Ok, so you liked the little history segment. How should they have done it without showing Sauron? When I first read the Silmarillion I pictured it pretty much as the movie had it. I'm pretty sure there's an Alan Lee depiction of Sauron too. I don't see a problem with showing his previous corporeal instantiation. Maybe the movie needs to be clearer on the point that he no longer has a body. As long as he's represented in a cool way in The Return of the King I'll be happy.
Sauron appears "in the flesh" at the very beginning of LOTR. This was not a mistake, AFAIK. In the Silmarillion it describes him as being in the flesh. His armies were pushed into a corner and he comes out himself. After killing two important characters (forgot who) he "falls also" and Isildur cuts the ring from his finger.
From this point on I don't imagine we will see Sauron in physical form. At least we probably won't know this until Return of the King. So far Jackson's just been showing the eye, and my understanding was that Sauron would have no real form in the end.
Showing Sauron in the beginning was perfectly accurate!
Over the past year I've read several books on WWII and the Civil War. It seems that a possibly interesting game would be one in which you really take the position of a General or slightly lower.
Most of the game would have to be in planning an attack, since Generals mainly sit back and watch after the bullets start flying. Anyways, I haven't seen a game yet that correctly captures the importance of information. There may be "fog of wars" but those are ridiculous. Just because one unit can see the enemy doesn't mean you can. That unit needs to hump it back to the base, and, of course, by then the enemy has already moved. This sort of game would feature a drawn map as it's main interface. As information comes in from scouts it would update the map. As a General, unless you can actually see something, you don't really know where it is. This includes your own troops. I think it would be possible to make something like this interesting. You'd probably have to include the ability to see a movie of what actually happened on the battlefield or something.
BTW, supposedly Sid Meier's Civil War games were RTS and they included morale factors.
Another intersesting strategy (ok tactical) game would be putting you in control of a platoon. Using a turn based interface like Jagged Alliance 2 would be really cool. You'd control a platoon with many other friendlies controlled by the computer against many enemies. Of course, on multiplayer everyone could be real.
As far as RTS go, simply slow them down. How about actually having the units form lines and start shooting and NOT having each shot hit. Your troops would slowly die away/lose morale. You could actually see your lines crumbling, or troops running away. If an actual encounter takes about 30-60 minutes (as opposed to 5-60 seconds) to resolve you would have plenty of time to perform actual manuevors. In a RTS fighting on Omaha Beach would take about a minute. In reality it took hours upon hours. Troops on the seawall actually stopped to smoke a cigarette and clean their guns.
One problem in your theory. It's true that intelligence will get you further in life but this in no way increases your "fitness". Dumb people have just as easy a time passing on their genes as smart people. In fact dumb people like having kids MORE than smart people. That would indicate that we're going to get dumber on the whole. Until people start dying off from stupidity before having 5 kids there will be no "evolution". sfc standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
I thought I look over the Internet category and not find Al Gore's name anywhere, then post a message complaining about the tragedy of the sole Creator of the Internet not being mentioned (ha ha). But he is mentioned!
Albert Gore, then a Tennessee senator, proposes the National Research and Education Network, which would provide top computing facilities to research communities and schools.
There are only about 15 events on the timeline. Somehow I don't think this event should be in the top 100 of events that lead to the creation of the internet. Of course, no mention of Open Source software.... sfc standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
It seems that the point of Mostly Harmless was that..umm, what's his name,the Vogon leader was trying to destroy not only the Earth, but everyone who was ever on it. He uses the Mach V Guide (or whatever) to gather everyone on Earth, in every dimension and then destroys all the Earths. BUT, he forgot Elvis!! Elvis was still in that bar. Or does this just prove that Elvis was not of this world?
sfc standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
I hope this hasn't already been mentioned somewhere... If you're bored, go check out the MPAAs site. They have a link for info on the deCSS case. So far I've been reading through the faq, which is pretty interesting. A computer that has the DeCSS utility can use it to break the CSS code on DVDs making it possible for motion pictures in DVD format to be decrypted and illegally copied onto a computer's hard-drive for further distribution over the Internet or otherwise, in perfect, digital format. DeCSS is akin to a tool that breaks the lock on your house. Wow. So was this written by a moron, or someone who knew they were misleading the public? sfc standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
Or perhaps software cracks can now be viewed legally as civil disobedience for the digital era That'll happen right after M$ goes Open Source... And the MPAA gives away CSS for free... And the censorware companies publish the sites that they block... And "geeks" become more popular than boy bands...
sfc standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
So, since an industry as a whole is successful, it is okay to steal from them? If I stole millions of dollars from a bank, would that be okay since the banking industry is hardly going, "belly up"?
Who said anything about it being OK??? I didn't say I was proud to pirate software. My point, as Roast Beef points out, is that the MPAA is arguing that this is some great new threat to the movie industry and it's not. What I was trying to say was that even though it's really easy to pirate software, people still buy software. Why? Because pirating it is wrong, as you pointed out. So, no matter how easy it gets to copy a movie of the internet, the majority of honest folks aren't going to do it, because they know, like you, that it's wrong. So, the MPAAs argument that DeCSS threatens the movie industry is flawed. Hope that makes more sense. sfc standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
The MPAA likes to argue that if tools like DeCSS get out there and eventually bandwidth is great enough people will start getting all their movies off of the internet for free, and there goes the movie industry. But what about the software industry? It's always had this problem. In fact, I have lots of pirated software. But I hardly think the software industry is going belly up. In fact, it's doing better than the movie industry. Jack Valenti needs to give up on this insane crusade to keep DVD/digital information controlled the way it was in the past. sfc standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
I loved the cartoon! I have no idea why it was put on saturday mornings. Wasn't one of the guys involved with it involved with the Critic also? Anyway, I hope they don't screw it up because I'd like to be able to watch this for a few years. sfc standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
Man shows no remorse when his C64 fizzles out. He continues to use his own computer to take up time in his meaningless life. While out one day with a friend he shoots a MAC and is quickly carted off to jail.
sfc standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
Using one of the national ISPs may be a good solution but don't get sucked into AOL. Why? 1. AOL is evil and we shouldn't support it. 2. As someone mentioned you have to give them an address and you'll start recieving CDs from them every week or so. It used to very useful diskettes that you could erase and put a label over. 3. They might still harass people with calls and stuff. I guess you'll be safe there since you're in the UK though. 4. AOL itself sucks. The annoying "you've got mail"::cringe::, the pop up ads, the unnecesarry interface, etc.
Anyone else have more reasons?
your friend, bryan sfc standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
Slashdot Mirror
From this point on I don't imagine we will see Sauron in physical form. At least we probably won't know this until Return of the King. So far Jackson's just been showing the eye, and my understanding was that Sauron would have no real form in the end.
Showing Sauron in the beginning was perfectly accurate!
Over the past year I've read several books on WWII and the Civil War. It seems that a possibly interesting game would be one in which you really take the position of a General or slightly lower.
Most of the game would have to be in planning an attack, since Generals mainly sit back and watch after the bullets start flying. Anyways, I haven't seen a game yet that correctly captures the importance of information. There may be "fog of wars" but those are ridiculous. Just because one unit can see the enemy doesn't mean you can. That unit needs to hump it back to the base, and, of course, by then the enemy has already moved. This sort of game would feature a drawn map as it's main interface. As information comes in from scouts it would update the map. As a General, unless you can actually see something, you don't really know where it is. This includes your own troops. I think it would be possible to make something like this interesting. You'd probably have to include the ability to see a movie of what actually happened on the battlefield or something.
BTW, supposedly Sid Meier's Civil War games were RTS and they included morale factors.
Another intersesting strategy (ok tactical) game would be putting you in control of a platoon. Using a turn based interface like Jagged Alliance 2 would be really cool. You'd control a platoon with many other friendlies controlled by the computer against many enemies. Of course, on multiplayer everyone could be real.
As far as RTS go, simply slow them down. How about actually having the units form lines and start shooting and NOT having each shot hit. Your troops would slowly die away/lose morale. You could actually see your lines crumbling, or troops running away. If an actual encounter takes about 30-60 minutes (as opposed to 5-60 seconds) to resolve you would have plenty of time to perform actual manuevors. In a RTS fighting on Omaha Beach would take about a minute. In reality it took hours upon hours. Troops on the seawall actually stopped to smoke a cigarette and clean their guns.
One problem in your theory. It's true that intelligence will get you further in life but this in no way increases your "fitness". Dumb people have just as easy a time passing on their genes as smart people. In fact dumb people like having kids MORE than smart people. That would indicate that we're going to get dumber on the whole. Until people start dying off from stupidity before having 5 kids there will be no "evolution".
sfc
standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
I thought I look over the Internet category and not find Al Gore's name anywhere, then post a message complaining about the tragedy of the sole Creator of the Internet not being mentioned (ha ha). But he is mentioned!
Albert Gore, then a Tennessee senator, proposes the National Research and Education Network, which would provide top computing facilities to research communities and schools.
There are only about 15 events on the timeline. Somehow I don't think this event should be in the top 100 of events that lead to the creation of the internet. Of course, no mention of Open Source software....
sfc
standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
It seems that the point of Mostly Harmless was that..umm, what's his name,the Vogon leader was trying to destroy not only the Earth, but everyone who was ever on it. He uses the Mach V Guide (or whatever) to gather everyone on Earth, in every dimension and then destroys all the Earths. BUT, he forgot Elvis!! Elvis was still in that bar. Or does this just prove that Elvis was not of this world?
sfc
standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
Did anybody notice Mr. Bean wrote the article? Go back and check.
That wasn't Mr. Bean you moron, it was Kevin Spacey without the "Just For Men".
sfc
standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
I hope this hasn't already been mentioned somewhere...
If you're bored, go check out the MPAAs site. They have a link for info on the deCSS case. So far I've been reading through the faq, which is pretty interesting. A computer that has the DeCSS utility can use it to break the CSS code on DVDs making it possible for motion pictures in DVD format to be decrypted and illegally copied onto a computer's hard-drive for further distribution over the Internet or otherwise, in perfect, digital format. DeCSS is akin to a tool that breaks the lock on your house.
Wow. So was this written by a moron, or someone who knew they were misleading the public?
sfc
standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
Or perhaps software cracks can now be viewed legally as civil disobedience for the digital era
That'll happen right after M$ goes Open Source...
And the MPAA gives away CSS for free...
And the censorware companies publish the sites that they block...
And "geeks" become more popular than boy bands...
sfc
standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
So, since an industry as a whole is successful, it is okay to steal from them? If I stole millions of dollars from a bank, would that be okay since the banking industry is hardly going, "belly up"?
Who said anything about it being OK??? I didn't say I was proud to pirate software. My point, as Roast Beef points out, is that the MPAA is arguing that this is some great new threat to the movie industry and it's not.
What I was trying to say was that even though it's really easy to pirate software, people still buy software. Why? Because pirating it is wrong, as you pointed out. So, no matter how easy it gets to copy a movie of the internet, the majority of honest folks aren't going to do it, because they know, like you, that it's wrong. So, the MPAAs argument that DeCSS threatens the movie industry is flawed. Hope that makes more sense.
sfc
standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
The MPAA likes to argue that if tools like DeCSS get out there and eventually bandwidth is great enough people will start getting all their movies off of the internet for free, and there goes the movie industry.
But what about the software industry? It's always had this problem. In fact, I have lots of pirated software. But I hardly think the software industry is going belly up. In fact, it's doing better than the movie industry. Jack Valenti needs to give up on this insane crusade to keep DVD/digital information controlled the way it was in the past.
sfc
standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
I loved the cartoon! I have no idea why it was put on saturday mornings. Wasn't one of the guys involved with it involved with the Critic also? Anyway, I hope they don't screw it up because I'd like to be able to watch this for a few years.
sfc
standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
This give me a great idea for a novel:
Man shows no remorse when his C64 fizzles out. He continues to use his own computer to take up time in his meaningless life. While out one day with a friend he shoots a MAC and is quickly carted off to jail.
sfc
standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
Using one of the national ISPs may be a good solution but don't get sucked into AOL. Why? ::cringe::, the pop up ads, the unnecesarry interface, etc.
1. AOL is evil and we shouldn't support it.
2. As someone mentioned you have to give them an address and you'll start recieving CDs from them every week or so. It used to very useful diskettes that you could erase and put a label over.
3. They might still harass people with calls and stuff. I guess you'll be safe there since you're in the UK though.
4. AOL itself sucks. The annoying "you've got mail"
Anyone else have more reasons?
your friend,
bryan
sfc
standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold