My question is: why don't the manufacturers imitate the way eyes actually work?
Use a bit of motion at first, a flick (maybe motion blurred) to the approximate final location, and then a minimal amount of settling-down to finish the glance/move. A look around or slide could use a few flicks/jumps instead of an unnaturally smooth scroll, which would disrupt the sickening feel.
It might not be the best for FP games where the player is wanting to catch every detail, but in others, it could increase the psychological realism (ie., being able to better use corner-of-the-eye, dimly-glimpsed or thing-in-the-shadows effects. It would certainly improve UI controls, and might even provide the optical illusion of faster operation.
I always find it annoying when people say stuff like this, considering literacy rates have done nothing but rise since the 1960s. Just because people haven't read a specific old book that you think is good does not make them an idiot.
I don't know. I collect book-to-film adaptations for the public library I run and I put the film on the shelf next to the book with tags on each referring to the other. Patrons will walk down the aisles and take stacks of the videos and not touch the books. I've managed to persuade someone to read the original book only twice in the last year, once for Princess Bride and once for To Kill a Mockingbird. No, make that three--there is a 9-year-old boy reading Lord of the Rings, though that was his idea, not mine.
Not in OCLC, the Internet Archive or on Bookfinder. I did, however find Milestones. A Mirthful Miscellany Of Meanderings Down Memory Lane by Aldous Bob or Bob Aldous, or something. I doubt, however, judging from the title, that "revirginizing" will feature in the tome.
I know this thread is dead for all reasonable purposes, but--do you have any recommendations for basic (popular consumer level) texts on the history/philosophy of libertarianism, capitalist libertarian and socialist libertarian? It sounds like an area my library should cover.
Yeah-UPS' location database is screwed up. In my town, they have a whole street listed as being in the next town over. There seems to be no way to correct it--the drivers have reported the issue, the residents have reported it, even the Box Store people have tried to change it, to no avail. The new address reverts within a month.
Last I checked USP and FedEx will deliver packages anywhere in the country, not just in profitable areas.
For some values of "deliver" and "anywhere"
For deliveries outside my rural town, Fedex just dumps the packages at the local office store or at the post office. UPS usually delivers to the door, in and out of town, but I've lately noticed a certain amount of package-dumping as well--probably because their location databases for this area are screwed up.
I searched "memory" both for Apple and Google: in the first few pages of results, everygame that had "memory" in the title was a Memory/Pairs/Concentration clone. They have to be worried about trademark dilution.
Removing the non-game apps with "memory" in the title is a bit overboard, as is the ban on search keywords, but I don't see a problem with requiring designers to use a bit of imagination in their titles.
PINoM - "Pairs is not Memory" or YACC - "Yet Another Concentration Clone" spring to mind.
Based on the "Restate the problem" plus keyword-based suggestions response, I'd say you didn't even get to a human. If you don't persist beyond the machine filter, they don't even bother to read what you write.
I'm too lazy to look it up, but wasn't there an article on/. that talked about being able to tell the movies played by graphing television monitor power usage over time and comparing that to a database of movie "fingerprints?"
--I'm aware that, at this moment, they are unable to achieve that level of detail; but, sooner than we think, they will be able to collect data in finer detail than we would wish them to have.
We need to set limits on what they can collect and how they can use it now before they have the ability to penalize us for using the wrong brand of toaster or to inform on us for consuming the wrong media.
People say they're atheist or agnostic, no problem. Someone says they're Christian, like I have in the past, and I'll get a bunch of replies mocking my belief in "fairy tales" and "how's that intelligent design going for you."
I see overt attacks by atheists and agnostics on Christians and by Christians on atheists and agnostics--admittedly more of the former than the latter. I also see posts on both sides which are interpreted as attacks, though possibly not intended as such. Oftentimes, what seems as a reasoned, passionless and (in my case, probably pedantic:) ) post is felt by a recipient to be biased, condescending, hurtful or malicious. On the extremes, I have seen posters on both sides who apparently believe that failing to mention or to agree with their positions constitute an attack, or those, again on both sides, who appear to believe that their advocacy (I was gonna use the word "evangelism" but given the subject, decided it could be misconstrued) could not possibly be offensive.
And then there are the trolls.
No solution, just noticing the lack of empathy on the 'net. Again.
There are many shades of Agnosticism but there is only one of Atheism and that is "There is nothing supernatural."
Disagree:
There are many shades of atheism, from the denial of the existence/divinity of a single aspect of a single god while accepting other aspects; through the denial of the existence/divinity of a single god or a pantheon while accepting other gods in the pantheon or other pantheons; through denial of the existence/divinity of all but a single pantheon, small set of gods (i.e. Trinity), or single god, to denial of any god while believing in a universal "spirit" to denial of any gods whatsoever. All of these are historical perspectives that have resulted in charges of atheism. Socrates was convicted, among other things, of atheism, though referencing god/gods in his defense. Christians were executed for atheism during the days of Rome, though believing in a single God. Catholics and Protestants accused each other of atheism during and long after the Reformation, though believing in the same God.
Nowadays the term is often used as a catch-all for a denial of or disbelief in the supernatural, a further shade beyond the "a - theism" of its original meaning; and yet I have met soi disant atheists who would not enter a "haunted" building alone or who claim some sort of spirituality. Some would claim that these are not atheists, but I would say that they do not meet the requirements of a particular shade of atheism.
For this reason I would love a voucher-type system where the money follows the child, not the other way around (which do we value more?), and parents can move their children to other schools at-will instead of being stuck.
We have this, after a fashion, where I live in Montana. Currently about a quarter of the students from my district (read one elementary and one junior high/high school) have been transferred to the school district 8 miles down the road (read one elementary and one junior high/high school)...because they have a better football team.
Consequently, because the "money follows the child," this district, which boasts high test scores, graduation rates, and college graduation rates, is losing funding, not due to educational quality, but due to sports--sports at which, due to the small school/team sizes, the students can't compete effectively at the collegiate level.
Another large portion of the community homeschool their children. I can think of only two parents who appear competent at the task (one is a teacher, and one comes from a part of Europe with high educational standards). The rest complain about the failings of the public schools while failing to provide their own children a basic, rounded education.
Parents don't appear to make rational choices based on the children's best interest any better than the government.
--I routinely pirate UK and Australian tv shows because I can't get them in Region 1 NTSC. I have also purchased pirated US shows which have never been released on DVD, or which have changed the original music (that I remember from the original broadcasts) for their DVD releases. In addition, there are a HUGE number of foreign films and albums that the distributors have NO interest in releasing in the US.
I would happily pay for content if they would give me what I want to see!"
As it was originally explained to me, "This." is a FARK meme, originating with a farker who was severely handicapped. Having extreme difficulty typing, he would quote a post and type "This." to indicate agreement with the poster. As his situation was well-known at the time, "This." was adopted by fellow farkers in a spirit of solidarity; though, of course, the origins are now largely forgotten, and it has passed into general usage.
I understand you don't get as good a deal selling there as on your site, but seeing the cheapest copy going for over $90 ensures that anyone searching for your book will at least consider pirating it.
Prattlings from a worker in yet another doomed profession.
I have several friends who work at libraries, and I'm constantly amazed at their delusions of relevance. More and more money spent acquiring multiple copies of best sellers rather than expanding the breadth of the library. Money wasted on video games and popular DVDs.
A single years' budget could buy everyone in my city one of the subsidized Kindles. Lease the real estate to purchase e-books for lending.
Instead, they're expanding the number of libraries but keeping the budget the same, so it'll mean more of the pie going for facilities and salaries and less on content.
Might I suggest you run for or seek an appointment to your library's Board of Trustees?
We in the library field need the input in your demographic, as Library Boards tend to skew towards traditionalists, many of whom have trouble navigating the complexities of the changing needs of the public; and movers-and-shakers, who are more concerned with image and fundraising than the everyday concerns of patron counts and checkouts.
On the Board, you would not only get an inside view of why the library does what it does and the constraints under which it operates; you would have a real say in policy and implementation, which could steer the library in the direction it needs for survival. You have good insights, and ones that need to be heard, but unless you get yourself into a position to say it effectively, nothing will change.
Untrue. My public library has all the books I ever checked out. I have browsed my account online before it goes back years actually.
You should request that they remove the data.
You might also contact your legislature to request a bill to mandate patron privacy. In Montana, the library patron has a right to privacy, except in the matter of overdue books and bills. Libraries are also required by the state legislature to post a notice informing patrons of the danger of patron records being seized by Federal agents and that librarians would be unable to inform them (the patrons) of any seizure. Within months, the Montana Shared Catalog implemented a policy of erasing records after one month or the second checkout (In order to deal with damages found by inspection or reported by the next patron checking out an item).
I would respectfully disagree. We live in a world of tools-as-art. We have such a variety of choices in almost everything that decisions for most consumers comes down to a question of aesthetics. Phones do pretty much the same things, so many consumers chose the iPhone, because it was attractive. The same goes for browsers. We have multiple browsers, all of which do substantially the same thing. Differences in functionality generally are important to only those who use those particular functionalities. Ubiquity-as-a-factor aside, most of the people I know who have specifically chosen a browser, have done so for aesthetic reasons: think of how many people on/. said, "I don't know, but Chrome just looks blazing fast," when it was first released. We really can no longer separate the artistic aspects of design from the functional, the ergonomic or the customizability aspects--consumers expect all of them.
A tool, online or offline must not only work, it must also be a work of art.
I'm actually not even sure if it would work. It works between counties (in-state) and part-year residents in other states can use the service, because it's tagged to the library card/account in the particular library where you sign up. I don't know if it would lock you out if you logged in from a Canadian IP address. I assume you would have to have a US Amazon account, in addition to an Amazon.ca account, and you could probably use a US proxy, etc etc.
The existing system is set up to accommodate snowbirds and other part-year residents/vacationers: if you visit a town regularly, it becomes more of a pain to issue you yet another temp card than it would be to issue a permanent card. YMMV depending on the town and library.
If you are near the US border, cross over and find a library with Overdrive that will allow you to get a card (many rural libraries will--we need registered users). Sign up for your Overdrive account on one of the library's computers, and through the magic of the internet, you should be able to reserve and check them out from your computer at home.
Hear, Hear!
When I was growing up, I thought we would have at least small-scale mining colonies by now. On the whole, I am disappointed in our progress--this isn't the future I signed up to see. That being said, good on the Chinese! I am happy to see that someone is looking forward, even though I would prefer a less authoritarian government having the ability to drop rocks on my head. Maybe this will spark a new space-race and finally get us out there into our space-platform solar domes.
Slashdot Mirror
My question is: why don't the manufacturers imitate the way eyes actually work?
Use a bit of motion at first, a flick (maybe motion blurred) to the approximate final location, and then a minimal amount of settling-down to finish the glance/move. A look around or slide could use a few flicks/jumps instead of an unnaturally smooth scroll, which would disrupt the sickening feel.
It might not be the best for FP games where the player is wanting to catch every detail, but in others, it could increase the psychological realism (ie., being able to better use corner-of-the-eye, dimly-glimpsed or thing-in-the-shadows effects. It would certainly improve UI controls, and might even provide the optical illusion of faster operation.
Or we could, you know, have both as options.
Or we could, you know, use the GIMP interface: multiple floating windows!
Seriously, though, if the sidebar can be moved to where I want it, it will be okay with me. I'm not a fan of right-side controls.
I always find it annoying when people say stuff like this, considering literacy rates have done nothing but rise since the 1960s. Just because people haven't read a specific old book that you think is good does not make them an idiot.
I don't know. I collect book-to-film adaptations for the public library I run and I put the film on the shelf next to the book with tags on each referring to the other. Patrons will walk down the aisles and take stacks of the videos and not touch the books. I've managed to persuade someone to read the original book only twice in the last year, once for Princess Bride and once for To Kill a Mockingbird. No, make that three--there is a 9-year-old boy reading Lord of the Rings, though that was his idea, not mine.
Not in OCLC, the Internet Archive or on Bookfinder. I did, however find Milestones. A Mirthful Miscellany Of Meanderings Down Memory Lane by Aldous Bob or Bob Aldous, or something. I doubt, however, judging from the title, that "revirginizing" will feature in the tome.
I know this thread is dead for all reasonable purposes, but--do you have any recommendations for basic (popular consumer level) texts on the history/philosophy of libertarianism, capitalist libertarian and socialist libertarian? It sounds like an area my library should cover.
Yeah-UPS' location database is screwed up. In my town, they have a whole street listed as being in the next town over. There seems to be no way to correct it--the drivers have reported the issue, the residents have reported it, even the Box Store people have tried to change it, to no avail. The new address reverts within a month.
Last I checked USP and FedEx will deliver packages anywhere in the country, not just in profitable areas.
For some values of "deliver" and "anywhere"
For deliveries outside my rural town, Fedex just dumps the packages at the local office store or at the post office. UPS usually delivers to the door, in and out of town, but I've lately noticed a certain amount of package-dumping as well--probably because their location databases for this area are screwed up.
I'd like to see a two-year "cooling off" period on any internet-related bill before it could be voted on - maybe with another year for any amendments.
I searched "memory" both for Apple and Google: in the first few pages of results, everygame that had "memory" in the title was a Memory/Pairs/Concentration clone. They have to be worried about trademark dilution.
Removing the non-game apps with "memory" in the title is a bit overboard, as is the ban on search keywords, but I don't see a problem with requiring designers to use a bit of imagination in their titles.
PINoM - "Pairs is not Memory" or YACC - "Yet Another Concentration Clone" spring to mind.
Based on the "Restate the problem" plus keyword-based suggestions response, I'd say you didn't even get to a human. If you don't persist beyond the machine filter, they don't even bother to read what you write.
--I'm aware that, at this moment, they are unable to achieve that level of detail; but, sooner than we think, they will be able to collect data in finer detail than we would wish them to have.
We need to set limits on what they can collect and how they can use it now before they have the ability to penalize us for using the wrong brand of toaster or to inform on us for consuming the wrong media.
Please post instructions. I get an error message when I try to remove it.
It gives me an option to remove it, but returns an error when I try to do so.
People say they're atheist or agnostic, no problem. Someone says they're Christian, like I have in the past, and I'll get a bunch of replies mocking my belief in "fairy tales" and "how's that intelligent design going for you."
I see overt attacks by atheists and agnostics on Christians and by Christians on atheists and agnostics--admittedly more of the former than the latter. I also see posts on both sides which are interpreted as attacks, though possibly not intended as such. Oftentimes, what seems as a reasoned, passionless and (in my case, probably pedantic :) ) post is felt by a recipient to be biased, condescending, hurtful or malicious. On the extremes, I have seen posters on both sides who apparently believe that failing to mention or to agree with their positions constitute an attack, or those, again on both sides, who appear to believe that their advocacy (I was gonna use the word "evangelism" but given the subject, decided it could be misconstrued) could not possibly be offensive.
And then there are the trolls.
No solution, just noticing the lack of empathy on the 'net. Again.
There are many shades of Agnosticism but there is only one of Atheism and that is "There is nothing supernatural."
Disagree:
There are many shades of atheism, from the denial of the existence/divinity of a single aspect of a single god while accepting other aspects; through the denial of the existence/divinity of a single god or a pantheon while accepting other gods in the pantheon or other pantheons; through denial of the existence/divinity of all but a single pantheon, small set of gods (i.e. Trinity), or single god, to denial of any god while believing in a universal "spirit" to denial of any gods whatsoever. All of these are historical perspectives that have resulted in charges of atheism. Socrates was convicted, among other things, of atheism, though referencing god/gods in his defense. Christians were executed for atheism during the days of Rome, though believing in a single God. Catholics and Protestants accused each other of atheism during and long after the Reformation, though believing in the same God.
Nowadays the term is often used as a catch-all for a denial of or disbelief in the supernatural, a further shade beyond the "a - theism" of its original meaning; and yet I have met soi disant atheists who would not enter a "haunted" building alone or who claim some sort of spirituality. Some would claim that these are not atheists, but I would say that they do not meet the requirements of a particular shade of atheism.
For this reason I would love a voucher-type system where the money follows the child, not the other way around (which do we value more?), and parents can move their children to other schools at-will instead of being stuck.
We have this, after a fashion, where I live in Montana. Currently about a quarter of the students from my district (read one elementary and one junior high/high school) have been transferred to the school district 8 miles down the road (read one elementary and one junior high/high school)...because they have a better football team.
Consequently, because the "money follows the child," this district, which boasts high test scores, graduation rates, and college graduation rates, is losing funding, not due to educational quality, but due to sports--sports at which, due to the small school/team sizes, the students can't compete effectively at the collegiate level.
Another large portion of the community homeschool their children. I can think of only two parents who appear competent at the task (one is a teacher, and one comes from a part of Europe with high educational standards). The rest complain about the failings of the public schools while failing to provide their own children a basic, rounded education.
Parents don't appear to make rational choices based on the children's best interest any better than the government.
--I routinely pirate UK and Australian tv shows because I can't get them in Region 1 NTSC. I have also purchased pirated US shows which have never been released on DVD, or which have changed the original music (that I remember from the original broadcasts) for their DVD releases. In addition, there are a HUGE number of foreign films and albums that the distributors have NO interest in releasing in the US.
I would happily pay for content if they would give me what I want to see!"
As it was originally explained to me, "This." is a FARK meme, originating with a farker who was severely handicapped. Having extreme difficulty typing, he would quote a post and type "This." to indicate agreement with the poster. As his situation was well-known at the time, "This." was adopted by fellow farkers in a spirit of solidarity; though, of course, the origins are now largely forgotten, and it has passed into general usage.
I understand you don't get as good a deal selling there as on your site, but seeing the cheapest copy going for over $90 ensures that anyone searching for your book will at least consider pirating it.
Prattlings from a worker in yet another doomed profession. I have several friends who work at libraries, and I'm constantly amazed at their delusions of relevance. More and more money spent acquiring multiple copies of best sellers rather than expanding the breadth of the library. Money wasted on video games and popular DVDs. A single years' budget could buy everyone in my city one of the subsidized Kindles. Lease the real estate to purchase e-books for lending. Instead, they're expanding the number of libraries but keeping the budget the same, so it'll mean more of the pie going for facilities and salaries and less on content.
Might I suggest you run for or seek an appointment to your library's Board of Trustees?
We in the library field need the input in your demographic, as Library Boards tend to skew towards traditionalists, many of whom have trouble navigating the complexities of the changing needs of the public; and movers-and-shakers, who are more concerned with image and fundraising than the everyday concerns of patron counts and checkouts.
On the Board, you would not only get an inside view of why the library does what it does and the constraints under which it operates; you would have a real say in policy and implementation, which could steer the library in the direction it needs for survival. You have good insights, and ones that need to be heard, but unless you get yourself into a position to say it effectively, nothing will change.
It would look good on your CV, too. :)
Untrue. My public library has all the books I ever checked out. I have browsed my account online before it goes back years actually.
You should request that they remove the data.
You might also contact your legislature to request a bill to mandate patron privacy. In Montana, the library patron has a right to privacy, except in the matter of overdue books and bills. Libraries are also required by the state legislature to post a notice informing patrons of the danger of patron records being seized by Federal agents and that librarians would be unable to inform them (the patrons) of any seizure. Within months, the Montana Shared Catalog implemented a policy of erasing records after one month or the second checkout (In order to deal with damages found by inspection or reported by the next patron checking out an item).
I'm sorry, but a browser is not a piece of art.
I would respectfully disagree. We live in a world of tools-as-art. We have such a variety of choices in almost everything that decisions for most consumers comes down to a question of aesthetics. Phones do pretty much the same things, so many consumers chose the iPhone, because it was attractive. The same goes for browsers. We have multiple browsers, all of which do substantially the same thing. Differences in functionality generally are important to only those who use those particular functionalities. Ubiquity-as-a-factor aside, most of the people I know who have specifically chosen a browser, have done so for aesthetic reasons: think of how many people on /. said, "I don't know, but Chrome just looks blazing fast," when it was first released. We really can no longer separate the artistic aspects of design from the functional, the ergonomic or the customizability aspects--consumers expect all of them.
A tool, online or offline must not only work, it must also be a work of art.
Yes, I'm looking at you, GIMP.
The existing system is set up to accommodate snowbirds and other part-year residents/vacationers: if you visit a town regularly, it becomes more of a pain to issue you yet another temp card than it would be to issue a permanent card. YMMV depending on the town and library.
If you are near the US border, cross over and find a library with Overdrive that will allow you to get a card (many rural libraries will--we need registered users). Sign up for your Overdrive account on one of the library's computers, and through the magic of the internet, you should be able to reserve and check them out from your computer at home.
Hear, Hear! When I was growing up, I thought we would have at least small-scale mining colonies by now. On the whole, I am disappointed in our progress--this isn't the future I signed up to see. That being said, good on the Chinese! I am happy to see that someone is looking forward, even though I would prefer a less authoritarian government having the ability to drop rocks on my head. Maybe this will spark a new space-race and finally get us out there into our space-platform solar domes.