so you should be able to distort a shape in 4D to a 4D sphere! and it looks like it ought to apply to any number of dimensions as well - was proof required?
There are some things which "seem" obvious to us which aren't necessarily so. In math classes that discuss Cantor's theorem, there are always a few holdouts that refuse to believe that one infinite set can be bigger than another infinite set. After all, they're both infinite. How could one be bigger than the other? And yet it's true, and Cantor demonstrated it in a way that's so cool that you can literally explain it on the back of a napkin.
Likewise, there are certain things that are accepted as a given, until someone discovers/proves something that causes the known world to fall around your ears, mathematically speaking. Kurt Godel pulled the rug out from a whole slew of logicians by demonstrating that not everything that's true can be proven. Up until that time, the "completeness" of mathematics had been considered a given by some people.
So yeah - on a naive level, it may seem like "making things all bendy" is obvious, but that doesn't mean it wasn't in need of a proof.
"Hey, stop criticizing Slashdot. I missed this story the first time around, so I fully support that they keep running it until everyone has had a chance to see it. But why would you bother giving Slashdot your money? You should be more like me. I'm so cool that ugly people should be flattered to get taken out on dates by me."
Okay! Well, thanks for that contribution to the discussion.
So it's more important the game be realistic than it have balanced gameplay?
Although in this case I can't see what the purpose of limiting the flashlight battery is, I'm sure they gave it consideration, it's a polished game.
Perhaps a better question would be, how fragile is the game balance if it can be upset by w flashlight battery which will hold a charge for longer than one minute of continuous use?
I mean, I'm willing to accept that an enemy soldier in HL2 can take five rounds from a submachine gun directly to the head before going down. Game balance, suspension of disbelief, armor, all that stuff. But the flashlight? I mean, I'm sure they gave it consideration too - after all, they made the flashlight battery run out faster if you're sprinting or underwater.
But yeah, those stupid goddamn kids. Watching that video made me nauseated, and I don't know if it's from sympathetic pain or because I feel sick in the presence of all that stupid.
HL2 was only the latest in a long line of games to exhibit this behavior, but since it's the one I last played I'm gonna pick on it.
It doesn't matter that the HL2 takes place in a future society where teleportation devices are becoming reality, self guided robots follow you around in order to either take your picture or slice you into ribbons, and we see a variety of directed energy weapons including a "gravity gun" (not to mention personal force fields!). Why? Because apparently, in this reality, nobody can figure out how to build a fucking flashlight with as much candlepower and battery life as the headlamp I bought at EMS in real life for about thirty bucks.
Game designers, get the hint. Limiting the battery life of the flashlight is stupid.
When the last book came out, a friend of mine swore that he was going to stagger around the Barnes & Noble for the midnight release crying and yelling, "Why?!? Why did you have to take Hermione!?!"
Linguistics is a post-hoc analysis of language, so the example of learning French versus French grammar is not an informative one. In programming, the language was designed, not grown (though some might argue with that in some cases-- hard to imagine anyone actually having designed VB for example). And in a deep technical discipline, practice uninformed by theory is just incompetence.
What does the fact that it's post-hoc have to do with anything? Zoology is a post-hoc study, but nobody argues that it would be useless for, say, a veterinarian.
The truth is that if the majority of your work is done writing in very high level languages (Lisp, Perl, Ruby, et cetera), then learning discrete math and/or assembler probably just not worth your time, and I say this as a guy who learned both. Basic data structures and algorithms are important, but there's no point in learning more math than you need in order to get a job done, plus the basics of complexity theory so you can figure out when you're chasing a "hard" problem.
Ultra-low latency networking is a minor interest of mine, but one I've never had the chance to really pursue. Can anyone familiar with the landscape recommend some low-cost options for experimenting with this stuff? Or maybe just let me down gently. "No, Sammy, there are no low-cost options. And there's no Santa Claus."
Every white person in the US should ask themselves: When we are a minority in our own country, will our new rulers treat us with the same goodwill as we treated them?
ClamAV also lacks (I think) "real-time" protection, whatever that means. Of course this "real time" protection makes your PC go slower all the time.
"Real-time" or "on-access" scanning means that files are scanned when the OS attempts to access them, as opposed to when you explicitly request ("on-demand") or schedule a scan. It does have the effect of slowing the machine. In my experience, it's also invaluable if the system isn't being operated by someone who is going to spend considerable energy policing their own machines.
On-demand scans won't protect you, for example, from software which invisibly installs on your system without your knowledge (say, via e-mail, courtesy of MS Outlook). Once installed it can disable your AV, meaning that an on-demand scan won't detect it.
A guy on vacation goes to the big city as a tourist when he makes the acquaintance of someone named Sal. Sal is a gregarious guy, knows everything about the city, and seems to have done everything it is possible to have done, so tourist guy is happy to have him along as a companion.
During their travels, Sal points to a block of row homes. "See those houses? I was on the construction crew that built those, and maybe half the other houses in this neighborhood. But do they call me "Sal, the home builder?" No."
Later, while crossing a bridge, Sal points to a spot on the river below. "See that? Right there, there was this rowboat with a bunch of kids in it, which capsized. Idiot parents didn't put lifejackets on the kids. So I had to jump in and save the little guys. Seven kids, I pulled out of the water! But do they call me, "Sal, the saver of drowning children?" No."
Later still, they're passing the metropolitan zoo. Sal looks particularly steamed. "Okay. See the primate house over there?"
I have a seventeen month old. Her first words were, I believe, Mommy and Daddy, but following very closely behind that was "kitty." Since then, our cat has been a constant source of fascination for her, and prompts a lot of conversations along these lines:
the kid: Kitty! me: Yes, honey. It's a kitty! the kid: Lookitda kitty! me: I know! I see the kitty! the kid: Mao mao mao!!!!!
I'll admit that the public nature of the child's life is a little troubling for me as well, but I'm hard put to say why. Children don't even really have awareness of themselves as discrete entities in the world until they're several months old, so it's difficult to imagine what kind of privacy concerns the kid could have. I mean, other than, "Oh my god, my future (boy|girl)friend saw pictures of me pooping when I was six months old?!?"
As for memory going back to birth: I find that pretty unlikely. There's some evidence popping up that development of language and sense of self is a necessary catalyst to the formation of long term memories (don't have a reference handy, unfortunately). Just because I see pictures of me as an infant doesn't mean that I'll be able to say, "Oh yeah. I rembember that day. I had wicked diaper rash that day."
Here's an example of how it's fucked up: many years ago, my father worked for a company which installed photo exhibits for museums and trade shows. He was quite good at his job, and his clients were very happy with his work.
After something like ten years with the company, the owner's friend found himself out of work. The owner therefore offered his friend a job. Unfortunately, the job he got was my father's. Owner's friend had no prior experience in the business.
People get canned for shitty reasons all the time. I'm not saying that the answer to this situation are European style work laws, but don't pretend that people always get a fair shake just because this is America. Companies are run by people, and the people running the company can be stupid incompetent lazy obstreperous demanding dicks just as well as the employees.
Having reread my sources, I'm forced to admit that the underlying premise of my last post was wrong - I was citing the wrong poll. My apologies, please mod that post down into the dirt, and I'll see if I can't find something more useful (not to mention true) later.
Slashdot Mirror
For chrissake.
Gordon Freeman is supposed to be a theoretical physicist. That would be the worst casting since Keanu Reeves played a similar role.
(Unless maybe it was Elizabeth Shue's turn as a scientist. Hard to say.)
so you should be able to distort a shape in 4D to a 4D sphere! and it looks like it ought to apply to any number of dimensions as well - was proof required?
There are some things which "seem" obvious to us which aren't necessarily so. In math classes that discuss Cantor's theorem, there are always a few holdouts that refuse to believe that one infinite set can be bigger than another infinite set. After all, they're both infinite. How could one be bigger than the other? And yet it's true, and Cantor demonstrated it in a way that's so cool that you can literally explain it on the back of a napkin.
Likewise, there are certain things that are accepted as a given, until someone discovers/proves something that causes the known world to fall around your ears, mathematically speaking. Kurt Godel pulled the rug out from a whole slew of logicians by demonstrating that not everything that's true can be proven. Up until that time, the "completeness" of mathematics had been considered a given by some people.
So yeah - on a naive level, it may seem like "making things all bendy" is obvious, but that doesn't mean it wasn't in need of a proof.
So, to sum up:
"Hey, stop criticizing Slashdot. I missed this story the first time around, so I fully support that they keep running it until everyone has had a chance to see it. But why would you bother giving Slashdot your money? You should be more like me. I'm so cool that ugly people should be flattered to get taken out on dates by me."
Okay! Well, thanks for that contribution to the discussion.
Actually, in the US, it might violate some hiring discrimination laws. I think. Maybe. Any lawyers reading this?
On Slashdot?
I seriously doubt it.
Every once in a while, I'll wake up my Powerbook from sleep and it will decide that it wants to join my neighbor's wlan instead of mine. This bugs me.
Occasionally I shut it down on principle, because I think it deserves a real rest. But otherwise, yeah, it's always sleep mode.
Perhaps a better question would be, how fragile is the game balance if it can be upset by w flashlight battery which will hold a charge for longer than one minute of continuous use?
I mean, I'm willing to accept that an enemy soldier in HL2 can take five rounds from a submachine gun directly to the head before going down. Game balance, suspension of disbelief, armor, all that stuff. But the flashlight? I mean, I'm sure they gave it consideration too - after all, they made the flashlight battery run out faster if you're sprinting or underwater.
Yeah.
There are no WWF wrestlers anymore, unless they're wrestling pandas or something. The organization you're thinking of changed its name to World Wrestling Entertainment.
But yeah, those stupid goddamn kids. Watching that video made me nauseated, and I don't know if it's from sympathetic pain or because I feel sick in the presence of all that stupid.
HL2 was only the latest in a long line of games to exhibit this behavior, but since it's the one I last played I'm gonna pick on it.
It doesn't matter that the HL2 takes place in a future society where teleportation devices are becoming reality, self guided robots follow you around in order to either take your picture or slice you into ribbons, and we see a variety of directed energy weapons including a "gravity gun" (not to mention personal force fields!). Why? Because apparently, in this reality, nobody can figure out how to build a fucking flashlight with as much candlepower and battery life as the headlamp I bought at EMS in real life for about thirty bucks.
Game designers, get the hint. Limiting the battery life of the flashlight is stupid.
When the last book came out, a friend of mine swore that he was going to stagger around the Barnes & Noble for the midnight release crying and yelling, "Why?!? Why did you have to take Hermione!?!"
He's kind of evil that way.
What does the fact that it's post-hoc have to do with anything? Zoology is a post-hoc study, but nobody argues that it would be useless for, say, a veterinarian.
The truth is that if the majority of your work is done writing in very high level languages (Lisp, Perl, Ruby, et cetera), then learning discrete math and/or assembler probably just not worth your time, and I say this as a guy who learned both. Basic data structures and algorithms are important, but there's no point in learning more math than you need in order to get a job done, plus the basics of complexity theory so you can figure out when you're chasing a "hard" problem.
I wouldn't drink or have kids either if someone was there all the time, standing ready to urinate in my beverage or devour my children.
Good god man, open your eyes!
(This analogy is fun! We need more like this one.)
That's pretty much what I was afraid of. Regrettably, I don't make the scratch necessary to dabble.
;)
Oh well. Back to knocking around $300 servers.
See, you have your knowns, and you have your unknowns. And with the unknowns, there are your known unknonws, and your unknown unknowns.
Ultra-low latency networking is a minor interest of mine, but one I've never had the chance to really pursue. Can anyone familiar with the landscape recommend some low-cost options for experimenting with this stuff? Or maybe just let me down gently. "No, Sammy, there are no low-cost options. And there's no Santa Claus."
The horns don't make me want to mock them - I just find it ironic that they didn't go with another operating system.
An excellent question.
Ass.
"Real-time" or "on-access" scanning means that files are scanned when the OS attempts to access them, as opposed to when you explicitly request ("on-demand") or schedule a scan. It does have the effect of slowing the machine. In my experience, it's also invaluable if the system isn't being operated by someone who is going to spend considerable energy policing their own machines.
On-demand scans won't protect you, for example, from software which invisibly installs on your system without your knowledge (say, via e-mail, courtesy of MS Outlook). Once installed it can disable your AV, meaning that an on-demand scan won't detect it.
Don't pooh-pooh on-access scanning.
A guy on vacation goes to the big city as a tourist when he makes the acquaintance of someone named Sal. Sal is a gregarious guy, knows everything about the city, and seems to have done everything it is possible to have done, so tourist guy is happy to have him along as a companion.
During their travels, Sal points to a block of row homes. "See those houses? I was on the construction crew that built those, and maybe half the other houses in this neighborhood. But do they call me "Sal, the home builder?" No."
Later, while crossing a bridge, Sal points to a spot on the river below. "See that? Right there, there was this rowboat with a bunch of kids in it, which capsized. Idiot parents didn't put lifejackets on the kids. So I had to jump in and save the little guys. Seven kids, I pulled out of the water! But do they call me, "Sal, the saver of drowning children?" No."
Later still, they're passing the metropolitan zoo. Sal looks particularly steamed. "Okay. See the primate house over there?"
"I fucked ONE chimp..."
Actually, her nanny is Russian!
(Well, ethnically Russian, but from Ukraine)
That is awesome.
I have a seventeen month old. Her first words were, I believe, Mommy and Daddy, but following very closely behind that was "kitty." Since then, our cat has been a constant source of fascination for her, and prompts a lot of conversations along these lines:
the kid: Kitty!
me: Yes, honey. It's a kitty!
the kid: Lookitda kitty!
me: I know! I see the kitty!
the kid: Mao mao mao!!!!!
Et cetera.
I'll admit that the public nature of the child's life is a little troubling for me as well, but I'm hard put to say why. Children don't even really have awareness of themselves as discrete entities in the world until they're several months old, so it's difficult to imagine what kind of privacy concerns the kid could have. I mean, other than, "Oh my god, my future (boy|girl)friend saw pictures of me pooping when I was six months old?!?"
As for memory going back to birth: I find that pretty unlikely. There's some evidence popping up that development of language and sense of self is a necessary catalyst to the formation of long term memories (don't have a reference handy, unfortunately). Just because I see pictures of me as an infant doesn't mean that I'll be able to say, "Oh yeah. I rembember that day. I had wicked diaper rash that day."
Here's an example of how it's fucked up: many years ago, my father worked for a company which installed photo exhibits for museums and trade shows. He was quite good at his job, and his clients were very happy with his work.
After something like ten years with the company, the owner's friend found himself out of work. The owner therefore offered his friend a job. Unfortunately, the job he got was my father's. Owner's friend had no prior experience in the business.
People get canned for shitty reasons all the time. I'm not saying that the answer to this situation are European style work laws, but don't pretend that people always get a fair shake just because this is America. Companies are run by people, and the people running the company can be stupid incompetent lazy obstreperous demanding dicks just as well as the employees.
Having reread my sources, I'm forced to admit that the underlying premise of my last post was wrong - I was citing the wrong poll. My apologies, please mod that post down into the dirt, and I'll see if I can't find something more useful (not to mention true) later.