Right now, in Japan it is H for "Heisei", and the previous was "Showa". I was born in Showa 53, and right now is Heisei 18.
Yes, it is a confusing as hell, but these days in Japan, you can generally get by with the 4 digit year (i.e. 1978 for my birthyear or 2006 for now), even on official documents... at least, as a foreigner. Cheers.:)
the GPP's complaint that iTunes can't be installed without Quicktime is just plain stupid, because iTunes is merely a front end for Quicktime to be used to organise and listen to your music (and, more recently your videos as well).
Wanting to download iTunes without Quicktime is like wanting to download just the WinAmp interface without any of the MP3 or other media decoders.
Apart from that, doing it dd/mm/yy make logical sense, as the values are ordered in order of significance/magnitude like a numerical system (albeit in reverse order).
Just a random peice of useless information, but in Japan, they do yyyy/mm/dd. Even when they are speaking, (if they are saying the whole date), they say ####nen, ##gatsu, ##nichi (generally, with variations on the words used for the first 10 days).
This always made more sense to me, and that is how I write dates shorthand for things like blog and journal(as in dead tree) entries.
Back in the early/mid-90s, when FPS were just starting to grow, everyone was all about Doom and Doom II. You know: Run around. find red key. find door. push button. next level. All while shooting anything that moved.
Then a small company called Bungie Software(now Bungie Studios, owned by Microsoft) came out with Marathon. It didn't look all that different (at a glance) to Doom (well, IMHO it looked better, and you actually had to aim your weapons with no reticle). You could still shoot anything that moved, even civilians with no consequences (it wasn't until Marathon 2 that the NPCs started shooting back if you killed too many of them). However, suddenly you were immersed in this incredibly awesome, intricate story. IMnsHO, it had one of the best balances of gameplay and story and actually made the game really worth playing and replaying(the Doom games were great for stress relief, but not much more).
I wasn't much of a gamer then, and still am not one (being a Mac user has its drawbacks), but that set the standard for gaming for me. Give me a good story AND good gameplay and I will buy your game. I have and still do follow Bungie, even after Microsoft bought them, becuase they have always focused on excellent gameplay combined with an interesting story, and usually excellent replayability. The Marathon series had both, the Myth series had both, Oni (though it was finished by...RockStar?) had it, Halo had it, Halo 2 had it (though not quite the replayability of Halo).
Anyway, like I said I am not much of a gamer, but, with the exception of the Dead or Alive series, story does matter (DoA is strictly for stress relief). And Bungie has done admirably in these respects.
One would also be able to avoid all of those unpleasant encounters that they wish to avoid (e.g. dinner with the really annoying girl in marketing, being the caddy for the CEO, having lunch with your parents in-law, etc.)...
"Nope, sorry. I have an extremely busy schedule tomorrow."
Then I guess perhaps you are not aware that iTunes is not just the iTunes Music Store. I use iTunes to manage my music all the time, but I have never bought anything from the iTMS. I can migrate my music to any other program I want, as long as it can handle MPEG4 Audio (AAC) and MP3, which most can.
It's not that I disagree with you about DRM, but make sure you are using correct information or people will think you don't know what you are talking about.
There are a number of ways around this. You're right, it's annoying for the average user, but not so annoying that it offsets all the benefits of iPod + iTunes.
I agree 100%. There are (for Windows) ways around it (for Mac), and I personnally don't think they are that annoying at all. (Disclaimer: I have really only used Senuti on a Mac)
Just copy those to your iPod and feel free to share Music with your friends if you are so inclined. Actually, I found a better piece of Windows freeware (well, maybe better...I have never used vPod), but VersionTracker is being slow for me at the moment, so I can't find it.
Back in 2002 (I was 24), I was back in the US near Boston for my sister's wedding. (I live in Japan). After the wedding and reception were over, my other sister, her husband, and I went out to a bar for a few beers. The waitress asked me for ID, and I handed her my passport.
She looked like she had never seen one before and told me she would have to check with her boss. She walked it over to him, he looked at it with a disbelieving look, looked at me, looked back at the passport, and then shook his head "no". She came back to me and asked if I had a driver's license or state ID or something.
So, I pulled out my Japanese Alien Registration card (which has some English, but is primarily written in Japanese...still it has my DOB on it) and handed it to her while saying, "I don't live in the US."
The waitress looked kind of shocked, and took it over to the manager. He looked shocked. My sister said, "Oh, give us a break. He works in Japan. He has just shown you two IDs. Let him have a beer."
They finally served me, with a snarky comment from the manager saying, "Best fake ID I've ever seen."
I find it somewhat disturbing...that they're planning to conquest other worlds instead of fixing the one they live in:-/
So do you think it is a good idea to keep all of our eggs in one basket? There's not much we can do as a species if something from the outside, like an asteroid, comes along and makes the planet unhabitable for humans. However, if we can get off this planet and colonize other worlds, humanity will survive regardless of what happens to the Earth.
I agree that we should be taking care of this planet as best as we can, but that should not stop us for pursuing the means to find and reach others.
Anything that is meant for inserting weapons into orbit should be shelved, IMNSHO. Maybe I'm spewing a bunch of "tree-hugging-hippy-crap", but I think it is best to keep weapons out of space.
Can we not, as a species, keep at least one place free of war and hostility? I know, that is probably a really tall order, but come on, human-kind! Grow up already!
BTW, I am by no means a luddite. I'm all about the space program and getting the human race a means to get off this planet. However, can we not leave these stupid, childish toys (i.e. weapons of war) behind while we do so? The cynic in me doubts this is possible, but I really want to believe so.
It seems infinitely sad to me that the primary motivation for most technological advance in the world is to come up with a better means of killing others.
Wow, that is AWESOME! It is nice to know someone in the Capitol still pays attention to that tiny little document upon which the US is based.
Of course, it appears that reading the Consitution did not even phase 89 members of the senate. Why are these people not being impeached for breaking their oath to protect the Constitution of the United States?
Suddenly out of its stale and drowsy lair, the lair of slaves, Like lightning it le'pt forth half startled at itself, Its feet upon the ashes and the rags, its hands tight to the throats of kings.
O hope and faith! O aching close of exiled patriots' lives! O many a sicken'd heart! Turn back unto this day and make yourselves afresh.
And you, paid to defile the People--you liars, mark! Not for numberless agonies, murders, lusts, For court thieving in its manifold mean forms, worming from his simplicity the poor man's wages, For many a promise sworn by royal lips and broken and laugh'd at in the breaking,
Then in their power not for all these did the blows strike revenge, or the heads of the nobles fall; The People scorn'd the ferocity of kings.
But the sweetness of mercy brew'd bitter destruction, and the frighten'd monarchs come back, Each comes in state with his train, hangman, priest, tax-gatherer, Soldier, lawyer, lord, jailer, and sycophant.
Yet behind all lowering stealing, lo, a shape, Vague as the night, draped interminably, head, front and form, in scarlet folds, Whose face and eyes none may see, Out of its robes only this, the red robes lifted by the arm, One finger crook'd pointed high over the top, like the head of a snake appears.
Meanwhile corpses lie in new-made graves, bloody corpses of young men, The rope of the gibbet hangs heavily, the bullets of princes are flying, the creatures of power laugh aloud, And all these things bear fruits, and they are good.
Those corpses of young men, Those martyrs that hang from the gibbets, those hearts pierc'd by the gray lead, Cold and motionless as they seem live elsewhere with unslaughter'd vitality.
They live in other young men O kings! They live in brothers again ready to defy you, They were purified by death, they were taught and exalted.
Not a grave of the murder'd for freedom but grows seed for freedom, in its turn to bear seed, Which the winds carry afar and re-sow, and the rains and the snows nourish.
Not a disembodied spirit can the weapons of tyrants let loose, But it stalks invisibly over the earth, whispering, counseling, cautioning. Liberty, let others despair of you--I never despair of you.
Is the house shut? is the master away? Nevertheless, be ready, be not weary of watching, He will soon return, his messengers come anon.
So, in response to "3) The government sucks. I hate it. We're all fucked.", I say, you are only fucked if you allow yourselves to be.
Is SCO completely, utterly, apeshit, goatshit and batshit, 649-megabytes-short-of-a-Debian-ISO, stark, slavering, buggo?!? Fuck! Are the fucking fuckers fucking well fucked? What the fuck? What the fucking fuck fuck? What the figgety fucking fuckity fuck fuck?
Well, it certainly illustrates the diversity of the word.
I know that, but it appears that some PC notebook users have trouble pushing two buttons so far apart at the same time, so I thought I'd point out a way of getting a right click without leaving the immediate track-pad area.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, I see...they are just more of "them brown people" so it doesn't matter it they are singled out and persecuted, does it?
Yes, it is a confusing as hell, but these days in Japan, you can generally get by with the 4 digit year (i.e. 1978 for my birthyear or 2006 for now), even on official documents... at least, as a foreigner. Cheers. :)
Wanting to download iTunes without Quicktime is like wanting to download just the WinAmp interface without any of the MP3 or other media decoders.
This always made more sense to me, and that is how I write dates shorthand for things like blog and journal(as in dead tree) entries.
Then a small company called Bungie Software(now Bungie Studios, owned by Microsoft) came out with Marathon. It didn't look all that different (at a glance) to Doom (well, IMHO it looked better, and you actually had to aim your weapons with no reticle). You could still shoot anything that moved, even civilians with no consequences (it wasn't until Marathon 2 that the NPCs started shooting back if you killed too many of them). However, suddenly you were immersed in this incredibly awesome, intricate story. IMnsHO, it had one of the best balances of gameplay and story and actually made the game really worth playing and replaying(the Doom games were great for stress relief, but not much more).
I wasn't much of a gamer then, and still am not one (being a Mac user has its drawbacks), but that set the standard for gaming for me. Give me a good story AND good gameplay and I will buy your game. I have and still do follow Bungie, even after Microsoft bought them, becuase they have always focused on excellent gameplay combined with an interesting story, and usually excellent replayability. The Marathon series had both, the Myth series had both, Oni (though it was finished by...RockStar?) had it, Halo had it, Halo 2 had it (though not quite the replayability of Halo).
Anyway, like I said I am not much of a gamer, but, with the exception of the Dead or Alive series, story does matter (DoA is strictly for stress relief). And Bungie has done admirably in these respects.
"Nope, sorry. I have an extremely busy schedule tomorrow."
The keys are like right next to each other.
Then I guess perhaps you are not aware that iTunes is not just the iTunes Music Store. I use iTunes to manage my music all the time, but I have never bought anything from the iTMS. I can migrate my music to any other program I want, as long as it can handle MPEG4 Audio (AAC) and MP3, which most can.
It's not that I disagree with you about DRM, but make sure you are using correct information or people will think you don't know what you are talking about.
Just copy those to your iPod and feel free to share Music with your friends if you are so inclined. Actually, I found a better piece of Windows freeware (well, maybe better...I have never used vPod), but VersionTracker is being slow for me at the moment, so I can't find it.
Women Get Lots of Info From Male Feces
Maybe I'm spending too much time on Fark...
Sounds like a very uncomfortable place.
She looked like she had never seen one before and told me she would have to check with her boss. She walked it over to him, he looked at it with a disbelieving look, looked at me, looked back at the passport, and then shook his head "no". She came back to me and asked if I had a driver's license or state ID or something.
So, I pulled out my Japanese Alien Registration card (which has some English, but is primarily written in Japanese...still it has my DOB on it) and handed it to her while saying, "I don't live in the US."
The waitress looked kind of shocked, and took it over to the manager. He looked shocked. My sister said, "Oh, give us a break. He works in Japan. He has just shown you two IDs. Let him have a beer."
They finally served me, with a snarky comment from the manager saying, "Best fake ID I've ever seen."
So, how do you get half a pixel on a screen? I too was under the impression that an individual pixel was either all on or all off...
Right...procrastination is always a good policy.
I agree that we should be taking care of this planet as best as we can, but that should not stop us for pursuing the means to find and reach others.
Can we not, as a species, keep at least one place free of war and hostility? I know, that is probably a really tall order, but come on, human-kind! Grow up already!
BTW, I am by no means a luddite. I'm all about the space program and getting the human race a means to get off this planet. However, can we not leave these stupid, childish toys (i.e. weapons of war) behind while we do so? The cynic in me doubts this is possible, but I really want to believe so.
It seems infinitely sad to me that the primary motivation for most technological advance in the world is to come up with a better means of killing others.
Of course, it appears that reading the Consitution did not even phase 89 members of the senate. Why are these people not being impeached for breaking their oath to protect the Constitution of the United States?
Come on, America! Wake UP!
I posted this in full, before, but this time I'll just give you all the link. It is worth reading:
Europe [The 72d and 73d Years of These States] by Walt Whitman
Europe [The 72d and 73d Years of These States] by Walt Whitman
So, in response to "3) The government sucks. I hate it. We're all fucked.", I say, you are only fucked if you allow yourselves to be.
Come on, America. Please wake up!
What about the people who get it all the time? Do they die too?
ever seen "Boondock Saints"?
I know that, but it appears that some PC notebook users have trouble pushing two buttons so far apart at the same time, so I thought I'd point out a way of getting a right click without leaving the immediate track-pad area.
Or at least this works if you are using iScroll. I don't know if the usual scrolling trackpad prefs have this option or not.
And the answer is...
Last week.
Thank you for playing.
In fact, it appears to be have been quite some time since Serenity was mentioned.