Here in the states they print the payout on the machine -- it's generally between 92-97% (in other words, over a long period of time, the machine will consume 3-8% of the money that's deposited in it).
When you go gambling, make sure you look for the payout percentage, because (obviously) you're better off playing the 97% machine than the 92% machine.
Seriously, this is very interesting. It reminds me of the spacecraft that Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle used as the saviour of the human race in "Footfall," which used a similar series of controlled atom bomb explosions underneath a spaceship, in order to propel it.
That was a great book; not so much for the technology, as for the character development. I'm currently reading Philip K. Dick, and it's amazing how relevant his 60s/70s writing is to today's world -- again, it's not the technology, it's the people.
I can't understand how they all fell under this "MUST HAVE TINY ASS" spell. Is it just massive amounts of bizarre social conditioning?
Yes, in fact. Americans want big breasts and small assess. Brazilians want the opposite -- down there they actually have silicone injections in their butts.
It's funny how different cultures focus on different things. Philosophically, I prefer the US version: focus on what food (life) comes from, instead of what waste (death) comes from.
Check out Pre-Paid Legal -- I'm pretty sure that this is a "pre-existing condition" so you wouldn't be eligible for benefits for this case, but they provide legal defense if you're named in a civil suit, or job-related criminal suit.
I've been using their service for half a year now and am very pleased with it; you can ask an unlimited number of questions, and they'll also write letters and make phone calls at your behalf to resolve issues for you. They also provide traffic defense (parking/speeding tickets, or lawsuits based on injury) and cover you if the IRS decides to audit you.
It's somewhat like "legal insurance" -- just as you pay a couple hundred a month for health insurance, or car insurance, this provides for your legal needs on a pre-paid, monthly basis (generally about $27 a month) and it covers your entire family.
In this litigious society we live in, it's great to have coverage for when (not if) you end up on the wrong end of a lawsuit.
Again, I'm pretty sure this won't help your specific case but hopefully it can help other readers. (And yes, I sell the plan if anyone's interested.)
I just cam back to post because I got a score of 1 -- target=head, heading=360.00, pitch=90.00, force=1 bar.
What was your target for the score of 0?
And I just retried it and for about 10 seconds had a score of 0, but I guess it's programmed not to stop the clock if the score is 0, so he slowly started to tumble down the stairs and I ended up over 11k. Oh well.
There we go. I was very close to your settings (target=chest, heading=195.85, pitch=90.00, force=1 bar), and managed to get him to lay down without hurting himself, and his feet started slipping off the top step but too slowly; the game stopped before they fell onto the next step. Very neat. So I can't beat you, but I can join you.;-)
It wasn't obvious at the time. Every web site was locked into the shopping-cart/check-out model.
I hear what you're saying, but I have to admit it seemed obvious to me. In terms of efficiency, I like to try to reduce any activity into the least possible steps, and for something like buying an item on the Internet, the least steps are 0 but that involves the machine reading your mind.
So the slightly more inefficient method would be to do it in one click.
I'm not a rocket scientist, although I do have a fairly high IQ. But I don't believe that simply being efficient should be rewarded with a monopoly on efficiency!
Or, I could just learn how the rules are played, and play the game.
I once heard a rumor of a guy with 10 computers in his house and 10 UO accounts. He played on one of the computers, he left the other 9 running 24/7 (minus shard downtime) macroing various profitable tasks.
I just had an idea to keep costs down in setting up such an environment, but I've never played a MMORPG, so I first have a question: how processor-intensive is the game?
The idea is this: purchase a fairly high-end machine (dual Athlon MP2600, 2x 200 GB drives, 4 GB RAM, etc. for $2750), a license for VMware for $329, and set up your 10 "computers" running under VMware, giving 256 MB to each, using 2560 MB and leaving about 1.5 GB free for the host OS to run. (The configuration I chose didn't include Windows XP, which costs $69 at that store, so I'd run Linux and buy the Linux version of VMware.)
As far as software goes, you're pretty much paying the same price -- you would need a license for each copy of Windows running inside the VMs, and you'd need to purchase 10 copies of the game (plus 10 subscriptions).
However, this would save a lot of real estate (1 computer vs. 10 in your parents' basement;-), and it would also save on electricity costs.
Do you know of anyone who's tried such a solution? I would imagine there are drawbacks, like that you can only "control" one at a time, but you could get a big monitor and have 4 (or 9?) of them visible at the same time. And of course, if the host OS crashes or needs to be rebooted, then all the machines go down (which is why I'd run Linux as the host OS).
The amazon one-click patent really bugged me. I mean, what is the least energy you can expend on purchasing something? Without the computer being able to read your mind, it's... one click. It should be obvious to anyone who knows the subject area.
So I propose to file a patent on a two-click process, so we can go after B&N and Borders who are avoiding Amazon's patent. Then we should file a 3-click, and 4-click, and 42-click patent...
You hit the nail on the head. To boil a frog, you put him in lukewarm water and slowly raise the temperature. Putting him in boiling water, he'll jump out immediately. But water that slowly gets hotter, he'll just sit there and take it.
So too our American public. The USA is far more totalitarian than Russia was "back in the day" but we don't have McCarthy around to point fingers any more. "If you're not with me, you're against me" and thus you can be thrown into jail to rot for eternity because you're a "terrorist" and won't get released within 48 hours.
It's really scary where we've ended up. I won't report you as a terrorist if you don't report me!
You're right, which is why I've abandoned the corporate culture. Of course, this means I have to eat ramen every day and live with my parents, but what the hell it's fighting "the man."
OTOH, quoting that passage is almost guaranteed +5 karma./.ers must be mostly libertarians (small-l), or perhaps they've never heard it before and are amazed (as I am) that someone 50 years ago had these thoughts. Before "big government" really made the headlines. But whatever; learn from this: whenever government is encroaching, you can post this quote and gain karma.
Now let's see what happens next time I post it.;-)
Yer welcome. It brought tears to my eyes, how he was treated.
OTOH,/. karma is very easy: every time I've quoted that passage in response to government encroachment, I've gained a +5. I suppose it's because/. is full of libertarians (small-l), or perhaps they've never seen it before and are amazed that someone half a century ago could think that way. Either way, it's almost guaranteed karma!
Now let's see what happens next time I post it.;-)
a good example of the dictum that if you make enough laws then everyone can be a criminal
Very succinctly put. I like to refer to a passage from Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" which says essentially the same thing, with more words:
"Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against - then you'll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We're after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you'd better get wise to it. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt. Now, that's the system, Mr. Rearden, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."
It blows me away that she wrote this half a century ago, and it's becoming more and more relevant. RFID tags for all!
I load the google search page, and then middle-click all the links that look the most promising and read them in tabs.
I do the same, but I don't think Google "knows" that you're doing that.
As far as I know, Mozilla doesn't send Google any info when you middle-click (or even left-click) on an outside link (if you clicked on the cached link, then of course it does).
So if you never refresh the Google tab, it doesn't report anything of your Googling habits back to Google. So you're not training it at all -- as opposed to people who follow the link in the same tab and come straight back, or don't come back.
Slightly off-topic, I hate when a page refreshes when I hit "back." It should always get that page out of my cache, and only refresh it if I click "refresh" (or Crtl+R or F5). It's a waste of bandwidth and it slows me down. </rant>
I second that, and am constantly amazed that Mike Judge (creator of Beavis and Butthead) managed to make such a good family-oriented show, which several times has brought a tear to my eye. Very well-written, although obviously catering to a different audience. Not always funny (but Dale is hilarious), but very touching.
Anyone who continues building kernels with the stolen source may face hefty lawsuits or prison.
What a world we live in, when building software can land you in prison.
My vote is that prisons should only consist of violent offenders. Any crime that does not involve violence should be a house arrest of some type (even before RFID, we have ways of tracking criminals in their homes).
Slashdot Mirror
I did, but couldn't find anything useful (just a lot of posts about "having to redo something related to qmail"). Can you provide a link? Thanks.
Oh well.
When you go gambling, make sure you look for the payout percentage, because (obviously) you're better off playing the 97% machine than the 92% machine.
Enjoy!
Mmmmmm, donuts... </homer>
Seriously, this is very interesting. It reminds me of the spacecraft that Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle used as the saviour of the human race in "Footfall," which used a similar series of controlled atom bomb explosions underneath a spaceship, in order to propel it.
That was a great book; not so much for the technology, as for the character development. I'm currently reading Philip K. Dick, and it's amazing how relevant his 60s/70s writing is to today's world -- again, it's not the technology, it's the people.
For those who haven't seen it, here's a link -- it's a short, sweet stomping.
No shit. IANAL -- and I'm not an attorney either.
Yes, in fact. Americans want big breasts and small assess. Brazilians want the opposite -- down there they actually have silicone injections in their butts.
It's funny how different cultures focus on different things. Philosophically, I prefer the US version: focus on what food (life) comes from, instead of what waste (death) comes from.
Nice imagery. Now please help me put the Mt. Dew back into my nose.
I've been using their service for half a year now and am very pleased with it; you can ask an unlimited number of questions, and they'll also write letters and make phone calls at your behalf to resolve issues for you. They also provide traffic defense (parking/speeding tickets, or lawsuits based on injury) and cover you if the IRS decides to audit you.
It's somewhat like "legal insurance" -- just as you pay a couple hundred a month for health insurance, or car insurance, this provides for your legal needs on a pre-paid, monthly basis (generally about $27 a month) and it covers your entire family.
In this litigious society we live in, it's great to have coverage for when (not if) you end up on the wrong end of a lawsuit.
Again, I'm pretty sure this won't help your specific case but hopefully it can help other readers. (And yes, I sell the plan if anyone's interested.)
I just cam back to post because I got a score of 1 -- target=head, heading=360.00, pitch=90.00, force=1 bar.
What was your target for the score of 0?
And I just retried it and for about 10 seconds had a score of 0, but I guess it's programmed not to stop the clock if the score is 0, so he slowly started to tumble down the stairs and I ended up over 11k. Oh well.
There we go. I was very close to your settings (target=chest, heading=195.85, pitch=90.00, force=1 bar), and managed to get him to lay down without hurting himself, and his feet started slipping off the top step but too slowly; the game stopped before they fell onto the next step. Very neat. So I can't beat you, but I can join you. ;-)
I hear what you're saying, but I have to admit it seemed obvious to me. In terms of efficiency, I like to try to reduce any activity into the least possible steps, and for something like buying an item on the Internet, the least steps are 0 but that involves the machine reading your mind.
So the slightly more inefficient method would be to do it in one click.
I'm not a rocket scientist, although I do have a fairly high IQ. But I don't believe that simply being efficient should be rewarded with a monopoly on efficiency!
Or, I could just learn how the rules are played, and play the game.
I just had an idea to keep costs down in setting up such an environment, but I've never played a MMORPG, so I first have a question: how processor-intensive is the game?
The idea is this: purchase a fairly high-end machine (dual Athlon MP2600, 2x 200 GB drives, 4 GB RAM, etc. for $2750), a license for VMware for $329, and set up your 10 "computers" running under VMware, giving 256 MB to each, using 2560 MB and leaving about 1.5 GB free for the host OS to run. (The configuration I chose didn't include Windows XP, which costs $69 at that store, so I'd run Linux and buy the Linux version of VMware.)
As far as software goes, you're pretty much paying the same price -- you would need a license for each copy of Windows running inside the VMs, and you'd need to purchase 10 copies of the game (plus 10 subscriptions).
However, this would save a lot of real estate (1 computer vs. 10 in your parents' basement ;-), and it would also save on electricity costs.
Do you know of anyone who's tried such a solution? I would imagine there are drawbacks, like that you can only "control" one at a time, but you could get a big monitor and have 4 (or 9?) of them visible at the same time. And of course, if the host OS crashes or needs to be rebooted, then all the machines go down (which is why I'd run Linux as the host OS).
So ... how do your friends manage to do it? And aren't they worried about being "caught?"
So I propose to file a patent on a two-click process, so we can go after B&N and Borders who are avoiding Amazon's patent. Then we should file a 3-click, and 4-click, and 42-click patent...
So too our American public. The USA is far more totalitarian than Russia was "back in the day" but we don't have McCarthy around to point fingers any more. "If you're not with me, you're against me" and thus you can be thrown into jail to rot for eternity because you're a "terrorist" and won't get released within 48 hours.
It's really scary where we've ended up. I won't report you as a terrorist if you don't report me!
OTOH, quoting that passage is almost guaranteed +5 karma. /.ers must be mostly libertarians (small-l), or perhaps they've never heard it before and are amazed (as I am) that someone 50 years ago had these thoughts. Before "big government" really made the headlines. But whatever; learn from this: whenever government is encroaching, you can post this quote and gain karma.
Now let's see what happens next time I post it. ;-)
OTOH, /. karma is very easy: every time I've quoted that passage in response to government encroachment, I've gained a +5. I suppose it's because /. is full of libertarians (small-l), or perhaps they've never seen it before and are amazed that someone half a century ago could think that way. Either way, it's almost guaranteed karma!
Now let's see what happens next time I post it. ;-)
Very succinctly put. I like to refer to a passage from Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" which says essentially the same thing, with more words:
It blows me away that she wrote this half a century ago, and it's becoming more and more relevant. RFID tags for all!I do the same, but I don't think Google "knows" that you're doing that.
As far as I know, Mozilla doesn't send Google any info when you middle-click (or even left-click) on an outside link (if you clicked on the cached link, then of course it does).
So if you never refresh the Google tab, it doesn't report anything of your Googling habits back to Google. So you're not training it at all -- as opposed to people who follow the link in the same tab and come straight back, or don't come back.
Slightly off-topic, I hate when a page refreshes when I hit "back." It should always get that page out of my cache, and only refresh it if I click "refresh" (or Crtl+R or F5). It's a waste of bandwidth and it slows me down. </rant>
Isn't this a dupe? We already knew Fry was being cancelled...
I second that, and am constantly amazed that Mike Judge (creator of Beavis and Butthead) managed to make such a good family-oriented show, which several times has brought a tear to my eye. Very well-written, although obviously catering to a different audience. Not always funny (but Dale is hilarious), but very touching.
Heh, heh. He said "touching."
But it's still quite a disparity; they can afford 10 times less books than we can. (And the R$30 book was a paperback.)
For years I've been saying "What doesn't kill me, maims me."
As a counterpoint to Nietzsche. Good to see someone else thinking along the same lines. ;-)
What a world we live in, when building software can land you in prison.
My vote is that prisons should only consist of violent offenders. Any crime that does not involve violence should be a house arrest of some type (even before RFID, we have ways of tracking criminals in their homes).
But they're not listening to my vote.