Dammit, man, your post just reminds me how nice the VMUs are when playing NFL2k on the Dreamcast. It works like you suggest: lets you select your play privately. But, it's much more convenient because it actually is a part of the regular controller. (On the GC, I'd think you'd either have to switch between the GC controller and the GBA, or you'd have to use the more limited GBA to play all the time...) And, of course, it costs a lot less for a VMU.
I wouldn't look for too many games for the GC/GBA hookup, (at least from anyone other than Nintendo) since if a developer makes a game that works really well when a GBA is used, he'd risk losing the business of GC-owners that don't have a GBA.
If you've got 5 people there, it's too bad that 2 of your 3 GameCube games are single player. And, that WaveRacer game seems ok to me so far, but nothing to get overly excited about.
If you want to have a better impression of the GameCube games out there, you should have picked up Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 (up to 2 players) and (I kid you not) Super Monkey Ball (up to 4.) I've got five games for the GameCube and these two are the ones I've played the most by far.
Super Monkey Ball is just nuts. Learn the patience to balance a monkey in a hamster ball on a tiny little platform. The party games are the biggest attraction. Ever since The Wizard of Oz, people have dreamed of flying monkeys, and with the "monkey target" party game, you can finally realize it like never before. I'm not kidding, me and my brother couldn't get enough of trying to glide our monkeys onto those targets.
I do sympathize though, I loved DOA2, and I'm sure DOA3 is a hoot.
I don't have a link or any firm citation, but since I haven't seen any notes talking about it already, I thought I'd mention that I've heard that the diagnostic beds in the Enterprise's sick bay have served as inspiration for real world devices.
I've been wondering... wouldn't it be possible to set something up where you accumulate a database of email addresses from spam, and then have a program automatically send email to those addresses that appear to be from someone interested in their service/cash prize/whatever, and have the email forged so that it looks like it's coming from one of the addresses of the other spammers?
So, for example, spammer A gets a message that's appears to be from spammer B's email address. Spammer A now wastes time trying to sell crap to spammer B, while B has his email box filled up with email from spammer A. The end effect would be that both of them waste their time dealing with each other, and since they waste more time, it makes spam less valuable a tool.
And, uhm, if anyone from the federal gov't asks, this was a joke, too.
I disagree. The early Tick comics (back when they came out months and months apart) were, IMO, very good. This last year I picked up the Tick Xmas special though, and was sorely disappointed. These Tick comics used to be good I tell you! Where do you think a lot of the gags in the cartoon came from? It looks to me like Edlund isn't doing the comic anymore (so that they can actually get them out in a timely manner) and it's suffered for it.
I was using Qwest as my DSL provider and my ISP. Well...they were just doing that little deal where their ISP customers were being switched over to MSN. So I wasn't that crazy about that. I considered finding a different ISP and keeping the DSL, but I didn't for two reasons.
1. Thought it would be good to spend a bit more time offline.
2. Qwest's service sucked.
To give you an example of 2, here's how it went when I called Qwest to cancel my service.
First person: Wants to go over all my personal info to make sure it's up to date. We do so. He says he'll transfer me to the folks who can cancel my DSL.
Second person: I get a paragraph of Spanish before I can make it clear that speaking in English works much better for me... Turns out the first guy transferred me to the wrong person. This is the Spanish Repair line. I get transferred.
Third person: Says she cancelled my ISP service, but not my DSL service. Says she'll transfer me to appropriate dept, but she disconnects me instead.
Fourth person: I call back. I can barely understand this person through her Ebonics. She transfers me without telling me that's what she's doing.
Fifth person: He tells me that it doesn't make sense that the third person cancelled my ISP service. He's supposed to do that. He finally (I think) takes care of everything.
The thing is, this wasn't too bad considering how some of my other calls have gone. Anyway, now I'm on a dirt cheap intro sale for dial-up with a company that's actually local. As opposed to doing anything with my Qwest account, I actually did all the sign-up stuff online.
From my experience, if you have a problem with a product initially, the best policy is to not try to work with the company to get your product in working order. Your best policy is to be a jackass, and immediately tell them that it's completely unacceptable and you won't wait for your unit to be repaired, and demand a refund ASAP.
A couple years back I ordered a Compaq that you could customize online. I think I've repressed everything that went wrong with it... the video card immediately crapped out and the machine had to be sent in to the shop for a couple weeks, then it became apparent that they never did have all the correct drivers installed, some other problems ensued, they sent out a repairperson a couple different times. In total I spent many many hours on the phone with tech support, and it never did work right. Finally after a couple months time I told them I was going to return it. They didn't want to take it back. After I made it clear that the machine had never worked in the first place and that I'd been running through all these hoops with their tech support trying to make it work they relented and took it back. And now, of course, even if they made the best machines in the world, I'd find it very hard to ever buy a Compaq again.
Anyway, my point is, don't let them try to make it right. The clock is ticking once you get the product. Take your product back just as soon as you suspect something is wrong. I would be shocked if you could get a refund after two years.
Hey, it's not only old video games that run into the ol' "this hasn't been sold by anyone for years, yet it's still illegal to distribute it yourself" problem. I frequent a (pencil, paper and dice) RPG board where someone was carrying on and threatening to call the FBI because some folks were distributing Star Frontiers in PDF form. Star Frontiers is an old RPG that hasn't been in print for over a decade, and the company that owns the rights to it is currently selling the Star Wars RPG, so it's unlikely they're going to decide to revive Star Frontiers anytime soon.
Also, there's a certain cult classic series of sci-fi novels that I wanted to buy (I've forgotten the name now) but since they're long out of print, my only option is to buy them from some collectors for a few hundred dollars.
It's ridiculous. This isn't what copyrights were intended for. Protecting someone's right to make money off their own creative property is one thing. Locking something away because the owner is a corporation that has other intellectual property it wants to focus on exploiting... that's just wrong.
We can say "this happened, and we're trying really hard to understand how, but some of this is just going to be over our heads". That isn't willing ignorance, that's humility.
Well, if you're honestly trying to understand evidence (scientific evidence, that is) that's being presented to you, that's one thing, but I know a lot of people that are willingly ignorant.
Anyway, it's well and good to say at times "I don't understand this." It's quite another to start bringing "God" into the debate because "there's no other possible explanation."
What I really don't get is why so many religious folks can't see that their "holy scripture" has no more solid evidence for it being The Truth than the tales of Zeus and Thor that they just naturally assume are just silly old stories. If it's so easy to pass off Zeus turning into a bull as just a story, why is it so hard to accept Jesus walking on water as just a story? Could it be the social context of the believer....? Hmmmm?
So, would it be cause for a retrial if they found out the members of the jury were looking up pr0n during the trial? Or would that be considered standard practice?
So, anyone been working on using computers to create new lifeforms?
Linus, at the end of the interview:
The next "revolution" is going to be the same thing - not about the technology itself being revolutionary, but a shift in how you look at it and how you use it.
What's that shift going to be? Who knows. Maybe it will have nothing directly to do with computers at all, just using computers to create new life-forms or whatever..
No, the terrorists aren't the ones that have attacked our freedom. Its our elected officials that are doing that.
The terrorists are "only" guilty of mass murder and destruction. The politicians are the ones guilty of working to tear down what makes America a great country.
I'm betting we aren't going to see any international coalitions hunting down John Ashcroft when he topples the fourth amendment.
Nobody in his right mind would support a blank check for government authorities.
Yet isn't that what Congress did with its resolution granting Bush the right to retaliate against our attackers? They passed that resolution without knowing who there is to take action against, if we had solid evidence against them, and how we might take action.
Or, what about Ashcroft announcing those new policies about how long the INS could hold someone without accusing them of a crime? Before, the INS could only hold someone for 24 hours. Now they can hold them for 48 hours, UNLESS they decide it's an "emergency" or some such language. Then they can hold people -- who haven't been officially accused of anything -- as long as they want to.
You say nobody in his right mind would give the government a blank check to do whatever they want to. Maybe you're not familiar with our federal government...
Ok, so I just finally ordered my PSX version of Dance Dance Revolution (and two dance pads) to play on my PS2. But NOW you're telling me I can play Dance Dance Revolution on Linux? I guess I should've waited...
I received the call (and the letter, for that matter) from Qwest about the Cisco/Code Red issues. I had already heard about it, but, I had a bit of a related DSL problem I had to ask them about. Oh no, the caller informed me, he couldn't help me with that. He gave me a phone number to call.
Ok, says I, I'll just call them up right now and get this taken care of. I call, go through the system... and am given another phone number to call.
Well....this isn't so convenient, says I, but I'll give 'er a shot. I called up this second phone number and I'm told that all lines are busy now. They'll take my call as soon as they can. My estimated wait is... 60 minutes.
Ok, I wasn't that desperate. So, I went to their website to request help through their online customer service form. They usually get back to people quite promptly, I'm informed.
Five days later... I get an email response saying that I'm going to have to call them to take care of this issue. Yeah...uhm...I guess I'll wait until I have a good hour or more free to sit on the phone... Right now, like you, I use Qwest for DSL and ISP service. When the change goes through to force people to MSN, I think I'm going to cancel my service.
Good point. Except, of course, that the whole point of bond is that the government holding so much of your money will prevent you from fleeing. Dimitry supposedly wouldn't want his employer to lose that much cash... But, if I was in Dimitry's shoes, I wouldn't be too sad to see Adobe forfeit $50k.
Gah. A subject near and dear to my heart. I've heard good things about the Lightboy (which apparently you have to import.) I'm going to get one in a few days and I'll see what it's like then. Anyone know if this works well?
I bought an el cheapo Wormlight Plus, and it helps some, but the GBA experience still rather sucks with it, IMO. To get it where it actually looks good you do need a bright overhead light. It might as well require you to plug it into a wall. You can't really leave your Well-Lit Gaming Area(TM) with it anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
You guys need to make your site work without Javascript. Sheesh. How can anyone take you seriously?
Seems pretty professional to me. Some of the finest porn sites do that.
The wrong side of the wrong? You mean, like, the sidewalk?
Dammit, man, your post just reminds me how nice the VMUs are when playing NFL2k on the Dreamcast. It works like you suggest: lets you select your play privately. But, it's much more convenient because it actually is a part of the regular controller. (On the GC, I'd think you'd either have to switch between the GC controller and the GBA, or you'd have to use the more limited GBA to play all the time...) And, of course, it costs a lot less for a VMU.
I wouldn't look for too many games for the GC/GBA hookup, (at least from anyone other than Nintendo) since if a developer makes a game that works really well when a GBA is used, he'd risk losing the business of GC-owners that don't have a GBA.
If you've got 5 people there, it's too bad that 2 of your 3 GameCube games are single player. And, that WaveRacer game seems ok to me so far, but nothing to get overly excited about.
If you want to have a better impression of the GameCube games out there, you should have picked up Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 (up to 2 players) and (I kid you not) Super Monkey Ball (up to 4.) I've got five games for the GameCube and these two are the ones I've played the most by far.
Super Monkey Ball is just nuts. Learn the patience to balance a monkey in a hamster ball on a tiny little platform. The party games are the biggest attraction. Ever since The Wizard of Oz, people have dreamed of flying monkeys, and with the "monkey target" party game, you can finally realize it like never before. I'm not kidding, me and my brother couldn't get enough of trying to glide our monkeys onto those targets.
I do sympathize though, I loved DOA2, and I'm sure DOA3 is a hoot.
I don't have a link or any firm citation, but since I haven't seen any notes talking about it already, I thought I'd mention that I've heard that the diagnostic beds in the Enterprise's sick bay have served as inspiration for real world devices.
I've been wondering... wouldn't it be possible to set something up where you accumulate a database of email addresses from spam, and then have a program automatically send email to those addresses that appear to be from someone interested in their service/cash prize/whatever, and have the email forged so that it looks like it's coming from one of the addresses of the other spammers?
So, for example, spammer A gets a message that's appears to be from spammer B's email address. Spammer A now wastes time trying to sell crap to spammer B, while B has his email box filled up with email from spammer A. The end effect would be that both of them waste their time dealing with each other, and since they waste more time, it makes spam less valuable a tool.
And, uhm, if anyone from the federal gov't asks, this was a joke, too.
The way UPS and FedEx employees drive those trucks around here, it seems like they hardly value their lives, let alone our packages.
I disagree. The early Tick comics (back when they came out months and months apart) were, IMO, very good. This last year I picked up the Tick Xmas special though, and was sorely disappointed. These Tick comics used to be good I tell you! Where do you think a lot of the gags in the cartoon came from? It looks to me like Edlund isn't doing the comic anymore (so that they can actually get them out in a timely manner) and it's suffered for it.
I was using Qwest as my DSL provider and my ISP. Well...they were just doing that little deal where their ISP customers were being switched over to MSN. So I wasn't that crazy about that. I considered finding a different ISP and keeping the DSL, but I didn't for two reasons.
1. Thought it would be good to spend a bit more time offline.
2. Qwest's service sucked.
To give you an example of 2, here's how it went when I called Qwest to cancel my service.
First person: Wants to go over all my personal info to make sure it's up to date. We do so. He says he'll transfer me to the folks who can cancel my DSL.
Second person: I get a paragraph of Spanish before I can make it clear that speaking in English works much better for me... Turns out the first guy transferred me to the wrong person. This is the Spanish Repair line. I get transferred.
Third person: Says she cancelled my ISP service, but not my DSL service. Says she'll transfer me to appropriate dept, but she disconnects me instead.
Fourth person: I call back. I can barely understand this person through her Ebonics. She transfers me without telling me that's what she's doing.
Fifth person: He tells me that it doesn't make sense that the third person cancelled my ISP service. He's supposed to do that. He finally (I think) takes care of everything.
The thing is, this wasn't too bad considering how some of my other calls have gone. Anyway, now I'm on a dirt cheap intro sale for dial-up with a company that's actually local. As opposed to doing anything with my Qwest account, I actually did all the sign-up stuff online.
From my experience, if you have a problem with a product initially, the best policy is to not try to work with the company to get your product in working order. Your best policy is to be a jackass, and immediately tell them that it's completely unacceptable and you won't wait for your unit to be repaired, and demand a refund ASAP.
A couple years back I ordered a Compaq that you could customize online. I think I've repressed everything that went wrong with it... the video card immediately crapped out and the machine had to be sent in to the shop for a couple weeks, then it became apparent that they never did have all the correct drivers installed, some other problems ensued, they sent out a repairperson a couple different times. In total I spent many many hours on the phone with tech support, and it never did work right. Finally after a couple months time I told them I was going to return it. They didn't want to take it back. After I made it clear that the machine had never worked in the first place and that I'd been running through all these hoops with their tech support trying to make it work they relented and took it back. And now, of course, even if they made the best machines in the world, I'd find it very hard to ever buy a Compaq again.
Anyway, my point is, don't let them try to make it right. The clock is ticking once you get the product. Take your product back just as soon as you suspect something is wrong. I would be shocked if you could get a refund after two years.
Hey, it's not only old video games that run into the ol' "this hasn't been sold by anyone for years, yet it's still illegal to distribute it yourself" problem. I frequent a (pencil, paper and dice) RPG board where someone was carrying on and threatening to call the FBI because some folks were distributing Star Frontiers in PDF form. Star Frontiers is an old RPG that hasn't been in print for over a decade, and the company that owns the rights to it is currently selling the Star Wars RPG, so it's unlikely they're going to decide to revive Star Frontiers anytime soon.
... that's just wrong.
Also, there's a certain cult classic series of sci-fi novels that I wanted to buy (I've forgotten the name now) but since they're long out of print, my only option is to buy them from some collectors for a few hundred dollars.
It's ridiculous. This isn't what copyrights were intended for. Protecting someone's right to make money off their own creative property is one thing. Locking something away because the owner is a corporation that has other intellectual property it wants to focus on exploiting
as usual, this is very USA-centric
Yes, it is. That's why it's posted under the U.S. topic. Our Congress isn't passing laws for the rest of the world. Yet.
We can say "this happened, and we're trying really hard to understand how, but some of this is just going to be over our heads". That isn't willing ignorance, that's humility.
Well, if you're honestly trying to understand evidence (scientific evidence, that is) that's being presented to you, that's one thing, but I know a lot of people that are willingly ignorant.
Anyway, it's well and good to say at times "I don't understand this." It's quite another to start bringing "God" into the debate because "there's no other possible explanation."
What I really don't get is why so many religious folks can't see that their "holy scripture" has no more solid evidence for it being The Truth than the tales of Zeus and Thor that they just naturally assume are just silly old stories. If it's so easy to pass off Zeus turning into a bull as just a story, why is it so hard to accept Jesus walking on water as just a story? Could it be the social context of the believer....? Hmmmm?
A cyber court should exist only online...
So, would it be cause for a retrial if they found out the members of the jury were looking up pr0n during the trial? Or would that be considered standard practice?
So, anyone been working on using computers to create new lifeforms?
Linus, at the end of the interview:
The next "revolution" is going to be the same thing - not about the technology itself being revolutionary, but a shift in how you look at it and how you use it.
What's that shift going to be? Who knows. Maybe it will have nothing directly to do with computers at all, just using computers to create new life-forms or whatever..
No, the terrorists aren't the ones that have attacked our freedom. Its our elected officials that are doing that.
The terrorists are "only" guilty of mass murder and destruction. The politicians are the ones guilty of working to tear down what makes America a great country.
I'm betting we aren't going to see any international coalitions hunting down John Ashcroft when he topples the fourth amendment.
Nobody in his right mind would support a blank check for government authorities.
Yet isn't that what Congress did with its resolution granting Bush the right to retaliate against our attackers? They passed that resolution without knowing who there is to take action against, if we had solid evidence against them, and how we might take action.
Or, what about Ashcroft announcing those new policies about how long the INS could hold someone without accusing them of a crime? Before, the INS could only hold someone for 24 hours. Now they can hold them for 48 hours, UNLESS they decide it's an "emergency" or some such language. Then they can hold people -- who haven't been officially accused of anything -- as long as they want to.
You say nobody in his right mind would give the government a blank check to do whatever they want to. Maybe you're not familiar with our federal government...
You remind me of our clients. "Hey, you know, couldn't you just completely change the way this product works?"
Remember: IF YOU CHANGE YOUR LIFE, YOU'RE LETTING THEM WIN!!! KEEP SLASHDOT AS IT IS!
Oh...I'm sorry. I've been watching too much tv, too. I don't know what came over me just then.
So what about when they get back to Earth?
You mean they're supposed to come back?
Have you seen the stuff they eat from those pouches?
Ok, so I just finally ordered my PSX version of Dance Dance Revolution (and two dance pads) to play on my PS2. But NOW you're telling me I can play Dance Dance Revolution on Linux? I guess I should've waited...
...was a bit different than yours.
... and am given another phone number to call.
... I get an email response saying that I'm going to have to call them to take care of this issue. Yeah...uhm...I guess I'll wait until I have a good hour or more free to sit on the phone... Right now, like you, I use Qwest for DSL and ISP service. When the change goes through to force people to MSN, I think I'm going to cancel my service.
I received the call (and the letter, for that matter) from Qwest about the Cisco/Code Red issues. I had already heard about it, but, I had a bit of a related DSL problem I had to ask them about. Oh no, the caller informed me, he couldn't help me with that. He gave me a phone number to call.
Ok, says I, I'll just call them up right now and get this taken care of. I call, go through the system
Well....this isn't so convenient, says I, but I'll give 'er a shot. I called up this second phone number and I'm told that all lines are busy now. They'll take my call as soon as they can. My estimated wait is... 60 minutes.
Ok, I wasn't that desperate. So, I went to their website to request help through their online customer service form. They usually get back to people quite promptly, I'm informed.
Five days later
Good point. Except, of course, that the whole point of bond is that the government holding so much of your money will prevent you from fleeing. Dimitry supposedly wouldn't want his employer to lose that much cash... But, if I was in Dimitry's shoes, I wouldn't be too sad to see Adobe forfeit $50k.
Oh, that's right...
"And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."
-Revelations 13:17
Gah. A subject near and dear to my heart. I've heard good things about the Lightboy (which apparently you have to import.) I'm going to get one in a few days and I'll see what it's like then. Anyone know if this works well?
I bought an el cheapo Wormlight Plus, and it helps some, but the GBA experience still rather sucks with it, IMO. To get it where it actually looks good you do need a bright overhead light. It might as well require you to plug it into a wall. You can't really leave your Well-Lit Gaming Area(TM) with it anyway.