Indeed. The point was brought up that all evil empires and evil dictators need some kind of justification for what they are doing.
Hitler murdered to give the 'superior' German people more 'living room.'
Stalin did it to quell 'dissidents and counter-revolutionaries' trying to bring down the government.
The Spanish Inquisition punished those heretics and heathens who would dare blaspheme against the holy word of God himself.
They all sincerely believed in what they were doing. It's hard to admit, even to oneself, that one is evil, and continue on one's way. It's odd, somehow.
Microsoft plays dirty because 'Bill Gates is the light, Bill Gates is the way, He walks on water, and We'll do as he says!' They do, as you said, truly believe this.
And that's the way it is. On the other hand, just because they believe that they're doing something for the right reasons, doesn't mean that those reasons are right.
Which really isn't impossible. It's already being done. Witness something like System Shock 2 (which I recently started playing and have to say is just EXCELLENT):
As long as you have a basic first-person-shooter background (if you don't, you wouldn't be able to handle SS2 anyhow), everything is fairly self-explanatory in terms of key mappings.
The game provides 3 mini-tutorials to guide you through the interface, much like other excellent games a la Thief and 1/2life did, and there are 'explanations' on the walls at points where you need a new explanation.
All added to the in-game 'PDA' so that you can refer back to them at any time. IMHO, this method actually increased the atmosphere and scariness of the game -- having to lower my head to find out exactly what the 'BrawnBoost' Implant does kinda reminds me that them scary monsters ain't real. And that's not something I need to know when I'm enjoying getting the shit scared out of me!:-)
The idea of loadbalancing in a transfer protocol is kind of cool.
For Windoze download managers like Getright, it knows about mirrors to popular sites (like C|Net), and will automagically do the thing where it pings, checks download speed, and then breaks off whatever server it's downloading from at the moment, and resumes on the faster one, etc. until all servers are checked.
It seems that it would not be all that difficult to just extend the anchor tag, and let the web page designer specify multiple links to the same thing. It would then be up to the HTTP client/browser to actually go forth and load balance.
Add that the need to do this for lotsa and lotsa packets from users all over the world, and, well? Plus I don't see how this is technologically feasible. With tunneling, and things like non-symmetric encryption, how/are/ they going to know what I'm sending?
There are gray areas to almost everything, but the sanctity of human life should be an overarching consideration in anything you do.
Your views. Some of us don't give a shit about our own lives, and don't tend to value the lives of others much either. In the end, the statement 'Human life is valuable, and should be valued' is just as much an opinion as 'Natalie Portman is the hottest girl ever.' and carries about as much weight without further proof and justification.
Java: more prefabed objects to use. Having the STL is of no use to a beginning programmer. Iterators? Containers? 'Concepts?' WTF??? The beginning programmer wants to be able to use classes like GregorianCalendar and Graphics, and do useful things. Teaching doubly linked lists with a sentinel is not the way to go in any language.
Java is better in this regard, because the prefabbed objects make it easier to build useful stuff earlier on, and thus starts the postive feedback loop earlier as a result. Same goes for Perl. But C++? Ick!
Any attempts to create languages which shield programmers from the machine inevitibly limit functionality, thereby castrating the coder.
True to an extent. However, this applies mainly to systems programming, which AFAIK is still done less often than applications programming. Java, as an example, is obviously an applications programming language, which is why it has definitions for the size of all the basic types, and many other standardizations that tend to "insulate" the user from the machine. Sure, you take a performance hit, but your programs are more portable, and you spend less time worriying about details. Obviously, the same goes for garbage collection.
In terms of shielding the user, anything above typing in hex codes into a hex editor is probably considered "shielding." It all depends on what level you're talking about.
As stupid as this sounds, not having windows support that's readily available in the form of a downloadable binary is a big blow to the language. (actually, last I checked a while back, not even the source was officially supported... I haven't tried compiling with Cygwin / GCC.)
Sure, we're talking about the OS from hell created by Satan himself here, but since it's widely used, not supporting it well bites ya.
I actually remember seeing a really light-weight "ring-mouse" a while back, that did exactly what it sounds like. Was black, admittedly slightly bulky, but still really cool(tm).
I don't know of their website, though. 'sides, I think it was an advertisement in Byte or somesuch. Anyone seen this?
Since just about everything else I like has been mentioned here, I'll just plug Sakura wars a bit:
Sure, it's a video game conversion, but it's *a lot* better than stuff like Tekken: the movie, and Sonic: the movie. It actually has a plot, and really good opening music! ^_^
To summarize, it is/has: touch of Tenchi syndrome, some mecha fighting, theatrical productions!
Go watch! It's actually good.
On the side, Those Who Hunt Elves looks really good too.
Re:Powerpuff Girls...the only anime worth watching
on
Essential Anime
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· Score: 1
Parody: Slayers does parody quite well, actually, but in a more subtle form, that's all.
It has everything from Gainax bounce, to bad-tempered protagonists, to insanely powerful demons that like to play games, to people whose appetites are directly responsible for world famine!
What more could ya want?;)
Re:Well, I'll tell you what _not_ to watch.
on
Essential Anime
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· Score: 1
And on the thread of poorly drawn, poorly [translated], this is a warning to stay the hell away from the Mixxzine translations of SailorMoon, especially if you've been watching the fansubs, and not the Cartoon Network versions. You _will_ be offended at the atrocity of the translation, which is bad, even by normal commerical dub/sub standards:
since when did Mixx start hiring people who speak exclusively Swahili and Esperanto to translate Japanese manga to English anyway?!!???!!
Re:You just don't understand...
on
Essential Anime
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· Score: 1
Lain: for the people who think they truly grok Evangelion. (a scientific impossibility, really, for anyone, including it's author).
The End of Evangelion movie, in my books, _the_ best movie ever made, bar none, anime or no anime. Some would call it, yet again, a glorified action-flick alternate ending as compared with the original episode 25 and 26, but it really is just so much more.
Not exactly the happiest movie that I've ever seen, and it certainly created about as many new confusing points as it clarified, but it really is, in many ways, Evangelion in its most concentrated form.
Taking a step back, we can also see that the entire series was heavily researched in terms of all the points that it tries to cover: adolescence, religion, philosophy, psychology, God, etc. While not exactly orthodox in any of its applications of the above, the work that they put in is obvious, and makes for a series that you come back to, time and time again.
This seems to go right along with Gabe's "Gentlemen, I am about to IPO my wang... wait, where are you going? it has _great_ growth potential!" on Penny-Arcade!;-P
Slashdot Mirror
Indeed. The point was brought up that all evil empires and evil dictators need some kind of justification for what they are doing.
Hitler murdered to give the 'superior' German people more 'living room.'
Stalin did it to quell 'dissidents and counter-revolutionaries' trying to bring down the government.
The Spanish Inquisition punished those heretics and heathens who would dare blaspheme against the holy word of God himself.
They all sincerely believed in what they were doing. It's hard to admit, even to oneself, that one is evil, and continue on one's way. It's odd, somehow.
Microsoft plays dirty because 'Bill Gates is the light, Bill Gates is the way, He walks on water, and We'll do as he says!' They do, as you said, truly believe this.
And that's the way it is. On the other hand, just because they believe that they're doing something for the right reasons, doesn't mean that those reasons are right.
Which really isn't impossible. It's already being done. Witness something like System Shock 2 (which I recently started playing and have to say is just EXCELLENT):
:-)
As long as you have a basic first-person-shooter background (if you don't, you wouldn't be able to handle SS2 anyhow), everything is fairly self-explanatory in terms of key mappings.
The game provides 3 mini-tutorials to guide you through the interface, much like other excellent games a la Thief and 1/2life did, and there are 'explanations' on the walls at points where you need a new explanation.
All added to the in-game 'PDA' so that you can refer back to them at any time. IMHO, this method actually increased the atmosphere and scariness of the game -- having to lower my head to find out exactly what the 'BrawnBoost' Implant does kinda reminds me that them scary monsters ain't real. And that's not something I need to know when I'm enjoying getting the shit scared out of me!
Heh. I'm personally waiting for the Super Pro Turbo Pentium Hyper Alpha Tournament Winner's Platinum Edition. :-)
Mmm, Hexium. The chip that curses your system. Oh wait ...
Damn it, the Pentium does that just fine already!
FOOF!
The idea of loadbalancing in a transfer protocol is kind of cool.
For Windoze download managers like Getright, it knows about mirrors to popular sites (like C|Net), and will automagically do the thing where it pings, checks download speed, and then breaks off whatever server it's downloading from at the moment, and resumes on the faster one, etc. until all servers are checked.
It seems that it would not be all that difficult to just extend the anchor tag, and let the web page designer specify multiple links to the same thing. It would then be up to the HTTP client/browser to actually go forth and load balance.
Add that the need to do this for lotsa and lotsa packets from users all over the world, and, well? Plus I don't see how this is technologically feasible. With tunneling, and things like non-symmetric encryption, how /are/ they going to know what I'm sending?
There are gray areas to almost everything, but the sanctity of human life should be an overarching consideration in anything you do.
Your views. Some of us don't give a shit about our own lives, and don't tend to value the lives of others much either. In the end, the statement 'Human life is valuable, and should be valued' is just as much an opinion as 'Natalie Portman is the hottest girl ever.' and carries about as much weight without further proof and justification.
Okay then, let's see you draw a line or make a set of rules 'with regard to the circumstances,' and then justify them.
Java: more prefabed objects to use. Having the STL is of no use to a beginning programmer. Iterators? Containers? 'Concepts?' WTF??? The beginning programmer wants to be able to use classes like GregorianCalendar and Graphics, and do useful things. Teaching doubly linked lists with a sentinel is not the way to go in any language.
Java is better in this regard, because the prefabbed objects make it easier to build useful stuff earlier on, and thus starts the postive feedback loop earlier as a result. Same goes for Perl. But C++? Ick!
Any attempts to create languages which shield programmers from the machine inevitibly limit functionality, thereby castrating the coder.
True to an extent. However, this applies mainly to systems programming, which AFAIK is still done less often than applications programming. Java, as an example, is obviously an applications programming language, which is why it has definitions for the size of all the basic types, and many other standardizations that tend to "insulate" the user from the machine. Sure, you take a performance hit, but your programs are more portable, and you spend less time worriying about details. Obviously, the same goes for garbage collection.
In terms of shielding the user, anything above typing in hex codes into a hex editor is probably considered "shielding." It all depends on what level you're talking about.
Rats of NIMH are coming! ;)
Jeez, chill. I said _last I checked_.
As stupid as this sounds, not having windows support that's readily available in the form of a downloadable binary is a big blow to the language. (actually, last I checked a while back, not even the source was officially supported ... I haven't tried compiling with Cygwin / GCC.)
Sure, we're talking about the OS from hell created by Satan himself here, but since it's widely used, not supporting it well bites ya.
I actually remember seeing a really light-weight "ring-mouse" a while back, that did exactly what it sounds like. Was black, admittedly slightly bulky, but still really cool(tm).
I don't know of their website, though. 'sides, I think it was an advertisement in Byte or somesuch. Anyone seen this?
Since just about everything else I like has been mentioned here, I'll just plug Sakura wars a bit:
Sure, it's a video game conversion, but it's *a lot* better than stuff like Tekken: the movie, and Sonic: the movie. It actually has a plot, and really good opening music! ^_^
To summarize, it is/has: touch of Tenchi syndrome, some mecha fighting, theatrical productions!
Go watch! It's actually good.
On the side, Those Who Hunt Elves looks really good too.
Parody: Slayers does parody quite well, actually, but in a more subtle form, that's all.
;)
It has everything from Gainax bounce, to bad-tempered protagonists, to insanely powerful demons that like to play games, to people whose appetites are directly responsible for world famine!
What more could ya want?
And on the thread of poorly drawn, poorly [translated], this is a warning to stay the hell away from the Mixxzine translations of SailorMoon, especially if you've been watching the fansubs, and not the Cartoon Network versions. You _will_ be offended at the atrocity of the translation, which is bad, even by normal commerical dub/sub standards:
since when did Mixx start hiring people who speak exclusively Swahili and Esperanto to translate Japanese manga to English anyway?!!???!!
Lain: for the people who think they truly grok Evangelion. (a scientific impossibility, really, for anyone, including it's author).
Thought Experiments: Lain at
http://www.cjas.org/~leng/lain.htm
contains more than you'd ever want to know about Lain, including the desktops that were used. Hope that helps.
The End of Evangelion movie, in my books, _the_ best movie ever made, bar none, anime or no anime. Some would call it, yet again, a glorified action-flick alternate ending as compared with the original episode 25 and 26, but it really is just so much more.
Not exactly the happiest movie that I've ever seen, and it certainly created about as many new confusing points as it clarified, but it really is, in many ways, Evangelion in its most concentrated form.
Taking a step back, we can also see that the entire series was heavily researched in terms of all the points that it tries to cover: adolescence, religion, philosophy, psychology, God, etc. While not exactly orthodox in any of its applications of the above, the work that they put in is obvious, and makes for a series that you come back to, time and time again.
Ayup. Slayers is just /too/ funny not to see! :-D
:-)
BTW, "guy surrounded by many girls" is Tenchi Syndrome!
or everyone leaving the country and going to one that allows them access.
at which point you conveniently prevent them from leaving without explicit military violence *cough*Berlin wall*cough*.
The same technique that we use to avoid automatic mail address kleebers will work:
insert slightly misspelled artist names, song names, and obvious things like REMOVEME, extra letters, etc.
Not hard.
Scientists at NASA have successfully tested a solar-powered machine that takes carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere and produces pure oxygen.
;p
NASA invents (drumroll please): TREES!!!
YippeeYahoo!!!
This seems to go right along with Gabe's "Gentlemen, I am about to IPO my wang ... wait, where are you going? it has _great_ growth potential!" on Penny-Arcade! ;-P