If the public elects someone that they actually want, the other two branches will step in and block that official from doing anything useful. The "checks and balances" are actually designed to prevent the public from having a say in the law.
It's a shame that some of the first 'real' computers, used in WWII to decrypt German communications, were destroyed after the war ended. They were known as Collosus, and there were at least two of them.
that's neoliberalism for you. don't care about your peers.
Well, as far as the loaded "don't care" idea, I'm not going to comment. But what you're referring to is Libertarianism, not liberalism / leftism. Liberals generally want the government to interfere with companies; Libertarians don't, as they want the government to have the smallest role possible.
I wrote somewhere between a one and two page letter, sent it by email and snail mail. I think I kept to the point of rejecting the settlement pretty well, but I hope mine wasn't rejected as "opinion". I have a feeling that they had a tendancy to sway towards +settlement comments. (and even that left them with twice the amount of anti-settlement letters.)
How about the ability to search for more than 10 items per sweep? That's tripped me up a few times.
*grumble*
I really don't understand why search engines don't just have two entry boxes: One for what the user DOES want, one for what they DON'T. The average user could understand that better than "+bob -dole".
Or haven't you noticed every politician using "God bless America" as a salutation?
Well, they do want to be (re-)elected. There's something to be said for P.R.
Opinion polls almost always find that a vast majority of Americans believe in God.
Which God? The Jewish God? The Christian God? The Catholic-Christian God? Yahweh? Jehova? Allah? The I-think-there's-something-out-there-so-I'll-just-check-yes God?
And remember the scene in Contact where Jody Foster doesn't get selected to visit the aliens (at first) because she doesn't believe in God, thereby making her unpopular?
In case you missed it, when Carl Sagan (a professed agnostic) wrote Contact he was trying to point out the negative effects of a culture where the majority expects that everybody should believe as they do, or else be looked down upon and treated with less respect. I'm not sure that's something we should be proud of.
> "I mean, I can respect the technical achievements of Quake III"
You just answered your own question: Carmack is a programmer, so probably he just enjoys the "technical achievements". No small thing to me.
Right. With a passion for coding but not for a certain genre, an RPG from ID would probably turn out rather stale. Anybody remember "Descent to Undermountain"?
Although clearly a joke, I think Carmack should take Gates up on his offer. Challenge him to a coding contest of sorts. It doesn't have to be a formal request, just sort of a "bring it on" reply with a few mild parameters to the contest that would leave the brunt of the humor solely on Gates' shoulders.
And the interface is far better than those of any of the messengers it uses, except for ICQ.
Well I'd agree that the interface has far less garbage than other clients, but there are actually too few options! Using the client isn't easy for the newcomer because it's not easy how do figure out what to do. It seems like you have to dig through one large settings screen for everything. People are expecting "File, Edit, Help, etc" and lots of quickbuttons for various services. And there's not much feedback about the connections themselves. I tried it not too long ago, and my ICQ connection kept going dark but it provided no feedback on what was going on.
Sega made a big mistake cooperating with Microsoft when creating it's console. Yes, the hardware is compatible with Windows CE (It was part of Sega's attempts to make the system easy to program for) -- but most games don't use it. The few games that I have seen (such as Q-bert) have slow loading times and have in general been of a lower quality than non-Windows CE games. And at least Q-Bert isn't compatible with the (awesome) VGA box, but I'm not sure if that has anything to do with running on CE.
I doubt games like Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure and Skies of Arcadia could have looked or played nearly as good had they had operated on top of Windows CE.
See my earlier post on how Microsoft benefitted from the deal.
*Looks over at the Dreamcast and Gamecube consoles next to the television, controllers already so worn from extensive use that the buttons are going bad*
Microsoft knows the backwards/forwards compatability thing. In fact, they sometimes keep compatability at the expense of feature improvement (himem386.sys anyone?)
Well, Microsoft was in talks with Sega to produce a system together. Sega was going to give expertise and produce exclusive software for the new console. It fell apart when Microsoft refused to include backwards compatibility with the Dreamcast.
Do you have any idea how much Dreamcast compatibility would have benefited the X-Box? Of course, Microsoft went on anyway with it's marketing muscle and seems to have done just fine on their own. However, Microsoft learned a heck of a lot from Sega, starting with their relationship adding Windows CE workings to the Dreamcast. You can even see it in the X-Box controller. Ever compare it to a Dreamcast controller?
Slashdot Mirror
At least, with the 9x versions. Take a look.
If the public elects someone that they actually want, the other two branches will step in and block that official from doing anything useful. The "checks and balances" are actually designed to prevent the public from having a say in the law.
Wisdom from a video game!
It's a shame that some of the first 'real' computers, used in WWII to decrypt German communications, were destroyed after the war ended. They were known as Collosus, and there were at least two of them.
that's neoliberalism for you. don't care about your peers.
Well, as far as the loaded "don't care" idea, I'm not going to comment. But what you're referring to is Libertarianism, not liberalism / leftism. Liberals generally want the government to interfere with companies; Libertarians don't, as they want the government to have the smallest role possible.
I wrote somewhere between a one and two page letter, sent it by email and snail mail. I think I kept to the point of rejecting the settlement pretty well, but I hope mine wasn't rejected as "opinion". I have a feeling that they had a tendancy to sway towards +settlement comments. (and even that left them with twice the amount of anti-settlement letters.)
I mean't right on the front page. And even with an advanced search, you are still limited to 10 entries.
How about the ability to search for more than 10 items per sweep? That's tripped me up a few times.
*grumble*
I really don't understand why search engines don't just have two entry boxes: One for what the user DOES want, one for what they DON'T. The average user could understand that better than "+bob -dole".
This is about as sane as using bubblegum to fix a rocket pack.
Hey, haven't you seen The Rocketeer? It works great!
(Just be sure to peel the gum off before giving it to your arch-enemy.)
Or haven't you noticed every politician using "God bless America" as a salutation?
Well, they do want to be (re-)elected. There's something to be said for P.R.
Opinion polls almost always find that a vast majority of Americans believe in God.
Which God? The Jewish God? The Christian God? The Catholic-Christian God? Yahweh? Jehova? Allah? The I-think-there's- something -out-there-so-I'll-just-check-yes God?
And remember the scene in Contact where Jody Foster doesn't get selected to visit the aliens (at first) because she doesn't believe in God, thereby making her unpopular?
In case you missed it, when Carl Sagan (a professed agnostic) wrote Contact he was trying to point out the negative effects of a culture where the majority expects that everybody should believe as they do, or else be looked down upon and treated with less respect. I'm not sure that's something we should be proud of.
2002-02-05 00:03:43 Bush Jr. decides to cut tech research grants. (articles,money) (rejected)
Wrong URL posted. Please moderate parent as overrated or offtopic.
Sorry. That was supposed to be PayPal.
Donate.
> "I mean, I can respect the technical achievements of Quake III"
You just answered your own question: Carmack is a programmer, so probably he just enjoys the "technical achievements". No small thing to me.
Right. With a passion for coding but not for a certain genre, an RPG from ID would probably turn out rather stale. Anybody remember "Descent to Undermountain"?
Although clearly a joke, I think Carmack should take Gates up on his offer. Challenge him to a coding contest of sorts. It doesn't have to be a formal request, just sort of a "bring it on" reply with a few mild parameters to the contest that would leave the brunt of the humor solely on Gates' shoulders.
I wonder if Bill has the ego to follow through.
He was stupid and chose to piss in the US gov's wheaties.
Well I guess it really is the breakfast of champions.
(joke)
And the interface is far better than those of any of the messengers it uses, except for ICQ.
Well I'd agree that the interface has far less garbage than other clients, but there are actually too few options! Using the client isn't easy for the newcomer because it's not easy how do figure out what to do. It seems like you have to dig through one large settings screen for everything. People are expecting "File, Edit, Help, etc" and lots of quickbuttons for various services. And there's not much feedback about the connections themselves. I tried it not too long ago, and my ICQ connection kept going dark but it provided no feedback on what was going on.
Doesn't have quite the same ring to it... "Microsoft Transparent Concrete".
I knew someone was going to say this. =)
Sega made a big mistake cooperating with Microsoft when creating it's console. Yes, the hardware is compatible with Windows CE (It was part of Sega's attempts to make the system easy to program for) -- but most games don't use it. The few games that I have seen (such as Q-bert) have slow loading times and have in general been of a lower quality than non-Windows CE games. And at least Q-Bert isn't compatible with the (awesome) VGA box, but I'm not sure if that has anything to do with running on CE.
I doubt games like Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure and Skies of Arcadia could have looked or played nearly as good had they had operated on top of Windows CE.
See my earlier post on how Microsoft benefitted from the deal.
Right now, the right tool for gaming is Windows.
*Looks over at the Dreamcast and Gamecube consoles next to the television, controllers already so worn from extensive use that the buttons are going bad*
You're kidding, right?
Specifically, Monday morning. So plan to get it there by the 27th.
I've sent my letter via snail mail, and an email copy. Have you?
Microsoft knows the backwards/forwards compatability thing. In fact, they sometimes keep compatability at the expense of feature improvement (himem386.sys anyone?)
Well, Microsoft was in talks with Sega to produce a system together. Sega was going to give expertise and produce exclusive software for the new console. It fell apart when Microsoft refused to include backwards compatibility with the Dreamcast.
Do you have any idea how much Dreamcast compatibility would have benefited the X-Box? Of course, Microsoft went on anyway with it's marketing muscle and seems to have done just fine on their own. However, Microsoft learned a heck of a lot from Sega, starting with their relationship adding Windows CE workings to the Dreamcast. You can even see it in the X-Box controller. Ever compare it to a Dreamcast controller?
Writing a DoS tool is not a crime.
This is true, if you know your boundries. You would get an "illegal operation" message if you tried to access more than 640K of memory.
Apples and oranges
Nah. Those are far too similar to describe this comparison. We're talking apples and orangutans.
Galileo: Somebody set us up the bomb.
Bacteria: What you say!!
NASA: *Skkrt* You are on the path to destruction.
NASA: *Skrrt* You have no chance to survive make your time.
Bacteria: Noooooooooooo! Launch zig! We'll be safe on Europa!