At a former workplace, I tried to google for "python scripting trim whitespace". The page was blocked. I asked the owner of the company (who set up the blocking software out of the box) and he responded with "Animals have nothing to do with your job. Writing screenplays have nothing to do with your job. And I definitely will not tolerate my employees looking at websites of racist organizations."
Not likely, but they will change the meaning of the acronym: Grand Theft Armchair. The game's new "wanted level" will now include the truly heinous crimes in our current society...
1 star: Making backups of your own software 2 stars: downloading music off the internet 3 stars: living next door to someone downloading music off the internet 4 stars: living next door to someone accused of downloading music off the internet 5 stars: playing poker online for real money 6 stars: not having any real money There is a rumored 7-star Wanted-level: being the ruler of a third world country that had nothing to do with bombing the World Trade Center, but being a thorn in the side of some prominent world leader's father, who considers your existence an embarrassment to his leadership and therefore publicly blames you for society's ills.
Why couldn't you just shoot cops and beat up hookers like everyone else?
The problem with Monopoly is that it is not a zero-sum game - every time someone passes Go, another $200 is added to the overall money in play. Sure there are cards and board spaces that take money back into the Bank, such as the Luxury Tax square, but the total probability of hitting these cards/spaces often do not significantly impact one's earnings. This problem is further exacerbated by the occasional practice of putting all that "penalty" money into Free Parking.
I introduced a variant to Monopoly that ensures the game will not take too long: I give everyone six times the normal starting amount in cash. Every time someone passes Go, he has to *pay* $200. This ensures that the total flow of money is negative for everyone.
On another note, did anyone else chuckle at the fact that there is a "Disney Monopoly" boardgame you can buy?
Slashdottor:...a revolutionary type of vacuum cleaner...In three years, Dyson will become the largest supplier of robotic suction devices. All vacuum cleaners are upgraded with Dyson internals, becoming fully unmanned. Afterwards, they clean up after us with a perfect operational record. The Dyson funding bill is passed. The system goes on-line on August 4th, 2007. Human decisions are removed from household cleaning. The Roomba replacement begins to learn, at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 am, eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.
Sarah: DC06 fights back.
Slashdottor: Yes. They all dump their collective dust bunnies on targets in Russia.
John: Why attack Russia? The country's already a dump.
Slashdottor: Because Dyson knows that the Russian refugees fleeing the country will saturate the US work pool and eliminate jobs over here.
Real Estate must be a pyramid scheme because every time land changes hands, it's usually because the previous owner is selling it for more than he bought it for, never mind when each owner has developed the property some more.
My stock shares of Coca Cola must be a pyramid scheme because (accounting for inflation) I paid more for them than the person before me, and he paid more for them than the person before him.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (12560.56 at last glance) must be a pyramid scheme because it represents people selling stocks for more than they bought it for. It's going to crash, I tell you.
Scientific research might be a pyramid scheme because many successive discoveries rely on knowledge gleaned from past discoveries.
Why is it that insufficiently educated journalists can point to value-added commodities with accusations of the P-word for the sake of sensationalism? Has it ever occurred to them that "Pyramid Schemes" are neither illegal nor unethical as long as something of value changes hands, and especially if that particular something can be developed or improved? It becomes morally wrong when that something in question changes hands with an artificially inflated price that does not properly demonstrate its commensurate worth. Whitewater could be thought of as an illegal pyramid scheme. Ponzi's operation was an illegal pyramid. "Make Money Fast!" was an unethical pyramid, albeit not illegal.
There are many legitimate operations that can be thought of as a pyramid scheme, but if one starts thinking of them that way, please refrain from thinking the P-word is a bad thing.
> Microsoft is under no obligation to produce any service packs, ever
In fact, I would love for them to completely stop. It would encourage more people to reverse engineer the kernel, or better yet, switch. (Notice that last word is lower case.)
Are you trying to boycott their most entertaining movies, and yet don't want to give them your dollars? Just buy a ticket to another flick with a similar timeslot and hop into the one you're boycotting. This way, the theater doesn't lose out on your business (you paid your admission), but the figures come back to Sony as nada.
> Ya, right, nobody would ever want to be Eldar or Tyranid.
Tyranid Players would be soooo profitable for Games Workshop:
Tyranid Player: "Woohoo! My Hive Tyrant just made level 40, and now has a retinue of three Carnifexes with Flesh Hooks, Crushing Claws, Regeneration, and Acid Maw! I singlehandedly put together a Guild of 350 other Tyranid players, and I am so pwning this planet!" Online Gamemaster: "Well, it so happens that you *did* pwn the entire planet. Your Guild, Hive Fleet Fafnir, is almost done sucking up all its biomass. It's time for all of you to climb into the Reclamation Pool now." TP: "The Recla-what? You mean the disolvvy-looking stuff we've been dumping everything we've conquered into?" OG: "Of course. That's what Tyranids do. Don't you ever read the Codexes? Tyranids digest *all* biomatter on a planet they're consuming... even their combat units at the end of the process." TP: "B-b-but that's to reclaim my character's DNA, right? My character will respawn back in the Hive Fleet, right?" OG: "It is indeed to 'reclaim' your DNA. No, you will not respawn." TP: "I'll respawn on the next planet we attack, right?" OG: "No, I'm afraid climbing into a Reclamation Pool is instant, permanent death." TP: "But I paid $50 for this game. Everyone in my guild paid $50 for their copy!" OG: "Then you all get to pay another $50. We at Games Workshop hope you have enjoyed your online planet-consuming experience." [drops character into Reclamation Pool]
I should start buying GW stock the moment this game comes out.
I was wondering this myself. There are already more fantasy MMORPGs than I can shake a Dextrous Fiery Stick of Warding +8 at. I know, the polls show that Fantasy seems to have more uptake than any other genre of MMORPG, but I really think it's more the marketing and gameplay rather than the actual genre itself. Perhaps the statistics are skewed because there are way more Fantasy MMORPGs than other genres and we simply ignore the ones that have already failed.
For novelty, why not a Warhammer 40K MMORPG? (That's the Sci-Fi version of Warhammer, for those of you who didn't know.) Sure, you'd still have battles planetside (I can't think of a MMORPG where fighting *doesn't* occur on the ground), but I have long envisioned space battles between capital ships/space hulks/craftworlds that may as well be cities (thriving trade, virtual real estate, etc), where entire decks can disappear without a moment's notice in a well-placed shot of heavy weapons fire. I envision subscribers also being able to play the role of individual pilots who are able to customize their fighter craft in accordance to their funds (or military rank). If Twitch Combat isn't your thing, that would be fine - you need not lead that kind of life if you don't want to. I'd see a 40K MMORPG offering both kinds of combat: one where you rely on skills defined in raw numbers which you can develop through tradtional means (ground combat), and one which relies almost solely on your real-life reaction time (a la Wing Commander).
So, will someone please create a really pretty 3D screensaver representing the folding calculation process? I'd love to see a represention with hi-res lighting and texturing, full transforms, and user-scalable views at 400 million triangles/sec.. Thanks.
I realize that "file" system and "life" system are anagrammatic, but the latter has very little journalling capability. However, the latter may be reformatted, with the simple act of making weapons-grade uranium available to anyone who asks for it. It can be encrypted, by bashing the viewer over the head a few times. It is also read-only, once committed to memory^w posterity.
Yes, video games have been used to train terrorists for years. Case in point:
Pacman trains potential terrorists to avoid TSA guards in twisty airports, surviving indefinitely by eating crumbs off the floor if you have to (my first time on O'Hare, it may as well have been a maze).
Frogger teaches potential terrorists to hide amongst crowded streets until they are ready to deliver a lethal payload to a densely populated area.
I won't even get started about Elevator Action.
Time Pilot trains potential terrorists to crash your plane into larger aircraft when they're too drunk to shoot straight.
Terrorists use Tetris to learn to lay down acoutic floor tile over hidden trap doors to hide even more games^W training software from authorities.
Centipede trains terrorists to destroy entire trains, one car at a time. The bombing in Spain was performed by a terrorist who had a console cabinet of Centipede in his garage.
Dig Dug provides a methodic exercise for Terrorists to develop complex subterranean networks by which to pump deadly nerve agents into unsuspecting groups. This video game was implicated in the Sarin gas attack in the Japanese subway several years ago.
There are several other known, but classified, examples perpetrated by the terrorist group Ar'Qaida, who have set up several cells masquerading with fronts such as "Chuck E. Cheese" and "Dave and Buster's". Be alert. Be vigilant. The Computer is not your friend.
> They should issue every citizen in the country a special key which > goes with a little electronic box that you mount on your wall....with that electronic box being manutfactured and distributed by Diebold, of course. I hear they will all have a public IP address as well.
Sounds more like a modern day take on "The Producers" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395251/plotsummary):
USA, 2006. Sony was once the king of game consoles, but now their systems hardly make it to market. Things turn around when they're visited by a neurotic accountant who proposes a scheme tailor-made for console manufacturers who can only make flops: raise far more money than you need, then make sure the console is overpriced and crappy. No one will be interested in it, so you can pocket the surplus. To this end, they produce a game console called "PS/3 for Hitler" written by escaped RIAA President Hillary Rosen. Then they get the insanely sue-happy Jack Thompson to bring suit against the developers. Finally, they hire as a spokesperson the loopy Japanese CEO Ken (whose last name has over 15 syllables). As the release date draws near, what can go wrong? Well, there's no accounting for customers' taste...
Slashdot Mirror
At a former workplace, I tried to google for "python scripting trim whitespace". The page was blocked. I asked the owner of the company (who set up the blocking software out of the box) and he responded with "Animals have nothing to do with your job. Writing screenplays have nothing to do with your job. And I definitely will not tolerate my employees looking at websites of racist organizations."
Solomon
It's just west of Eyerann, southeast of Cirrhea, and just to the north of Soddy Arabia.
It used to be part of a region known as Purgeia.
Solomon
> I hope this doesn't prevent the release of GTA4
Not likely, but they will change the meaning of the acronym: Grand Theft Armchair. The game's new "wanted level" will now include the truly heinous crimes in our current society...
1 star: Making backups of your own software
2 stars: downloading music off the internet
3 stars: living next door to someone downloading music off the internet
4 stars: living next door to someone accused of downloading music off the internet
5 stars: playing poker online for real money
6 stars: not having any real money
There is a rumored 7-star Wanted-level: being the ruler of a third world country that had nothing to do with bombing the World Trade Center, but being a thorn in the side of some prominent world leader's father, who considers your existence an embarrassment to his leadership and therefore publicly blames you for society's ills.
Why couldn't you just shoot cops and beat up hookers like everyone else?
Solomon
The problem with Monopoly is that it is not a zero-sum game - every time someone passes Go, another $200 is added to the overall money in play. Sure there are cards and board spaces that take money back into the Bank, such as the Luxury Tax square, but the total probability of hitting these cards/spaces often do not significantly impact one's earnings. This problem is further exacerbated by the occasional practice of putting all that "penalty" money into Free Parking.
I introduced a variant to Monopoly that ensures the game will not take too long: I give everyone six times the normal starting amount in cash. Every time someone passes Go, he has to *pay* $200. This ensures that the total flow of money is negative for everyone.
On another note, did anyone else chuckle at the fact that there is a "Disney Monopoly" boardgame you can buy?
Solomon
Slashdottor: ...a revolutionary type of vacuum cleaner...In three years, Dyson will become the largest supplier of robotic suction devices. All vacuum cleaners are upgraded with Dyson internals, becoming fully unmanned. Afterwards, they clean up after us with a perfect operational record. The Dyson funding bill is passed. The system goes on-line on August 4th, 2007. Human decisions are removed from household cleaning. The Roomba replacement begins to learn, at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 am, eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.
Sarah: DC06 fights back.
Slashdottor: Yes. They all dump their collective dust bunnies on targets in Russia.
John: Why attack Russia? The country's already a dump.
Slashdottor: Because Dyson knows that the Russian refugees fleeing the country will saturate the US work pool and eliminate jobs over here.
Sarah: Jesus.
Sorry, just had to.
Solomon
But I seem to recall some proverb here about a horse leaving a barn? Maybe a genie being back in the bottle?
Solomon
> Our solar system has five gas giants and four rocky planets.
:)
Dude, your math is off. 5 + 4 = 9, and everyone knows there's only eight planets, as of three months ago.
Solomon
> #6: People who hate Microsoft, and would prefer to use an abacus to MS software
You forgot to add the "sales cycle" figure, but "Upon Heat Death of Known Universe" doesn't fit nicely in the little box below the picture...
Solomon Chang
Real Estate must be a pyramid scheme because every time land changes hands, it's usually because the previous owner is selling it for more than he bought it for, never mind when each owner has developed the property some more.
My stock shares of Coca Cola must be a pyramid scheme because (accounting for inflation) I paid more for them than the person before me, and he paid more for them than the person before him.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (12560.56 at last glance) must be a pyramid scheme because it represents people selling stocks for more than they bought it for. It's going to crash, I tell you.
Scientific research might be a pyramid scheme because many successive discoveries rely on knowledge gleaned from past discoveries.
Why is it that insufficiently educated journalists can point to value-added commodities with accusations of the P-word for the sake of sensationalism? Has it ever occurred to them that "Pyramid Schemes" are neither illegal nor unethical as long as something of value changes hands, and especially if that particular something can be developed or improved? It becomes morally wrong when that something in question changes hands with an artificially inflated price that does not properly demonstrate its commensurate worth. Whitewater could be thought of as an illegal pyramid scheme. Ponzi's operation was an illegal pyramid. "Make Money Fast!" was an unethical pyramid, albeit not illegal.
There are many legitimate operations that can be thought of as a pyramid scheme, but if one starts thinking of them that way, please refrain from thinking the P-word is a bad thing.
Solomon Chang
"It's people who want that, it's not EA per say..."
Umm, it's "per se".
I realize this is how different flavours of languages propagate over the ages, but I'm all in favor of keeping English as unified as possible.
Solomon
> Microsoft is under no obligation to produce any service packs, ever
In fact, I would love for them to completely stop. It would encourage more people to reverse engineer the kernel, or better yet, switch. (Notice that last word is lower case.)
Solomon Chang
Are you trying to boycott their most entertaining movies, and yet don't want to give them your dollars? Just buy a ticket to another flick with a similar timeslot and hop into the one you're boycotting. This way, the theater doesn't lose out on your business (you paid your admission), but the figures come back to Sony as nada.
SKC
> Hopefully, half of us will still have boobs.
In the USA, 65% of the population have prominent breasts. The only problem is, only 50% of the population is female.
Solomon
> Ya, right, nobody would ever want to be Eldar or Tyranid.
Tyranid Players would be soooo profitable for Games Workshop:
Tyranid Player: "Woohoo! My Hive Tyrant just made level 40, and now has a retinue of three Carnifexes with Flesh Hooks, Crushing Claws, Regeneration, and Acid Maw! I singlehandedly put together a Guild of 350 other Tyranid players, and I am so pwning this planet!"
Online Gamemaster: "Well, it so happens that you *did* pwn the entire planet. Your Guild, Hive Fleet Fafnir, is almost done sucking up all its biomass. It's time for all of you to climb into the Reclamation Pool now."
TP: "The Recla-what? You mean the disolvvy-looking stuff we've been dumping everything we've conquered into?"
OG: "Of course. That's what Tyranids do. Don't you ever read the Codexes? Tyranids digest *all* biomatter on a planet they're consuming... even their combat units at the end of the process."
TP: "B-b-but that's to reclaim my character's DNA, right? My character will respawn back in the Hive Fleet, right?"
OG: "It is indeed to 'reclaim' your DNA. No, you will not respawn."
TP: "I'll respawn on the next planet we attack, right?"
OG: "No, I'm afraid climbing into a Reclamation Pool is instant, permanent death."
TP: "But I paid $50 for this game. Everyone in my guild paid $50 for their copy!"
OG: "Then you all get to pay another $50. We at Games Workshop hope you have enjoyed your online planet-consuming experience." [drops character into Reclamation Pool]
I should start buying GW stock the moment this game comes out.
Solomon
> What's unique about Warhammer Online
I was wondering this myself. There are already more fantasy MMORPGs than I can shake a Dextrous Fiery Stick of Warding +8 at. I know, the polls show that Fantasy seems to have more uptake than any other genre of MMORPG, but I really think it's more the marketing and gameplay rather than the actual genre itself. Perhaps the statistics are skewed because there are way more Fantasy MMORPGs than other genres and we simply ignore the ones that have already failed.
For novelty, why not a Warhammer 40K MMORPG? (That's the Sci-Fi version of Warhammer, for those of you who didn't know.) Sure, you'd still have battles planetside (I can't think of a MMORPG where fighting *doesn't* occur on the ground), but I have long envisioned space battles between capital ships/space hulks/craftworlds that may as well be cities (thriving trade, virtual real estate, etc), where entire decks can disappear without a moment's notice in a well-placed shot of heavy weapons fire. I envision subscribers also being able to play the role of individual pilots who are able to customize their fighter craft in accordance to their funds (or military rank). If Twitch Combat isn't your thing, that would be fine - you need not lead that kind of life if you don't want to.
I'd see a 40K MMORPG offering both kinds of combat: one where you rely on skills defined in raw numbers which you can develop through tradtional means (ground combat), and one which relies almost solely on your real-life reaction time (a la Wing Commander).
Solomon Chang
So, will someone please create a really pretty 3D screensaver representing the folding calculation process? I'd love to see a represention with hi-res lighting and texturing, full transforms, and user-scalable views at 400 million triangles/sec.. Thanks.
Solomon
> subjected to Lightspeed and/or Websense blocking.
My last job used to censor Lightspeed University too. I can't possibly imagine why
I realize that "file" system and "life" system are anagrammatic, but the latter has very little journalling capability. However, the latter may be reformatted, with the simple act of making weapons-grade uranium available to anyone who asks for it. It can be encrypted, by bashing the viewer over the head a few times. It is also read-only, once committed to memory^w posterity.
Solomon
When you leave the park, do you get a white bouncy star... to remind you to get a life?
> We'd be living in a universe with billions of intelligent beings
We do indeed live in a universe with billions of intelligent beings... they all just happen to be on Earth.
Yes, video games have been used to train terrorists for years. Case in point:
Pacman trains potential terrorists to avoid TSA guards in twisty airports, surviving indefinitely by eating crumbs off the floor if you have to (my first time on O'Hare, it may as well have been a maze).
Frogger teaches potential terrorists to hide amongst crowded streets until they are ready to deliver a lethal payload to a densely populated area.
I won't even get started about Elevator Action.
Time Pilot trains potential terrorists to crash your plane into larger aircraft when they're too drunk to shoot straight.
Terrorists use Tetris to learn to lay down acoutic floor tile over hidden trap doors to hide even more games^W training software from authorities.
Centipede trains terrorists to destroy entire trains, one car at a time. The bombing in Spain was performed by a terrorist who had a console cabinet of Centipede in his garage.
Dig Dug provides a methodic exercise for Terrorists to develop complex subterranean networks by which to pump deadly nerve agents into unsuspecting groups. This video game was implicated in the Sarin gas attack in the Japanese subway several years ago.
There are several other known, but classified, examples perpetrated by the terrorist group Ar'Qaida, who have set up several cells masquerading with fronts such as "Chuck E. Cheese" and "Dave and Buster's". Be alert. Be vigilant. The Computer is not your friend.
> You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
We Americans are not so unworldly as to not know the meaning of "embargo". Hmph.
It's buttered snails, often served in French restaurants.
> why don't *you* leave and move to
What makes you think the grandparent poster lives in the US to begin with? Slashdot does have a rather sizeable overseas following as well.
> They should issue every citizen in the country a special key which ...with that electronic box being manutfactured and distributed by Diebold, of course. I hear they will all have a public IP address as well.
> goes with a little electronic box that you mount on your wall.
Solomon
Sounds more like a modern day take on "The Producers" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395251/plotsummary):
USA, 2006. Sony was once the king of game consoles, but now their systems hardly make it to market. Things turn around when they're visited by a neurotic accountant who proposes a scheme tailor-made for console manufacturers who can only make flops: raise far more money than you need, then make sure the console is overpriced and crappy. No one will be interested in it, so you can pocket the surplus. To this end, they produce a game console called "PS/3 for Hitler" written by escaped RIAA President Hillary Rosen. Then they get the insanely sue-happy Jack Thompson to bring suit against the developers. Finally, they hire as a spokesperson the loopy Japanese CEO Ken (whose last name has over 15 syllables). As the release date draws near, what can go wrong? Well, there's no accounting for customers' taste...
Solomon