start fainting. I've done atkins - twice. I lost weight but couldn't keep it off. My best dieting system was the Hacker's Diet, using my palm pc to count calories.
I've had gym memberships. I hate doing cardio on the exercize bikes or on the treadmills. It's so dull. After 5 minutes I'm so bored, that I give up. You can't read while running on a treadmill, and the TV in the gym has no sound. I love to walk outside, but in Seattle, it rains most of the time so I can't walk every day. When I do walk, I walk 3 miles or more.
DDR is something I can do every day, rain or shine. My xbox and my dance pad are always waiting for me. I've been dancing for 2 weeks, and my husband has noticed how toned my legs have gotten! I haven't weighed in this week, but my jeans are getting looser and my butt is firmer. I'm also getting much better at all the jumps and fast steps on DDR. A week ago I couldn't get higher than a D on any song. Last night I got my first A on a 4 feet song, then immediately got another A on another 4 footer. Sweet.
DDR really is a workout. Your heart races, you sweat buckets. But you don't want to quit, because you were SO CLOSE to getting through that song with no Boo's. You ALMOST HAD IT - ONE MORE TRY! So you go back on and do that song again, and again, and again, because it's addictive. But at least this sort of addiction has me exercising rather than just slaying virtual dragons.
I play DDR with a big glass of water next to me. I drink all of it during my workout. I have a timer that lets me know when an hour has passed, so I don't cheat, but usually I play a few more songs after it goes off as I was SO CLOSE to beating "In your eyes", or some other song.
Anyway, I wouldn't say DDR is for everyone. But for those who are saying "go outside" - in Seattle, it's rainy and cold and windy. For those saying "it's a video game - it's not exercise", I dare you to try and get a high score without making your heart thud in your chest. You find yourself bouncing, hopping, jumping, leaping from square to square trying to get your timing just right. It's a better workout than yoga - it's as fast paced as the Step class I took once. Nearly as hard as the spinning class I did last year. And I am having lots of fun.
My only gripe is my pad is dying. It's a cheap softmat, I'm going to have to invest in an ignition pad soon.:( Since I play on the XBOX, I can't get a cobalt flux, and I've been hearing bad things about the ignition pads and XBOX support.:(
See, NAMCO only did a limited run when they made the English version of Katamari Damacy. They didn't expect it to be a hit.
Well, now the word is out, and everyone wants one. But NAMCO won't up the production rates. So it is VERY VERY hard to get ahold of it to buy - forget about renting. For example, I've asked several EBX's if they have any copies - they always say "no, but we keep trying to order some in...". Amazon is sold out, used copies sell on Ebay for 30$, when the original sold for 20$ in the stores.
My sister bought me a copy for my birthday last year. I'm so glad she did, cause now you can't get ahold of a copy of this game for love or money.
I disagree. It's much more than an "Average" game.
I have other ball-rolling games. Most notably - and most horribly - Fusion Frenzy for the xbox. You know, the game they have to GIVE away cause nobody in their right mind would buy it.
But Katamari is the only ball rolling game that's horribly addictive. It's because I love to see the world from different perspectives, and I love the whole klep-o-mania aspect of being able to reach out and steal everything into my big ball.
The soundtrack is adorable. It's the only one nobody asks me to turn down or turn off when I play video games. I sometimes find myself whistling the "roll you up into my life" song while doing housework. The opening title, with the psychadelic mushrooms, is so happy and peaceful. In fact, there's nothing violent in this whole game... and yet it's still fun. Well, you can pick up people, but they're still alive when you do that, and don't seem to be harmed that much.
The king's dialog is hysterical. That's another big part of the charm. The king is massively high on drugs, I think, and his inane comments really perk up the game. "155 maidens! The sky will be so lovely! Still, I am far, far, prettier than them..."
I've played a good number of games this year, but usually once I finish the game, that's it. I don't play it again. With Katamari, I often pick it up for a few minutes of happy ball rolling, constantly trying to beat my old scores and unlock the eternity levels on stars 4, 8, and the moon. Or find all the presents. Or finish my collections of objects. The replay value is incredible.
I can't wait for the next version. I only wish they'd announce a date so I could get my pre-order in. I worry that NAMCO will underestimate the demand and not make enough copies... it's very hard to get a hold of the original Katamari Damacy, due to NAMCO not wanting to flood the market, so I've been unable to give copies of this game away as presents to my relatives. I just want to make sure I get my order in early so I don't have to wait.:)
That's my main feature, I love being able to flip 180 degrees and roll the other way once I'm done with one row of objects.
Now the one thing I can't get right is dash. I just can't seem to get it to make the katamari move.... I can get it to roll fast, in the same spot, but it never seems to go anywhere.
It's a weekly magazine, with about 72 pages in each issue. It costs 51$ for a US subscription, they also deliver in the UK and Canada.
I get New Scientist and Scientific American. But I prefer New Scientist and will probably not be renewing my Scientific American subscription. The reason is Scientific American will devote an entire monthly issue to a single "theme". If you don't like that theme - for example, if your just not interested in Geology and the theme is on that subject, then there is nothing to read in that issue of Scientific American that is interesting.
New Scientist on the other hand, is a random sampling of "what's new" in science. For example, I'm holding the March 26th issue in my hands, and there are articles on Robotics, Liquid Intelligence, Drugs and Schizophrenia, US flu vaccines, and Zombie PCs. And other stories. There are advertisments, but not as much as in Scientific American. There's also a "hot jobs" section for employers to advertise in. I especially like the last page, which is called The Last Word, in which readers submit science oriented questions and they get answered by experts.
It's perfect bathroom reading, as the articles are short, interesting, and vary.
Rodcet Nife was one of the original servers. I'm surprised it's going to merge with Quellious and then surrender the name... so many people know "Rodcet Nife" and the big guilds that once were on Rodcet.
I don't think they're merging based on historical standing (which server is older), but rather based on existing population.
I think that's a slight mistake, in that while it's easier from a technical standpoint, Rodcet outranks Quellious in age. The new server should have been named Rodcet, IMHO.
I don't play anymore so my opinion doesn't count. I quit after PoP came out. I just got disgusted by how hard you had to work to get anywhere with all the keyed zones. I could never get key'd and got bored with the 4 zones I could go in!
I played EQ2 for 3 months, but I got sick and bored of that too. It's just a grindfest, really, and the amount of nerfing that goes on is disgusting. Things getting made worthless/unusable without warning (petrified eyes), the stupid timesinks and camping required for some quests (the guise of the deciever quest, for example), items being removed from the game or made ultra rare which were KEY items for the high end content (robe of the invoker).... it seemed like I was paying a fee to get screwed over cause I could not dedicate enough time to get all the "uber" stuff before it got nerfed.
The only problem is sharing the XBOX. So far, I'm winning this war by getting home first and loading up The Sith Lords before he can put in Halo 2... but it's a close call.
I probably should have married a non-gamer, as we're going to have words next week when Midnight Club 3 comes out so close to the next Spliter Cell....
I'm a PS fan, but these are not the games I'd buy.
I'm a female gamer, and I prefer games with stories, games with plots and twists. I loath straight out racing games and "sports" games. I don't like fighter games either - too much boring button mashing. I like games that make me think, games that rely on figuring out solutions rather than memorizing "super combos" or memorizing a track.
Plus, the price of the system is a bit high for merely a portable system!
That being said, I would've bought it had it only had Katamari Damacy on it! The ability to roll stuff up while on the bus, or at work.... mmmm. Rolling.
Other PS games I would've paid for - and bought it for - any Final Fantasy game, including FF strategies and other older ones... any Silent Hill game... any Grand Theft Auto, or Prince of Persia (1 or 2).
I am a female programmer like my mother before me
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Women Leaving I.T.
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· Score: 2, Insightful
My mum's a java/C++ programmer who works on unix for the department of energy - highly respected in her field.
I'm a C++/multimedia programmer who works mostly on windows.
I have no children, but hope someday to continue the line of women geek programmers.
When I graduated from college - I majored in CS - we had 6 women out of 300 graduates. Then during the IT boom, the numbers seemed to go up - women, as well as men - were attracted by the "promise" of easy money.
Then the dot com bubble burst, and there isn't "easy money" anymore, so the numbers have gone down - back to about where they were before the dot com boom.
I believe that society does not tend to create as many geek women as they do geek men. I'm an exception rather than a trend. I learned to pull the power plug out of vt100 terminals to get my mother to pay attention to me. I helped my dad build our first computer - an 086 - from scratch when I was 8. I played adventure with my mother at 9, and together we charted the maze of twisty passages. I installed Linux at age 14. Had my own web server running in my bedroom by the time I went to college.
But most women aren't given the resources and encouragement I was. I was given free reign of the home computers. I was told at one point that anything I could do to the computers COULD be fixed. So when I corrupted windows at age 10 through experimentation, I was not punished, which allowed me to continue to view computers as learning experiences rather than "Scary machines".
My father had no sons. He loved to teach me "boy things" like tools and cars and computers, because there was no one else to teach it to. Had I a brother, I probably would not have been allowed to convert the spare computer into a linux box. Had my mother not been a mathematician and a programmer, I probably would not have been taught QBASIC when I was 9 - and then given a set of BASIC books and left to my own devices.
Most girls are taught to concentrate on other things. Clothes. TV. Boys. Art. Makeup. I am horrid at wearing makeup. My fashion is incredibly boring. I was never a "popular" girl. Most of the time I got treated as one of the geek guys, because I could program as well as any of them.
Which brings me back to my original point. There are only so many girls raised with the encouragement and inclination to become geeks. There are many more boys who are given the tools and resources and society pressure to become geeks. Therefore, boy geeks will continue to outnumber girl geeks.
The increase in girls in CS in the past few years was mearly an echo of the promise of "Easy money" of the dot comm boom, and now that it is gone, only those who do it because they love to do it remain.
Choicepoint - and their competitors such as TransUnion, have become unrelegated "authorities" on people's personal data for far too long. A leak like this was inevitable. Honestly, I think our data has leaked before, but because only California has a (recently made) law dictating that victims must be told of such losses, nobody was informed when it happened in the past.
I'm not normally a "Big brother is watching you" kind of girl, but the amount of power these companies have over our lives - the ability to deny us life, home, and auto insurance, to get a home or auto loan, to even get a job! - is insane. Especially when you try to correct inaccurate information and they refuse to accept it! For example, I don't rent, I own my own house. But for years I've tried to correct that - and my status, which is married, not single - and have had them tell me flat out that THEIR data is correct and I must be dreaming about my husband & house...
Slashdot Mirror
Redmond != Bill Gates.
Nintendo has a HQ in Redmond.
There's a lot of independant companies here in Redmond that have no association with MS in any way.
Google has a HQ in Kirkland, but you don't see people saying "whatever Kirkland wants, Kirkland gets...." or maybe that's just because Kirkland is a Grade A dump.
Depressing place.
Actually, the Republican party is mostly claiming that felons were illegally voting. The problem is, many of the people the Republicans are claiming are felons - aren't. Most have juvy crimes, which should have been sealed at 18 which did not affect their voting rights. Others, never had their rights removed at all, or had their voting privilages reinstated.
Meanwhile, in the Democratic heartland of King County, 50 valid ballots were found to have never been counted, and are still in their envelopes. What a mess. I just hope my vote isn't one of those 50.
The whole mess has been playing out in the papers for months now, it's getting very old.
My big reason:
:))
:)
Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 2! (And 1
They have different songs. Each new release of Ultramix (for the xbox) or Max/Extreme (for the ps2) has a different song lineup with different unlockables. So if I want to play Tsugaru, I have to load up Ultramix 1. If I want to dance to Ordinary World, it's got to be DDR Max.
I own four Konami DDR titles, and have plans to hunt down and buy the others, including the long out of print Konami original. Sure, the graphics are dated in the earlier titles, but the dance moves are solid and the same as the arcade versions, plus there's something wonderful about variety.
I also am planning to get In The Groove, a competitor product, just for more variety.
Anyway, I am glad they will run on the PS3 & Xbox 360. Because I do not want to keep my old consoles around just to play DDR, but I refuse to give up my old DDR.
Play an hour a day 5 times a week... see your fatty ass get slightly less fatty
Now that's just stupid on their part.
Now they've created a customer who is more likely to bittorrent in order to get their TV. A customer who was formerly paying for his TV, now must get it for free...
On a side note, if I were you, I'd try to get DirectTV, maybe having your wife try to get DirectTV so it's registered in her name (they probably didn't blacklist her). Or your girlfriend or any close friend of yours who is willing to call up DirectTV and pretend they live there...
Or move to a place that is under a different cable system. But moving is such a hassle.
I can understand the MPAA suing distributors for supposed "loss of revenue", but cutting back their tv access - for which they were paying for - is just downright stupid. People will find a way to get their TV. It's just encouraging you - and others like you - to bittorrent more.
And it's really not worth the money I paid for it.
I am very disappointed with it. I can't wait for my next computer - which will NOT be alienware!
This computer runs real hot. So hot, that if you put it in your lap, you can get second degree burns within a few minutes. I got blisters all over my thighs once that took a week to go away. I put a pillow between me and it the next time, and the pillow's polyester fill melted. Now I use a wooden cutting board. What a hassle!
The computer runs so hot, you can't use any wireless cards on it. Those cards burn up, then cause the computer to freeze. Ach! I finally got it to be wireless by using one of those usb wireless cards, which because it hangs off the back, was able to stay cool enough to function. But I can never use my card slot on this computer, ever.
My graphics card - the ATI mobility radeon 9000 - is sorely outdated. It barely dragged its butt through thief III, but when I put Everquest II on it, it just choked. It's underpowered and most games are designed with a NVIDIA in mind, so my ATI mobility card looks even worse.
It weighs a ton. At 20 lbs, it wears me down if I have to take it long distances. Gah.
It's LOUD. The fan in the computer sounds like a hurricane. Plus even the power supply is loud! The power supply goes HISSSSS all the time, even when the computer is shut off, and it's very annoying. One guest thought we had escaping gas... turned out he was just hearing the power supply.
I cannot afford a new computer until December, but I am so looking forward to it. I have learned my lesson. I do not want my high end gaming machine on a laptop. I will keep my gaming machine in a tower so I can upgrade it properly, and get a LIGHTWEIGHT, SILENT, and COOL-RUNNING laptop that I can carry around with me so I can program wherever I go. This noisy, hot, heavy beast is just too cumbersome to program on, let alone play any games on its outdated graphics card!
Because it's insulting.
I'm a woman, and I can tell you my friends would not play ANY of those games mentioned, with the exception of Katamari Damacy. Most of them won't look "dorky" playing DDR... although I must confess, I play DDR for at least an hour a day.
"most women share a cluster of personality traits".... no, not really. We are individuals. Why do articles persist in lumping all women into one size fits all shoes?
Not all women like chick flicks.
Not all women like Orlando Bloom.
Not all women hate Star Trek, Star Wars, etc.
Not all women watch Sex in the City or Friends.
My female non-gaming friends include an Astrophysist, a Mechanical Engineer working for the DOJ, an Anthropologist working at Borders (sigh), a web designer at Microsoft, and a no-career-direction who volunteers at the battered women's shelter (sorry Khaning).
We adore monty python. Want historicals, or asian martial arts films, or at the very least, some BIG explosions in movies. Watch Stargate SG1. Refuse to watch Sex in the City... get the picture?
NOT ALL WOMEN ARE PINK BUNDLES OF STUPIDITY PACKAGED IN A THICK PANCAKE OF MAKEUP AND MANICURED NAILS.
This article assumed we were too stupid to handle any sort of tactics, storyline, or strategy. We CAN do all of that, if we enjoy the game enough.
Now... to bring this remotely back on topic...
If I were to try and get my non-gaming friends into games... and I'm the only one who does play games...
I'd do:
Katamari Damacy
Everquest II or Worlds of Warcraft
Whiplash!
Final Fantasy (any of them, except X-2)
Civilization II
Thief III
Midnight Club II
Artic Thunder (arcade version only, cause the ride seat vibrates so fast it's the best vibrator you can find outside of a sex shop, always worth the 1$ to play)
Sims II
Siberia
Even that doesn't always work.
Whiplash! was funny as all get-out, sold for 20$, and yet, didn't even make a dent in sales.
I don't know what went wrong. Probably a lack of word-of-mouth, though I told all my friends about it and absolutely adore that game (it's wickedly funny humor on a very well written platform style game).
So the "sell cheap by a major studio" trick doesn't always work.
I don't understand why a video game store can't keep an "adult" section, just like a bookstore has the adult porn section. Tastefully closed off from the general public.
If Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was rated AO - which it probably should be considering it has rampant violence and Vice City at least had cartoon nudity (I have not yet played San Andreas, waiting for the XBOX version)... I would still buy it. And a lot of adults would still buy it. It would be stupid for stores not to sell it.
I think part of the problem is video game stores are fairly small. There really isn't room for a "back room" where an employee can make sure only adults go into, like in a bookstore or a video store. So rather than deal with the hassle of selling AO games, they just refuse to deal with it... which is stupid.
I'm 27 years old. I have a right to buy porn, to buy Grand Theft Auto, and to buy alcohol. While stores have a responsiblity to keep all of these items out of the hands of minors, them refusing to sell these items to me is just retarded.
I think your question, is Hubble obsolete, is the wrong question to ask.
Hubble IS obsolete. And will be replaced by the http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/JWST. But the JWST won't launch until August, 2011.
Hubble will die soon. So what are scientists to do from 2006 until August 2011? Although we have many world class telescopes on earth, all of them have to contend with the atmosphere, plus earth's orbit - its rotation around the sun affect which part of our sky is visible at night, and because of this annoying thing called "day", those telescopes can only be used at night, which further restrict which part of the universe can be viewed at any given moment.
I'm not insulting earth-based telescopes, but I do believe we need to keep Hubble functioning until the JWST is ready. For safety, Hubble should operate a few months after the JWST is launched, just in case the JWST has flaws that are only discovered after launch... remember Hubble's mirror flaw which required an additional flight to fix?
Since when has fucking Star Trek or Farscape been intelligent TV? They're about on par with Dr Who
Now, now... don't insult Doctor Who and Farscape by mentioning Star Trek in the same breath.
#1. There are some very good long stories. For example, listen to the audio tapes of Masterplan of the Daleks (12 episodes, 6 hours total). It has daleks, a horde of other aliens, twists and turns, not one but TWO companion's deaths... lots of fun.
Ok, so War Games, another 12 parter, got dull towards the end. But it has its moments and the overall story is interesting.
However the best stories, IMHO, are 4 parters. Logopolis. The War Machines. The Tomb of the Cybermen. Castrovalva. Remembrance of the Daleks.
45 minutes is just too short to tell a good scifi story.
#2. You're underestimating the abilities of the audience. They related fine to Tegan and her desire to return to Heathrow. They understood Susan and her dependance on her Grandfather. They related to Ace and her tormented childhood, to Leila and her barbaric ways.
The only other "bland" companion I can think of - disregarding Sara and Katarina cause they had only 1 story to express themselves in (well, Katarina had 1 1/2)... was Dodo. And Dodo was so boring that nobody picks her as "favourite companion"... heck, most people don't even remember her at all.
#3. I think this doctor is worse than #6. And that's saying a lot, especially as Colin Baker now resembles a beached whale....
I'm not so happy with the new Dr Who. I've seen the first three episodes so far, and they're okay, but...
:(
1) The stories are too short. 45 minutes for an entire Doctor who story? Most old doctor who stories had 4 or more episodes at 30 mins each - 2 hours. So you don't get a chance to introduce anything other than the bluntest and most direct story, none of the intreague or complexity of the Old Who.
2) Rose is too bland. She's like Ace, but with no nitro-nine or boombox or bat. There's nothing that really defines "her" as a person.
3) The Doctor himself is too hyped on caffine/speed. He lacks the charm and the sheer brilliance of the old Doctors. Everything is so rushed, there's no feeling of thought or design in anything he does. There's no feeling of terror or wonder (a la the 2nd doctor), no vulnerability or confusion (a la doctor #1), or grace and style (doctor #3), or wit and genius (doctor #4)... I could go on. He's just a guy whose on drugs, rushing and running his way blindly through some pre-ordaned set of hoops.
I fear for this new Who.
Ultramix and Ultramix 2.
:(
I prefer Ultramix 2. It's got better graphics, and the songs are just - well - more fun. IMHO. I love "tough enough" by vanilla ninja, and "in your eyes". Now Ultramix 1 has "shiny disco balls" which is also fun.... but not as fun as tough enough.
Buy a good pad. The cheap one that you get bundled in with it dies so fast. Mine gives phantom down and side arrows when nobody is standing on it, and sometimes the up won't register. So I have to work twice as hard to get a decent score. I really need to invest in a new pad, but only RedOctane makes a pad that works on the xbox. The best pad ever, the Cold Fusion pad, only works on the PS2.
Watch someone play Max 3000.
:)
It's one of the hardest songs to beat (10 footer), and most people end up loosing just because they can't keep up with the steps
To answer your question: the more efficent people get, the harder and more notes a song has. So even if you are super efficent, there's always a song with an insane number of steps that makes you gasp for breath.
Well, I must confess I'm trying to loose weight with DDR myself. I'm doing Ultramix 2 at the moment. 1 hour a day, 5 days a week. I'm up to getting A's on 4 feet dances, passing some 5 feets (the hardness of a song in DDR is measured in feets, 1 feet being easy, 10 being suicide). My main goal is more on getting A's than passin harder songs, as I find I get better faster by practicing my techniques.
:( Since I play on the XBOX, I can't get a cobalt flux, and I've been hearing bad things about the ignition pads and XBOX support. :(
I've had a yo-yo problem with diets for the past four years. I've lost 30 pounds, put 10 back on, lost 5, put 10 back on... now I'm at 160 (175 was my max). I really want to be 140. Actually, what I really want is to wear size 10 jeans. Currently I wear size 12's. I'm female, 5'5". Yes, I'm fat, you don't have to tell me. But at least I'm trying.
I've done many different diets. I eat healthy. I don't ever eat at McDonalds or Burger King. I eat small portions of meat, low-fat frozen yogurt, no candy or chips. I usually stay under 1500 calories a day, 2000 max when I'm being bad. But my metabolism is very slow. I can only drop weight through dieting by going down to 1200 calories a day, then I get dizzy and start fainting. I've done atkins - twice. I lost weight but couldn't keep it off. My best dieting system was the Hacker's Diet, using my palm pc to count calories.
I've had gym memberships. I hate doing cardio on the exercize bikes or on the treadmills. It's so dull. After 5 minutes I'm so bored, that I give up. You can't read while running on a treadmill, and the TV in the gym has no sound. I love to walk outside, but in Seattle, it rains most of the time so I can't walk every day. When I do walk, I walk 3 miles or more.
DDR is something I can do every day, rain or shine. My xbox and my dance pad are always waiting for me. I've been dancing for 2 weeks, and my husband has noticed how toned my legs have gotten! I haven't weighed in this week, but my jeans are getting looser and my butt is firmer. I'm also getting much better at all the jumps and fast steps on DDR. A week ago I couldn't get higher than a D on any song. Last night I got my first A on a 4 feet song, then immediately got another A on another 4 footer. Sweet.
DDR really is a workout. Your heart races, you sweat buckets. But you don't want to quit, because you were SO CLOSE to getting through that song with no Boo's. You ALMOST HAD IT - ONE MORE TRY! So you go back on and do that song again, and again, and again, because it's addictive. But at least this sort of addiction has me exercising rather than just slaying virtual dragons.
I play DDR with a big glass of water next to me. I drink all of it during my workout. I have a timer that lets me know when an hour has passed, so I don't cheat, but usually I play a few more songs after it goes off as I was SO CLOSE to beating "In your eyes", or some other song.
Anyway, I wouldn't say DDR is for everyone. But for those who are saying "go outside" - in Seattle, it's rainy and cold and windy. For those saying "it's a video game - it's not exercise", I dare you to try and get a high score without making your heart thud in your chest. You find yourself bouncing, hopping, jumping, leaping from square to square trying to get your timing just right. It's a better workout than yoga - it's as fast paced as the Step class I took once. Nearly as hard as the spinning class I did last year. And I am having lots of fun.
My only gripe is my pad is dying. It's a cheap softmat, I'm going to have to invest in an ignition pad soon.
You probably won't find it for rent.
:)
See, NAMCO only did a limited run when they made the English version of Katamari Damacy. They didn't expect it to be a hit.
Well, now the word is out, and everyone wants one. But NAMCO won't up the production rates. So it is VERY VERY hard to get ahold of it to buy - forget about renting. For example, I've asked several EBX's if they have any copies - they always say "no, but we keep trying to order some in...". Amazon is sold out, used copies sell on Ebay for 30$, when the original sold for 20$ in the stores.
My sister bought me a copy for my birthday last year. I'm so glad she did, cause now you can't get ahold of a copy of this game for love or money.
And no, I'll never sell my copy.
I disagree. It's much more than an "Average" game.
:)
I have other ball-rolling games. Most notably - and most horribly - Fusion Frenzy for the xbox. You know, the game they have to GIVE away cause nobody in their right mind would buy it.
But Katamari is the only ball rolling game that's horribly addictive. It's because I love to see the world from different perspectives, and I love the whole klep-o-mania aspect of being able to reach out and steal everything into my big ball.
The soundtrack is adorable. It's the only one nobody asks me to turn down or turn off when I play video games. I sometimes find myself whistling the "roll you up into my life" song while doing housework. The opening title, with the psychadelic mushrooms, is so happy and peaceful. In fact, there's nothing violent in this whole game... and yet it's still fun. Well, you can pick up people, but they're still alive when you do that, and don't seem to be harmed that much.
The king's dialog is hysterical. That's another big part of the charm. The king is massively high on drugs, I think, and his inane comments really perk up the game. "155 maidens! The sky will be so lovely! Still, I am far, far, prettier than them..."
I've played a good number of games this year, but usually once I finish the game, that's it. I don't play it again. With Katamari, I often pick it up for a few minutes of happy ball rolling, constantly trying to beat my old scores and unlock the eternity levels on stars 4, 8, and the moon. Or find all the presents. Or finish my collections of objects. The replay value is incredible.
I can't wait for the next version. I only wish they'd announce a date so I could get my pre-order in. I worry that NAMCO will underestimate the demand and not make enough copies... it's very hard to get a hold of the original Katamari Damacy, due to NAMCO not wanting to flood the market, so I've been unable to give copies of this game away as presents to my relatives. I just want to make sure I get my order in early so I don't have to wait.
You only rarely used the quick reverse move?
That's my main feature, I love being able to flip 180 degrees and roll the other way once I'm done with one row of objects.
Now the one thing I can't get right is dash. I just can't seem to get it to make the katamari move.... I can get it to roll fast, in the same spot, but it never seems to go anywhere.
Well, you can roll up sushi, and there's even a sushi collection when you beat the game... it's under the big tree.
I'm missing a few pieces of sushi, not sure which level I missed them on.
Another good science based magazine is New Scientist http://http//www.newscientist.com/home.ns.
It's a weekly magazine, with about 72 pages in each issue. It costs 51$ for a US subscription, they also deliver in the UK and Canada.
I get New Scientist and Scientific American. But I prefer New Scientist and will probably not be renewing my Scientific American subscription. The reason is Scientific American will devote an entire monthly issue to a single "theme". If you don't like that theme - for example, if your just not interested in Geology and the theme is on that subject, then there is nothing to read in that issue of Scientific American that is interesting.
New Scientist on the other hand, is a random sampling of "what's new" in science. For example, I'm holding the March 26th issue in my hands, and there are articles on Robotics, Liquid Intelligence, Drugs and Schizophrenia, US flu vaccines, and Zombie PCs. And other stories. There are advertisments, but not as much as in Scientific American. There's also a "hot jobs" section for employers to advertise in. I especially like the last page, which is called The Last Word, in which readers submit science oriented questions and they get answered by experts.
It's perfect bathroom reading, as the articles are short, interesting, and vary.
Rodcet Nife was one of the original servers. I'm surprised it's going to merge with Quellious and then surrender the name... so many people know "Rodcet Nife" and the big guilds that once were on Rodcet.
I don't think they're merging based on historical standing (which server is older), but rather based on existing population.
I think that's a slight mistake, in that while it's easier from a technical standpoint, Rodcet outranks Quellious in age. The new server should have been named Rodcet, IMHO.
I don't play anymore so my opinion doesn't count. I quit after PoP came out. I just got disgusted by how hard you had to work to get anywhere with all the keyed zones. I could never get key'd and got bored with the 4 zones I could go in!
I played EQ2 for 3 months, but I got sick and bored of that too. It's just a grindfest, really, and the amount of nerfing that goes on is disgusting. Things getting made worthless/unusable without warning (petrified eyes), the stupid timesinks and camping required for some quests (the guise of the deciever quest, for example), items being removed from the game or made ultra rare which were KEY items for the high end content (robe of the invoker).... it seemed like I was paying a fee to get screwed over cause I could not dedicate enough time to get all the "uber" stuff before it got nerfed.
Bad SOE. No more monthly fees for me.
Heh, I already found a geek of my own to love. :)
The only problem is sharing the XBOX. So far, I'm winning this war by getting home first and loading up The Sith Lords before he can put in Halo 2... but it's a close call.
I probably should have married a non-gamer, as we're going to have words next week when Midnight Club 3 comes out so close to the next Spliter Cell....
I'm a PS fan, but these are not the games I'd buy.
I'm a female gamer, and I prefer games with stories, games with plots and twists. I loath straight out racing games and "sports" games. I don't like fighter games either - too much boring button mashing. I like games that make me think, games that rely on figuring out solutions rather than memorizing "super combos" or memorizing a track.
Plus, the price of the system is a bit high for merely a portable system!
That being said, I would've bought it had it only had Katamari Damacy on it! The ability to roll stuff up while on the bus, or at work.... mmmm. Rolling.
Other PS games I would've paid for - and bought it for - any Final Fantasy game, including FF strategies and other older ones... any Silent Hill game... any Grand Theft Auto, or Prince of Persia (1 or 2).
My mum's a java/C++ programmer who works on unix for the department of energy - highly respected in her field.
I'm a C++/multimedia programmer who works mostly on windows.
I have no children, but hope someday to continue the line of women geek programmers.
When I graduated from college - I majored in CS - we had 6 women out of 300 graduates. Then during the IT boom, the numbers seemed to go up - women, as well as men - were attracted by the "promise" of easy money.
Then the dot com bubble burst, and there isn't "easy money" anymore, so the numbers have gone down - back to about where they were before the dot com boom.
I believe that society does not tend to create as many geek women as they do geek men. I'm an exception rather than a trend. I learned to pull the power plug out of vt100 terminals to get my mother to pay attention to me. I helped my dad build our first computer - an 086 - from scratch when I was 8. I played adventure with my mother at 9, and together we charted the maze of twisty passages. I installed Linux at age 14. Had my own web server running in my bedroom by the time I went to college.
But most women aren't given the resources and encouragement I was. I was given free reign of the home computers. I was told at one point that anything I could do to the computers COULD be fixed. So when I corrupted windows at age 10 through experimentation, I was not punished, which allowed me to continue to view computers as learning experiences rather than "Scary machines".
My father had no sons. He loved to teach me "boy things" like tools and cars and computers, because there was no one else to teach it to. Had I a brother, I probably would not have been allowed to convert the spare computer into a linux box. Had my mother not been a mathematician and a programmer, I probably would not have been taught QBASIC when I was 9 - and then given a set of BASIC books and left to my own devices.
Most girls are taught to concentrate on other things. Clothes. TV. Boys. Art. Makeup. I am horrid at wearing makeup. My fashion is incredibly boring. I was never a "popular" girl. Most of the time I got treated as one of the geek guys, because I could program as well as any of them.
Which brings me back to my original point. There are only so many girls raised with the encouragement and inclination to become geeks. There are many more boys who are given the tools and resources and society pressure to become geeks. Therefore, boy geeks will continue to outnumber girl geeks.
The increase in girls in CS in the past few years was mearly an echo of the promise of "Easy money" of the dot comm boom, and now that it is gone, only those who do it because they love to do it remain.
Sincerely, A Girl Geek.
Choicepoint - and their competitors such as TransUnion, have become unrelegated "authorities" on people's personal data for far too long. A leak like this was inevitable. Honestly, I think our data has leaked before, but because only California has a (recently made) law dictating that victims must be told of such losses, nobody was informed when it happened in the past.
I'm not normally a "Big brother is watching you" kind of girl, but the amount of power these companies have over our lives - the ability to deny us life, home, and auto insurance, to get a home or auto loan, to even get a job! - is insane. Especially when you try to correct inaccurate information and they refuse to accept it! For example, I don't rent, I own my own house. But for years I've tried to correct that - and my status, which is married, not single - and have had them tell me flat out that THEIR data is correct and I must be dreaming about my husband & house...