I think we could forgive them for the 3rd movie...
Sadly, no. There is NO forgiving that ridiculous Jazz Sequence.
I am not surprised that the rest of this movie series was scrapped. I think it really was the best thing for it. As for a reboot, I'll have to see who the new Director and Cast are, but like someone said above, I think its just a little too soon.
There is to some degree that kind of thing going on, one could argue that Super Mario Bros 3 is better than the new Super Mario Bros Wii, while the latter one is merely a re-iteration of the former, it has quite a few of its own quirks. I could understand how the older see it as derivative and the younger would not understand how they think #3 is better.
But that is specifically from the console perspective. PC Games - specifically ones from the Era that he is refering to, had a degree of complexity that has been unmatched in all my years of playing games. He mentioned Theif, which was the original First Person Looter. It started the whole "Stealth" idea in a game, which up to that point was completely non-existant. While almost standard now in every game - there seems to be a level where you are either difficult to spot (blizzard levels in Call of Duty) or you have some games that try to re-iterate that stealth element, like Oblivion or Fallout 3. Oblivion had really come the closest, but it didn't quite capture ALL of the elements that were involved in Stealth. You don't get levels with large casted that you have to sneak in, avoiding the light. You don't have to be careful what floors you walk on, you are just as undetectable on stone as you are on grass. You don't have non-lethal options. All of these things that made the game rather unique are no longer present in modern day games.
Its like a little while ago when people were talking about how great Duke Nukem 3D was, given that it had Hologram deploys, pipe bombs, security cameras, flame throwers, RPG's, remote mines, laser trip mines, etc etc. Everything in there has been redone somewhere, but no where else has ALL of them combined so flawlessly to make balanced gameplay.
And these aren't the only ones I can think of. X-wing vs Tie Fighter, one of Lucasart's Finest in my books, was one of the best space flight simulators out there. You had the standard fly around, barrel rolls, and fire lasers that are present in just about any flight game. But it also had a laser and shield recharge system, that would draw from your engine power if you put too much into recharging those systems. You had shield balancing (like when they say in A New Hope: set shields to double front!). You had targetting and locking on, and you could tell when other crafts had you targetted and were locking on. There were countermeasures for missiles, countermeasures for chasers. You had full 0% to 100% throttle support, ability to match speed with your target, or you could attempt to out maneuver them. You could call for reinforcements, though it would hurt your score. The amount of game mechanics in the game is staggering. There were so many ways to play it too. It even had online support, for dogfights, co-operative missions, or different scenarios (where you can play on opposing sides).
Another game from Lucasarts at the time was Rebellion, which had terrible graphics but good gameplay. As opposed to its most recent re-iteration; Empire at war - it had certain elements that are tough to find in any game now a days. I could send Princess Leia on a diplomatic mission, or if I play the other side, send Darth Vader to try and Capture Luke. These had different outcomes based on chance - which altered the characters. Perhaps the planet will join the Rebel Alliance, thus boosting my production and resources, or perhaps Darth Vader will succeed in Capturing Luke, not only forcing Luke to learn about his heritage making him stronger but also taking an agent away from my opponent. They could then mount a rescue operation. You could build fleets, you could build armies, and you would have to manage the two efficiently. If an opponents fleet is above your planet they initiate a blockade, meaning no production or resources on that planet. As such, fleet dominance is ultimately one of the most important things. But you cannot take over a planet without troops. And doing so affects the planets standing of you. Aggressively going to war to gain
Yes - and to generate thousands of those each instant and compute them would be taxing on the system - and expensive. Whereas this project is attempting to build both the random generator AND the computational hardware required out of an existing model.
Because by the definition of Random-ness in nature, I mean that everything is affected by their surroundings. I could have a different mood based on my temperature. Truly you could program an algorithm for that, but what about Barometric pressure? Okay now how about my breakfast this morning. Or dinner last night actually! Or how about my childhood. Or how about plans for the future? How about how my boss was talking to me this morning? My DNA?
Point is - the amount of random events that affect us is absolutely staggering. But we know they affect us and its not just a simple matter of "random chance". I could have heireditary depression, or I could not. It's a random chance, to be sure, but it is highly influenced by my ancestors. And that might affect my mood severely.
If you still think that getting a computer to not only run a simulation but also generate all the random events that effect that simulation is still a plausible answer with computer technology today - I don't know how you arrived at that answer.
This wet computer is an attempt to properly duplicate only but a mere fraction of what actually randomly affects a situation. If we can get the random parts built-in into the hardware and not determined by the software, then we are one step closer to True AI. After all, the world in which the wet computer would reside would be just as random as our world, and a good chunk of how it would think has already been written and tested.
But we don't actually have true randomness (though you could argue neither does nature, perhaps quantum mechanics is all a bunch of hoopla and the very outcome of the universe can be determined, but we'll save that for another day).
Point is, a random number generator when rebooted will generate the same random numbers when rebooted in the same scenario. Tested myself across many lanuages - I have yet to see a true random number generator.
Our algorithms are VERY deterministic. Lets say there is a purple car, but in my memory I remember it as blue. A slight difference in colour. As computers determine colours in that RBG kind of Fashion, we'll say my memory added a 50 to the red factor, just to put it in understandable terms. Why did this happen? When did this happen? Surely 2 moments after seeing the car I would remember it as blue, but later that week I recall it differently. Was it in the process of putting it into long term memory, or did it degrade over time in long term memory? But why is it that I can correctly remember the colour of my Grandfather's eyes, even though he is long gone?
Lets say for the sake of arguement you put it in your algorithm to on occaison 'randomly' alter data when its transfered to long term memory, and/or when it sits in long term memory. How often do you execute this? Is that up to 'random' chance? And how much gets altered? Is that random too? Could not my entire memory become distorted? Would that be the same thing as a mental disease - the computer happens to get a bad long series of random?
It all comes down to properly producing random events - something which computers don't really do, its pseudo-random
The way to achieve true randomness, (From the article): One measures some physical phenomenon that is expected to be random and then compensates for possible biases in the measurement process.
Or in other words, cellular interactions, chemical reactions, even rolling a die would be better than building a computer to "generate" randomness.
The power button can be difficult to find. You'll have to search around for a minute or so until the system shows some clear responses. Even then, you'll have to stimulate said power button for a few minutes before it finally boots up, allowing you to do whatever it is you want it to do. Be forewarned though, if you take too long, it will eventually lose power and turn off - however on the other hand if you are too quick it may not want to turn on at all next time. You should exercise extreme caution and timing when using your new wet computer. It may take multiple times to practice the rhythm.
YOU* Defaulted US to share, not that we CHOSE to. I'm sure had you prompted each individual how private they want their settings when they first signed up, a lot of people would have chosen Friends, or friends of friends, or at least to a specific network (Like the local university).
In fact, You** semi tried doing so not too long ago, and as I recall, A LOT of people then locked their photos and status updates to friends only. I know I did, and about 99% of my friends list did, and when I facebook search someone I met at a party, I have to grab a friend invite before I see anything besides their name and profile pic.
You can't just set it up so that sharing is the norm, and when people use your product, then claim that its what is expected.
*If not You Mark, then whoever is running Facebook Right now. **Subjective as above
Chemical reactions have a sort of random-ness to them that electricity through a wire can't duplicate. When the circuit isn't complete, electrons aren't moving. When two chemicals aren't reacting, their molecules still shift about in either their gaseous or liquid form. They could be affected by anything that comes into contact with them, depending on the substance it could be magnetic and thus making their movement affected by all sorts of things.
Think of the number of random events that can occur on the cellular level.
Computer software has gained the ability to learn, and gained the ability to change itself, even learned how to reproduce itself.
What it hasn't gained is the ability for abstract thought, which I attribute to the incredible amount of random events that go on inside our brain.
Though I could just be blowing smoke, I'm no physicist or chemist or biologist.
You can have bugs, you can have additional features, you can have new projects on the table, ALL of that stuff should be second fiddle to security vulnerabilities.
So where is the time consumption? The firm is already telling you WHERE the problem is. All it takes now is Finding a solution, testing it, and deploying it.
If you're telling me that it takes more than 2 months to do that - I seriously doubt the actual integrity of the product they are working on.
At issue is the pesky ethical and practical question of whether airing a software vendor’s dirty laundry (the unpatched security flaws that they know about but haven’t fixed yet) forces the affected vendor to fix the problem faster than it would have had the problem remained a relative secret
Hasn't this been proven to be true - and legal?
In all honesty, if they've contacted the vendor and the vendor hasn't patched it in a month or two, I think its completely ethical and practical to release the vulnerabilities. After all, there could be a few other small firms who have discovered the vulnerability and are exploiting it. Best to put them out there in a Twitter feed so that the entire world instantly complains about it forcing the vendor to fix it. I prefer security over new features.
The difference between this format war and the last one is that Blu Ray, while picking up speed - is not quite at the same point DVD's were when Blu Ray/HD DVD were introduced. Albeit, everyone still had a VCR and their VHSs. And people still DO have their VCR and VHSs. However now most movie collections consist of DVD's, unless you just started your movie collection a few years ago.
Some people don't even have a Blu Ray Player - let alone a sizable Blu Ray collection.
So what happens when this new form of content hosting becomes available? Do people with Blu Rays and their players get left out in the cold? Did the straglers manage to skip a step?
All I'm saying is - we're JUST NOW getting Blu Ray to really take off, I find it very unlikely that enough people are going to want to adopt a new format so soon.
And there are alot of issues since both of these would require an internet connection to fully function. The internet may now become a common household item - but not everyone's is fast enough for you to download an HD Movie by the time the popcorn is ready - I see Blu Ray still holding some advantages over content hosting.
Um... Don't all universities use students as sysadmins?.
HA! No. The University around here only lets CS Graduates touch a server for about 2 weeks, after studying about it for a month. Everything is handled by its own CT&IS Faculty. As someone who has multiple friends at the university, I will speak for the students to say the system they have set up BLOWS. They will, on occaison, hire they're GRADUATES to do some contract work.
Now, the Polytechnic that I went to, had us set up our own private networks, and administrate that. It was about as close to the real thing as I could get without actually being in the real mess, which was enough for me to learn the basics of what I needed to know. Looking back, it really depends on the class. Some kids were fresh out of highschool (like me) and played alot of Video games during class (not like me) so I would understand if they didn't want certain people administering the Web services of the campus.
There was ONE student, who managed to hack into the firewall and allow World of Warcraft to run on his computer. He got Straight A's for a year and then Expelled. I sometimes wonder if he was able to get a job, saying "Yeah I was expelled from school because I knew their network better than they did"
is managing a server, even an important one, really that hard - when you have someone to go to when you have questions?
Thats exactly the position I'm in, and its the easiest part of the job I hold. If you know HOW to do things, the only thing left as part of the job is knowing WHAT to do.
When an issue comes up, its just "Hey, this is whats going on. Whats the best course of action? We could..."
And then he'll respond with "Yes, that sounds good" or "No, do this instead"
I am in the upper bounds of that range. I do Sysadmin stuff in our corporation, though not as much as the Chief IT Manager. I do the cabling, I set up the racks, I make sure the UPS are tested regularily. All the grunt work a Sysadmin would do. I help with decisions on new network policies, and dealing with security and updates. Network Topology is something I wish I had a say in, but don't. I will on occaison, be called in to reboot a server, or replace a bad drive.
I had to learn the Help-Ticket system on the job, but really that was like a 5 minute breeze because most of it is common sense. (Ticket comes in, prioritize, assign, do)
I'm glad to see that younger people are getting into these positions, since I think they help push forward newer technologies and methodologies. It'll sound like I'm tooting my own horn here (and Maybe I am just a little:P) but we've got a dozen boxes in our server room plugged into the rack so that people from other branches across Canada can Remote in to access certain software. It's a nightmare to look at, and it takes up alot of space. The IT Manager isn't fully familiar with Virtualization, though thats something I was taught in school less than 2 years ago. I'm sure you can see where this is going.
All in all, the only thing holding back us young people from these positions is just experience. Almost any school you graduate from with a CS degree will teach you the fundamentals of system administration. However you can't exactly apply for that position with little to no experience (don't get me wrong, you CAN apply, but the guy who has 5+ years experience managing Windows Server 2003 is going to look a bit shinier).
It's good to have a Looong project like this to show you DO have experience. I went and switched from a CS Degree to simply an Object Oriented Programming because it was shorter and I enjoyed programming more, but now that I'm out here working I wish I had that education. (I know right, how did I land a Sysadmin/Technician job as an OOP grad? Funny story, ask me later). Anyways, If I could show my boss "Here's the webserver that I set up and maintained" I think he'd be more lenient with letting me handle things I know how to handle. It's frustrating when he mentions a problem and you know a solution but he won't admit its a good idea because you're fresh. That's more a problem with my boss though, and probably isn't a good representation of every manager out there.
I'm sure there's probably some valid medical reason for doing this
It makes the patient sound like a BAMF.
"Yeah I had open heart surgery. Got to watch the whole thing. In fact, the Doctor and I made jokes throughout the whole procedure. 'That's not a tumour, thats my wife!' "
Drawn to Life is an action-adventure/platform game for the Nintendo DS developed by 5TH Cell and published by THQ.[1] In the game, players create their own playable characters, level objects and accessories by drawing them using the DS's stylus and touch screen.
Sales According to Next-Gen.biz from the game's launch (September 2007) until March 1, 2008 the game had sold 820,000 units for the North American and Western European territories and was ranked 61st of the top 100 selling video games of the last 12 months.
QED: Designing obviously doesn't have the same fanbase as music but people DO enjoy it.
Slashdot Mirror
I think we could forgive them for the 3rd movie ...
Sadly, no. There is NO forgiving that ridiculous Jazz Sequence.
I am not surprised that the rest of this movie series was scrapped. I think it really was the best thing for it. As for a reboot, I'll have to see who the new Director and Cast are, but like someone said above, I think its just a little too soon.
No. No it is nothing like that.
There is to some degree that kind of thing going on, one could argue that Super Mario Bros 3 is better than the new Super Mario Bros Wii, while the latter one is merely a re-iteration of the former, it has quite a few of its own quirks. I could understand how the older see it as derivative and the younger would not understand how they think #3 is better.
But that is specifically from the console perspective. PC Games - specifically ones from the Era that he is refering to, had a degree of complexity that has been unmatched in all my years of playing games. He mentioned Theif, which was the original First Person Looter. It started the whole "Stealth" idea in a game, which up to that point was completely non-existant. While almost standard now in every game - there seems to be a level where you are either difficult to spot (blizzard levels in Call of Duty) or you have some games that try to re-iterate that stealth element, like Oblivion or Fallout 3. Oblivion had really come the closest, but it didn't quite capture ALL of the elements that were involved in Stealth. You don't get levels with large casted that you have to sneak in, avoiding the light. You don't have to be careful what floors you walk on, you are just as undetectable on stone as you are on grass. You don't have non-lethal options. All of these things that made the game rather unique are no longer present in modern day games.
Its like a little while ago when people were talking about how great Duke Nukem 3D was, given that it had Hologram deploys, pipe bombs, security cameras, flame throwers, RPG's, remote mines, laser trip mines, etc etc. Everything in there has been redone somewhere, but no where else has ALL of them combined so flawlessly to make balanced gameplay.
And these aren't the only ones I can think of. X-wing vs Tie Fighter, one of Lucasart's Finest in my books, was one of the best space flight simulators out there. You had the standard fly around, barrel rolls, and fire lasers that are present in just about any flight game. But it also had a laser and shield recharge system, that would draw from your engine power if you put too much into recharging those systems. You had shield balancing (like when they say in A New Hope: set shields to double front!). You had targetting and locking on, and you could tell when other crafts had you targetted and were locking on. There were countermeasures for missiles, countermeasures for chasers. You had full 0% to 100% throttle support, ability to match speed with your target, or you could attempt to out maneuver them. You could call for reinforcements, though it would hurt your score. The amount of game mechanics in the game is staggering. There were so many ways to play it too. It even had online support, for dogfights, co-operative missions, or different scenarios (where you can play on opposing sides).
Another game from Lucasarts at the time was Rebellion, which had terrible graphics but good gameplay. As opposed to its most recent re-iteration; Empire at war - it had certain elements that are tough to find in any game now a days. I could send Princess Leia on a diplomatic mission, or if I play the other side, send Darth Vader to try and Capture Luke. These had different outcomes based on chance - which altered the characters. Perhaps the planet will join the Rebel Alliance, thus boosting my production and resources, or perhaps Darth Vader will succeed in Capturing Luke, not only forcing Luke to learn about his heritage making him stronger but also taking an agent away from my opponent. They could then mount a rescue operation. You could build fleets, you could build armies, and you would have to manage the two efficiently. If an opponents fleet is above your planet they initiate a blockade, meaning no production or resources on that planet. As such, fleet dominance is ultimately one of the most important things. But you cannot take over a planet without troops. And doing so affects the planets standing of you. Aggressively going to war to gain
Yes - and to generate thousands of those each instant and compute them would be taxing on the system - and expensive. Whereas this project is attempting to build both the random generator AND the computational hardware required out of an existing model.
Because by the definition of Random-ness in nature, I mean that everything is affected by their surroundings. I could have a different mood based on my temperature. Truly you could program an algorithm for that, but what about Barometric pressure? Okay now how about my breakfast this morning. Or dinner last night actually! Or how about my childhood. Or how about plans for the future? How about how my boss was talking to me this morning? My DNA?
Point is - the amount of random events that affect us is absolutely staggering. But we know they affect us and its not just a simple matter of "random chance". I could have heireditary depression, or I could not. It's a random chance, to be sure, but it is highly influenced by my ancestors. And that might affect my mood severely.
If you still think that getting a computer to not only run a simulation but also generate all the random events that effect that simulation is still a plausible answer with computer technology today - I don't know how you arrived at that answer.
This wet computer is an attempt to properly duplicate only but a mere fraction of what actually randomly affects a situation. If we can get the random parts built-in into the hardware and not determined by the software, then we are one step closer to True AI. After all, the world in which the wet computer would reside would be just as random as our world, and a good chunk of how it would think has already been written and tested.
But we don't actually have true randomness (though you could argue neither does nature, perhaps quantum mechanics is all a bunch of hoopla and the very outcome of the universe can be determined, but we'll save that for another day).
Point is, a random number generator when rebooted will generate the same random numbers when rebooted in the same scenario. Tested myself across many lanuages - I have yet to see a true random number generator.
Our algorithms are VERY deterministic. Lets say there is a purple car, but in my memory I remember it as blue. A slight difference in colour. As computers determine colours in that RBG kind of Fashion, we'll say my memory added a 50 to the red factor, just to put it in understandable terms. Why did this happen? When did this happen? Surely 2 moments after seeing the car I would remember it as blue, but later that week I recall it differently. Was it in the process of putting it into long term memory, or did it degrade over time in long term memory? But why is it that I can correctly remember the colour of my Grandfather's eyes, even though he is long gone?
Lets say for the sake of arguement you put it in your algorithm to on occaison 'randomly' alter data when its transfered to long term memory, and/or when it sits in long term memory. How often do you execute this? Is that up to 'random' chance? And how much gets altered? Is that random too? Could not my entire memory become distorted? Would that be the same thing as a mental disease - the computer happens to get a bad long series of random?
It all comes down to properly producing random events - something which computers don't really do, its pseudo-random
The way to achieve true randomness, (From the article): One measures some physical phenomenon that is expected to be random and then compensates for possible biases in the measurement process.
Or in other words, cellular interactions, chemical reactions, even rolling a die would be better than building a computer to "generate" randomness.
Even those are not truly random.
Load up VB. Simple form, tell it to print a different random number 100 times. Take note of the list. Good spread.
Stop the program. Tell it to run again. List will be identical.
The power button can be difficult to find. You'll have to search around for a minute or so until the system shows some clear responses. Even then, you'll have to stimulate said power button for a few minutes before it finally boots up, allowing you to do whatever it is you want it to do. Be forewarned though, if you take too long, it will eventually lose power and turn off - however on the other hand if you are too quick it may not want to turn on at all next time. You should exercise extreme caution and timing when using your new wet computer. It may take multiple times to practice the rhythm.
YOU* Defaulted US to share, not that we CHOSE to. I'm sure had you prompted each individual how private they want their settings when they first signed up, a lot of people would have chosen Friends, or friends of friends, or at least to a specific network (Like the local university).
In fact, You** semi tried doing so not too long ago, and as I recall, A LOT of people then locked their photos and status updates to friends only. I know I did, and about 99% of my friends list did, and when I facebook search someone I met at a party, I have to grab a friend invite before I see anything besides their name and profile pic.
You can't just set it up so that sharing is the norm, and when people use your product, then claim that its what is expected.
*If not You Mark, then whoever is running Facebook Right now.
**Subjective as above
Chemical reactions have a sort of random-ness to them that electricity through a wire can't duplicate. When the circuit isn't complete, electrons aren't moving. When two chemicals aren't reacting, their molecules still shift about in either their gaseous or liquid form. They could be affected by anything that comes into contact with them, depending on the substance it could be magnetic and thus making their movement affected by all sorts of things.
Think of the number of random events that can occur on the cellular level.
Computer software has gained the ability to learn, and gained the ability to change itself, even learned how to reproduce itself.
What it hasn't gained is the ability for abstract thought, which I attribute to the incredible amount of random events that go on inside our brain.
Though I could just be blowing smoke, I'm no physicist or chemist or biologist.
Why not? Too busy? On what?
You can have bugs, you can have additional features, you can have new projects on the table, ALL of that stuff should be second fiddle to security vulnerabilities.
So where is the time consumption? The firm is already telling you WHERE the problem is. All it takes now is Finding a solution, testing it, and deploying it.
If you're telling me that it takes more than 2 months to do that - I seriously doubt the actual integrity of the product they are working on.
FTFA:
At issue is the pesky ethical and practical question of whether airing a software vendor’s dirty laundry (the unpatched security flaws that they know about but haven’t fixed yet) forces the affected vendor to fix the problem faster than it would have had the problem remained a relative secret
Hasn't this been proven to be true - and legal?
In all honesty, if they've contacted the vendor and the vendor hasn't patched it in a month or two, I think its completely ethical and practical to release the vulnerabilities. After all, there could be a few other small firms who have discovered the vulnerability and are exploiting it. Best to put them out there in a Twitter feed so that the entire world instantly complains about it forcing the vendor to fix it. I prefer security over new features.
The difference between this format war and the last one is that Blu Ray, while picking up speed - is not quite at the same point DVD's were when Blu Ray/HD DVD were introduced. Albeit, everyone still had a VCR and their VHSs. And people still DO have their VCR and VHSs. However now most movie collections consist of DVD's, unless you just started your movie collection a few years ago.
Some people don't even have a Blu Ray Player - let alone a sizable Blu Ray collection.
So what happens when this new form of content hosting becomes available? Do people with Blu Rays and their players get left out in the cold? Did the straglers manage to skip a step?
All I'm saying is - we're JUST NOW getting Blu Ray to really take off, I find it very unlikely that enough people are going to want to adopt a new format so soon.
And there are alot of issues since both of these would require an internet connection to fully function. The internet may now become a common household item - but not everyone's is fast enough for you to download an HD Movie by the time the popcorn is ready - I see Blu Ray still holding some advantages over content hosting.
After hearing such a strong reaction to a cat alergy I think I've changed my mind on the subject matter.
Better just not to serve peanuts at all.
That means they could duplicate it rather easily.
If you've got one of those notebooks, DEFINATELY return it.
I understand that there are severe allergic reactions.
I understand that some people are sensative to notice it within the same room.
Has there ever been a case of someone being killed by a peanut in the same room?
Or do they merely get discomforted (itchy, hot, etc) much like everyone else on the airplane?
I haven't heard of anyone Swelling up and dieing from being in the same room as a peanut. Maybe it happens, I don't know.
I have heard of people getting really itchy by simply coming in contact with a surface that recently had a peanut on it.
That sounds no more discomforting than being 6'5" on an airplane with seats designed for someone 5'0"
The Canadian Transportation Agency has ruled that passengers who have nut allergies should be considered disabled and accommodated by the airline
If they are ruling that they are disabled, should they also allow them to park in the blue spaces?
Since good SA's like stability and good developers like chaos the two normally don't mix.
So THAT'S how Warhammer 40K got started...
Um... Don't all universities use students as sysadmins?.
HA! No. The University around here only lets CS Graduates touch a server for about 2 weeks, after studying about it for a month. Everything is handled by its own CT&IS Faculty. As someone who has multiple friends at the university, I will speak for the students to say the system they have set up BLOWS. They will, on occaison, hire they're GRADUATES to do some contract work.
Now, the Polytechnic that I went to, had us set up our own private networks, and administrate that. It was about as close to the real thing as I could get without actually being in the real mess, which was enough for me to learn the basics of what I needed to know. Looking back, it really depends on the class. Some kids were fresh out of highschool (like me) and played alot of Video games during class (not like me) so I would understand if they didn't want certain people administering the Web services of the campus.
There was ONE student, who managed to hack into the firewall and allow World of Warcraft to run on his computer. He got Straight A's for a year and then Expelled. I sometimes wonder if he was able to get a job, saying "Yeah I was expelled from school because I knew their network better than they did"
is managing a server, even an important one, really that hard - when you have someone to go to when you have questions?
Thats exactly the position I'm in, and its the easiest part of the job I hold. If you know HOW to do things, the only thing left as part of the job is knowing WHAT to do.
When an issue comes up, its just "Hey, this is whats going on. Whats the best course of action? We could..."
And then he'll respond with "Yes, that sounds good" or "No, do this instead"
And Bam, its a cakewalk.
I am in the upper bounds of that range. I do Sysadmin stuff in our corporation, though not as much as the Chief IT Manager. I do the cabling, I set up the racks, I make sure the UPS are tested regularily. All the grunt work a Sysadmin would do. I help with decisions on new network policies, and dealing with security and updates. Network Topology is something I wish I had a say in, but don't. I will on occaison, be called in to reboot a server, or replace a bad drive.
I had to learn the Help-Ticket system on the job, but really that was like a 5 minute breeze because most of it is common sense. (Ticket comes in, prioritize, assign, do)
I'm glad to see that younger people are getting into these positions, since I think they help push forward newer technologies and methodologies. It'll sound like I'm tooting my own horn here (and Maybe I am just a little :P) but we've got a dozen boxes in our server room plugged into the rack so that people from other branches across Canada can Remote in to access certain software. It's a nightmare to look at, and it takes up alot of space. The IT Manager isn't fully familiar with Virtualization, though thats something I was taught in school less than 2 years ago. I'm sure you can see where this is going.
All in all, the only thing holding back us young people from these positions is just experience. Almost any school you graduate from with a CS degree will teach you the fundamentals of system administration. However you can't exactly apply for that position with little to no experience (don't get me wrong, you CAN apply, but the guy who has 5+ years experience managing Windows Server 2003 is going to look a bit shinier).
It's good to have a Looong project like this to show you DO have experience. I went and switched from a CS Degree to simply an Object Oriented Programming because it was shorter and I enjoyed programming more, but now that I'm out here working I wish I had that education. (I know right, how did I land a Sysadmin/Technician job as an OOP grad? Funny story, ask me later). Anyways, If I could show my boss "Here's the webserver that I set up and maintained" I think he'd be more lenient with letting me handle things I know how to handle. It's frustrating when he mentions a problem and you know a solution but he won't admit its a good idea because you're fresh. That's more a problem with my boss though, and probably isn't a good representation of every manager out there.
This text only interface for communication doesn't sufficiently deliver the same weird look I'm giving you right now.
I wish I had a webcam and photobucket available right now.
Ha, hahaha, ha, if you only knew what their practices were...
They used to take the poisonous tips of stingrays and jam it into their own reproductive organs.
I'd rather die by half-open-heart-surgery.
My thoughts exactly.
I'm sure there's probably some valid medical reason for doing this
It makes the patient sound like a BAMF.
"Yeah I had open heart surgery. Got to watch the whole thing. In fact, the Doctor and I made jokes throughout the whole procedure.
'That's not a tumour, thats my wife!' "
Have you never heard of Job Security through Obscurity?
If me and my roomates can learn to preform open heart surgery on each other - why on Earth will we need to go to a surgeon!!!
(This is a pre-emptive woosh for those of you who are about to point out the obvious)
Wikipedia:
Drawn to Life is an action-adventure/platform game for the Nintendo DS developed by 5TH Cell and published by THQ.[1] In the game, players create their own playable characters, level objects and accessories by drawing them using the DS's stylus and touch screen.
Sales
According to Next-Gen.biz from the game's launch (September 2007) until March 1, 2008 the game had sold 820,000 units for the North American and Western European territories and was ranked 61st of the top 100 selling video games of the last 12 months.
QED: Designing obviously doesn't have the same fanbase as music but people DO enjoy it.