FedEx at least (and I would imagine other shipping services) have "Loss Prevention" departments to prevent such a thing. I have a friend that worked at FedEx and was "promoted" to this department - he spent his days locked in a secure room, watching monitors and video tapes of shipments to look for specific packages that were reported missing. They were paranoid enough about it he had a partner in there to help him (Apparently it was a recurring issue). It's a good thing they were... the partner was the one doing the theft. If they hadn't doubled up the surveilance, the partner would have been able to cover his tracks.
I have found the reason a lot of people use email over phone, IM, or in-person meetings is that when email is sent, they have a (semi-)permanent record of that message, and it provokes a response back in the same manner, resulting in the same record. This "paper trail" then allows someone to go back and claim they discussed topics, brought up facts, alerted the appropriate people, and generally did everything they were supposed to do, and if a response did not happen... it's not their fault.
This is a double-edged sword. I work Help Desk - often, I request that a user send request by email so that A) we get all the details in writing, such as screen shots or error text, and B) they have a record that they sent the request. B is important because it prevents someone from saying "I reported this a week ago, why isn't it fixed?", but it also means that when they DO send it, I need to respond and follow up in a reasonable time frame, because it then becomes a part of Help Desk Metrics.
Some users despise email, because it consumes all their productivity handling it. Others live and die by it, unwilling to throw out even one-liners from 4 years ago for fear that a manager will ask them to review it at some point in the future. It is the latter that ratchet up the stress associated with email, because if you don't treat the system with the same importance they do, it throws their own system off-kilter (They no longer can rely on a timely response they can refer to in the future if needed), and it may be perceived as a lack of respect for them personally. It also means you need to carefully word and consider every email you send, because someone else will keep it for reference for possibly years from now.
"As for the lore justification, you can make up anything you want when you are alowed to say stuff like 'they didn't have this power but they stole it, so now they do'."
Yes, but that doesn't mean it's a good product. One of the things that makes a story, mythology, or saga so good is the consistency of it. Things don't happen "just because" - it ruins the credibility of it, and makes it less believable, and thus less enjoyable. Granted, large half-bovine humanoids and sexy purple-skinned elves don't exist in real life, but the consistency of their background in the Warcraft universe makes them more believable, than, say, Plan 9 from Outer Space.
The reaction players are having is that the foundation that has been built up, and is very cool and enjoyable, and is even the hallmark of Blizzard's excellence, has been yanked out from under the player base like the hall rug, leaving us going "WTF, mate?". They put enough detail into the game that the ruins of Loaderon in WoW are an exact model of the castle you see Arthas walk into in the WC3 cinematic sequence, and you even hear sound clips from his grisly deed there - it's very cool to see that and say, "Wow, I remember this from before, it's exactly the same... I feel like I'm seeing history!". All that attention to detail has just been crapped on, and is now worthless because the values they are based on have been proven unstable, and subject to change at Blizzard's whim.
I wouldn't have minded if the story was more plausible, but the current explanation they have given has gone too far, and stretched my willingness to suspend disbelief past the breaking point. It's like Lucas changing Star Wars. Yes, it's his story and he can change it if he wants to. The moment he does, however, the majority of his viewers feel he made a change for the worse, and his story loses credibility because it changed.
RTFA. The Blood Elves captured a being of the Light and bent its energies to their will. They basically stole the abilities of a Paladin from its source. Both Thrall and Cairne objected, but conceded they were strategically useful.
That being said, I dislike this, a lot. On a playability level, I agree it's a cop-out on the part of Blizzard, removing any uniqueness from the game. On the lore side, it leaves a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach - how does one corrupt the ultimate source of goodness? I'd rather see a Forsaken earn the Paladin class through devotion and true faith being wielded against the Scourge - to me, that is much more plausible than bending the Light to unwilling ends. I have no issue with Alliance Shamans - after all, the Elements encompass all, why shouldn't they?
I am reading / posting this from the break room of a courthouse where I am currently on Jury Duty.
I cannot agree with this more. Despite having my life routine shooken up radically by my service to the legal system, I support it 100% percent. The primary thought that crossed my mind during the jury selection process was "If I was in the Defendant's seat, would I want 12 people (plus alternates) that didn't give a damn, couldn't think clearly enough to understand my case, or were miffed that they were 'stuck' in the box and could not get out, and therefore it was my fault they were inconvenienced?" HELL no.
Many associates told me to get out. I could have found a way to try and get out of serving. I chose not to, and was honest. I am glad I did. Because of this, the system is working as intended, rather than being left to those with less than "2 neurons to rub together".
If you get called for Jury Duty, consider that before you try to get out. What if it was YOU in the defendan't seat? Or bringing the case? You'd want the Jury to truly be your peers, not people whom you didn't feel actually cared or whom lacked the capability to serve as jurors.
There's a few comments about "Why not erase the drive yourself before you hand it in?" My thought is this - it is likely (although not specified in TFA) that they wanted the contents of the drive moved to the new one.
If they are keeping the same PC, but have a new drive in it, and the old drive is still funcitonal (and can be A) sold on the open market, and B) works enough to recover data), it is likely what they wanted was a larger or faster drive, and it is also likely they didn't want to reinstall all the software themselves (or else they would have done it themselves to begin with - the software can be more tedious than the physical install).
So you don't erase it before you hand it in, because you still need the contents. AFTER the data has been moved to the new drive, and you get the PC back, sure... but who is likely to hook up an old HD and test it for data wipe when you're asking someone else to swap it out in the first place?
I currently play on Dalaran. Up until recently, we had the same problems everyone else did - lag, disconnects, servers down, etc.
I say recently, because shortly after the release of the 1.10 patch, the server was migrated to new hardware. After a day of hiccups, it started running smoothly... and has been ever since.
I am on one of the original realms, with a full population, that saw queues of 100+ on a regular basis. Now... no queues, no lag, no loot lag, no AH lag, no Mail lag, etc. Zones load pretty damn fast (as they should on my gaming PC), and I no longer have issues disconnecting in instances.
The CAN fix their issues. They HAVE done it for at least one server. I am guessing it's just a matter of time to get all the servers onto new hardware, and better maintenance to prevent issues from re-occurring.
There was an old soviet joke about having laws against everything so if the KGB wanted you they would simply selectively enforce any law they wanted to against you.
I have been told by a cop friend that modern US police are trained that if they want to pull someone over, they can at will, and then to look for a reason to do so as they approach the car. 99% of the time, they will find a legitimate breach of the law by the time they reach the driver: Dice form mirror, license plate frame, etc. - all minor crap that has no real impact, but can be used as a legal reason to pull someone over and talk to them. Legally, the cop's ass is covered because they have a reason to pull you over if asked, even if they didn't see it when they pulled you over - they just won't admit that part.
...is to determine WHY the IT Team is having issues. It may not be the rank-and-file techies that support you, or even the Sys Amdins that handle the network, but something else higher up in the food chain, or even external to IT (i.e. - budget) that is causing the issue.
It is far more useful to have an ally in any person or group, than to make an enemy of them.
We had an issue at a past job where we got a new manager who happened to work from a remote site. He laid down mandates that were ludicrous in nature, including to stop stocking extra hardware. Mouse broke? Put in a P.O. for a new one, get it approved, order it, and wait for it to come in. User can't work? Too bad, not enough money in the new budget to have all that extra stuff we don't actively use, and wasted storage space. The kicker is that he also blocked complaints about this pratice, from both within IT and from the users, from getting above his level. It took an end-run around him from frustrated users and IT staff to get a VP to notice. (Why did he do this? Our guess was to save an assload of cash, look good, then pass the problems on to his sucessor when he got promoted.)
Before you say "The IT Team is not serving our needs," make an effort to find out why there is an issue. Ask one of the techs what's up. I'm sure you would not want someone saying your entire department (including you) was performing unsatisfactorily due to reasons you have no control over.
The UK sounds more lax than the US in regards to medical record privacy - we're not even allowed to look at the stuff, w/o clearance. There was a good cartoon at a nurses station where a wife came to pick up her husband from the hospital - by the time she cleared security, identification, and all the paperwork acknowledging she was indeed his wife, he had gotten tired of waiting and took a cab home... The sad part is, it's pretty much accurate.
Something to consider that may not directly apply here, but will in related fields, is the legality of a non-authorized person having access to data, even though they administer a system. Specificaly, it is against HIPPA regulations for someone to look at medical records without permission or need for their job. For example, an IT guy would not be allowed to look at a medical record on someone's screen, if, say, they remoted in (or walked by, or had network access to a share).
This is a tough line. Someone other than the authorized personnel needs access to the files to be able to do the techie admin stuff. At the same time, they should not be looking stuff up, as it's illegal and an invasion of privacy. The whole thing of "Who's PC is it, ITs or the User's" adds another party, the person profiled in the data on that system. (Usually, it's the employer's PC, but that doesn't stop users, esp. ones with Dr. sized egos, from feeling & acting otherwise.)
I've worked in a hospital using Seagate / Funk Software Proxy. We had it set so that we could remote to a desktop, but the user had to grant permission to see the screen. Usually, this resulted in a decent situaton and an understanding - the user would clear all sensitive data from the screen before accepting, and if they got surley and decided not to accept, they got pushed to the bottom of the priority list (and they knew it). In return, the IT staff didn't abuse this ability, and for the most part would rather read slashdot than check out someone's PC.;-)
Dr Ray Stantz: You know, it just occurred to me that we really haven't had a successful test of this equipment.
Dr. Egon Spengler: I blame myself.
Dr. Peter Venkman: So do I.
Dr Ray Stantz: Well, no sense in worrying about it now.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Why worry? Each one of us is carrying an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back.
Re:And they don't even mention LARPing...
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You are absolutley correct, what you describe is good RP. What sets a full-costume & contact game apart from a tabletop RPG is that there is less of a need to suspend one's disbelief, in order to achieve the feeling of being truly In-Game. If my buddy Fred, who has been my GM for 10 years, describes or even voice acts a scene during a tabletop game, yes, it's possible for me to imagine it,and react to it as my charcter. But in a Live situation, the layer of imagining the scene has been (partially) removed, because that much more of it has been realized for you, and you don't need to fill it in with your imaginaiton. Having your GM describe the Orcs coming down the path, then asking you to roll your Stealth skill is one thing. Actually hearing footsteps and grunts, and diving into the bushes yourself adds much more to the experience. Taking the example of being surprised at a Live game, I can get deep enough In-Character that my reflex actions are different than they would be in real life (i.e. - Shield up & swing at it, rather than jumping backwards). I have never reached that level of Role Play in a tabletop (or MMO) environment.
One can enjoy a movie with bad special effects and acting, and a good plot. But it is more likely you will enjoy the same plot much more (and be more immersed in the movie) if the acting and effects are on a higher level. You are less distracted by the things that bring out the fact that it's not real.
And they don't even mention LARPing...
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· Score: 5, Interesting
I will start off by saying I'm one of those guys who actually wears a mask in the woods, and plays a game that involves mock combat / sparring using padded weapons. When I saw the title of this article, that is what I thought it was about. It's a shame that they don't even touch on it. (Disclamier - I had to skim TFA, I'm at a work computer and some of the graphics on the site are not... office friendly.)
I do agree that Role-Playing is much easier to do at the tabletop than online, or on a PC. I've been playing Tabletop RPGs since I was 10, over 20 years ago. In the past 5 years, that has given way to Live Role-Playing Games (Also know as Live-Action RPGs, or LARPs), where there is no tabletop, but everything is acted out in real-time. Some times it's in a hotel room, some times it's in a whole hotel, and sometimes (my favorite) it's on a campgrounds, where you have a large expanse of outdoors to play in.
Don't get me wrong, WoW is fun - but it's not RP in my mind. RP is watching your best friend (acting the part of) breaking down in tears in a dramatic scene, live - not using/cry. Good RP is actually feeling a lump in your throat as you see a zombie (actually a player in makeup) shamble towards you, knowing it won't stop just because you ran out of it's spawn range. And truly memorable is when your S.O. scares the holy crap out of you by simply smiling on a dimly lit woodland path. The fact that you didn't know she was there, she's a Dark Elf in all black, on a moonless night, and all you can see is her teeth and fangs adds to the atmosphere. (I'd like to see a Night Elf try that online.)
At the risk of sounding like a promotion, check out http://gallery.knightrealms.com/ - Yes, I'm the webmaster, so it's my own damn fault if we get slashdotted.;-)
For those not familiar with the series, or the antics behind it, JMS was told that Season 4 *might* be the last one - so he wrapped up the plotline he had in mind by the end of it. He then got confirmation that Season 5 would happen, and had to fill in all the space he just freed up by moving it into Season 4.
The end result is that the latter part of Season 4 feels rushed, and all of Season 5 feels like it was filler, mostly because it was - not due to poor planning on the author's part, but due to constraints placed on him from outside sources.
This is another reason I am glad my WoW guild uses TeamSpeak.;-) Unless they are guys that suck helium whenever they hit "Press to talk," there's a fair number of women in our game, and there's no quesiton about their gender. (And a fair number of them are married, and their spouses are in the guild, too.)
There's the usual assumption that someone is the same gender as their PC, if only because it's the norm, and not the exception, at least as far as I have experienced so far. If I find out differently, it just takes a moment to adjust mentally, usually for voice recogintion or in the case when it's someone I've know in Real Life for years ("Wait, Fratboy Mike's playing a chick. I hear him belch on TS, but he's got a female PC. OK, this will take getting used to..." Yes, it's a stereotype, but that's because he plays that image up on occasion in RL). The advanced sophisicaiton of games doesn't help if they are well made, as poses, body movement, etc. are signals as to what gender a person is. ( http://journalofvision.org/4/5/2/article.aspx )
The only time I find Gender Bending truly awkward in an MMO is gramatically. When a male player is playing a female character, or vice versa, it takes a moment to sort out the grammar. "She can pull, she's the tank... he? Dammit, which do you prefer?":-)
Well, that's the thing... they still gave them the authority. And the IOC certainly used it, when they went after the CCG known as "Legend of the Five Rings." What's truly sad is that Musashi's Book of Five Rings (which the game is based on) has been around far, far longer than the modern Olympics symbol, but the IOC decided it was a copyright infringement. Sadly, I can't find a link to this topic on the web at this time.
The basic idea is that the IOC is trying to defend itself against marketers that use the logo to promote their products as being endorsed by the Olympics, when it is not, as listed at http://www.law.northwestern.edu/journals/njtip/v3/ n2/6/ I can understand the IOC trying to protect itself from false endorsements, but it seems to have gone too far, and in the direction of corporate interest and moneymaking rather than fair use and protection of an organization's image.
Gives a whole new meaning to "For the Horde!". As if Mac / PC wars weren't enough, now we can add Horde / Alliance to it...
And of course the Horde uses Macs - Alliance has all the Gnomes for Tech Support, and do you really expect a Tauren to use a mouse with more than one button?
I've seen articles (in print, sorry I can't link) that detail what happens when science hits the screen, but it's not portrayed accurately - it's called the "CSI effect." People who see this pseudo-science on TV think it's accurate, and then when on juries, demand evidence that they "know" the prosecution / defense can produce. Even when someone explains to the jury that CSI is fictional, they don't seem to realize that that includes the science as well.
The last thing we need is for scientists to write accurate scripts, which are then altered to show incorrect information, and Hard Science is then seen as "wrong, because the movies we saw said otherwise!"
The reason I use it is because it carries my bookmarks / favorites, and other settings (groups, search prefs, etc.) not only from PC to PC, but also from Browser to Browser. I use IE at work (Corporate Standard), FF & IE on Windows at home, and FF on Linux at home. My settings follow me seamlessly on all 3 platforms, as well as any other PC I log into that has the toolbar.
If I am at work, and find a cool site, I can bookmark it and know I'll find it at home on my toolbar, regardless of what OS or Browser I am using on either end.
Several people have pointed out (correctly) that the decision is not "It's OK to grab land," but rather "The local government should decide when it is OK to grab, not the Federal Government."
My question is this - who do you turn to when your local government makes the wrong decision? The Feds basically just said "Not our problem."
By the time you vote someone out, the damage is done. You really, really need to be careful who you vote in now - and, as (again) people have pointed out, local governments are more susceptible to pressure and such from companies than the Federal Government is.
The reason why science and religion are usually at odds with one another is that science seeks the truth and (most) religion claims to be the truth.
Religion has several purposes, one of which (and a mojor one, at that) is to explain that which we cannot currently explain. Where did we come from? Where will we go when we die? Why are we here?
The first one, science has given an answer to. The conflict arises because it contradicts an established belief that religion(s) have already created to answer that question - take a look at the issue of the religious view of sun circling the earth, and the scientific discovery it was the other way around. Eventually, enough scientific proof was offered that it became generally accepted, but it took time. Currently, the question of "Where did we come from?" is on the docket, literally in some school districs, as science and religion square off over evolution. I will note that various religions also are in conflict over thier answer to that same question... The other part of the problem is that anything that detracts from a religion also detracts from the power of its leaders, and also the fact that no one likes to be proven wrong. If someone came up with bullet-proof evidence that Jesus had a human father, I highly doubt the Pope would say "Oh, that's cool! Thank you for solving that one for us!"
I'll also note a number of Sci-Fi themes where science becomes religion - usually, the science is lost, but the answers live on as they are passed on from generation to generation, not understood by the recipients, until they exist on faith alone (which is the definition of most religions). The universe of Warhammer 40,000, where guns are blessed before combat with sacred oils so they do not jam; A Canticle for Lebiowitz, set after a nuclear war where "Fallout" is a demon that will destroy humanity.
A final note - the RPG "Mage: The Ascention" offers a very cool and unique view on this - reality is a common paradigm, and people who realize this can literally shape reality. Scientists introduce "data" to the masses in such a way that everyone believes it, and therefore, it becomes real. The reason dragons and unicorns no longer exist is that "they" convinced enough people they never existed at all. Religion, which relies on faith in the supernatural in one way or another, is viewed as an enemy to progress because it literally can break the carefully-planned reality that scientists (The Technocracy) have built to protect the masses.
Slashdot Mirror
FedEx at least (and I would imagine other shipping services) have "Loss Prevention" departments to prevent such a thing. I have a friend that worked at FedEx and was "promoted" to this department - he spent his days locked in a secure room, watching monitors and video tapes of shipments to look for specific packages that were reported missing. They were paranoid enough about it he had a partner in there to help him (Apparently it was a recurring issue). It's a good thing they were... the partner was the one doing the theft. If they hadn't doubled up the surveilance, the partner would have been able to cover his tracks.
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign...
I have found the reason a lot of people use email over phone, IM, or in-person meetings is that when email is sent, they have a (semi-)permanent record of that message, and it provokes a response back in the same manner, resulting in the same record. This "paper trail" then allows someone to go back and claim they discussed topics, brought up facts, alerted the appropriate people, and generally did everything they were supposed to do, and if a response did not happen... it's not their fault.
This is a double-edged sword. I work Help Desk - often, I request that a user send request by email so that A) we get all the details in writing, such as screen shots or error text, and B) they have a record that they sent the request. B is important because it prevents someone from saying "I reported this a week ago, why isn't it fixed?", but it also means that when they DO send it, I need to respond and follow up in a reasonable time frame, because it then becomes a part of Help Desk Metrics.
Some users despise email, because it consumes all their productivity handling it. Others live and die by it, unwilling to throw out even one-liners from 4 years ago for fear that a manager will ask them to review it at some point in the future. It is the latter that ratchet up the stress associated with email, because if you don't treat the system with the same importance they do, it throws their own system off-kilter (They no longer can rely on a timely response they can refer to in the future if needed), and it may be perceived as a lack of respect for them personally. It also means you need to carefully word and consider every email you send, because someone else will keep it for reference for possibly years from now.
"Defendants' use of the Play Pen trade dress..."
Why does a strip club have a "trade dress"? You'd think that would be an oxymoron...
"As for the lore justification, you can make up anything you want when you are alowed to say stuff like 'they didn't have this power but they stole it, so now they do'."
Yes, but that doesn't mean it's a good product. One of the things that makes a story, mythology, or saga so good is the consistency of it. Things don't happen "just because" - it ruins the credibility of it, and makes it less believable, and thus less enjoyable. Granted, large half-bovine humanoids and sexy purple-skinned elves don't exist in real life, but the consistency of their background in the Warcraft universe makes them more believable, than, say, Plan 9 from Outer Space.
The reaction players are having is that the foundation that has been built up, and is very cool and enjoyable, and is even the hallmark of Blizzard's excellence, has been yanked out from under the player base like the hall rug, leaving us going "WTF, mate?". They put enough detail into the game that the ruins of Loaderon in WoW are an exact model of the castle you see Arthas walk into in the WC3 cinematic sequence, and you even hear sound clips from his grisly deed there - it's very cool to see that and say, "Wow, I remember this from before, it's exactly the same... I feel like I'm seeing history!". All that attention to detail has just been crapped on, and is now worthless because the values they are based on have been proven unstable, and subject to change at Blizzard's whim.
I wouldn't have minded if the story was more plausible, but the current explanation they have given has gone too far, and stretched my willingness to suspend disbelief past the breaking point. It's like Lucas changing Star Wars. Yes, it's his story and he can change it if he wants to. The moment he does, however, the majority of his viewers feel he made a change for the worse, and his story loses credibility because it changed.
RTFA. The Blood Elves captured a being of the Light and bent its energies to their will. They basically stole the abilities of a Paladin from its source. Both Thrall and Cairne objected, but conceded they were strategically useful.
That being said, I dislike this, a lot. On a playability level, I agree it's a cop-out on the part of Blizzard, removing any uniqueness from the game. On the lore side, it leaves a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach - how does one corrupt the ultimate source of goodness? I'd rather see a Forsaken earn the Paladin class through devotion and true faith being wielded against the Scourge - to me, that is much more plausible than bending the Light to unwilling ends. I have no issue with Alliance Shamans - after all, the Elements encompass all, why shouldn't they?
I am reading / posting this from the break room of a courthouse where I am currently on Jury Duty.
I cannot agree with this more. Despite having my life routine shooken up radically by my service to the legal system, I support it 100% percent. The primary thought that crossed my mind during the jury selection process was "If I was in the Defendant's seat, would I want 12 people (plus alternates) that didn't give a damn, couldn't think clearly enough to understand my case, or were miffed that they were 'stuck' in the box and could not get out, and therefore it was my fault they were inconvenienced?" HELL no.
Many associates told me to get out. I could have found a way to try and get out of serving. I chose not to, and was honest. I am glad I did. Because of this, the system is working as intended, rather than being left to those with less than "2 neurons to rub together".
If you get called for Jury Duty, consider that before you try to get out. What if it was YOU in the defendan't seat? Or bringing the case? You'd want the Jury to truly be your peers, not people whom you didn't feel actually cared or whom lacked the capability to serve as jurors.
There's a few comments about "Why not erase the drive yourself before you hand it in?" My thought is this - it is likely (although not specified in TFA) that they wanted the contents of the drive moved to the new one.
If they are keeping the same PC, but have a new drive in it, and the old drive is still funcitonal (and can be A) sold on the open market, and B) works enough to recover data), it is likely what they wanted was a larger or faster drive, and it is also likely they didn't want to reinstall all the software themselves (or else they would have done it themselves to begin with - the software can be more tedious than the physical install).
So you don't erase it before you hand it in, because you still need the contents. AFTER the data has been moved to the new drive, and you get the PC back, sure... but who is likely to hook up an old HD and test it for data wipe when you're asking someone else to swap it out in the first place?
I currently play on Dalaran. Up until recently, we had the same problems everyone else did - lag, disconnects, servers down, etc.
I say recently, because shortly after the release of the 1.10 patch, the server was migrated to new hardware. After a day of hiccups, it started running smoothly... and has been ever since.
I am on one of the original realms, with a full population, that saw queues of 100+ on a regular basis. Now... no queues, no lag, no loot lag, no AH lag, no Mail lag, etc. Zones load pretty damn fast (as they should on my gaming PC), and I no longer have issues disconnecting in instances.
The CAN fix their issues. They HAVE done it for at least one server. I am guessing it's just a matter of time to get all the servers onto new hardware, and better maintenance to prevent issues from re-occurring.
There was an old soviet joke about having laws against everything so if the KGB wanted you they would simply selectively enforce any law they wanted to against you.
I have been told by a cop friend that modern US police are trained that if they want to pull someone over, they can at will, and then to look for a reason to do so as they approach the car. 99% of the time, they will find a legitimate breach of the law by the time they reach the driver: Dice form mirror, license plate frame, etc. - all minor crap that has no real impact, but can be used as a legal reason to pull someone over and talk to them. Legally, the cop's ass is covered because they have a reason to pull you over if asked, even if they didn't see it when they pulled you over - they just won't admit that part.
Dell and Alienware are practically the same thing, only one of them sells office hardware and servers, too.
/ bot_features.aspx?SysCode=PC-BOT&SubCode=SKU-DEFAU LT
. aspx?cs=5
Alienware sells servers and office hardware, I kid you not.
http://www.alienware.com/product_detail_pages/bot
and
http://www.alienware.com/product_pages/server_all
...is to determine WHY the IT Team is having issues. It may not be the rank-and-file techies that support you, or even the Sys Amdins that handle the network, but something else higher up in the food chain, or even external to IT (i.e. - budget) that is causing the issue.
It is far more useful to have an ally in any person or group, than to make an enemy of them.
We had an issue at a past job where we got a new manager who happened to work from a remote site. He laid down mandates that were ludicrous in nature, including to stop stocking extra hardware. Mouse broke? Put in a P.O. for a new one, get it approved, order it, and wait for it to come in. User can't work? Too bad, not enough money in the new budget to have all that extra stuff we don't actively use, and wasted storage space. The kicker is that he also blocked complaints about this pratice, from both within IT and from the users, from getting above his level. It took an end-run around him from frustrated users and IT staff to get a VP to notice. (Why did he do this? Our guess was to save an assload of cash, look good, then pass the problems on to his sucessor when he got promoted.)
Before you say "The IT Team is not serving our needs," make an effort to find out why there is an issue. Ask one of the techs what's up. I'm sure you would not want someone saying your entire department (including you) was performing unsatisfactorily due to reasons you have no control over.
The UK sounds more lax than the US in regards to medical record privacy - we're not even allowed to look at the stuff, w/o clearance. There was a good cartoon at a nurses station where a wife came to pick up her husband from the hospital - by the time she cleared security, identification, and all the paperwork acknowledging she was indeed his wife, he had gotten tired of waiting and took a cab home... The sad part is, it's pretty much accurate.
Something to consider that may not directly apply here, but will in related fields, is the legality of a non-authorized person having access to data, even though they administer a system. Specificaly, it is against HIPPA regulations for someone to look at medical records without permission or need for their job. For example, an IT guy would not be allowed to look at a medical record on someone's screen, if, say, they remoted in (or walked by, or had network access to a share).
;-)
This is a tough line. Someone other than the authorized personnel needs access to the files to be able to do the techie admin stuff. At the same time, they should not be looking stuff up, as it's illegal and an invasion of privacy. The whole thing of "Who's PC is it, ITs or the User's" adds another party, the person profiled in the data on that system. (Usually, it's the employer's PC, but that doesn't stop users, esp. ones with Dr. sized egos, from feeling & acting otherwise.)
I've worked in a hospital using Seagate / Funk Software Proxy. We had it set so that we could remote to a desktop, but the user had to grant permission to see the screen. Usually, this resulted in a decent situaton and an understanding - the user would clear all sensitive data from the screen before accepting, and if they got surley and decided not to accept, they got pushed to the bottom of the priority list (and they knew it). In return, the IT staff didn't abuse this ability, and for the most part would rather read slashdot than check out someone's PC.
Dr Ray Stantz: You know, it just occurred to me that we really haven't had a successful test of this equipment.
Dr. Egon Spengler: I blame myself.
Dr. Peter Venkman: So do I.
Dr Ray Stantz: Well, no sense in worrying about it now.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Why worry? Each one of us is carrying an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back.
You are absolutley correct, what you describe is good RP. What sets a full-costume & contact game apart from a tabletop RPG is that there is less of a need to suspend one's disbelief, in order to achieve the feeling of being truly In-Game. If my buddy Fred, who has been my GM for 10 years, describes or even voice acts a scene during a tabletop game, yes, it's possible for me to imagine it,and react to it as my charcter. But in a Live situation, the layer of imagining the scene has been (partially) removed, because that much more of it has been realized for you, and you don't need to fill it in with your imaginaiton. Having your GM describe the Orcs coming down the path, then asking you to roll your Stealth skill is one thing. Actually hearing footsteps and grunts, and diving into the bushes yourself adds much more to the experience. Taking the example of being surprised at a Live game, I can get deep enough In-Character that my reflex actions are different than they would be in real life (i.e. - Shield up & swing at it, rather than jumping backwards). I have never reached that level of Role Play in a tabletop (or MMO) environment.
One can enjoy a movie with bad special effects and acting, and a good plot. But it is more likely you will enjoy the same plot much more (and be more immersed in the movie) if the acting and effects are on a higher level. You are less distracted by the things that bring out the fact that it's not real.
I will start off by saying I'm one of those guys who actually wears a mask in the woods, and plays a game that involves mock combat / sparring using padded weapons. When I saw the title of this article, that is what I thought it was about. It's a shame that they don't even touch on it. (Disclamier - I had to skim TFA, I'm at a work computer and some of the graphics on the site are not... office friendly.)
/cry. Good RP is actually feeling a lump in your throat as you see a zombie (actually a player in makeup) shamble towards you, knowing it won't stop just because you ran out of it's spawn range. And truly memorable is when your S.O. scares the holy crap out of you by simply smiling on a dimly lit woodland path. The fact that you didn't know she was there, she's a Dark Elf in all black, on a moonless night, and all you can see is her teeth and fangs adds to the atmosphere. (I'd like to see a Night Elf try that online.)
;-)
I do agree that Role-Playing is much easier to do at the tabletop than online, or on a PC. I've been playing Tabletop RPGs since I was 10, over 20 years ago. In the past 5 years, that has given way to Live Role-Playing Games (Also know as Live-Action RPGs, or LARPs), where there is no tabletop, but everything is acted out in real-time. Some times it's in a hotel room, some times it's in a whole hotel, and sometimes (my favorite) it's on a campgrounds, where you have a large expanse of outdoors to play in.
Don't get me wrong, WoW is fun - but it's not RP in my mind. RP is watching your best friend (acting the part of) breaking down in tears in a dramatic scene, live - not using
At the risk of sounding like a promotion, check out http://gallery.knightrealms.com/ - Yes, I'm the webmaster, so it's my own damn fault if we get slashdotted.
For those not familiar with the series, or the antics behind it, JMS was told that Season 4 *might* be the last one - so he wrapped up the plotline he had in mind by the end of it. He then got confirmation that Season 5 would happen, and had to fill in all the space he just freed up by moving it into Season 4.
The end result is that the latter part of Season 4 feels rushed, and all of Season 5 feels like it was filler, mostly because it was - not due to poor planning on the author's part, but due to constraints placed on him from outside sources.
This is another reason I am glad my WoW guild uses TeamSpeak. ;-) Unless they are guys that suck helium whenever they hit "Press to talk," there's a fair number of women in our game, and there's no quesiton about their gender. (And a fair number of them are married, and their spouses are in the guild, too.)
:-)
There's the usual assumption that someone is the same gender as their PC, if only because it's the norm, and not the exception, at least as far as I have experienced so far. If I find out differently, it just takes a moment to adjust mentally, usually for voice recogintion or in the case when it's someone I've know in Real Life for years ("Wait, Fratboy Mike's playing a chick. I hear him belch on TS, but he's got a female PC. OK, this will take getting used to..." Yes, it's a stereotype, but that's because he plays that image up on occasion in RL). The advanced sophisicaiton of games doesn't help if they are well made, as poses, body movement, etc. are signals as to what gender a person is. ( http://journalofvision.org/4/5/2/article.aspx )
The only time I find Gender Bending truly awkward in an MMO is gramatically. When a male player is playing a female character, or vice versa, it takes a moment to sort out the grammar. "She can pull, she's the tank... he? Dammit, which do you prefer?"
Well, that's the thing... they still gave them the authority. And the IOC certainly used it, when they went after the CCG known as "Legend of the Five Rings." What's truly sad is that Musashi's Book of Five Rings (which the game is based on) has been around far, far longer than the modern Olympics symbol, but the IOC decided it was a copyright infringement. Sadly, I can't find a link to this topic on the web at this time.
/ n2/6/ I can understand the IOC trying to protect itself from false endorsements, but it seems to have gone too far, and in the direction of corporate interest and moneymaking rather than fair use and protection of an organization's image.
The basic idea is that the IOC is trying to defend itself against marketers that use the logo to promote their products as being endorsed by the Olympics, when it is not, as listed at http://www.law.northwestern.edu/journals/njtip/v3
I bet there's a horde of mac users.
Gives a whole new meaning to "For the Horde!". As if Mac / PC wars weren't enough, now we can add Horde / Alliance to it...
And of course the Horde uses Macs - Alliance has all the Gnomes for Tech Support, and do you really expect a Tauren to use a mouse with more than one button?
I've seen articles (in print, sorry I can't link) that detail what happens when science hits the screen, but it's not portrayed accurately - it's called the "CSI effect." People who see this pseudo-science on TV think it's accurate, and then when on juries, demand evidence that they "know" the prosecution / defense can produce. Even when someone explains to the jury that CSI is fictional, they don't seem to realize that that includes the science as well.
The last thing we need is for scientists to write accurate scripts, which are then altered to show incorrect information, and Hard Science is then seen as "wrong, because the movies we saw said otherwise!"
The reason I use it is because it carries my bookmarks / favorites, and other settings (groups, search prefs, etc.) not only from PC to PC, but also from Browser to Browser. I use IE at work (Corporate Standard), FF & IE on Windows at home, and FF on Linux at home. My settings follow me seamlessly on all 3 platforms, as well as any other PC I log into that has the toolbar.
If I am at work, and find a cool site, I can bookmark it and know I'll find it at home on my toolbar, regardless of what OS or Browser I am using on either end.
Several people have pointed out (correctly) that the decision is not "It's OK to grab land," but rather "The local government should decide when it is OK to grab, not the Federal Government."
My question is this - who do you turn to when your local government makes the wrong decision? The Feds basically just said "Not our problem."
By the time you vote someone out, the damage is done. You really, really need to be careful who you vote in now - and, as (again) people have pointed out, local governments are more susceptible to pressure and such from companies than the Federal Government is.
The reason why science and religion are usually at odds with one another is that science seeks the truth and (most) religion claims to be the truth.
Religion has several purposes, one of which (and a mojor one, at that) is to explain that which we cannot currently explain. Where did we come from? Where will we go when we die? Why are we here?
The first one, science has given an answer to. The conflict arises because it contradicts an established belief that religion(s) have already created to answer that question - take a look at the issue of the religious view of sun circling the earth, and the scientific discovery it was the other way around. Eventually, enough scientific proof was offered that it became generally accepted, but it took time. Currently, the question of "Where did we come from?" is on the docket, literally in some school districs, as science and religion square off over evolution. I will note that various religions also are in conflict over thier answer to that same question... The other part of the problem is that anything that detracts from a religion also detracts from the power of its leaders, and also the fact that no one likes to be proven wrong. If someone came up with bullet-proof evidence that Jesus had a human father, I highly doubt the Pope would say "Oh, that's cool! Thank you for solving that one for us!"
I'll also note a number of Sci-Fi themes where science becomes religion - usually, the science is lost, but the answers live on as they are passed on from generation to generation, not understood by the recipients, until they exist on faith alone (which is the definition of most religions). The universe of Warhammer 40,000, where guns are blessed before combat with sacred oils so they do not jam; A Canticle for Lebiowitz, set after a nuclear war where "Fallout" is a demon that will destroy humanity.
A final note - the RPG "Mage: The Ascention" offers a very cool and unique view on this - reality is a common paradigm, and people who realize this can literally shape reality. Scientists introduce "data" to the masses in such a way that everyone believes it, and therefore, it becomes real. The reason dragons and unicorns no longer exist is that "they" convinced enough people they never existed at all. Religion, which relies on faith in the supernatural in one way or another, is viewed as an enemy to progress because it literally can break the carefully-planned reality that scientists (The Technocracy) have built to protect the masses.