Video Game Violence, and media violence in general, are more than proven to increase aggression. This is not an area of "mixed results" any more than any other group of studies--there are always outliers. It's as conclusive as wifi and cell phone signals not causing cancer or being responsible for "electrosensitivity". Probably more so, since media violence has had over 40 years of research, whereas EMF health studies are relatively recent.
He also has some very pointed words about the massive overuse of the phrase "Correlation is not causation".
If you still think he has an agenda, then read this:
Media violence is only one of many factors that contribute to societal violence and is certainly not the most important one. Media violence researchers have repeatedly noted this. (Emphisis mine)
In other words, if your goal is to reduce violence in society at large, media violence, including video games, are not where you should be focusing your efforts. These studies in no way justify going to huge lengths to censor such violence. They justify parents being more attentive. Inattentive parents in various forms are probably a bigger factor in overall societal violence than any specific media violence.
Nobody made significant plants to human-rate an EELV until fairly recently, and those plans are still barely more than a feasibility study. Falcon 9 was intended to carry a crew module from day 1.
I agree that it's an antiquated style, but SQL is an antiquated language that we seem to be stuck with. Plans to migrate away from SQL are welcome. I expect to see ubiquitous IPv6 usage before that happens.
So let's say you were a lawyer for MySQL/Sun/Oracle/whoever owns it now, and you were told to prosecute a case involving the company's supposed copyright on the protocol. The argument on the defense involves many of the case laws cited in this thread (printer cartridge case, header files, etc.)
On hearing those arguments from the defense, are you just going to roll over and take it? Or are you going to find an obscure piece of case law from the 1950s involving a local dispute involving a bizzare combination of sheep, a telephone poll, and a WWI-vintage howitzer that actually manages to win your case?
Until that case actually happens, it's all just a guess. Ask 10 lawyers on this subject, and they'll give you 10 different reasons for one way or the other (a few of which won't be immediately obvious).
I don't want protocols to be copyrightable, but I'm not going to assume they're not until I hear of a direct ruling on the matter.
Heck SQLite is better for many applications than MySQL.
I used to believe that, but not anymore. SQLite is OK when you have just one update going at one time. Yeah, there are applications where that will work fine, but they're fewer than you might think.
SQLite's method of locking is to get an advisory lock on the whole file (so no using it over NFS). If it can't get a lock due to another update running, it waits 30 seconds and tries again. If it still can't get it, it fails. That just won't do for much more than a handful of processes running at once.
MySQL is not so bad anymore, and once it's setup, it's not much harder to keep going compared to SQLite, so you might as well use it.
Counter-rant: I usually do it the way the GP does, in that SQL keywords are uppercase, while user-created stuff (columns, table names, etc.) are lowercase. The idea is to naturally draw your eye to certain parts of the statement.
That's an interesting statement. Usually it's the one making assertions that needs to back up their info with facts, not the one asking for clarification.
I can see plenty of reasons why protocols shouldn't be copyrightable. I can see plenty of reason why "Method and system for placing a purchase order via a communications network" shouldn't be a patentable invention, but it technically still is. I'm looking for a direct court case ruling on this sort of thing. Until that happens, it's all just armchair lawyering, even if it's done by actual lawyers.
Plus, you can't use wireless for streaming HD video. You'll be able to put your media box next to the TV and throw 100MB/s at it from the grunty box down in the basement / server room.
Hrm? Blu-ray discs have a maximum bit rate of 54 Mbit/s, and the audio/video bitrate max is 48 Mbit/s. 802.11g can theoretically do that, and N definitely can. Of course, actual throughput can be quite a bit lower, but those are absolute maximums--real movies are usually quite a bit lower, and HD-DVD didn't even get that high.
On a 2000 calorie / day diet, a person eats 2000 * 365 = 730,000 calories / year
Production of just those 4 states can therefore feed a population of about 1.2 billion people. Of course, you'll be nutrient deficient on a corn-only diet, but hopefully the rest of the planet can pick up the slack for that and the remaining 5.3 billion people. And it's not like those states are only corn producers, anyway.
If production isn't the underling problem, then we need to look elsewhere or else we'll accomplish nothing in solving the problem. One of the prime places to look is how the food often gets stopped in harbor because the right palms aren't being greased, or how local warlords hijack shipments and use food as a weapon.
For certain, corn ethanol was never going to cover even 10% of US energy needs. But the hunger argument isn't a very good one.
Yup, he attached a wheel to the front that counter-rotates with the main front wheel. The bike was still perfectly ridable.
A peddle bike rolled along by itself might have enough angular momentum from the wheels to keep it steady as long as it's moving, but with a rider, the amount of weight far exceeds gyroscopic effects.
I like to complain about people who complain about every little detail not being quite right. I even think "Han Shot First" is ultimately a trivial detail (though the statement encapsulates a lot of frustration about latter-day Star Wars in general).
But the I, Robot movie? No way. That had only a thin veil of what Asimov wrote, covering up a run of the mill action script with Will Smith acting like Will Smith. You start with the fact that Asimov was specifically trying to get away from yet another robot uprising story, which had already become a cliche in the 1940s, and it only delves away from there.
I haven't read the book personally, but the movie version of The Prestige is supposed to be better than the book. Apparently it had a bunch of stuff that the author wish he had thought of.
Why do people worry about the description of hair color being right? Or Peter Parker being bitten by a genetically engineered spider instead of a radioactive one? Or that the Prince of Persia is wearing the Warrior Within outfit during the Sands of Time setting? Or a thousand other details that mean smeg all to the overall outline of the setting and plot of any adaptation of anything?
Also, why do I spend so much of my time complaining about people complaining on the Internet?
"Popular"? Lynch distanced himself from the film, the critics hated it, and it was a box office failure. It was a 6 hour movie compressed into 2 hours, and had "weirding modules" in a clumsy and unnecessary attempt to put technology in the place of the more mystical aspects of the story. It went too deep without explanation for those who didn't read the books, and was too shallow for those who had.
I think you're vastly overstating the popularity of that version. It's completely forgettable.
If the directors aren't allowed a LotR-level timescale, the best they can hope for is remaking the Lynch version. 6 hours, minimum, and yes, you will still have to cut stuff out at that length.
Also, Alec Newman should be run straight out of Hollywood. If his whiny, young Luke Skywalkerish version of Paul didn't convince you, his appearance on Enterprise should have.
A good GPU can make battery life last longer. You might be better off using a full 3D API for any game, even if you're just going to make a 2D platformer or an Asteroids clone. Mobile GPUs are really good these days; no, they're not going to run Crysis, but even the Nintendo DS can handle Nintendo 64-level graphics just fine.
Rare earth elements aren't actually that rare, and many are quite abundant. It's just one of those holdover terms, like using "atom" for describing something that isn't indivisible.
Slashdot Mirror
It's only an "agenda" in the sense that it has a viewpoint you disagree with.
Here's an article done a while back by the same psychologist as the study done in the OP: http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2003/10/anderson.aspx. To summerize:
Video Game Violence, and media violence in general, are more than proven to increase aggression. This is not an area of "mixed results" any more than any other group of studies--there are always outliers. It's as conclusive as wifi and cell phone signals not causing cancer or being responsible for "electrosensitivity". Probably more so, since media violence has had over 40 years of research, whereas EMF health studies are relatively recent.
He also has some very pointed words about the massive overuse of the phrase "Correlation is not causation".
If you still think he has an agenda, then read this:
Media violence is only one of many factors that contribute to societal violence and is certainly not the most important one. Media violence researchers have repeatedly noted this. (Emphisis mine)
In other words, if your goal is to reduce violence in society at large, media violence, including video games, are not where you should be focusing your efforts. These studies in no way justify going to huge lengths to censor such violence. They justify parents being more attentive. Inattentive parents in various forms are probably a bigger factor in overall societal violence than any specific media violence.
Yeah, total slashvertisement. It reads just like those "Acai Berry EXPOSED" ads that are just so awesome.
Nobody made significant plants to human-rate an EELV until fairly recently, and those plans are still barely more than a feasibility study. Falcon 9 was intended to carry a crew module from day 1.
I agree that it's an antiquated style, but SQL is an antiquated language that we seem to be stuck with. Plans to migrate away from SQL are welcome. I expect to see ubiquitous IPv6 usage before that happens.
So let's say you were a lawyer for MySQL/Sun/Oracle/whoever owns it now, and you were told to prosecute a case involving the company's supposed copyright on the protocol. The argument on the defense involves many of the case laws cited in this thread (printer cartridge case, header files, etc.)
On hearing those arguments from the defense, are you just going to roll over and take it? Or are you going to find an obscure piece of case law from the 1950s involving a local dispute involving a bizzare combination of sheep, a telephone poll, and a WWI-vintage howitzer that actually manages to win your case?
Until that case actually happens, it's all just a guess. Ask 10 lawyers on this subject, and they'll give you 10 different reasons for one way or the other (a few of which won't be immediately obvious).
I don't want protocols to be copyrightable, but I'm not going to assume they're not until I hear of a direct ruling on the matter.
Heck SQLite is better for many applications than MySQL.
I used to believe that, but not anymore. SQLite is OK when you have just one update going at one time. Yeah, there are applications where that will work fine, but they're fewer than you might think.
SQLite's method of locking is to get an advisory lock on the whole file (so no using it over NFS). If it can't get a lock due to another update running, it waits 30 seconds and tries again. If it still can't get it, it fails. That just won't do for much more than a handful of processes running at once.
MySQL is not so bad anymore, and once it's setup, it's not much harder to keep going compared to SQLite, so you might as well use it.
Counter-rant: I usually do it the way the GP does, in that SQL keywords are uppercase, while user-created stuff (columns, table names, etc.) are lowercase. The idea is to naturally draw your eye to certain parts of the statement.
You're the one who needs to provide the citation.
That's an interesting statement. Usually it's the one making assertions that needs to back up their info with facts, not the one asking for clarification.
I can see plenty of reasons why protocols shouldn't be copyrightable. I can see plenty of reason why "Method and system for placing a purchase order via a communications network" shouldn't be a patentable invention, but it technically still is. I'm looking for a direct court case ruling on this sort of thing. Until that happens, it's all just armchair lawyering, even if it's done by actual lawyers.
Protocols cannot be copyrighted and therefore cannot fall under the GPL.
[citation needed]
Plus, you can't use wireless for streaming HD video. You'll be able to put your media box next to the TV and throw 100MB/s at it from the grunty box down in the basement / server room.
Hrm? Blu-ray discs have a maximum bit rate of 54 Mbit/s, and the audio/video bitrate max is 48 Mbit/s. 802.11g can theoretically do that, and N definitely can. Of course, actual throughput can be quite a bit lower, but those are absolute maximums--real movies are usually quite a bit lower, and HD-DVD didn't even get that high.
What is this "top" you're talking about? Would that be the side that isn't the enemy's gate?
I'd propose "give us the speeds taxpayers paid for in the '90s, but was used to consolidate the industry instead".
Barring that (since that money is just gone), I'd settle for more competition so that "market forces" isn't a laughable idea in the telecom industry.
I'd love to see Al Gore go away, just so I could find out who deniers would hold up as a strawman in his place.
There is a fallacy hidden in there: that world hunger is due to not producing enough food.
Here's the production of the top four biggest US corn producing states, as of 2006, in thousands of bushels:
Total: 6,773,050 thousand bushels
A blog comment cites 134,400 calories per bushel (couldn't find a better source for this). So the total calories produce from all the corn above is:
6,773,050 * 1000 * 134,400 = 910,298,592,000,000 calories
On a 2000 calorie / day diet, a person eats 2000 * 365 = 730,000 calories / year
Production of just those 4 states can therefore feed a population of about 1.2 billion people. Of course, you'll be nutrient deficient on a corn-only diet, but hopefully the rest of the planet can pick up the slack for that and the remaining 5.3 billion people. And it's not like those states are only corn producers, anyway.
If production isn't the underling problem, then we need to look elsewhere or else we'll accomplish nothing in solving the problem. One of the prime places to look is how the food often gets stopped in harbor because the right palms aren't being greased, or how local warlords hijack shipments and use food as a weapon.
For certain, corn ethanol was never going to cover even 10% of US energy needs. But the hunger argument isn't a very good one.
Yup, he attached a wheel to the front that counter-rotates with the main front wheel. The bike was still perfectly ridable.
A peddle bike rolled along by itself might have enough angular momentum from the wheels to keep it steady as long as it's moving, but with a rider, the amount of weight far exceeds gyroscopic effects.
I like to complain about people who complain about every little detail not being quite right. I even think "Han Shot First" is ultimately a trivial detail (though the statement encapsulates a lot of frustration about latter-day Star Wars in general).
But the I, Robot movie? No way. That had only a thin veil of what Asimov wrote, covering up a run of the mill action script with Will Smith acting like Will Smith. You start with the fact that Asimov was specifically trying to get away from yet another robot uprising story, which had already become a cliche in the 1940s, and it only delves away from there.
By the sounds of it, the original script would have made a nice little indy film. I want to watch that movie.
"Your donation of only $2 a day could help this African village purchase a mosquito defense laser . . . "
I haven't read the book personally, but the movie version of The Prestige is supposed to be better than the book. Apparently it had a bunch of stuff that the author wish he had thought of.
Why do people worry about the description of hair color being right? Or Peter Parker being bitten by a genetically engineered spider instead of a radioactive one? Or that the Prince of Persia is wearing the Warrior Within outfit during the Sands of Time setting? Or a thousand other details that mean smeg all to the overall outline of the setting and plot of any adaptation of anything?
Also, why do I spend so much of my time complaining about people complaining on the Internet?
"Popular"? Lynch distanced himself from the film, the critics hated it, and it was a box office failure. It was a 6 hour movie compressed into 2 hours, and had "weirding modules" in a clumsy and unnecessary attempt to put technology in the place of the more mystical aspects of the story. It went too deep without explanation for those who didn't read the books, and was too shallow for those who had.
I think you're vastly overstating the popularity of that version. It's completely forgettable.
If the directors aren't allowed a LotR-level timescale, the best they can hope for is remaking the Lynch version. 6 hours, minimum, and yes, you will still have to cut stuff out at that length.
Also, Alec Newman should be run straight out of Hollywood. If his whiny, young Luke Skywalkerish version of Paul didn't convince you, his appearance on Enterprise should have.
Turning over a government-run system to private business? How socialist can you get!
A good GPU can make battery life last longer. You might be better off using a full 3D API for any game, even if you're just going to make a 2D platformer or an Asteroids clone. Mobile GPUs are really good these days; no, they're not going to run Crysis, but even the Nintendo DS can handle Nintendo 64-level graphics just fine.
Rare earth elements aren't actually that rare, and many are quite abundant. It's just one of those holdover terms, like using "atom" for describing something that isn't indivisible.