I think LSD is a decent example of what you could consider over-clocking. If you take a large amount (like 4 or more hits at once) your brain is in absolute overdrive and can certainly perform some functions better than others. And just like over-clocking a CPU you run the risk of burning out a few circuits and getting flashbacks and tracers later in life. This is the official term, and I've heard a few old hippies that claim to have this from too much use from too much use years ago
You bring up a good point - basically there will always be a pirated version (even if it is just a crappy cam version) on the internet within hours of the release. This additionally security at the theaters is a complete waste of time, as the ultimate goal (preventing anyone from recording the movie) will never happen. Even if you could place security in every movie theater (and account for smaller and smaller recording devices that may not get noticed), what's to stop an unscrupulous movie theater employee from recording it himself?
The real solution for the movie theaters is providing a better and worthwhile experience to moviegoers. Watching the movie in a theater is still a superior experience when compared to watching a crappy cam version on your PC, so they need to make it financially worthwhile. If you and your spouse need to spend $40 or $50 for your tickets and some snacks then that may drive away a lot of potential customers. Cheaper ticket prices, more "couples only" seats where there's some more privacy between you and the other people, allow alcohol purchase and consumption (no movie theaters in my city serve booze) - whatever it does to entice people to come. Additional security will only drive up the cost of the tickets and make people feel more violated, all while doing nothing to stop recorded copies from leaking on the internet.
Yes, exactly. The first paragraph is very misleading - specifically "it also offers a search tool to do the same between any two mutual friends, making it easy to see everything any two people have ever said to each other Facebook". Ok, when I first read this I thought that *all* conversations were being shared, including private message sent between the two. Obviously that isn't the case here and there's nothing to be concerned.
I mean cmon, complaining about something that finds all wall posts between two folks? The whole reason people post on a wall, as opposed to sending a message, is for everyone else to see! If it's meant to be private, then it wouldn't be on the wall! There's nothing "creepy" about this, it's all information that was accessible anyway
Oh come on now, Facebook has always been a stalker's paradise. A stalker will meticulously look at someone's profile anyway - how does this help them? They're gonna see everything their "stalkee" posts already.
This only really a helps stalkers stalking multiple people - that way they can see all the juicy details both stalkees are saying to each other
These quest style games have definitely gotten easier over time. Oblivion is a good example of a more recent game that has a lot of content and a considerable amount of open-world exploring (compared to say any FF game, which is essentially a walkthrough by comparison). Oblivion (and other recent games) still have some major differences compared to games 10 or 20 years ago. Some of these are:
- Auto mapping - It becomes a lot easier navigating a dungeon if you know exactly where to go once you've been there already. You didn't get a map for any of the King's Quest games - you had to remember or draw it out yourself. In the Ultima Series, you got a crude world-map, but not much detail (no maps of dungeons either).
- Preset dialog / actions - (Mass Effect, Dragon Age etc..) You used to have to type out commands or use a pre-set combination of specific verbs and nouns to do stuff. Like in the monkey island games. It's a lot easier to just select some pre-determined choices rather than figure out how to solve the next puzzle.
- No internet for quick solutions - Even if these games were just as difficult, people don't have the patience to sit around and get stuck in one part for more than 15 minutes. It's pretty easy to just look up your next step in a walkthrough.
Not sure if I agree with "easier games" for other types of games - some are still pretty difficult. Mass Effect 2 didn't seem that difficult on the hardest level, but I still can't pass a game on Civ 4 or Civ 5 on the hardest level - so I wouldn't say that game is "too easy". For any games that have a multiplayer component, I think that's really their main focus. The campaign mode seems like more of an added bonus, and I don't really expect it to take more than 40 or 50 hours on the hardest level.
Then stop trolling and post somewhere else. For those of use that bought the game and enjoy it, these custom maps are a nice change of pace to the usual gameplay. If you don't-give-a-flying-fuck-about-PVP usage, then you really shouldn't care that much about the custom multi-player maps. And if you have a problem with blizzard validating your game copy before you download some new, free material for single player - I'm not sure what's going to satisfy you at this point.
something silly like not respecting their authority and blowing bubbles can sometimes escalate quickly into something worse.
For sure. If we let our kids blow bubbles in front of officers, next thing you know they'll be Wiccan lesbian anarchists doing various drugs and getting into all sorts of trouble. These so called "magic bubbles" are a gateway drug, look at some footage of Woodstock if you need further proof.
The authors made up biographies of similar and dissimilar strangers for each volunteer based on their personality profiles. Then, while in a scanner, they played a game similar to the TV show "The Newlywed Game," in which participants predicted how another person would answer a question. For example, would a friend or stranger prefer an aisle or window seat on a flight?
The authors found activity in the medial prefrontal cortex increased when people answered questions about friends. Notably, whether the person had common interests made no difference in brain response.
To me, this study doesn't really address whether you have more brain activity because of friends, or simply because you happen to know more information about your friends. If you're asked that sample question "would so and so prefer an aisle or window seat on a flight?" your brain has more of a 'database' of history about your friend to examine before making that decision. I.E. trying to remember if they ever flew with that person and remembering if they took that seat, or any other attempt to recall friend related information. There isn't much to think about when asking about the stranger.
It just seems to be common knowledge that the more you knew about a person, the more you would think about what decision they would make whether they're friends or not. What if those questions were on co-workers not considered friends, celebrities, enemies or anyone else the test subject knew some information about and didn't consider a friend?
I went to a technical school for my Comp Sci training. The bulk of the courses was what you'd expect (databases, programming basics, languages etc..) but there were 3 mandatory courses on "business" or "communications". This included things like how to write your resume, a simulation of a project manager dealing with consultants, how to write a proposal, actually communicating with people etc... Also, the final project of our last semester had people in groups developing a new application for a client from scratch - most schools have a co-op program in place like that
So if you learned everything in your mother's basement and I learned it at school, maybe we have the same qualifications for a job. But they're going to hire me because there's a better chance that my writing and communication skills are superior. You don't learn how to deal with people by teaching yourself to code and your writing skills probably need some work (ever wonder why English 101 is required for your university degree?)
Please work on creating more linux based malware and viruses. There simply isn't enough Linux Malware out there - I believe the parent post clearly shows that there are plenty of smug linux users out there that believe their computers are impenetrable fortresses.
You see, it's a win-win situation for you regardless of what happens. Either
a) Linux becomes the dominant operating system, jumping from 0.1% to 95% of the market share. In this scenario, your malware reaches a significantly higher number of unsuspecting users.
b) Linux becomes even more obscure and Windows based operating systems are still the dominant choice of operating system. In this scenario, your existing Windows malware will continue to prevail and infect more and more users switching over from Linux to Windows.
Please carefully consider my proposal. I'm sure you'll find that we can agree that there needs to be a lot more Linux based Malware out there, so get coding. Also, I would gladly send $60 for your "free anti-virus software" just imagining the look on the faces of pretentious linux users when they find their system is infected.
You know there was a recession in the last couple of years - could it be that employees in most or all industries have received little or no pay raise in the last couple of years? Wouldn't all industries have a similar issue?
They may give you 3 or 4%, but to get a significant pay raise, you have to request a larger raise or go to another company
Fixed that for ya. You're right in the sense that a company you're with won't suddenly give you a large raise - why would they? Unless you're being offered a promotion, your salary probably won't increase by much unless you specifically ask for it. If you're good at your job then the company may be willing to pay you a lot more - especially if your IT position is highly specialized (knowing some more obscure software or development platform etc..) The cost of hiring a new employee and training them up to your speed may be more than giving you a more significant increase so they'll bite. I managed to negotiate a 30% raise based on past accomplishments (and the fact that it would take a lot of training and knowledge to know the ins and outs of our software). You gotta ask for that raise, that company isn't going to give you more just because you're doing a good job.
Just to add to that - I'm not a vegetarian either, but we need to reduce our beef consumption more than anything. The amount of energy / land needed to produce beef is considerably higher per pound than chicken (and somewhat higher than pork). It's one of the least healthy meats as well (bison or chicken is much better for you). I love a good steak too, but I try to opt for chicken more often than not when I crave some meat. Also, a veggie burger is probably the best veggie substitute for meat out there - tastes pretty damn close to a real burger (unlike tofurkey or other tofu based substitutes, which just tastes like shit)
North America seems pretty obsessed with beef though - burgers are still the dominant fast food, and the government still pays out big subsidies for beef. Perhaps if people had to pay the actual cost for their steaks and burgers, we'd have a lot less cattle consumption
"EA Pulls Taliban From Medal of Honor Multiplayer" couldn't be more wrong. It's still the Taliban. Looks like they're still wearing turbans from the image and it's still set in Afghanistan. Or is there some other gun wielding, turban wearing "opposing force" in Afghanistan that I'm not aware of? Nice try EA, a simple name change fix for good publicity. But if you were truly sensitive and really cared military veterans' feelings then you probably wouldn't have made this game in the first palce.
Not to mention that even in the ridiculously improbable event that aliens do in fact exist and make contact, all that money the bookies would have to pay (assuming they actually could) would pretty much be meaningless at that point when all humans get assimilated or exterminated
It wouldn't be so bad if the intro didn't show that solemn, scraggly old man every time, waiting to tell you about his dream. I wouldn't mind so much if the intro was a more epic medieval battle scene, or some battles evolving over time into the future. We wouldn't have to disable this intro if the first 15 seconds were say... watching Antony and Cleopatra "making a secret pact"
I find that hard to believe. According to the commercials I've seen, deodorants like Old Spice and Axe body spray seems to attract natural predators like cougars more than they repel them.
Attempted 1st degree murder will get you more jail time than 12 years. You would only get a shorter sentence for killing someone if you didn't intend to kill them (manslaughter).
Think of how much jail time and beatings in prison Thompson would have received if this plot hadn't been foiled. Weiner should get that + a few extra years for being a dick and going to the media about it. He tried to ruin someone's life, and deserves at least the fate of what Thompson would have gotten, plus a little extra.
I give this game an overall "meh". I'm basing that off how long I played it after the first day. I stayed up until about 3:30 am playing Civ V before heading off to bed. When Civ IV came out, I stayed up until about 9 am the next day, called in sick to work, took a quick nap and got up again at 1 to play another 12 hours. So based off of that, this game clearly isn't as good as it's predecessor.
And no, I'm not any more responsible now than I was when Civ IV came out, so that's not a factor in determining the quality of the game.
Slashdot Mirror
I think LSD is a decent example of what you could consider over-clocking. If you take a large amount (like 4 or more hits at once) your brain is in absolute overdrive and can certainly perform some functions better than others. And just like over-clocking a CPU you run the risk of burning out a few circuits and getting flashbacks and tracers later in life. This is the official term, and I've heard a few old hippies that claim to have this from too much use from too much use years ago
Quod licet jovi, non licet bovi.
I don't like Bon Jovi either, and I don't see why you shouldn't like cows, but I fail to see how this is relevant to the argument.
You bring up a good point - basically there will always be a pirated version (even if it is just a crappy cam version) on the internet within hours of the release. This additionally security at the theaters is a complete waste of time, as the ultimate goal (preventing anyone from recording the movie) will never happen. Even if you could place security in every movie theater (and account for smaller and smaller recording devices that may not get noticed), what's to stop an unscrupulous movie theater employee from recording it himself?
The real solution for the movie theaters is providing a better and worthwhile experience to moviegoers. Watching the movie in a theater is still a superior experience when compared to watching a crappy cam version on your PC, so they need to make it financially worthwhile. If you and your spouse need to spend $40 or $50 for your tickets and some snacks then that may drive away a lot of potential customers. Cheaper ticket prices, more "couples only" seats where there's some more privacy between you and the other people, allow alcohol purchase and consumption (no movie theaters in my city serve booze) - whatever it does to entice people to come. Additional security will only drive up the cost of the tickets and make people feel more violated, all while doing nothing to stop recorded copies from leaking on the internet.
Also, should be noted that compatibility mode is only compatible for IE 7, not IE 6. What works in IE 7 may not necessarily work in IE 6.
Yes, exactly. The first paragraph is very misleading - specifically "it also offers a search tool to do the same between any two mutual friends, making it easy to see everything any two people have ever said to each other Facebook". Ok, when I first read this I thought that *all* conversations were being shared, including private message sent between the two. Obviously that isn't the case here and there's nothing to be concerned.
I mean cmon, complaining about something that finds all wall posts between two folks? The whole reason people post on a wall, as opposed to sending a message, is for everyone else to see! If it's meant to be private, then it wouldn't be on the wall! There's nothing "creepy" about this, it's all information that was accessible anyway
Oh come on now, Facebook has always been a stalker's paradise. A stalker will meticulously look at someone's profile anyway - how does this help them? They're gonna see everything their "stalkee" posts already.
This only really a helps stalkers stalking multiple people - that way they can see all the juicy details both stalkees are saying to each other
These quest style games have definitely gotten easier over time. Oblivion is a good example of a more recent game that has a lot of content and a considerable amount of open-world exploring (compared to say any FF game, which is essentially a walkthrough by comparison). Oblivion (and other recent games) still have some major differences compared to games 10 or 20 years ago. Some of these are :
- Auto mapping - It becomes a lot easier navigating a dungeon if you know exactly where to go once you've been there already. You didn't get a map for any of the King's Quest games - you had to remember or draw it out yourself. In the Ultima Series, you got a crude world-map, but not much detail (no maps of dungeons either).
- Preset dialog / actions - (Mass Effect, Dragon Age etc..) You used to have to type out commands or use a pre-set combination of specific verbs and nouns to do stuff. Like in the monkey island games. It's a lot easier to just select some pre-determined choices rather than figure out how to solve the next puzzle.
- No internet for quick solutions - Even if these games were just as difficult, people don't have the patience to sit around and get stuck in one part for more than 15 minutes. It's pretty easy to just look up your next step in a walkthrough.
Not sure if I agree with "easier games" for other types of games - some are still pretty difficult. Mass Effect 2 didn't seem that difficult on the hardest level, but I still can't pass a game on Civ 4 or Civ 5 on the hardest level - so I wouldn't say that game is "too easy". For any games that have a multiplayer component, I think that's really their main focus. The campaign mode seems like more of an added bonus, and I don't really expect it to take more than 40 or 50 hours on the hardest level.
Then stop trolling and post somewhere else. For those of use that bought the game and enjoy it, these custom maps are a nice change of pace to the usual gameplay. If you don't-give-a-flying-fuck-about-PVP usage, then you really shouldn't care that much about the custom multi-player maps. And if you have a problem with blizzard validating your game copy before you download some new, free material for single player - I'm not sure what's going to satisfy you at this point.
something silly like not respecting their authority and blowing bubbles can sometimes escalate quickly into something worse.
For sure. If we let our kids blow bubbles in front of officers, next thing you know they'll be Wiccan lesbian anarchists doing various drugs and getting into all sorts of trouble. These so called "magic bubbles" are a gateway drug, look at some footage of Woodstock if you need further proof.
The authors made up biographies of similar and dissimilar strangers for each volunteer based on their personality profiles. Then, while in a scanner, they played a game similar to the TV show "The Newlywed Game," in which participants predicted how another person would answer a question. For example, would a friend or stranger prefer an aisle or window seat on a flight? The authors found activity in the medial prefrontal cortex increased when people answered questions about friends. Notably, whether the person had common interests made no difference in brain response.
To me, this study doesn't really address whether you have more brain activity because of friends, or simply because you happen to know more information about your friends. If you're asked that sample question "would so and so prefer an aisle or window seat on a flight?" your brain has more of a 'database' of history about your friend to examine before making that decision. I.E. trying to remember if they ever flew with that person and remembering if they took that seat, or any other attempt to recall friend related information. There isn't much to think about when asking about the stranger.
It just seems to be common knowledge that the more you knew about a person, the more you would think about what decision they would make whether they're friends or not. What if those questions were on co-workers not considered friends, celebrities, enemies or anyone else the test subject knew some information about and didn't consider a friend?
I went to a technical school for my Comp Sci training. The bulk of the courses was what you'd expect (databases, programming basics, languages etc..) but there were 3 mandatory courses on "business" or "communications". This included things like how to write your resume, a simulation of a project manager dealing with consultants, how to write a proposal, actually communicating with people etc... Also, the final project of our last semester had people in groups developing a new application for a client from scratch - most schools have a co-op program in place like that
So if you learned everything in your mother's basement and I learned it at school, maybe we have the same qualifications for a job. But they're going to hire me because there's a better chance that my writing and communication skills are superior. You don't learn how to deal with people by teaching yourself to code and your writing skills probably need some work (ever wonder why English 101 is required for your university degree?)
I'm running Linux, so I don't care.
Bwahahahah!
Dear Malware coders :
Please work on creating more linux based malware and viruses. There simply isn't enough Linux Malware out there - I believe the parent post clearly shows that there are plenty of smug linux users out there that believe their computers are impenetrable fortresses.
You see, it's a win-win situation for you regardless of what happens. Either
a) Linux becomes the dominant operating system, jumping from 0.1% to 95% of the market share. In this scenario, your malware reaches a significantly higher number of unsuspecting users.
b) Linux becomes even more obscure and Windows based operating systems are still the dominant choice of operating system. In this scenario, your existing Windows malware will continue to prevail and infect more and more users switching over from Linux to Windows.
Please carefully consider my proposal. I'm sure you'll find that we can agree that there needs to be a lot more Linux based Malware out there, so get coding. Also, I would gladly send $60 for your "free anti-virus software" just imagining the look on the faces of pretentious linux users when they find their system is infected.
Sincerely,
Beerdood
You know there was a recession in the last couple of years - could it be that employees in most or all industries have received little or no pay raise in the last couple of years? Wouldn't all industries have a similar issue?
They may give you 3 or 4%, but to get a significant pay raise, you have to request a larger raise or go to another company
Fixed that for ya. You're right in the sense that a company you're with won't suddenly give you a large raise - why would they? Unless you're being offered a promotion, your salary probably won't increase by much unless you specifically ask for it. If you're good at your job then the company may be willing to pay you a lot more - especially if your IT position is highly specialized (knowing some more obscure software or development platform etc..) The cost of hiring a new employee and training them up to your speed may be more than giving you a more significant increase so they'll bite. I managed to negotiate a 30% raise based on past accomplishments (and the fact that it would take a lot of training and knowledge to know the ins and outs of our software). You gotta ask for that raise, that company isn't going to give you more just because you're doing a good job.
Just to add to that - I'm not a vegetarian either, but we need to reduce our beef consumption more than anything. The amount of energy / land needed to produce beef is considerably higher per pound than chicken (and somewhat higher than pork). It's one of the least healthy meats as well (bison or chicken is much better for you). I love a good steak too, but I try to opt for chicken more often than not when I crave some meat. Also, a veggie burger is probably the best veggie substitute for meat out there - tastes pretty damn close to a real burger (unlike tofurkey or other tofu based substitutes, which just tastes like shit)
North America seems pretty obsessed with beef though - burgers are still the dominant fast food, and the government still pays out big subsidies for beef. Perhaps if people had to pay the actual cost for their steaks and burgers, we'd have a lot less cattle consumption
"EA Pulls Taliban From Medal of Honor Multiplayer" couldn't be more wrong. It's still the Taliban. Looks like they're still wearing turbans from the image and it's still set in Afghanistan. Or is there some other gun wielding, turban wearing "opposing force" in Afghanistan that I'm not aware of? Nice try EA, a simple name change fix for good publicity. But if you were truly sensitive and really cared military veterans' feelings then you probably wouldn't have made this game in the first palce.
The popular children's game has now been renamed to "cops and opposing forces"
Hey, I was a victim of police brutality - I find that offensive!
1-2-3-4-5? That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard of in my life! That's the kinda thing an idiot would have on his luggage!
I don't have much trouble spotting familiar places on google maps, but what about those that can't read maps very well? aka women
/me ducks
Not to mention that even in the ridiculously improbable event that aliens do in fact exist and make contact, all that money the bookies would have to pay (assuming they actually could) would pretty much be meaningless at that point when all humans get assimilated or exterminated
I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure you're not Hitler
It wouldn't be so bad if the intro didn't show that solemn, scraggly old man every time, waiting to tell you about his dream. I wouldn't mind so much if the intro was a more epic medieval battle scene, or some battles evolving over time into the future. We wouldn't have to disable this intro if the first 15 seconds were say... watching Antony and Cleopatra "making a secret pact"
I find that hard to believe. According to the commercials I've seen, deodorants like Old Spice and Axe body spray seems to attract natural predators like cougars more than they repel them.
Attempted 1st degree murder will get you more jail time than 12 years. You would only get a shorter sentence for killing someone if you didn't intend to kill them (manslaughter).
Think of how much jail time and beatings in prison Thompson would have received if this plot hadn't been foiled. Weiner should get that + a few extra years for being a dick and going to the media about it. He tried to ruin someone's life, and deserves at least the fate of what Thompson would have gotten, plus a little extra.
I give this game an overall "meh". I'm basing that off how long I played it after the first day. I stayed up until about 3:30 am playing Civ V before heading off to bed. When Civ IV came out, I stayed up until about 9 am the next day, called in sick to work, took a quick nap and got up again at 1 to play another 12 hours. So based off of that, this game clearly isn't as good as it's predecessor.
And no, I'm not any more responsible now than I was when Civ IV came out, so that's not a factor in determining the quality of the game.