That though did occur to me when I first read the article. From what I've read elsewhere about Alpha, it's supposed to be asked questions rather than given keywords.
Anyway, Colbert is generally a positive influence. His "fake punditry" is pungent social comment, with the intent of nudging the his audience to think about these issues. While being funny, which keeps them coming back. All in all, a good thing.
I manually downloaded IE 8 on my home computer (Vista) some time ago and it didn't try to set itself as the default browser automatically. It may have asked the question during install, I don't remember for certain.
Maybe the automatic update from Windows Update works differently?
Take a simple, cheap, reliable solution (parachute) and replace it with an expensive, complicated and less robust solution (retro rockets).
I can't help but think of the space pen (beacause regular pens don't write in zero-g) that NASA invented at great expense. The Russians (allegedly) just used a pencil instead.
Maybe you need to upgrade your video card, but high-end video cards now days are close to photo realistic with raster graphics, and that's kind of my point. Yes it can get better, yes we could have all kinds of fancy ray-traced effects, but they are tiny improvements that most people won't really appreciate. Do you really think many people would drop another $300-$500 just to have better water effects that you can see through with some fancy ray-tracing capable card?
I disagree, I'm not saying this is it, but at some point you reach a point of diminishing returns. I'd say sound cards reached it several years ago such that only real audiophiles buy high end sound cards now days and on-board sound is good enough for most people.
I think it's fair to expect graphics cards to reach a plateau at some point as well and that point maybe sooner rather than later. You can only boost the resolution and push more and more polygons for so long until it stops making much difference.
Ultimately, I think WoW may actually be bad for the development of MMOs as a genre. So long as WoW controls so much of the market, it's going to be nearly impossible for new MMOs, especially from smaller companies or based on original IP, to get any traction.
When it comes to MMOs, they face a chicken and egg problem (or maybe chicken and chicken problem would be more accurate), players won't join if there are no (or very few) other players. You need players to get [more] players. And when most of your potential players are in WoW, what do you do to pry them away?
When you eat a raspberry you are actually smelling ethyl formate, not tasting it. Therefore, this is the smell, not the taste of space.
The only things you can taste are sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami (and possibly fatty, according to recent research).
Yeah, the morality part of FO 3 (and a lot of other RPGs) is cliched. The Fallout universe in particular should be ripe for the kind of complex moral gray areas that are sorely missing in most games.
The only game I've seen do a really good job with this is The Witcher.
TWO LEADING chemical companies, Dow Chemical and Air Products & Chemicals, have signed agreements to test competing technologies for capturing carbon dioxide emitted by coal-fired power plants. The advances come as geochemists find that most CO2 sequestered underground is likely to dissolve in deep-formation brine.
I'm not saying there aren't problems with it and a lot of the currently proposed solutions aren't entirely practical, but that's no reason to throw in the towel.
Slashdot Mirror
That though did occur to me when I first read the article. From what I've read elsewhere about Alpha, it's supposed to be asked questions rather than given keywords.
The number is somewhere between 0 and 100%
This being the internet, I look forward to somebody disagreeing with me.
Google be damned, Library index cards suit all my needs!
Also, get off my lawn. Damn kids. And if you ball lands in my yard again, you're not getting it back.
Fair enough, and probably true.
So why didn't you submit it to Slashdot then?
No, but mowers can be kept on the premises for years, so they only need to be transported once.
Have you ever tried to milk a lawnmower?
Because then it'd become a huge target for hackers? Security through obscurity.
The question is - which people?
No, really, it isn't.
TV's Newest Anchor: A Smirk in Progress
Stephen Colbert at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner
Doesn't exactly trip off the tongue does it? The name "swine flu" is out there now and any attempt to change it will be futile.
Anyway, Colbert is generally a positive influence. His "fake punditry" is pungent social comment, with the intent of nudging the his audience to think about these issues. While being funny, which keeps them coming back. All in all, a good thing.
Good, except some people can't tell the difference
Flus are annoying, they show up wether you want them to or not, right in the middle of something else you were doing.
Mother-in-law flu?
I manually downloaded IE 8 on my home computer (Vista) some time ago and it didn't try to set itself as the default browser automatically. It may have asked the question during install, I don't remember for certain.
Maybe the automatic update from Windows Update works differently?
The summary doesn't mention that this book has been available since about 2003 and only now is it suddenly a problem.
Take a simple, cheap, reliable solution (parachute) and replace it with an expensive, complicated and less robust solution (retro rockets).
I can't help but think of the space pen (beacause regular pens don't write in zero-g) that NASA invented at great expense. The Russians (allegedly) just used a pencil instead.
Maybe you need to upgrade your video card, but high-end video cards now days are close to photo realistic with raster graphics, and that's kind of my point. Yes it can get better, yes we could have all kinds of fancy ray-traced effects, but they are tiny improvements that most people won't really appreciate. Do you really think many people would drop another $300-$500 just to have better water effects that you can see through with some fancy ray-tracing capable card?
I disagree, I'm not saying this is it, but at some point you reach a point of diminishing returns. I'd say sound cards reached it several years ago such that only real audiophiles buy high end sound cards now days and on-board sound is good enough for most people.
I think it's fair to expect graphics cards to reach a plateau at some point as well and that point maybe sooner rather than later. You can only boost the resolution and push more and more polygons for so long until it stops making much difference.
Ultimately, I think WoW may actually be bad for the development of MMOs as a genre. So long as WoW controls so much of the market, it's going to be nearly impossible for new MMOs, especially from smaller companies or based on original IP, to get any traction.
When it comes to MMOs, they face a chicken and egg problem (or maybe chicken and chicken problem would be more accurate), players won't join if there are no (or very few) other players. You need players to get [more] players. And when most of your potential players are in WoW, what do you do to pry them away?
When you eat a raspberry you are actually smelling ethyl formate, not tasting it. Therefore, this is the smell, not the taste of space. The only things you can taste are sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami (and possibly fatty, according to recent research).
And to think, they laughed at Professor Farnsworth and his Smelloscope.
Yes, I find that was most disorienting.
Yeah, the morality part of FO 3 (and a lot of other RPGs) is cliched. The Fallout universe in particular should be ripe for the kind of complex moral gray areas that are sorely missing in most games. The only game I've seen do a really good job with this is The Witcher.
Heh... the company I work for sells products.
Really? Sells products?
How about this:
Dealing with CO2
From the article:
TWO LEADING chemical companies, Dow Chemical and Air Products & Chemicals, have signed agreements to test competing technologies for capturing carbon dioxide emitted by coal-fired power plants. The advances come as geochemists find that most CO2 sequestered underground is likely to dissolve in deep-formation brine.
I'm not saying there aren't problems with it and a lot of the currently proposed solutions aren't entirely practical, but that's no reason to throw in the towel.