Anyway that really wasn't your point here. If people can't patent things (like AIDS medication) they will not invent it because they will never recoup their R&D costs if it is to be just given away or "legally pirated". Music and drugs are entirely different...
Any two bit idiot can't play music and the cost of creating and producing it is nowhere near to the costs of researing and producing a drug. For every drug that comes to market there are about 10 that do not. The drug companies have to make back their money somehow. Now, that said, sure they may be gouging us in some respects, but still things can not, will not and should not be free. History has proved this economic model fallacious.
Happened to my girlfriend and several other employees a at particular Starbucks too. I wouldn't know if this is a widespread problem in that company, it very well is though because making these types of changes is ridiculously simple. For the record the same person still manages the place, although my girlfriend has not worked there for almost a year.... So yes, this despicable practice is most likely still occuring.
The only times I've had to clock in I did so on an time clock with a tangible time card. Having a hard copy made it pretty much impossible to defraud an even partially astute employee of their time. I always counted my hours the last time I punched my card in a pay period. I mean, people make mistakes, right, and my time is valuable.
Having all this information on a computer means that only a very astute employee will even notice they are being defrauded. Even a few mintues a day adds up over the course of a few months.
My girlfriend, actually right before she quit could have nailed her manager to the wall because she had print outs of a screen before and after the manager altered it. Actually she had proof of several instances of this happening. Unfortunately it just didn't seem like it was worth the trouble to bust the person.
Some people have said television has reached its peak as well.... These arguments (that television is dead, video games are dead, whatever) must be coming from some very unimaginative people. There will always be new stuff. There will be another game that shakes things up as much as GTA III did. There will be another Mario 64, another Gran Turismo, etc... Some one will come up with this stuff. To the naysayers out there these things are dead until one of the truly creative amoungst us comes out with something that knocks everyone off their feet.
This happens all the time in games, movies and TV. Southpark (which I missed this week because of that EchoStar/Viacom crap) still never ceases to have me rolling on the floor lauging, The Passion of the Christ piqued a whole bunch of interest, and like I said above GTA III/Vice City also caused quite a racus. Still even after all of this, and moreover repeated instances of it, the naysayers still say these things are dying. Guess what they'll always be saying that. Learn to ignore them. If you are one of truly creative in a particular field you should not only be able to see that they are wrong, but be able to easily prove them wrong.
Things may be displaced by something better. I mean who watches silent movies or rides a horse to work anymore. Our current technolgies won't just die of atrophy. Have faith in human creativity.
But I haven't convinced him yet on how Mozilla will save him many hours of headaches each week.
Have you mentioned tabbed browsing or popup blocking to him? Those two features alone are worth the switch.
last time it was buy any printer brand but Epson. hm.
That's mine this time.:) I'll make sure to avoid the HPs too, although you can't beat their laser printers if you're willing to lay down a couple thousand. The ones at work never fuzz up.
I had a 867MhZ G4. I say had, because my girlfriend co-opted it and basically forced me to get a second computer, which luckily my job paid for.
She admits to being computer illierate, but she has learned an amazing amount and come to think of it hasn't asked me how to use the computer in months now. She uses safari, the built-in mail program, MS Word, (strangely most of her questions and frustrations relate to this single program), and iTunes (for playing music only).
The short story, buy an iMac for your girlfriend.:) Of course then you'll never be able to use it, but at least you'll have your sanity. No more "can you come here" or "wtf is wrong with this thing". You know...
Abosoulutely 3D graphics are used for 3D Modeling. In fact scientific modeling drove the 3D graphics business for years and in many ways still does. My company is actually writing such a beast right now, and it runs on Linux and Windows.
All I can say is this driver is a god send, because now my laptop, which is an Inspiron 8600 with a 128MB ATI Radeon, now is fully functional. I've just got it running and am using it right now. That is, I actually used the driver before writing this post. (Does that make this post more credible?:)
Anyway, it's quite nice. I'm running at 1600x1050 resolution and my 3D graphics capability is needless to say far superior to what I was getting with the Vesa driver...
Yippy. Yay for ATI. Closed source or not my computer works better for it and I can now do my job better, and that matters a lot.
I believe you're right. It is not terrorism, but not exactly a petty offense either. It's worth a couple thousand dollars and a few months in jail at least. One should not interfere with the 911 system. Consider the penalties for obstructing the US Postal Service...
so the mmporg police force will accomplish nothing as to the griefer it means nothing. permanent ban for life is the only option if a company doesnt want to loose players that just want to have fun
That's not true. If the game flags thiefs somehow then the police force could jail them, even if they were offline. Their equipment could be confiscated and yeah they player would still be rotten, but their high level character that was oppressing everyone would be defunct and they would have to start over.... not such a great prospect I suppose for someone who invested a lot of time into a character. Of course sentence times could vary from a day or two to months to life.
You're right, but the players can easily get together to stop the rotten ones from pursing their ends.
To borrow from Locke, in a State of Nature everyone has equal liberty and there is a great deal of insecurity. You enter into socities to escape the evils of the State of Nature. This is basic political theory, but is equally applicable to a virtual world. Simply start a government. When people get out of hand you call out the posse and destroy them and take everything they have, possibly putting them in jail or enslaving them as well.
Now, of course, game engines may have to get a little more sophisticated to pull this off, but really I think it would make the games much more exciting. I can not imagine doing this in everquest quite yet. The code is not sophisticated enough...
We have virtual worlds. The next step is virtual government I suppose.:)
Everquest, IMHO, beats the hell out of any text adventure I ever played, ever!
It also is extremely popular and requires a good deal time, i.e. investment, to play and play well.
Of course, no game is a substitute for reading or writing something. I do not ever begin to believe the written word is dying. Even if 90% of what is published is garbage, there is a ton of very good stuff that is decades, nay even centuries old. Pick up some of those...
If it's valued at $20 million then the prize better include $10 million cash to pay the taxes on it, or have some kind of special tax exempt feature about it. Otherwise, no one like any of us will be going.
Actually, are they cash flow positive? I kind of thought they were not. Anyway I'm one of the people that support them through donations. Mandrake is, after all the best Linux distitution around.;)
Yeah man. I totally agree. The wires are such a pain in the ass. I suppose it would be hard to do away with power cords, but for transmission of signals it is of course quite possible.
I too like my plethora of boxes. I wouldn't own an XBox, regardless of what games it has.:)
As for your super portable device, yeah the smaller the better, and while we're at it I'd like the input device to be some form of thought recognition. Until we're there input devices may dictate some minimum size. The screen (unless we can wire them into our brains too) would also be a limiting factor on size. Cybernetics anyone?:)
Let the portable super wireless device interface seamlessly with my entire stack of boxes at home too!
I've been waiting for a game system like the game boy advance, wifi enabled, cell phone, PDA, web browser, music player for many years now. Of course it has to easily fit in my front pocket....
On the home side I still think you need a good stero, optical in with bose like speakers. Another machine that could decode the satalite signal, have DVR capabilities, play CDs/DVSs, link up to my computer (WebDAV?) to access my (entirely legal) mp3 collection and videos would be nice. That machine must also be able to turn my TV into a web browser thingy and stream media off the net. It should also be made by Nintendo or Sony and function as a game console as well, but that might be asking too much. Other than that all you need is a TV or a projector. (maybe a VCR for old-time sake:).
The nice thing about having many specialized components though is that it is cheaper to ugrade any one of them. The uber-device would quickly go out of date and would probably be very expensive.
I suspect my current DVD player (my Play Station II) will last until PS III comes out, but when I upgrade it my satalitte receiver/DVR will continue to work regardless.
It would be nice however if all of these specialized components could interface with each other in meaningful ways, maybe via bluetooth.
Second, support GOA instead of NRA. The NRA's support of Constitutional government is sadly lacking. It seems they have a greater desire to perpetuate their organization than to uphold the 2nd Amendment.
Slashdot Mirror
What's wrong with free markets?
Anyway that really wasn't your point here. If people can't patent things (like AIDS medication) they will not invent it because they will never recoup their R&D costs if it is to be just given away or "legally pirated". Music and drugs are entirely different...
Any two bit idiot can't play music and the cost of creating and producing it is nowhere near to the costs of researing and producing a drug. For every drug that comes to market there are about 10 that do not. The drug companies have to make back their money somehow. Now, that said, sure they may be gouging us in some respects, but still things can not, will not and should not be free. History has proved this economic model fallacious.
-Craig.
Happened to my girlfriend and several other employees a at particular Starbucks too. I wouldn't know if this is a widespread problem in that company, it very well is though because making these types of changes is ridiculously simple. For the record the same person still manages the place, although my girlfriend has not worked there for almost a year.... So yes, this despicable practice is most likely still occuring.
The only times I've had to clock in I did so on an time clock with a tangible time card. Having a hard copy made it pretty much impossible to defraud an even partially astute employee of their time. I always counted my hours the last time I punched my card in a pay period. I mean, people make mistakes, right, and my time is valuable.
Having all this information on a computer means that only a very astute employee will even notice they are being defrauded. Even a few mintues a day adds up over the course of a few months.
My girlfriend, actually right before she quit could have nailed her manager to the wall because she had print outs of a screen before and after the manager altered it. Actually she had proof of several instances of this happening. Unfortunately it just didn't seem like it was worth the trouble to bust the person.
Some people have said television has reached its peak as well.... These arguments (that television is dead, video games are dead, whatever) must be coming from some very unimaginative people. There will always be new stuff. There will be another game that shakes things up as much as GTA III did. There will be another Mario 64, another Gran Turismo, etc... Some one will come up with this stuff. To the naysayers out there these things are dead until one of the truly creative amoungst us comes out with something that knocks everyone off their feet.
This happens all the time in games, movies and TV. Southpark (which I missed this week because of that EchoStar/Viacom crap) still never ceases to have me rolling on the floor lauging, The Passion of the Christ piqued a whole bunch of interest, and like I said above GTA III/Vice City also caused quite a racus. Still even after all of this, and moreover repeated instances of it, the naysayers still say these things are dying. Guess what they'll always be saying that. Learn to ignore them. If you are one of truly creative in a particular field you should not only be able to see that they are wrong, but be able to easily prove them wrong.
Things may be displaced by something better. I mean who watches silent movies or rides a horse to work anymore. Our current technolgies won't just die of atrophy. Have faith in human creativity.
-Craig.
The right to self-preservation does not exist in Austrailia or Britan anymore.... Very sad. Very sad indeed. An affront to the Law of Nature.
In fact I understand that is a crime in Britian to even defend yourself or someone else against an aggressor. Very Sad. Very sad indeed.
But I haven't convinced him yet on how Mozilla will save him many hours of headaches each week.
:) I'll make sure to avoid the HPs too, although you can't beat their laser printers if you're willing to lay down a couple thousand. The ones at work never fuzz up.
Have you mentioned tabbed browsing or popup blocking to him? Those two features alone are worth the switch.
last time it was buy any printer brand but Epson. hm.
That's mine this time.
-Craig.
I had a 867MhZ G4. I say had, because my girlfriend co-opted it and basically forced me to get a second computer, which luckily my job paid for.
:) Of course then you'll never be able to use it, but at least you'll have your sanity. No more "can you come here" or "wtf is wrong with this thing". You know...
She admits to being computer illierate, but she has learned an amazing amount and come to think of it hasn't asked me how to use the computer in months now. She uses safari, the built-in mail program, MS Word, (strangely most of her questions and frustrations relate to this single program), and iTunes (for playing music only).
The short story, buy an iMac for your girlfriend.
-Craig.
Abosoulutely 3D graphics are used for 3D Modeling. In fact scientific modeling drove the 3D graphics business for years and in many ways still does. My company is actually writing such a beast right now, and it runs on Linux and Windows.
:)
All I can say is this driver is a god send, because now my laptop, which is an Inspiron 8600 with a 128MB ATI Radeon, now is fully functional. I've just got it running and am using it right now. That is, I actually used the driver before writing this post. (Does that make this post more credible?
Anyway, it's quite nice. I'm running at 1600x1050 resolution and my 3D graphics capability is needless to say far superior to what I was getting with the Vesa driver...
Yippy. Yay for ATI. Closed source or not my computer works better for it and I can now do my job better, and that matters a lot.
-Craig.
I believe you're right. It is not terrorism, but not exactly a petty offense either. It's worth a couple thousand dollars and a few months in jail at least. One should not interfere with the 911 system. Consider the penalties for obstructing the US Postal Service...
-Craig.
You should read and write independent of playing games. That's what I meant. You totally took me out of context! :)
-Craig.
so the mmporg police force will accomplish nothing as to the griefer it means nothing. permanent ban for life is the only option if a company doesnt want to loose players that just want to have fun
That's not true. If the game flags thiefs somehow then the police force could jail them, even if they were offline. Their equipment could be confiscated and yeah they player would still be rotten, but their high level character that was oppressing everyone would be defunct and they would have to start over.... not such a great prospect I suppose for someone who invested a lot of time into a character. Of course sentence times could vary from a day or two to months to life.
-Craig.
You're right, but the players can easily get together to stop the rotten ones from pursing their ends.
:)
To borrow from Locke, in a State of Nature everyone has equal liberty and there is a great deal of insecurity. You enter into socities to escape the evils of the State of Nature. This is basic political theory, but is equally applicable to a virtual world. Simply start a government. When people get out of hand you call out the posse and destroy them and take everything they have, possibly putting them in jail or enslaving them as well.
Now, of course, game engines may have to get a little more sophisticated to pull this off, but really I think it would make the games much more exciting. I can not imagine doing this in everquest quite yet. The code is not sophisticated enough...
We have virtual worlds. The next step is virtual government I suppose.
-Craig.
Everquest, IMHO, beats the hell out of any text adventure I ever played, ever!
It also is extremely popular and requires a good deal time, i.e. investment, to play and play well.
Of course, no game is a substitute for reading or writing something. I do not ever begin to believe the written word is dying. Even if 90% of what is published is garbage, there is a ton of very good stuff that is decades, nay even centuries old. Pick up some of those...
-Craig.
...in the Senate.
Local talk radio was a huge factor in the defeat. Yippy for us.
Just another example of greed trumping even the pretense of virtue much less the actual existance of it.
Venal little bastard.
If it's valued at $20 million then the prize better include $10 million cash to pay the taxes on it, or have some kind of special tax exempt feature about it. Otherwise, no one like any of us will be going.
Actually, are they cash flow positive? I kind of thought they were not. Anyway I'm one of the people that support them through donations. Mandrake is, after all the best Linux distitution around. ;)
Yeah man. I totally agree. The wires are such a pain in the ass. I suppose it would be hard to do away with power cords, but for transmission of signals it is of course quite possible.
:)
:)
I too like my plethora of boxes. I wouldn't own an XBox, regardless of what games it has.
As for your super portable device, yeah the smaller the better, and while we're at it I'd like the input device to be some form of thought recognition. Until we're there input devices may dictate some minimum size. The screen (unless we can wire them into our brains too) would also be a limiting factor on size. Cybernetics anyone?
Let the portable super wireless device interface seamlessly with my entire stack of boxes at home too!
-Craig.
No way.
:).
I've been waiting for a game system like the game boy advance, wifi enabled, cell phone, PDA, web browser, music player for many years now. Of course it has to easily fit in my front pocket....
On the home side I still think you need a good stero, optical in with bose like speakers. Another machine that could decode the satalite signal, have DVR capabilities, play CDs/DVSs, link up to my computer (WebDAV?) to access my (entirely legal) mp3 collection and videos would be nice. That machine must also be able to turn my TV into a web browser thingy and stream media off the net. It should also be made by Nintendo or Sony and function as a game console as well, but that might be asking too much. Other than that all you need is a TV or a projector. (maybe a VCR for old-time sake
The nice thing about having many specialized components though is that it is cheaper to ugrade any one of them. The uber-device would quickly go out of date and would probably be very expensive.
I suspect my current DVD player (my Play Station II) will last until PS III comes out, but when I upgrade it my satalitte receiver/DVR will continue to work regardless.
It would be nice however if all of these specialized components could interface with each other in meaningful ways, maybe via bluetooth.
-Craig.
Yeah, the 9th Circus is a bit of a joke. I'm skeptical of anything that comes from the court who rules the Pledge of Alliegance unconstitutional.
How could this drivel make it on to Slashdot?
Yes, then forget about the robots and colonize the moon or Mars.
Second, support GOA instead of NRA. The NRA's support of Constitutional government is sadly lacking. It seems they have a greater desire to perpetuate their organization than to uphold the 2nd Amendment.
:)
Thanks for the tip.
Concorcet's method is much better than Instant run off.
And her preference for editing is the same as mine... exactly.
-Craig.
Yeah, you have valid points there. I'll have to rethink my ideas about term limits.
-Craig.
And performance is acceptable I assume?