Why does Carmack need to care about the low end? There's room in this world for games that target the low end AND for games that require the latest and greatest hardware. If you don't want to play those games, then play some of the other games.
I don't think the entire world has to or should cater to the lowest common demonator.
tried out his new submersible sea plane yesterday in SF Bay.
When I read this, I thought it was an airplane that could turn itself into a submarine! Now that would be cool... you could fly to an interesting spot, and then dive into the water.
Given that this thing is intended to glide like airplane, except in water, I wonder what it would take to make it able to fly in air? Probably a lot of engine power that it doesn't have, and a lot less weight.:(
...Asimov argues (yes I know it's "just" SciFi) that you need an overwhelmingly large amount of "individuals" to extrapolate the behaviour of
"societies", and you don't even have to know how the individuals act individually. [...] I agree with him,
With all due respect to Asimov (who I don't think believed it himself), the theory is a load of crap and really is just fantasy. History proves over and over that single individuals can make a world-changing difference. Would the mongols have taken over asia with Gengis Kahn? Doubtful. Would Europe have been carved up the way it was without Hitler? Again, doubtful.
And hell, what if Lincoln had not been elected President? We might have TWO "United States of Americas" occupying our current continent. I can't even imagine what the world would be like with a divided US. And how long would it have taken to free the slaves in the Southern US?
I mean, you can go on and on. What if Lee Harvey Oswald had missed? What if what's-his-name didn't get assassinated, causing WW/I? What if Ghandi hadn't been born?
In other words, power is concentrated with the people who just want to take from others, rather than the people who actually create things of value.
I got news for you: no one forces an artist to do business with the RIAA. The artist hires the RIAA to market to their product. They are a partner in the process, not a slave, despite what a lot of people want you to believe.
I'll bet most of the components in the computer you are using now were made in an asian sweatshop, and the workers got nearly nothing. Their slave drivers got all the profit. The same can probably be said about the shoes and clothing you are wearing.
Here's some more news for you: laborers don't create anything, anymore than some show-making machine "creates" things. There are two kinds of creators: the people who actually design something (or in this case, write music), and the people who organize others to design and create things. Guess who is most valuable? Wrong. It's the organizers who are the most valuable, which is why they tend to make the most money.
The power's concentrated in the hands of the copyright holders, who have the money and the control.
In other words, the power is concentrated with the people who actually create things of value, rather than the people who just want to take from others?
There is also the whole pro-walking thing which lobbied pretty hard against it. They believe this device would cause everyone to get fat.
All other factors aside, these are the people that make absolutely burn with anger. These idiotic health nazis who think they have the right to tell everyone else how to live their life. It's none of their fucking business if someone wants to use motored transportation, even if that causes "everyone to get fat". These are the same absolute imbeciles who whine about the fat content of foods and who want to sue fast food places.
I wish these people would just go live their life of denial and leave the rest of us alone.
There's very little reason someone with a video card made a year or two ago would need one of these.
Two words: Quake III.
You are right that 98% of games will run on hardware two years old. However, there is a subset of games that demands the latest and greatest hardware to experience the game. There's no "conspiracy" here, just that certain developers aim at the leading edge. If you don't want to play those games, there's no reason to upgrade.
Personally, the day Quake III comes out is the day I upgrade my video card.:)
Man, I agree completely. Why are people such fucking weenies? Clearly you can't use the logo, but no one is going to sue you for putting the word "PCI" on your web site.
I think this guy lives in the world of theory, where everything works "in theory".
I don't want some idiot out in the world thinking he knows more about my system than I do going in and thinking he's doing everyone a favor -- when he's actually doing damage to my system. Intentions don't mean a crock of dog doo.
If my system is spewing garbage, then it should be the right of the ISP to pull the plug until I get it fixed. That's the way these things should work.
But there's no way I want fools poking into my computer, no matter what.
Can this fuel be used for amateur or semi-professional space ventures? Does it give any advantages over using, say, Peroxide fuel? How does the energy release/pound compare?
I know Peroxide is pretty nasty stuff, so it would be cool if a safer to handle alternative came down the pike.
There's actually a logical reason for that: a massive influx of workers that began 30 years ago, namely, women. A HUGE number of women entered the workforce after the "women's lib" movement started. It's actually rather remarkable that wages have only fallen 9% in real dollars (that's the figure I saw).
You say it is because expectations are growing faster than wages.
I agree with this. For example, according to this link, the average size of a family home was 1500sf. In 2001, it stood at a record 2,330sf. How many people had multiple television sets in 1970? How many people spent $100/month for cable? How many had multiple cars? How many did 3 year leases on their cars?
While 9% decline in average income is significant, it's not enough to explain the explosion of debt. The simple fact is that credit is easier to get now than at any other time in our history. It's pretty easy to talk yourself into that new set of golf clubs when you can make "easy payments" every month.
Well over the past thirty years rents have skyrocketed in relation to the rest of inflation, so the cost of living is a much larger expense in blue collar workers budget than thirty years ago.
I seriously doubt that the average U.S. rent is all that much higher than 30 years ago. I'd like to see a reference of rents adjusted for inflation before I believe that.
Man, when people are comparing the ability to steal music to totalitarian regimes, you KNOW that Americans are rich, spoiled and insulated. There's a lot to be said for the theory that many American's biggest problem is too much peace, freedom and happiness. People get bored and need to manufacture problems in their lives. Of course, your "oppression" is worse than any generation come before, but alas, no one understands.
I would love to see one of you thrown into North Korea, Iran or Iraq for a while.
Why, in my day, we worked with ferro-magnetic drives.
You had MAGNETIC disks?? In MAH day, we lopped off the end of a wooden log and put pits in the wood with a chisel! And we spun it with a hand-crank! You jus' TRY cranking the disk with one hand while yer typing with the other hand! Damn sap gettin' all over the place...
This is the same reason we have professional athletes that make way more than teachers, and why the peter principle raises the BA in Business Administration into a 6 figure position with an office, while the BS in computer science sits in a cubicle pulling down half of that. The elites keep the elites in positions of power, and use the rest of us for what they can get out of us for a minimal cost and maximum profits.
Huh? Professional athletes make what they make not because of some bizarre "elitism", they make it because they are incredibly talented individuals in extremely short supply that bring in enormous amounts of money for a professional sports franchise.
In other words, they're worth what they make, as do the teachers and the engineers. The reason teachers and engineers make so little money is because there are so many of them that can do equivalent jobs.
Note that this has nothing to do with someones "value to society" (however that's measured), it's all about supply and demand.
Re:Other Wristwatch failures in history.
on
Assorted CES Gizmos
·
· Score: 1
The Apple/Steve Jobs watch: bright pink, wraps around your arm 3 times in a spiral, has one button to set the time but does nothing else (more buttons would be too complicated), and costs $2000. Unfortunately, it's too slow to update every second, so it only updates every 5 seconds.
Of course he still ended up making an order of magnitude more than the workers. This is the kind of thing we wouldn't have to worry about if programmers were unionized.
Huh? Ignoring the fact that union's suck, exactly how do unions influence what the CEO makes? Last I checked, the president of General Motors still makes orders of magnitude more than the "workers".
As an aside, I love that word 'workers' -- as if anyone above a certain income level (i.e., anything more than YOU make) don't actually work.
That's overly simplistic. As usual, reality is a lot more complicated.
There is no doubt that idealists (radicals if you will) can be a catalyst for change. But it's extremely rare that they actually make the changes. Almost by definition, idealists are incapable of implementing change because they want instant gratification and are impatient with the realities of implementation. And even then, they are often incapable of seeing a larger picture that reasonable people can disagree with their "idealism". Take environmentalism. If the typical idealist enviro had their way, every forest would be off-limits to logging. Period. But the ignores the reality that logging is not intrinsically evil, and that wood is a renewable resource.
I'm reminded of one of my favorite scenes from Lawrence of Arabia:
Feisal: The world is delighted at the picture of Damascus liberated by the Arab army.
Allenby: Led, may I remind you, sir, by a British-serving officer.
Feisal: Ah yes. But then Lawrence is a sword with two edges. We are equally glad to be rid of him, are we not?
Allenby: I thought I was a hard man, sir.
Feisal: You are merely a general. I must be a king...
It's up to us realists to slowly, painfully -- but practically and fairly -- make the changes that society needs. We are the ones that are most capable of seeing all the sides of an issue and balancing everyone's needs.
Like I said, idealists have a place as catalysts to move things along quicker than they might have moved along, simply because they raise the priority of something. But it's unfair and untrue to say that realists never make changes without them, because its simply untrue. Idealists just believe that to be true because the pace is always slower than they want it, and they don't see the realists as having the "passion" of change.
I agree with you about opportunists to some extent, in that they aren't often dedicated to "progress". However, that doesn't mean it doesn't happen by accident. Opportunists create a lot of jobs, which is the single greatest resource that can be created when it comes to social progress.
By the time you finish this: There will be an XBOX 4
By the time they finish this, XBoxes will have evolved into higher life forms and be enslaving us all.
And I for one welcome our new X-shaped overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted Slashdot personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground deathmatch sessions.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah! I even got a name for you: how about "The Suicide Express"? "The Widowmaker" is already so overused.
Carmack, I'm looking in your direction...
Why does Carmack need to care about the low end? There's room in this world for games that target the low end AND for games that require the latest and greatest hardware. If you don't want to play those games, then play some of the other games.
I don't think the entire world has to or should cater to the lowest common demonator.
tried out his new submersible sea plane yesterday in SF Bay.
When I read this, I thought it was an airplane that could turn itself into a submarine! Now that would be cool... you could fly to an interesting spot, and then dive into the water.
Given that this thing is intended to glide like airplane, except in water, I wonder what it would take to make it able to fly in air? Probably a lot of engine power that it doesn't have, and a lot less weight. :(
With all due respect to Asimov (who I don't think believed it himself), the theory is a load of crap and really is just fantasy. History proves over and over that single individuals can make a world-changing difference. Would the mongols have taken over asia with Gengis Kahn? Doubtful. Would Europe have been carved up the way it was without Hitler? Again, doubtful.
And hell, what if Lincoln had not been elected President? We might have TWO "United States of Americas" occupying our current continent. I can't even imagine what the world would be like with a divided US. And how long would it have taken to free the slaves in the Southern US?
I mean, you can go on and on. What if Lee Harvey Oswald had missed? What if what's-his-name didn't get assassinated, causing WW/I? What if Ghandi hadn't been born?
"I hereby declare that The White House will no longer be boring "beige", it shall be painted "Lickable Blueberry".
The Apple hoardes debate among themselves whether the country is now just "insanely" better, or "miraculously" better.
In other words, power is concentrated with the people who just want to take from others, rather than the people who actually create things of value.
I got news for you: no one forces an artist to do business with the RIAA. The artist hires the RIAA to market to their product. They are a partner in the process, not a slave, despite what a lot of people want you to believe.
I'll bet most of the components in the computer you are using now were made in an asian sweatshop, and the workers got nearly nothing. Their slave drivers got all the profit. The same can probably be said about the shoes and clothing you are wearing.
Here's some more news for you: laborers don't create anything, anymore than some show-making machine "creates" things. There are two kinds of creators: the people who actually design something (or in this case, write music), and the people who organize others to design and create things. Guess who is most valuable? Wrong. It's the organizers who are the most valuable, which is why they tend to make the most money.
The power's concentrated in the hands of the copyright holders, who have the money and the control.
In other words, the power is concentrated with the people who actually create things of value, rather than the people who just want to take from others?
Gee, what a f'd up world.
There is also the whole pro-walking thing which lobbied pretty hard against it. They believe this device would cause everyone to get fat.
All other factors aside, these are the people that make absolutely burn with anger. These idiotic health nazis who think they have the right to tell everyone else how to live their life. It's none of their fucking business if someone wants to use motored transportation, even if that causes "everyone to get fat". These are the same absolute imbeciles who whine about the fat content of foods and who want to sue fast food places.
I wish these people would just go live their life of denial and leave the rest of us alone.
Oops... I suppose that's probably a freudian slip about the "differences" between Quake and Doom. :)
There's very little reason someone with a video card made a year or two ago would need one of these.
Two words: Quake III.
You are right that 98% of games will run on hardware two years old. However, there is a subset of games that demands the latest and greatest hardware to experience the game. There's no "conspiracy" here, just that certain developers aim at the leading edge. If you don't want to play those games, there's no reason to upgrade.
Personally, the day Quake III comes out is the day I upgrade my video card. :)
Hi, just abusing this out of the way story to see what the hell is up with the new posting scores. Please bear with me.
Oh for pete's sake. Don't have a tizzy.
Man, I agree completely. Why are people such fucking weenies? Clearly you can't use the logo, but no one is going to sue you for putting the word "PCI" on your web site.
Grow some guts.
...but it's gotta be said.
Say what you want about Microsoft, but they never pull crap like this.
I think this guy lives in the world of theory, where everything works "in theory".
I don't want some idiot out in the world thinking he knows more about my system than I do going in and thinking he's doing everyone a favor -- when he's actually doing damage to my system. Intentions don't mean a crock of dog doo.
If my system is spewing garbage, then it should be the right of the ISP to pull the plug until I get it fixed. That's the way these things should work.
But there's no way I want fools poking into my computer, no matter what.
John Carmack, are you out there?
Can this fuel be used for amateur or semi-professional space ventures? Does it give any advantages over using, say, Peroxide fuel? How does the energy release/pound compare?
I know Peroxide is pretty nasty stuff, so it would be cool if a safer to handle alternative came down the pike.
But wages aren't growing, they're falling.
There's actually a logical reason for that: a massive influx of workers that began 30 years ago, namely, women. A HUGE number of women entered the workforce after the "women's lib" movement started. It's actually rather remarkable that wages have only fallen 9% in real dollars (that's the figure I saw).
You say it is because expectations are growing faster than wages.
I agree with this. For example, according to this link, the average size of a family home was 1500sf. In 2001, it stood at a record 2,330sf. How many people had multiple television sets in 1970? How many people spent $100/month for cable? How many had multiple cars? How many did 3 year leases on their cars?
While 9% decline in average income is significant, it's not enough to explain the explosion of debt. The simple fact is that credit is easier to get now than at any other time in our history. It's pretty easy to talk yourself into that new set of golf clubs when you can make "easy payments" every month.
Well over the past thirty years rents have skyrocketed in relation to the rest of inflation, so the cost of living is a much larger expense in blue collar workers budget than thirty years ago.
I seriously doubt that the average U.S. rent is all that much higher than 30 years ago. I'd like to see a reference of rents adjusted for inflation before I believe that.
Man, when people are comparing the ability to steal music to totalitarian regimes, you KNOW that Americans are rich, spoiled and insulated. There's a lot to be said for the theory that many American's biggest problem is too much peace, freedom and happiness. People get bored and need to manufacture problems in their lives. Of course, your "oppression" is worse than any generation come before, but alas, no one understands.
I would love to see one of you thrown into North Korea, Iran or Iraq for a while.
Why, in my day, we worked with ferro-magnetic drives.
You had MAGNETIC disks?? In MAH day, we lopped off the end of a wooden log and put pits in the wood with a chisel! And we spun it with a hand-crank! You jus' TRY cranking the disk with one hand while yer typing with the other hand! Damn sap gettin' all over the place...
This is the same reason we have professional athletes that make way more than teachers, and why the peter principle raises the BA in Business Administration into a 6 figure position with an office, while the BS in computer science sits in a cubicle pulling down half of that. The elites keep the elites in positions of power, and use the rest of us for what they can get out of us for a minimal cost and maximum profits.
Huh? Professional athletes make what they make not because of some bizarre "elitism", they make it because they are incredibly talented individuals in extremely short supply that bring in enormous amounts of money for a professional sports franchise.
In other words, they're worth what they make, as do the teachers and the engineers. The reason teachers and engineers make so little money is because there are so many of them that can do equivalent jobs.
Note that this has nothing to do with someones "value to society" (however that's measured), it's all about supply and demand.
The Apple/Steve Jobs watch: bright pink, wraps around your arm 3 times in a spiral, has one button to set the time but does nothing else (more buttons would be too complicated), and costs $2000. Unfortunately, it's too slow to update every second, so it only updates every 5 seconds.
Yeah, it's the same reason it's OK to refuse service to niggers, you are still catering to 88% of the universe.
Nope, not that way at all. There are no special accomodations that need to be made for black people.
It's more like refusing service to aliens who don't breath oxygen and require a hydrogen atmosphere.
Of course he still ended up making an order of magnitude more than the workers. This is the kind of thing we wouldn't have to worry about if programmers were unionized.
Huh? Ignoring the fact that union's suck, exactly how do unions influence what the CEO makes? Last I checked, the president of General Motors still makes orders of magnitude more than the "workers".
As an aside, I love that word 'workers' -- as if anyone above a certain income level (i.e., anything more than YOU make) don't actually work.
Did Apple announce that they will ship products that are NOT half the speed for twice the price yet?
I await the crucifixion. :)
Only idealists can make positive change.
That's overly simplistic. As usual, reality is a lot more complicated.
There is no doubt that idealists (radicals if you will) can be a catalyst for change. But it's extremely rare that they actually make the changes. Almost by definition, idealists are incapable of implementing change because they want instant gratification and are impatient with the realities of implementation. And even then, they are often incapable of seeing a larger picture that reasonable people can disagree with their "idealism". Take environmentalism. If the typical idealist enviro had their way, every forest would be off-limits to logging. Period. But the ignores the reality that logging is not intrinsically evil, and that wood is a renewable resource.
I'm reminded of one of my favorite scenes from Lawrence of Arabia:
Feisal: The world is delighted at the picture of Damascus liberated by the Arab army.
Allenby: Led, may I remind you, sir, by a British-serving officer.
Feisal: Ah yes. But then Lawrence is a sword with two edges. We are equally glad to be rid of him, are we not?
Allenby: I thought I was a hard man, sir.
Feisal: You are merely a general. I must be a king...
It's up to us realists to slowly, painfully -- but practically and fairly -- make the changes that society needs. We are the ones that are most capable of seeing all the sides of an issue and balancing everyone's needs.
Like I said, idealists have a place as catalysts to move things along quicker than they might have moved along, simply because they raise the priority of something. But it's unfair and untrue to say that realists never make changes without them, because its simply untrue. Idealists just believe that to be true because the pace is always slower than they want it, and they don't see the realists as having the "passion" of change.
I agree with you about opportunists to some extent, in that they aren't often dedicated to "progress". However, that doesn't mean it doesn't happen by accident. Opportunists create a lot of jobs, which is the single greatest resource that can be created when it comes to social progress.
By the time you finish this: There will be an XBOX 4
By the time they finish this, XBoxes will have evolved into higher life forms and be enslaving us all.
And I for one welcome our new X-shaped overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted Slashdot personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground deathmatch sessions.