Well first they are. And at least according to the article he wants both movie and video game to be federally enforced. Which is odd since he previously railed that the ESRB ratings were a joke, but not so odd since it is Jack Thompson. I wouldn't be so sad if there weren't so many comments on the linked news article that essentially say there is a connection between violent media and violent actions. The sad part is he is getting through to some people.
For my parents' generation:
They got free time in high school if they were well behaved and interested to play with this kind of stuff. Maybe they didn't go at this level but it was available.
My generation:
For us we didn't get that level of freedom till senior level courses in college, and that was obviously slipping towards graduate courses.
Otherwise it is really up to the kids on their own or with their parents help to pursue hands-on learning. Of course, I don't blame any school offical for being extra-careful when everyone has a lawyer at their hip.
I'd say it is bigger than just video games. The type of thinking he is attacking has existed in one form or another for many, many years. He even mentions it in the article. Somewhere I read them called social demons, they are essentially scapegoats for society to blame abnormal behavior on. So long as we set up our collective social demons, whether it be videogames or rap music or whatever, we revert to an unscientific approach of fearmongering rather than a scientific discovery of the root causes of social ills. It is made even worse when someone makes a psuedoscientific claim that is obviously flawed to those who regularly do science but sounds "scientific and factual" to the general public. This article is about the abuse of science to shape the social consciousness. Most certainly "News for Nerds" and "Stuff that Matters."
If all of humanity were living like the Amish then we would have huge footprints from just the waste animals produce during their labor not to mention that we would need to destroy even more natural land for farms because of our reduced effeciency. I'm not sure if I'm arguing for or undermining your argument...
The whole nuclear argument is the same as fear of flying. I forget the exact speed but somewhere around interstate speeds, your chances of surviving an auto accident plummet. Yeah if the plane comes down you will probably die, but when you take into account the likelyhood it is pretty slim. Sure if everything goes wrong with a nuclear plant then things are really bad, but they are operated under the strictest of rules, and have extra safeguards to protect us. Everyday the rest of our power hurts us or the environment but it is an everyday thing so it isn't "newsworthy" just like a car accident isn't "newsworthy."
So your conjecture is that you would rather slip all game release dates to the right for some additional testing and rely solely on the company's internal test/beta release to catch all the errors?
It possibly makes developers lazy or more likely causes the management to shift the schedule left with a lower cost to the company than they would have otherwise. It also means that the defects their test cases miss are able to get fixed. While if they had time, they would catch more defects that is not to say they would catch that defect which keeps you from finishing the game. Without patches you would be SOL in that case.
Of course I do but that doesn't mean that everyone is as careful as me and that the mortgage company would treat me as if I owed them less than the full amount until I proved otherwise if they lost ALL their records.
The more important question for me is if my mortgage gets erased do the records that I'm at least part owner of the property get erased or does the company just get the deed to my home? Well it was mortgaged, but we don't have the records anymore we'll just assume you owe the full purchase value of the property until you can prove otherwise.
We've been slowly replacing over the past 4 years. One of my first purchases was a 3-way but it has really been the only one that I've lost from burning out. I've lost a couple to knocking-over the lamp.
Except I've already switched most of my house to bulbs that last longer than incandescents. Maybe the flourescents will start burning out by the time I can get some good cheap LED bulbs.
I didn't mean the teacher didn't have to understand the material. They just don't have to be an expert or even have that area as their principle field of study. If a school cannot match expertise with course assignments, it is incredibly vital that they have special oversight to make sure the material is being conveyed accurately. There isn't any excuse for the teacher teaching things wrong. At least where I live, it is incredibly difficult to match a teacher's expertise with their course because there is little incentive to be a teacher.
I misread your post and got the mental image of waking up, preparing for work, going to the garage and finding my car has wandered off in search of fuel because it "got hungry."
While it would be a great thing for teachers to be an expert in the field they are teaching, I personally prefer teachers who are experts at passing information. A good teacher can make do with understanding little more than the material they are currently teaching, because they can pass along the information correctly and understandably and are humble enough to go find the answers to questions they can't answer from their own knowledge. I've been in the classes of many experts and it was quite clear they were experts but they were incapable of passing along that information in an understandable manner. I've been in other classes where the students would ask questions that were far afield of the teacher's area of expertise and the teacher be able to skillfully deal with those questions.
Except for when I don't use VoIP but half my neighbors do, and I get less connection than my neighbors for the same price just because the company doesn't have the infrastracture to handle what they sold me.
Exactly. Now where did I put that book that contains all the important stuff that happened today in my town that was delivered to my living room for free?
A shocking number of people (especially among the demographic that will be most affected by the transition) get their information from the archaic information delivery device. Most people in other income/age brackets have shifted those boxes into entirely entertainment devices.
Slashdot Mirror
Well first they are. And at least according to the article he wants both movie and video game to be federally enforced. Which is odd since he previously railed that the ESRB ratings were a joke, but not so odd since it is Jack Thompson. I wouldn't be so sad if there weren't so many comments on the linked news article that essentially say there is a connection between violent media and violent actions. The sad part is he is getting through to some people.
For my parents' generation:
They got free time in high school if they were well behaved and interested to play with this kind of stuff. Maybe they didn't go at this level but it was available. My generation: For us we didn't get that level of freedom till senior level courses in college, and that was obviously slipping towards graduate courses. Otherwise it is really up to the kids on their own or with their parents help to pursue hands-on learning. Of course, I don't blame any school offical for being extra-careful when everyone has a lawyer at their hip.
I'd say it is bigger than just video games. The type of thinking he is attacking has existed in one form or another for many, many years. He even mentions it in the article. Somewhere I read them called social demons, they are essentially scapegoats for society to blame abnormal behavior on. So long as we set up our collective social demons, whether it be videogames or rap music or whatever, we revert to an unscientific approach of fearmongering rather than a scientific discovery of the root causes of social ills. It is made even worse when someone makes a psuedoscientific claim that is obviously flawed to those who regularly do science but sounds "scientific and factual" to the general public. This article is about the abuse of science to shape the social consciousness. Most certainly "News for Nerds" and "Stuff that Matters."
As scary to the government as it could be, wire mesh will never be outlawed where I live...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_wire
Ooops...
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/security/8cdd/
I really do need another cup of coffee before I can print out my TPS report.
Doesn't matter that no one else gets to work on time as long as I do...
I don't know about that, all my emails from Nigeria seem to be pretty good English. Probably better than mine most of the time.
I don't know. Somehow I think Chinese might edge out spanish... http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/worldlang.htm Unless you think the Chinese won't vote.
If all of humanity were living like the Amish then we would have huge footprints from just the waste animals produce during their labor not to mention that we would need to destroy even more natural land for farms because of our reduced effeciency. I'm not sure if I'm arguing for or undermining your argument...
The whole nuclear argument is the same as fear of flying. I forget the exact speed but somewhere around interstate speeds, your chances of surviving an auto accident plummet. Yeah if the plane comes down you will probably die, but when you take into account the likelyhood it is pretty slim. Sure if everything goes wrong with a nuclear plant then things are really bad, but they are operated under the strictest of rules, and have extra safeguards to protect us. Everyday the rest of our power hurts us or the environment but it is an everyday thing so it isn't "newsworthy" just like a car accident isn't "newsworthy."
So your conjecture is that you would rather slip all game release dates to the right for some additional testing and rely solely on the company's internal test/beta release to catch all the errors?
It possibly makes developers lazy or more likely causes the management to shift the schedule left with a lower cost to the company than they would have otherwise. It also means that the defects their test cases miss are able to get fixed. While if they had time, they would catch more defects that is not to say they would catch that defect which keeps you from finishing the game. Without patches you would be SOL in that case.
Of course I do but that doesn't mean that everyone is as careful as me and that the mortgage company would treat me as if I owed them less than the full amount until I proved otherwise if they lost ALL their records.
The more important question for me is if my mortgage gets erased do the records that I'm at least part owner of the property get erased or does the company just get the deed to my home? Well it was mortgaged, but we don't have the records anymore we'll just assume you owe the full purchase value of the property until you can prove otherwise.
We've been slowly replacing over the past 4 years. One of my first purchases was a 3-way but it has really been the only one that I've lost from burning out. I've lost a couple to knocking-over the lamp.
Except I've already switched most of my house to bulbs that last longer than incandescents. Maybe the flourescents will start burning out by the time I can get some good cheap LED bulbs.
I didn't mean the teacher didn't have to understand the material. They just don't have to be an expert or even have that area as their principle field of study. If a school cannot match expertise with course assignments, it is incredibly vital that they have special oversight to make sure the material is being conveyed accurately. There isn't any excuse for the teacher teaching things wrong. At least where I live, it is incredibly difficult to match a teacher's expertise with their course because there is little incentive to be a teacher.
I misread your post and got the mental image of waking up, preparing for work, going to the garage and finding my car has wandered off in search of fuel because it "got hungry."
While it would be a great thing for teachers to be an expert in the field they are teaching, I personally prefer teachers who are experts at passing information. A good teacher can make do with understanding little more than the material they are currently teaching, because they can pass along the information correctly and understandably and are humble enough to go find the answers to questions they can't answer from their own knowledge. I've been in the classes of many experts and it was quite clear they were experts but they were incapable of passing along that information in an understandable manner. I've been in other classes where the students would ask questions that were far afield of the teacher's area of expertise and the teacher be able to skillfully deal with those questions.
Except for when I don't use VoIP but half my neighbors do, and I get less connection than my neighbors for the same price just because the company doesn't have the infrastracture to handle what they sold me.
I knew that had to be good for something. Otherwise why would we have them?
Interesting. I wouldn't have expected my Grandmother to be prepared but then again on further thought that demographic probably has more help too.
Exactly. Now where did I put that book that contains all the important stuff that happened today in my town that was delivered to my living room for free?
A shocking number of people (especially among the demographic that will be most affected by the transition) get their information from the archaic information delivery device. Most people in other income/age brackets have shifted those boxes into entirely entertainment devices.
Don't know what planet you live it on, but it seems pretty dangerously violent and backwards without having personally been shot at.
More importantly we have proof that PC gaming is NOT dead. Hear that /., PC gaming is not dead. //end flamebait