No one has solid evidence, only anecdotes -- just like yours.
My Samsung CD-ROM drive (a late 1998 model) died after about two and a half years of ordinary use. MMDV. However, I don't consider brand names a very useful guide to quality -- specific models vary within a brand. IBM hard drives had a good reputation until a couple specific models started to die.
Nah, he's not missing anything. The point of an RPG is to play a role -- hence the name. "Plot" progression can enhance this, but it can also be a detriment. In many of the games you mentioned, there's little role-playing to do; all the roles are pre-scripted. You watch their roles play out, but you don't actually play them yourself. The plot progresses, but you don't control how; you're not allowed to do anything that would break the designers' preconceived notions of how things should happen. This doesn't mean they're not good games... but something like Chrono Trigger isn't a role-playing game in the classic sense of the term. Relatively few computer/console games are.
1. It has been a long time since we've seen a phenomenal, ground-breaking RPG.
2. I am anxious to see what these guys can turn out.
*cue smart-ass response*
Agreed, but what do those sentences have to do with one another?...
In fairness, I haven't played games by either of them since the SNES days, so maybe they've improved. On the other hand, my tolerance for certain common console RPG stupidities has gone down as I've gotten older....
If you come up with a brilliant novel, and I take your manuscript and publish it as my own, I haven't committted "copyright infringement" in the vernacular--I've stolen your manuscript.
Correct -- because you've deprived him of the ability to publish the manuscript as his, along with all the profits. If you copied the manuscript without ever releasing it, you would not, in the vernacular, "stolen" it.
Hollow point bullets are generally the best choice for self-defense with a handgun; they have more stopping power and less penetration, which means less chance of shooting through the target or a wall and possibly hitting something you didn't want to hit.
Rifles aren't generally a great choice for self-defense, but they aren't a prevalent choice among criminals, either.
I would have hoped you also saw the result of NOT using force when it should have been...like keeping Hitler from rearming after WWI.
Hitler, of course, was not in power immediately after WWI, and might not have had the platform to get there if the Treaty of Versailles hadn't been dedicated to getting revenge against his country.
Should force have been used when he did come to power? Probably -- but if that hypothetical war had resolved itself like the previous one, it would've just set up the same scenario all over again. When followed up by bad policy in handling the defeated nation, war ends up being worse than useless.
(The applicability of this to current events is left as an exercise for the reader.)
Both mean and median are measures of central tendency. In this case, median is a better measure of an "average American" than the mean is, because the mean is skewed upward by the enormous earnings by those at the top of the scale.
All that number spouting means nothing coming from someone that does not know the definition of median [ptti.com]. (For those too lazy to click on the link, "the middle value between two values") Median is a number that though easy to define, has little value when trying to understand at a bell curve.
Are you sure that you understand what a median is? Just for the hell of it I yanked out my old stats texbook, which says, "The median is the measurement that falls in the middle of the ordered sample." (If sample size is even, the median is the mean of the two middle measurements.) It is an absolutely essential value for understanding a bell curve, because half the data points on the curve fall below the median and half above.
So, the highest income in the US is $83,888 per year? No? Well that's what "median" implies.
It does no such thing -- see above.
The funny thing here is that the median for this sample is almost certainly lower than the mean, and more representative of "average" people, because the small number of people earning tremendous amounts of money skew the mean upward.
As far as your medical care argument goes, you couldn't be more wrong when it comes to Northern Europe and Scandinavia (UK public health care is in real shambles, though)
I visited Norway recently, and while I was there heard several horror stories in the media about medical care that was slow and incompetent. My (native) host also believed that the system had significant problems in that regard. Granted, this is a very small dataset; I'd be interested in seeing a more scientific take on the subject.
The article doesn't indicate that participants were tested for pain sensitivity in the absence of anesthetic. This is an important control case -- without it, there's no telling whether redheads have greater sensitivity to pain or greater insensitivity to anesthetic.
The AC above (currently modded at 0) is correct about a point the +5 rated parent got wrong. The original TNT was competitive with a single Voodoo 2, but not with a pair in SLI. The Voodoo 2 SLI solution remained the pretty much uncontested "hardcore" choice until the next generation appeared.
However, I must say that your point that I have quoted deserves to be highlighted, because it's exactly right. If the way Nintendo licenses their software can just be ignored, why not ignore the all-high GNU General Public License too?
Because the GPL is a grant of rights, and one who ignores it gains nothing -- as has been explained on Slashdot hundreds of times. Apparently both you and the person who moderated up this post overlooked those explanations, though.
The source cited in that article refers to this as a possibility for the Xbox 2. By the time Microsoft can get its own chips into production, the fate of the original Xbox will already be set. If they tried to rush their own implementation of the original Xbox into market, the development expenses would lead to losses even worse than they are now.
Besides, the point of the article isn't so much directed at the Xbox per se as at the design strategy behind it. For Microsoft to change its strategy would support this article, not disprove it.
I don't know about you but for some strange reason playing football (soccer), basketball etc with my mates is for some reason alot more fun than looking at a computer game.
I share that preference. However, those are also games, and there's no moral highground to be found in preferring them. The value of a game is determined by the enjoyment it provides, and if someone enjoys playing computer games more than playing active sports, it would be senseless for him to set the latter above the former.
Life isn't watching a TV set, and as good as graphics get, no game will ever equal that feeling as you blast in a shot from 20 yards, or nail a 3 pointer over your work mates.
Since I don't like basketball, and do like some computer games, I naturally disagree with respect to my own experience. I enjoy some playing some other sports more than I enjoy playing computer games, but for me the groups are complementary, not mutually exclusive. There are some things that can't be done in a computer game, but there are also some things that can't be done outside of one.
Games are fun, but if you can't tell the difference between a game and your life... then you need help.
Games are a part of life. Granted, there are different kinds of games, and it's important not to give any of them more significance than it deserves. That applies as much to a real-life game like "keeping up with the Joneses" as it does to the virtual equivalent.
Please don't pontificate about moral responsibilities taking precedence over your duty to your shareholders -- if you sincerely hold that view, you're derelict in your role and should seek another job.
What says he should care about being derelict in his role, or duty to shareholders, if not a set of moral responsibilities? Without those, he might as well do as pleases him best.
Slashdot Mirror
No one has solid evidence, only anecdotes -- just like yours.
My Samsung CD-ROM drive (a late 1998 model) died after about two and a half years of ordinary use. MMDV. However, I don't consider brand names a very useful guide to quality -- specific models vary within a brand. IBM hard drives had a good reputation until a couple specific models started to die.
Nah, he's not missing anything. The point of an RPG is to play a role -- hence the name. "Plot" progression can enhance this, but it can also be a detriment. In many of the games you mentioned, there's little role-playing to do; all the roles are pre-scripted. You watch their roles play out, but you don't actually play them yourself. The plot progresses, but you don't control how; you're not allowed to do anything that would break the designers' preconceived notions of how things should happen. This doesn't mean they're not good games... but something like Chrono Trigger isn't a role-playing game in the classic sense of the term. Relatively few computer/console games are.
1. It has been a long time since we've seen a phenomenal, ground-breaking RPG.
...
2. I am anxious to see what these guys can turn out.
*cue smart-ass response*
Agreed, but what do those sentences have to do with one another?
In fairness, I haven't played games by either of them since the SNES days, so maybe they've improved. On the other hand, my tolerance for certain common console RPG stupidities has gone down as I've gotten older....
Yeah, civil forfeiture is a great deterrent.
So is summary execution.
Rarely is either justifiable.
Reread your title, drop the "but", and you'll get it. (With respect to this particular story, at least.)
If you come up with a brilliant novel, and I take your manuscript and publish it as my own, I haven't committted "copyright infringement" in the vernacular--I've stolen your manuscript.
Correct -- because you've deprived him of the ability to publish the manuscript as his, along with all the profits. If you copied the manuscript without ever releasing it, you would not, in the vernacular, "stolen" it.
British English sounds very nice to me but when i hear Dubya talk...
Sure, but what does his speaking have to do with English?
I'm not flaming you, I'm just being honest.
They're not mutually exclusive.
Hollow point bullets are generally the best choice for self-defense with a handgun; they have more stopping power and less penetration, which means less chance of shooting through the target or a wall and possibly hitting something you didn't want to hit.
Rifles aren't generally a great choice for self-defense, but they aren't a prevalent choice among criminals, either.
I would have hoped you also saw the result of NOT using force when it should have been...like keeping Hitler from rearming after WWI.
Hitler, of course, was not in power immediately after WWI, and might not have had the platform to get there if the Treaty of Versailles hadn't been dedicated to getting revenge against his country.
Should force have been used when he did come to power? Probably -- but if that hypothetical war had resolved itself like the previous one, it would've just set up the same scenario all over again. When followed up by bad policy in handling the defeated nation, war ends up being worse than useless.
(The applicability of this to current events is left as an exercise for the reader.)
Both mean and median are measures of central tendency. In this case, median is a better measure of an "average American" than the mean is, because the mean is skewed upward by the enormous earnings by those at the top of the scale.
All that number spouting means nothing coming from someone that does not know the definition of median [ptti.com]. (For those too lazy to click on the link, "the middle value between two values") Median is a number that though easy to define, has little value when trying to understand at a bell curve.
Are you sure that you understand what a median is? Just for the hell of it I yanked out my old stats texbook, which says, "The median is the measurement that falls in the middle of the ordered sample." (If sample size is even, the median is the mean of the two middle measurements.) It is an absolutely essential value for understanding a bell curve, because half the data points on the curve fall below the median and half above.
So, the highest income in the US is $83,888 per year? No? Well that's what "median" implies.
It does no such thing -- see above.
The funny thing here is that the median for this sample is almost certainly lower than the mean, and more representative of "average" people, because the small number of people earning tremendous amounts of money skew the mean upward.
Sometimes the most fiscally responsible use of intellectual property rights is not enforcing them.
As far as your medical care argument goes, you couldn't be more wrong when it comes to Northern Europe and Scandinavia (UK public health care is in real shambles, though)
I visited Norway recently, and while I was there heard several horror stories in the media about medical care that was slow and incompetent. My (native) host also believed that the system had significant problems in that regard. Granted, this is a very small dataset; I'd be interested in seeing a more scientific take on the subject.
1. Paying double for broadband simply isn't an option for some people on a budget.
His point #1 was in reference to a standard ISP, not broadband. Monthly charge might be a reason to use dialup, but not to use AOL specifically.
The article doesn't indicate that participants were tested for pain sensitivity in the absence of anesthetic. This is an important control case -- without it, there's no telling whether redheads have greater sensitivity to pain or greater insensitivity to anesthetic.
This has been shown again and again by psychological studies
Have any citations?
Sometimes the truth is difficult, unpopular, and publicly termed 'intolerant.' It needs to be told nonetheless.
Very insightful. Please start whenever you're ready.
The AC above (currently modded at 0) is correct about a point the +5 rated parent got wrong. The original TNT was competitive with a single Voodoo 2, but not with a pair in SLI. The Voodoo 2 SLI solution remained the pretty much uncontested "hardcore" choice until the next generation appeared.
However, I must say that your point that I have quoted deserves to be highlighted, because it's exactly right. If the way Nintendo licenses their software can just be ignored, why not ignore the all-high GNU General Public License too?
Because the GPL is a grant of rights, and one who ignores it gains nothing -- as has been explained on Slashdot hundreds of times. Apparently both you and the person who moderated up this post overlooked those explanations, though.
The source cited in that article refers to this as a possibility for the Xbox 2. By the time Microsoft can get its own chips into production, the fate of the original Xbox will already be set. If they tried to rush their own implementation of the original Xbox into market, the development expenses would lead to losses even worse than they are now.
Besides, the point of the article isn't so much directed at the Xbox per se as at the design strategy behind it. For Microsoft to change its strategy would support this article, not disprove it.
This is obviously some definition of the word "liberal" with which I was not previously aquainted.
The original senses of the word have to do with "lack of restraints"; its root means "freedom". The political definitions you refer to are much newer.