You have six hours total. Every time you fall through the floor or get zapped, you lose ten minutes. Each use of the phone costs two minutes. These add up pretty quickly, so it's not unusual for a game to end within an hour or so.
The median... That can possibly mean that one person printed 7,830 billion dollar which another one earned, while 290 million people lived in caves and ate roots. So much for statistics.
No, you're thinking of the mean. The median is the income that exactly 50% of income earners exceed, and 50% of them fall below. Thus, 50% of all Americans make at least $27,000 per year.
In 1999, the median salary for a US Systems Administrator was $64,271. As of 2002, the average salary was $67,675 ($67,920 for males, and $64,946 for females).
You're forgetting about inflation. Your income has gone down in real terms. An income of $64,271 in 1999 is equivalent to a salary of $68,671.92 in 2002. Conversely, a salary of $67,675 in 2002 is equivalent to earning $63,337.97 in 1999.
Soon they'll be requiring you to ask the line manager for toilet breaks.
Now, now. The line manager is a very busy man, and doesn't have time to field your every request. So long as you catch his eye as you clock out to go to the toilet, you'll be fine.
Q: My number is on the National Do Not Call Registry. After I bought something from a company, a telemarketer representing that organization called me. Is this a violation?
A: No. Even if you put your number on the National Do Not Call Registry, a company with which you have an established business relationship may call you for up to 18 months after your last purchase or delivery from it, or your last payment to it, unless you ask the company not to call again. (In that case, the company must honor your request not to call. If they subsequently call you again, they may be subject to a fine of up to $11,000.) Also, if you make an inquiry to a company or submit an application to it, for three months afterwards the company can call you. If you make a specific request to that company not to call you, however, then the company may not call you, even if you have an established business relationship with that company.
[H]ow many millions of things would one figure have been invented... that are now locked away in some super top secret vault by those companies? I'd be willing to bet a LOT.
I wouldn't. If only one company had access to this invention, it'd be a huge competitive advantage. Why settle for oligopoly when you can go for full monopoly? If they all have access to it, they'd be hard-pressed to keep it a secret.
Besides, if it was invented once, it could be invented again by someone else.
...I'd be interested to know exactly what kind of volume of music the RIAA claims this 12-year-old girl shared to garner herself one of 200-some-odd lawsuits, supposedly aimed at "top" file-sharers.
Is broadband getting cheap enough in NYC for people on government assistance to afford? The articles don't say one way or the other what sort of Internet connection this family had. If she's a top file-sharer, wouldn't she have to have a high-speed connection?
Every good idea was once a dream or merely a spark of inspiration. Just because it doesn't work today, doesn't mean it never can. It won't if people stop trying, but it might if they keep at it. It only takes one moment of genius to make the impossibly [sic] possible.
Importantly, any "failed" research may lead to other as-yet unthought of possibilities. IIRC, even Post It notes were the result of a glue was considered a failure for not being sticky enough.
Except you're making a fundamental error: you're equating theory and application.
The glue in Post-It Notes is an adhevise; it just wasn't strong enough to be used for its intended purpose. Cold fusion, on the other hand, hasn't been proved to even exist. You can't re-purpose a fiction and turn it into something practical.
[I]f cold fusion really was developed you can bet your ass we'd see Congress trying to pass some kind of doublespeak like "Protecting Home Access to Electricity Act" which makes it illegal to purchase non-coal generated electricity.
I'm always up for a good conspiracy theory, but the more realistic outcome would be along the lines of forcing whoever patents it to give RAND (reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms to all the existing power companies so they can upgrade their netowrks on the cheap.
I have this weird personality quirk: GTA (3 or VC) is about the only game I won't use a cheat on. I've no idea why. (Though I agree: random chaos is the way to go.)
I usually follow your strategy: go through once on easy (or whichever is default), then once more on the hardest (exception for Civilization derivatives: those seriously stomp my ass). More recently, I've tried starting on the hardest level, because I simply don't have time to go all the way through a game twice, and I feel like a wuss if I just play on "normal" and then shelve it.
Um... er... I... no! I swear the Baby Bell I work for doesn't have a 4-letter, 4-year-old password to the production database.
*types furiously*
At least, not anymore.
**
In all seriousness, I really thought you were one of my coworkers. You described the situation here exactly. Someone finally decided just this past week that the database password might not be secure, so it's scheduled to get changed Real Soon Now.
I just want to start by saying I enjoyed Vice City as a general rule. Getting 100% completion on it, though, is an exercise in tedium. It wasn't so much hard as repetitive and dull in places. I wouldn't mind if that gets addressed, either.
"Let's dive into financial ruin by pleasing a few unappreciative morons who would probably bitch about every detail of the game even if we handed it to them on the inner thighs of super models."
Damn right I'd complain: they'd be in the way.
Re:Lies, statistics, and analysts
on
Java vs .NET
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· Score: 1
I use Java at work, and the thing I like about it is that I don't need to worry overmuch about memory allocation and cleanup. But like you said, it's not a real standard. Are there any standards-based languages that handle memory for you, but are not interpreted?
Re:Java, my abusive friend
on
Java vs .NET
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· Score: 1
My biggest complaint with The Number of the Beast was that I couldn't track the dialog:
[Five people are standing around, having a conversation, which we join already in progress.]
"Well, I disagree."
"You do?"
"But why?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
"I don't think so."
"I'm siding with the minority here."
"Just think it through."
"No, wait, I've decided to switch sides."
"Excellent."
"Then it's settled."
I mean, whatever happened to the notion of identifying the speaker? It's not like the characters are sufficiently differentiated that I can tell them apart by their stance or speech patterns: they're all a bunch of fickle ciphers.
Well, if mom and dad decide the RIAA is evil and don't let their kids buy music, that is that.
You're making the assumption that Mom and Dad won't cave when their child throws a temper tantrum. These days, that assumption isn't an especially safe one.
Private aircraft have to submit flight plans so the FAA will know where they are at any given moment. The reason flying autos don't work is because automobiles are the least regulated form of transportation. Licensing requirements are minimal and you don't need to tell anyone where you're going. That is what people expect when they dream of flying cars, and there's just no way that'll work.
Slashdot Mirror
As I mentioned in the post below, I played the Atari 7800 version, so maybe the rules were different.
Instruction manual.
You have six hours total. Every time you fall through the floor or get zapped, you lose ten minutes. Each use of the phone costs two minutes. These add up pretty quickly, so it's not unusual for a game to end within an hour or so.
At least it was something you could aspire to. Those of us saddled with the Atari 7800 version had no chance at all.
I would go so far as to suggest, "Since never." Would you care to identify what rights judges have granted to animals that humans do not enjoy?
Are you sure that was ROTJ? I thought it was in one of Timothy Zahn's novels.
No, you're thinking of the mean. The median is the income that exactly 50% of income earners exceed, and 50% of them fall below. Thus, 50% of all Americans make at least $27,000 per year.
You're forgetting about inflation. Your income has gone down in real terms. An income of $64,271 in 1999 is equivalent to a salary of $68,671.92 in 2002. Conversely, a salary of $67,675 in 2002 is equivalent to earning $63,337.97 in 1999.
Now, now. The line manager is a very busy man, and doesn't have time to field your every request. So long as you catch his eye as you clock out to go to the toilet, you'll be fine.
Not exactly.
Emphasis added.
I wouldn't. If only one company had access to this invention, it'd be a huge competitive advantage. Why settle for oligopoly when you can go for full monopoly? If they all have access to it, they'd be hard-pressed to keep it a secret.
Besides, if it was invented once, it could be invented again by someone else.
Is broadband getting cheap enough in NYC for people on government assistance to afford? The articles don't say one way or the other what sort of Internet connection this family had. If she's a top file-sharer, wouldn't she have to have a high-speed connection?
Except you're making a fundamental error: you're equating theory and application.
The glue in Post-It Notes is an adhevise; it just wasn't strong enough to be used for its intended purpose. Cold fusion, on the other hand, hasn't been proved to even exist. You can't re-purpose a fiction and turn it into something practical.
I'm always up for a good conspiracy theory, but the more realistic outcome would be along the lines of forcing whoever patents it to give RAND (reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms to all the existing power companies so they can upgrade their netowrks on the cheap.
I have this weird personality quirk: GTA (3 or VC) is about the only game I won't use a cheat on. I've no idea why. (Though I agree: random chaos is the way to go.)
I usually follow your strategy: go through once on easy (or whichever is default), then once more on the hardest (exception for Civilization derivatives: those seriously stomp my ass). More recently, I've tried starting on the hardest level, because I simply don't have time to go all the way through a game twice, and I feel like a wuss if I just play on "normal" and then shelve it.
Um... er... I... no! I swear the Baby Bell I work for doesn't have a 4-letter, 4-year-old password to the production database.
*types furiously*
At least, not anymore.
**
In all seriousness, I really thought you were one of my coworkers. You described the situation here exactly. Someone finally decided just this past week that the database password might not be secure, so it's scheduled to get changed Real Soon Now.
Scott? Is that you?
I just want to start by saying I enjoyed Vice City as a general rule. Getting 100% completion on it, though, is an exercise in tedium. It wasn't so much hard as repetitive and dull in places. I wouldn't mind if that gets addressed, either.
Damn right I'd complain: they'd be in the way.
I use Java at work, and the thing I like about it is that I don't need to worry overmuch about memory allocation and cleanup. But like you said, it's not a real standard. Are there any standards-based languages that handle memory for you, but are not interpreted?
vim
My biggest complaint with The Number of the Beast was that I couldn't track the dialog:
[Five people are standing around, having a conversation, which we join already in progress.]
"Well, I disagree."
"You do?"
"But why?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
"I don't think so."
"I'm siding with the minority here."
"Just think it through."
"No, wait, I've decided to switch sides."
"Excellent."
"Then it's settled."
I mean, whatever happened to the notion of identifying the speaker? It's not like the characters are sufficiently differentiated that I can tell them apart by their stance or speech patterns: they're all a bunch of fickle ciphers.
No need to get hostile: my goal was not to suggest that "lots" was a poor word choice.
When I saw "lots", I immediately became skeptical. It's vague, like those statements people throw around that begin, "It's common knowledge that...".
I simply went to the trouble of pinning down something more concrete, and thought I'd let others know what I found.
Only 10 states permanently disenfranchise all felons...
I just thought I'd clarify for everyone what "lots" means in this discussion.
I'm genuinely curious because I've never heard of this, so how does a petrol pump record your license plate?
You're making the assumption that Mom and Dad won't cave when their child throws a temper tantrum. These days, that assumption isn't an especially safe one.
Private aircraft have to submit flight plans so the FAA will know where they are at any given moment. The reason flying autos don't work is because automobiles are the least regulated form of transportation. Licensing requirements are minimal and you don't need to tell anyone where you're going. That is what people expect when they dream of flying cars, and there's just no way that'll work.