Read through a Fighting Fantasy "Novel." How does that work, exactly?
To simulate this experience:
Paragraph 1: You are standing in front of a large earthen mound. An eerie wailing comes from a tunnel leading down. If you choose to enter a tunnel, go to paragraph 53. If you'd rather explore the surrounding countryside, go to paragraph 37.
Paragraph 2: You sit down at the large oaken table, a winsome barmaid gives you a flirtatious look. "What'll it be, handsome?" If you'd like to sample the local mead, go to paragraph 13. If a nice glass of port is more to your liking go to paragraph 187. Or, if you'd rather inquire about getting some company for the evening, roll against against your LUCK. If you succeed go to paragraph 69, if you fail the barmaid calls out, "Klaus, this rough customer is hassling me!!!" Klaus is a large Ogre, prepare to fight.
OGRE SKILL 9 STAMINA 12
If you survive go to paragraph 215
Paragraph 3: The sorcerer tells his undead minions "throw him in the pit of despair!!!" There are too many of them, you have no chance. The pit itself is a dank hole full of the rotting remains of your fellow adventurers. Be thankful that a loose rib bone pierced your heart after you fell, sparing you a slow, miserable death!!!
The whole thing about 'masculinity' in the IT/Engineering world is sort of a non sequitur.
What they mean is that men are more gullible and easily tricked. That's why they can be tricked into thinking a fairly low prestige way of making a living is a holy vocation open only to a chosen few who must dedicate their best years to it for relatively low wages given the hours worked.
I consider it a Darwinian reproductive strategy by the alpha males, akin to the way they tricked their smart competitors into monasteries during the Dark Ages.
At least the monks thought they were going to Heaven...
You know, I just wonder where you get these jobs where you get to experiment on children, because I have some ideas. (Ok, mostly ideas I cribbed from Bioshock, but still...)
Seriously, though, there is this big bias toward book based literacy. Moving picture literacy (movies, tv) is extremely important, considering those two mediums are much more influential nowadays than books. (This is not to discount the importance of books, but the balance is ridiculously in favor of books. Anything that is not reading is derided as worthless unless it is math. No other art form gets put on a pedestal the way the novel and short story do. I'm not saying I want books knocked off their pedastal, I'm saying the other arts should be there too.)
I'll admit that giving a kid a Playstation (do they mean PS3? I always wonder about biases in a study where they don't seem to know what they are talking about) is much inferior to giving the child a gaming PC. Even a console does still teach them a lot about user interfaces and computer literacy.
That said, I've also given my child a lot of books over the years. It seems that A Series of Unfortunate Events was fairly popular.
Incidentally, the latest edition of the DSi is planned to have eBook reader software. A Kindle will still be better, obviously, but I wonder is a game console that can be used as a book would blow these researchers minds.
I think that they are trying to make people really bored of Halo 3 so that when Halo: Reach comes out, people will be so sick of Halo 3 that they will hop on the new version right away.
Wow! A sequel to that boring, sickening game that I've been playing is coming out. I'd better jump right on that.
It will probably eventually become easier to run Source games in Linux without all the hacking around in WINE. Not that there won't be hacking around where someone has to fool Steam into thinking your Linux machine is an Apple or some such (oh and other hacking around I haven't thought of yet, and hardware will have to be equivalent, obviously, etc...), but the stuff will probably run native once it is done. So, basically, Good News.
Hopefully, that will include Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, because otherwise what's the point?
Steam's DRM: So, I'm at my Mom's house for a visit and I'm bored. My Mom's computer, primitive though it be, is powerful enough to run Plants versus Zombies. After installing Steam and the game, I'm off and running, all it required was my username and password.
Apple's DRM: My computer, containing all my downloaded iTunes TV series and movies is destroyed in a fire. I can call Apple and beg them to let me re-download them, but this is described "as more a favor then a policy."
Don't punish me for using your DRM and I'll be a happy camper. Because, trust me, I don't have to use it if I don't want to.
This is the best news I've heard in a while. I do tech support for a local Buddhist temple, which has some staff authorized to use corporate credit cards to buy supplies for the temple.
Well, more then once I've been called in to help out with the mysterious charges on their credit cards, and it's always because of this scam. These people are both good-hearted and completely unsophisticated, they see someone offering a discount they don't question it. (Recently these scam artists had to change up their fine print so it's easier to read due to lawsuits in other states.)
The worst thing is it's semi-reputable companies destroying their brands for the sake of getting $10 a month charges out of grandma's checking account. I mean Barnes and Nobel? I used to work for them, I can't believe they've sunk this low.
I think he meant to say, dedicated board gamers. The kind of people who go to boardgamegeek.com or hang out in the Fantasy Flight forums. People who know the difference between German style boardgames and American style board games.
These are people for whom the board game is the first resort, not the last. People who will deliberately make time for board games. (Think John Locke on Lost.)
Monopoly is a dreadful board game, and I don't understand why anyone ever plays it. Scrabble seems good though.
But seriously, next time you are thinking of playing Monopoly, go out and buy a game of Cosmic Encounter. Then throw your copy of Monopoly in the garbage or the nearest compost heap.
Apple's big advantage in their recent Great Leap Forward was that they entered through the iPod. The iPod required the aquiesence of the big group of Free computing haters in the MPAA/RIAA. The fact is, that by being their freedom hating Apple selves, they managed to get these companies to release their precious content whereas before the only way to get such content (apart from buying media and ripping it yourself) was, well, illegal..
Now, I suspect that the iPad is intended as a shot across the bow in the eBook market, which Amazon created the "iPod" for in the form of the Kindle. Apple has an uphill struggle versus the Kindle, so they've given the iPad functionality that the Kindle doesn't have. Will it be enough to dethrone the Kindle? Time will tell.
In the meantime, poor engineer types like myself will troll around for discounted Chinese hardware that does the same type of thing in a less elegant way but for a fraction of the cost while preserving my precious freedom to tinker.
Well, how about a poor, mad genius writing the whole plot down in his diary and mailing it to his favorite right wing publication before his untimely death?
Caution: I've not seen the movie, hope they didn't skip that part.
Ok, this is not a criticism of the 300, but to say it was based on real events in history is a tad ridiculous. Yes, there was a real battle between the Persian Empire and some Greeks. It was nothing like the version shown in the film though. (More importantly, the Spartans weren't a particularly sympathetic bunch in real life.)
To put it another way, it was based on real events the way the Amityville Horror and Fargo were based on real events...
Well, the thing is Spider-man's career is super-hero and freelance photographer is just his cover.
Also, he's a very good freelance photojournalist, because he gets great, newsworthy action shots that no one else can. It just never seems to pay very well. I think he sticks with it because it let's him make his own schedule. (I was an irregular reader of Spider-man as a kid.)
In comics, superheroes usually have cover careers that go with superheroing, or else are independently wealthy. That's why so many superheroes are reporters of some sort.
One of the things that was made clear early on in Spider-man was that with his abilities, he could have made considerable money as an athlete, but he gave that up because he believes he has a higher calling.
I don't know, I'm starting to feel like this is an act.
"Made redundant" is a euphemism for a euphemism. Like the euphemism it replaces at the previous stop on the euphemism treadmill, "made redundant" means "fired through no fault of your own."
Since "made redundant" specifically refers to something that's no fault of your own, but rather a calculated business decision that happens to cost you your position. If you've actually been "made redundant" then they are specifically saying you weren't fired for doing your job poorly, or for not doing it excellently, or for any reason that you could've avoided being made redundant. It's like if you were a genius painter who could render the human face in perfect lifelike detail and then the camera is invented. Suddenly, you've been replaced by a machine and there was nothing you could do.
So, thoughts of being "made redundant" should prove to even the most naive that the only way to approach a job is through enlightened, mercenary self-interest.
Please re-read your quote. Incidentally, in order to put a quote in a post, please use:
<blockquote> Text of the quote </blockquote>
For example:
<blockquote> "I may be branded a traitor to "working men" everywhere but I believe this: I have a job because my company was successful enough to hire me. It is my job to bust my ass to make the company even more successful. I need my company more than my company needs me. If my company can find someone who can do my job better for less money, they are obligated to do so. It is my job to ensure that my contribution to the company assures my continued employment. My company and I are both playing for the same team." </blockquote>
And it will look like this:
"I may be branded a traitor to "working men" everywhere but I believe this: I have a job because my company was successful enough to hire me. It is my job to bust my ass to make the company even more successful. I need my company more than my company needs me. If my company can find someone who can do my job better for less money, they are obligated to do so. It is my job to ensure that my contribution to the company assures my continued employment. My company and I are both playing for the same team."
By the way, it's is very important to note that I am not being nice by telling you this. However, in future if you choose to quote flamebait, you will at least be able to properly format it.
Here's a quote you may like:
`At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,' said the gentleman, taking up a pen, `it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and Destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.'
`Are there no prisons?' asked Scrooge.
`Plenty of prisons,' said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
`And the Union workhouses?' demanded Scrooge. `Are they still in operation?'
`They are. Still,' returned the gentleman, `I wish I could say they were not.'
`The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?' said Scrooge.
`Both very busy, sir.'
`Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,' said Scrooge. `I'm very glad to hear it.'
You'd thinks so, but after many years in the workforce, it seems "I am at work to play office politics, and hopefully get some work done. Hopefully."
Seriously, I'd love to focus on work, but I'd better do the things I get rewarded for and that usually means politically important but otherwise worthless activities get priority. Heck, I've had my manager specifically tell me this, "I know this is garbage, but the higher ups want it so make it a priority." I get rewarded for successfully navigating office politics, I do actual work because otherwise I'm afraid the company will go under and I'll lose my job. However, I know there are always people around who spend all their work day working at politics and none working at work. Especially if they figure they can find another job pretty easily if the company tanks.
When you get some perk cut, it usually isn't just to save money. It's usually a petty way to show that you were on the losing end of someone else's political strategy, and you'd better figure out a way to reverse the situation (or get your enemies' perks cut) or things will only escalate. Seriously, when someone does something this petty and trivial it is always part of some strategy. Ignore it at your peril.
The travel costs thing is especially egregious, as it is a stealth pay cut and that is what it is intended to be. If they get away with that, expect somewhere down the line to be asked to take 10% or more decrease in salary, for the good of the department.
"Chainsaw" Al Dunlap was a beloved corporate shark, whose particular genius was that he was a completely ruthless, amoral sociopath. When he would take control of a company, he would cut, and cut, and cut some more. Cut to the bone, and then get out the bone-saw.
Needless to say, if he timed it right (and many times he did) he could make a company with a lot of brand goodwill look like a fantastic buy. Then the people who bought the company would find out it was like that time Mr. Burns sold his plant to the Germans, where it was too expensive to bring the plant back up to code to make it profitable.
However, he made a fortune at this for a while, before he rooked a few to many people and they realized what was going on.
The moral of this story is, never assume that the bean counters know what they are doing. (They may, but if you have questions to raise, it might be a good idea to raise them.)
When I was a teen I was mainly interested in Adventure Game Toolkit and before that, Player-Missile Graphics.
Of course, that brings up a point, how do you get a child interested in programming? In my case, I had my own computer (well, I mostly shared it with my Dad, which occasionally led to arguing) and a supply of cool computer hobbyist magazines.
So, if I were going to get a kid interested in programming, the first think I'd do is get him a cheap, linux netbook and the next thing would be a magazine subscription. Hmm, but what magazine? Well, before it got axed, I like Maximum Linux, but there seem to still be a few good Linux magazines around.
Oh, someone is probably thinking, at this point, why Linux? Why not Windows? Mainly because Linux is an OS aimed at programmers and Windows is aimed at non-programmers. There are a lot of free tools for both, ymmv.
Many, many Japanese video games have pretty strong religious elements in them. I mean Shinto religious elements.
A good example recently is Ju-on, the Grudge, which is loosely based on an old Shinto legend. (Variations on the supernatural grudge theme show up in a lot of Japanese cartoons or "anime.")
Even way back in 8-Bit days, the Shinto story that later inspired The Ring was used in a video game called Monster Party.
Oh, and of course, Shinto shrines play a role in Shenmue. Like the shrine where you find the cat, and Ryo will actually do a small devotion at the shrine in the house if you "use" it.
I could go on and on here, but I think it would be a bit shocking for games made in another country to include an alien religion, like Christianity is in Japan. Even Japanese games that include Christianity might not quite get it... it might be used the way Western games use pagan religious elements.
Well anyway, for more information on the Shinto religion, consult your local library!
Slashdot Mirror
Read through a Fighting Fantasy "Novel." How does that work, exactly?
To simulate this experience:
Paragraph 1: You are standing in front of a large earthen mound. An eerie wailing comes from a tunnel leading down. If you choose to enter a tunnel, go to paragraph 53. If you'd rather explore the surrounding countryside, go to paragraph 37.
Paragraph 2: You sit down at the large oaken table, a winsome barmaid gives you a flirtatious look. "What'll it be, handsome?" If you'd like to sample the local mead, go to paragraph 13. If a nice glass of port is more to your liking go to paragraph 187. Or, if you'd rather inquire about getting some company for the evening, roll against against your LUCK. If you succeed go to paragraph 69, if you fail the barmaid calls out, "Klaus, this rough customer is hassling me!!!" Klaus is a large Ogre, prepare to fight.
OGRE SKILL 9 STAMINA 12
If you survive go to paragraph 215
Paragraph 3: The sorcerer tells his undead minions "throw him in the pit of despair!!!" There are too many of them, you have no chance. The pit itself is a dank hole full of the rotting remains of your fellow adventurers. Be thankful that a loose rib bone pierced your heart after you fell, sparing you a slow, miserable death!!!
What they mean is that men are more gullible and easily tricked. That's why they can be tricked into thinking a fairly low prestige way of making a living is a holy vocation open only to a chosen few who must dedicate their best years to it for relatively low wages given the hours worked.
I consider it a Darwinian reproductive strategy by the alpha males, akin to the way they tricked their smart competitors into monasteries during the Dark Ages.
At least the monks thought they were going to Heaven...
Why without Krusty, he wouldn't even have been called "Sideshow!"
What about Shodan? GladOS? Dahlia Gillespie? Morrigan Aensland?
Oh... um... scratch that last one (I know I'd like to, know what I mean, nudge, nudge....)
You know, I just wonder where you get these jobs where you get to experiment on children, because I have some ideas. (Ok, mostly ideas I cribbed from Bioshock, but still...)
Seriously, though, there is this big bias toward book based literacy. Moving picture literacy (movies, tv) is extremely important, considering those two mediums are much more influential nowadays than books. (This is not to discount the importance of books, but the balance is ridiculously in favor of books. Anything that is not reading is derided as worthless unless it is math. No other art form gets put on a pedestal the way the novel and short story do. I'm not saying I want books knocked off their pedastal, I'm saying the other arts should be there too.)
I'll admit that giving a kid a Playstation (do they mean PS3? I always wonder about biases in a study where they don't seem to know what they are talking about) is much inferior to giving the child a gaming PC. Even a console does still teach them a lot about user interfaces and computer literacy.
That said, I've also given my child a lot of books over the years. It seems that A Series of Unfortunate Events was fairly popular.
Incidentally, the latest edition of the DSi is planned to have eBook reader software. A Kindle will still be better, obviously, but I wonder is a game console that can be used as a book would blow these researchers minds.
"There's your answer, fishbulb"
Wow! A sequel to that boring, sickening game that I've been playing is coming out. I'd better jump right on that.
It will probably eventually become easier to run Source games in Linux without all the hacking around in WINE. Not that there won't be hacking around where someone has to fool Steam into thinking your Linux machine is an Apple or some such (oh and other hacking around I haven't thought of yet, and hardware will have to be equivalent, obviously, etc...), but the stuff will probably run native once it is done. So, basically, Good News.
Hopefully, that will include Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, because otherwise what's the point?
Steam's DRM: So, I'm at my Mom's house for a visit and I'm bored. My Mom's computer, primitive though it be, is powerful enough to run Plants versus Zombies. After installing Steam and the game, I'm off and running, all it required was my username and password.
Apple's DRM: My computer, containing all my downloaded iTunes TV series and movies is destroyed in a fire. I can call Apple and beg them to let me re-download them, but this is described "as more a favor then a policy."
Don't punish me for using your DRM and I'll be a happy camper. Because, trust me, I don't have to use it if I don't want to.
United Breaks Guitars
This is the best news I've heard in a while. I do tech support for a local Buddhist temple, which has some staff authorized to use corporate credit cards to buy supplies for the temple.
Well, more then once I've been called in to help out with the mysterious charges on their credit cards, and it's always because of this scam. These people are both good-hearted and completely unsophisticated, they see someone offering a discount they don't question it. (Recently these scam artists had to change up their fine print so it's easier to read due to lawsuits in other states.)
The worst thing is it's semi-reputable companies destroying their brands for the sake of getting $10 a month charges out of grandma's checking account. I mean Barnes and Nobel? I used to work for them, I can't believe they've sunk this low.
Gentlemen, I give exhibit A, Mega Man 9, WiiWare, a game which I truly think counts as masocore.
Trust me, the Wily Wars never ended.
I think he meant to say, dedicated board gamers. The kind of people who go to boardgamegeek.com or hang out in the Fantasy Flight forums. People who know the difference between German style boardgames and American style board games.
These are people for whom the board game is the first resort, not the last. People who will deliberately make time for board games. (Think John Locke on Lost.)
Monopoly is a dreadful board game, and I don't understand why anyone ever plays it. Scrabble seems good though.
But seriously, next time you are thinking of playing Monopoly, go out and buy a game of Cosmic Encounter. Then throw your copy of Monopoly in the garbage or the nearest compost heap.
Apple's big advantage in their recent Great Leap Forward was that they entered through the iPod. The iPod required the aquiesence of the big group of Free computing haters in the MPAA/RIAA. The fact is, that by being their freedom hating Apple selves, they managed to get these companies to release their precious content whereas before the only way to get such content (apart from buying media and ripping it yourself) was, well, illegal..
Now, I suspect that the iPad is intended as a shot across the bow in the eBook market, which Amazon created the "iPod" for in the form of the Kindle. Apple has an uphill struggle versus the Kindle, so they've given the iPad functionality that the Kindle doesn't have. Will it be enough to dethrone the Kindle? Time will tell.
In the meantime, poor engineer types like myself will troll around for discounted Chinese hardware that does the same type of thing in a less elegant way but for a fraction of the cost while preserving my precious freedom to tinker.
Well, how about a poor, mad genius writing the whole plot down in his diary and mailing it to his favorite right wing publication before his untimely death?
Caution: I've not seen the movie, hope they didn't skip that part.
Ok, this is not a criticism of the 300, but to say it was based on real events in history is a tad ridiculous. Yes, there was a real battle between the Persian Empire and some Greeks. It was nothing like the version shown in the film though. (More importantly, the Spartans weren't a particularly sympathetic bunch in real life.)
To put it another way, it was based on real events the way the Amityville Horror and Fargo were based on real events...
Well, the thing is Spider-man's career is super-hero and freelance photographer is just his cover.
Also, he's a very good freelance photojournalist, because he gets great, newsworthy action shots that no one else can. It just never seems to pay very well. I think he sticks with it because it let's him make his own schedule. (I was an irregular reader of Spider-man as a kid.)
In comics, superheroes usually have cover careers that go with superheroing, or else are independently wealthy. That's why so many superheroes are reporters of some sort.
One of the things that was made clear early on in Spider-man was that with his abilities, he could have made considerable money as an athlete, but he gave that up because he believes he has a higher calling.
I don't know, I'm starting to feel like this is an act.
"Made redundant" is a euphemism for a euphemism. Like the euphemism it replaces at the previous stop on the euphemism treadmill, "made redundant" means "fired through no fault of your own."
Since "made redundant" specifically refers to something that's no fault of your own, but rather a calculated business decision that happens to cost you your position. If you've actually been "made redundant" then they are specifically saying you weren't fired for doing your job poorly, or for not doing it excellently, or for any reason that you could've avoided being made redundant. It's like if you were a genius painter who could render the human face in perfect lifelike detail and then the camera is invented. Suddenly, you've been replaced by a machine and there was nothing you could do.
So, thoughts of being "made redundant" should prove to even the most naive that the only way to approach a job is through enlightened, mercenary self-interest.
Please re-read your quote. Incidentally, in order to put a quote in a post, please use:
<blockquote> Text of the quote </blockquote>
For example:
<blockquote> "I may be branded a traitor to "working men" everywhere but I believe this: I have a job because my company was successful enough to hire me. It is my job to bust my ass to make the company even more successful. I need my company more than my company needs me. If my company can find someone who can do my job better for less money, they are obligated to do so. It is my job to ensure that my contribution to the company assures my continued employment. My company and I are both playing for the same team." </blockquote>
And it will look like this:
By the way, it's is very important to note that I am not being nice by telling you this. However, in future if you choose to quote flamebait, you will at least be able to properly format it.
Here's a quote you may like:
-- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, Stave One, http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/christmascarol/1/
I am only nice to nice people.
What?
Hmm... I think I've figured out why you need your company more than your company needs you.
You'd thinks so, but after many years in the workforce, it seems "I am at work to play office politics, and hopefully get some work done. Hopefully."
Seriously, I'd love to focus on work, but I'd better do the things I get rewarded for and that usually means politically important but otherwise worthless activities get priority. Heck, I've had my manager specifically tell me this, "I know this is garbage, but the higher ups want it so make it a priority." I get rewarded for successfully navigating office politics, I do actual work because otherwise I'm afraid the company will go under and I'll lose my job. However, I know there are always people around who spend all their work day working at politics and none working at work. Especially if they figure they can find another job pretty easily if the company tanks.
When you get some perk cut, it usually isn't just to save money. It's usually a petty way to show that you were on the losing end of someone else's political strategy, and you'd better figure out a way to reverse the situation (or get your enemies' perks cut) or things will only escalate. Seriously, when someone does something this petty and trivial it is always part of some strategy. Ignore it at your peril.
The travel costs thing is especially egregious, as it is a stealth pay cut and that is what it is intended to be. If they get away with that, expect somewhere down the line to be asked to take 10% or more decrease in salary, for the good of the department.
"Chainsaw" Al Dunlap was a beloved corporate shark, whose particular genius was that he was a completely ruthless, amoral sociopath. When he would take control of a company, he would cut, and cut, and cut some more. Cut to the bone, and then get out the bone-saw.
Needless to say, if he timed it right (and many times he did) he could make a company with a lot of brand goodwill look like a fantastic buy. Then the people who bought the company would find out it was like that time Mr. Burns sold his plant to the Germans, where it was too expensive to bring the plant back up to code to make it profitable.
However, he made a fortune at this for a while, before he rooked a few to many people and they realized what was going on.
The moral of this story is, never assume that the bean counters know what they are doing. (They may, but if you have questions to raise, it might be a good idea to raise them.)
When I was a teen I was mainly interested in Adventure Game Toolkit and before that, Player-Missile Graphics. Of course, that brings up a point, how do you get a child interested in programming? In my case, I had my own computer (well, I mostly shared it with my Dad, which occasionally led to arguing) and a supply of cool computer hobbyist magazines. So, if I were going to get a kid interested in programming, the first think I'd do is get him a cheap, linux netbook and the next thing would be a magazine subscription. Hmm, but what magazine? Well, before it got axed, I like Maximum Linux, but there seem to still be a few good Linux magazines around. Oh, someone is probably thinking, at this point, why Linux? Why not Windows? Mainly because Linux is an OS aimed at programmers and Windows is aimed at non-programmers. There are a lot of free tools for both, ymmv.
Many, many Japanese video games have pretty strong religious elements in them. I mean Shinto religious elements.
A good example recently is Ju-on, the Grudge, which is loosely based on an old Shinto legend. (Variations on the supernatural grudge theme show up in a lot of Japanese cartoons or "anime.")
Even way back in 8-Bit days, the Shinto story that later inspired The Ring was used in a video game called Monster Party.
Oh, and of course, Shinto shrines play a role in Shenmue. Like the shrine where you find the cat, and Ryo will actually do a small devotion at the shrine in the house if you "use" it.
I could go on and on here, but I think it would be a bit shocking for games made in another country to include an alien religion, like Christianity is in Japan. Even Japanese games that include Christianity might not quite get it... it might be used the way Western games use pagan religious elements.
Well anyway, for more information on the Shinto religion, consult your local library!