Payola, also known as pay-for-play, means the record company paying a radio station X dollars to play a song a certain number of times over a certain number of days (and not mention that the spot is paid for).
And, as for the business of promoting bands: until recently, at least one of those broadcasters fined (Care to guess which one?) was also in the business of event/concert promoter.
I personally find the Breast Cancer Ribbon quarter stranger, as they changed the colourising process from the poppy one. The colours no longer wear off as quickly with use, but it now feels like someone's stuck a sticker or something to it.
The quote in question is H. L. Mencken and even then it's considered likely that he never said exactly that, but rather that it's a rewording of a similar statement.
They look exactly like the original Dual Shock controller (but in black or silver). In other words: a 10-year old design that looks completely out-of-place when compared to the aesthetics of the console itself.
I figured that's what you were getting at, hence the ; ) at the end.
As for looking like the Dual Shock controller: the Dual Shock was just the original PlayStation controller with two analog sticks added, which was itself a copy of the SNES controller with another set of shoulder buttons. While I understand the comparison between the controllers, I can't see myself getting really worked up about it for partly these reasons. (There's just only so many ways you can place the sticks and still have them usable. Especially if -- as is my guess -- the initial decision was to make a retro-styled controller that evoked a previous system.)
As for Z-trigger: knowing the way I hold the old SNES controllers, if I was using the left-analog stick as the N64's centre stick, I'd still wind up using my left index finger to press the Z-button (if that's what those little bumps between the L & R buttons and the wire are). Or, taking an entriely different track: the GameCube versions of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask worked fine (ok, actually I had a few issues with them, but that was unrealted to controls), despite having the Z-button on the shoulder instead of as a trigger. I'd be more interested in games that may have required simultaneously pressing more than one C-button (were there any?), as that's impossible when using a stick for the C-buttons.
That is a good question: how many games did use all the buttons on the 6-button controller? After all, the original (and far more common, at least around here) controller was a 3-button affair.
My guess as to how one would play a 6-button game would be to use B & A and Y & X as the Genesis/Mega Drive's A & B and X & Y, respectively (I have no idea why the SNES buttons were labelled in reverse-alphabetical order), and then use L & R for the Z & C buttons.
As for "Dual Shocks": that's a trademark, therefore they're merely dual analogue sticks. ; )
Unfortunately, unless things have changed from 2002/2003 (i.e. unless these bones are better than the ones we already have), then all the DNA available is fragmentary and ill-preserved. Not exactly good cloning material.
Actually, they were recorded on the 18th.* That's still before King Kong was released though.
* This is also before the release dates of 50 Cent: Bulletproof (21st), Madden NFL 06 (XBox 360 version, 22nd), NBA 2K6 (XBox 360 version, 22nd), Perfect Dark Zero (22nd), and Project Gotham Racing (22nd), and the XBox 360 (22nd) — all of which were also nominated.
(You don't want to see the list of things released before the show was recorded, but after they were nominated; it's more than twice as long. The show is really nothing more than a giant hype-machine for the various game companies.)
Sonic the Hedgehog wasn't a launch title though. Sonic the Hedgehog was released in 1991, while the Mega Drive/Genesis was released in 1988 ('89 in N. America, '90 in Europe).
While I can't remember any of the other launch titles, the original pack-in title with the Genesis was Altered Beast—an arcade port.
Even better: when they're a company that exclusively promotes the use of RSS and they don't even have a valid RSS feed, it seems like a good reason to laugh at them.
This reminds me of a quote by the head of the USPO back in the turn of the century (wish I could find a link). He said that everything that could possibly be invented has been invented.
I know what quote you're refering to. It's attributed to Charles H. Duell, who was once the commissoner of the US Patent Office, and is normally given a date of 1899. However, the quote appears to be, at best, apocryphal.
To start with, no one has ever been able to find a definative source that he was the one who said it. The earliest source I can spot is from a 1915 Scientific American article, who attribute it to a nameless 1833 patent office clerk. The quote can also be found (those less frequently, thanks to the wonders of everyone just copying and pasting pages of quotes without checking them) to an anonymous 1875 Patent Office director (which implies Charles Duell's father), and to an anonymous British patent office employee (which is how I first heard it). These alone should be enough to set your spidey-sense tingling.
The truth of the matter is that the quote is completely out of character for Duell, whose 1899 report to President McKinley notes that the number of patents increased over the following year, and suggests that "aid and effectual encouragement" could help in inventors by "improving the American patent system". No mention of shutting it down, no mention of everything having been invented.
(As an interesting side-note, posts on various mailing lists which I found while searching for that article suggest that the quote was first identified as apocryphal by 60 years ago. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the NY Times for Oct. 15, 1995, where this tidbit was mentioned, so I can't check their source on that.)
The Thing On the Doorstep & Other Weird Stories has notes by the same guy. I'd recommend it as well, even though I'm not a huge fan of The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward (which, along with At the Mountains of Madness, takes up a major portion of the book). Out of all my various Lovecraft books (Del Ray ones, various 60s and 70s compilations, etc), the Penguin ones are my favourites just for that reason.
(And I see that there is also a third collection with notes by S.T. Joshi: The Dreams in the Witch House & Other Weird Stories. I'll have to go looking for it. Maybe I'll finally be able to toss some of the other compilations on Book Crossing. As is, they all have one or two stories that aren't in any of my other comps.)
Getting slightly offtopic: for anyone looking for decent vintage (ie: 30s or earlier) fantasy or weird tales compilations, I'd recommend any of the Penguin compilations editted by Joshi. I've been trying to lend the recent Dunsany one to any friend who likes that kind of stuff.
We have a few more months to wait, but I am certain, that if the controller is not completely mind blowingly different, they wouldn't have included the GC ports.
See, I thought that too (and still think that), however, a friend of mine thinks differently. His opinion is that the GC ports are only there so that the GBA link cables can be used with GC games.
I think the problem Drudge has is the pro-active part.
I'll agree, it seems a bit sleezy in that it implies that tactics in the past will definitely used again. However, at the same time, I see the reason for it: they're saying that these tactics have been used in the past, so it only makes sense to make sure that people are aware of them and on the lookout to ensure that they aren't used again.
Right, one million hashes per second... (How long does a SHA-0 has take to generate anyways? I usually do this example when dealing with other crypto systems that take slightly longer to run through.)
That drops our number to brute force 2 ^ 80 hashes down to... 1.2 x 10 ^ 9 years, or one billion and 200 million years. Not anywheres near as long, but still not something you could conceivably do at home.
Slashdot Mirror
Payola, also known as pay-for-play, means the record company paying a radio station X dollars to play a song a certain number of times over a certain number of days (and not mention that the spot is paid for).
And, as for the business of promoting bands: until recently, at least one of those broadcasters fined (Care to guess which one?) was also in the business of event/concert promoter.
I personally find the Breast Cancer Ribbon quarter stranger, as they changed the colourising process from the poppy one. The colours no longer wear off as quickly with use, but it now feels like someone's stuck a sticker or something to it.
The quote in question is H. L. Mencken and even then it's considered likely that he never said exactly that, but rather that it's a rewording of a similar statement.
They look exactly like the original Dual Shock controller (but in black or silver). In other words: a 10-year old design that looks completely out-of-place when compared to the aesthetics of the console itself.
I figured that's what you were getting at, hence the ; ) at the end.
As for looking like the Dual Shock controller: the Dual Shock was just the original PlayStation controller with two analog sticks added, which was itself a copy of the SNES controller with another set of shoulder buttons. While I understand the comparison between the controllers, I can't see myself getting really worked up about it for partly these reasons. (There's just only so many ways you can place the sticks and still have them usable. Especially if -- as is my guess -- the initial decision was to make a retro-styled controller that evoked a previous system.)
As for Z-trigger: knowing the way I hold the old SNES controllers, if I was using the left-analog stick as the N64's centre stick, I'd still wind up using my left index finger to press the Z-button (if that's what those little bumps between the L & R buttons and the wire are). Or, taking an entriely different track: the GameCube versions of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask worked fine (ok, actually I had a few issues with them, but that was unrealted to controls), despite having the Z-button on the shoulder instead of as a trigger. I'd be more interested in games that may have required simultaneously pressing more than one C-button (were there any?), as that's impossible when using a stick for the C-buttons.
That is a good question: how many games did use all the buttons on the 6-button controller? After all, the original (and far more common, at least around here) controller was a 3-button affair.
My guess as to how one would play a 6-button game would be to use B & A and Y & X as the Genesis/Mega Drive's A & B and X & Y, respectively (I have no idea why the SNES buttons were labelled in reverse-alphabetical order), and then use L & R for the Z & C buttons.
As for "Dual Shocks": that's a trademark, therefore they're merely dual analogue sticks. ; )
Unless you're suggesting that all patents are bad patents, then I'm not sure the article really applies.
Unfortunately, unless things have changed from 2002/2003 (i.e. unless these bones are better than the ones we already have), then all the DNA available is fragmentary and ill-preserved. Not exactly good cloning material.
Actually, they were recorded on the 18th.* That's still before King Kong was released though.
* This is also before the release dates of 50 Cent: Bulletproof (21st), Madden NFL 06 (XBox 360 version, 22nd), NBA 2K6 (XBox 360 version, 22nd), Perfect Dark Zero (22nd), and Project Gotham Racing (22nd), and the XBox 360 (22nd) — all of which were also nominated.
(You don't want to see the list of things released before the show was recorded, but after they were nominated; it's more than twice as long. The show is really nothing more than a giant hype-machine for the various game companies.)
Sonic the Hedgehog wasn't a launch title though. Sonic the Hedgehog was released in 1991, while the Mega Drive/Genesis was released in 1988 ('89 in N. America, '90 in Europe).
While I can't remember any of the other launch titles, the original pack-in title with the Genesis was Altered Beast—an arcade port.
cunt
noun (vulgar slang) 1. a woman's genitals. 2. an unpleasant or stupid person.
You've obviously never heard UKers insult someone before.
Even better: when they're a company that exclusively promotes the use of RSS and they don't even have a valid RSS feed, it seems like a good reason to laugh at them.
This reminds me of a quote by the head of the USPO back in the turn of the century (wish I could find a link). He said that everything that could possibly be invented has been invented.
I know what quote you're refering to. It's attributed to Charles H. Duell, who was once the commissoner of the US Patent Office, and is normally given a date of 1899. However, the quote appears to be, at best, apocryphal.
To start with, no one has ever been able to find a definative source that he was the one who said it. The earliest source I can spot is from a 1915 Scientific American article, who attribute it to a nameless 1833 patent office clerk. The quote can also be found (those less frequently, thanks to the wonders of everyone just copying and pasting pages of quotes without checking them) to an anonymous 1875 Patent Office director (which implies Charles Duell's father), and to an anonymous British patent office employee (which is how I first heard it). These alone should be enough to set your spidey-sense tingling.
The truth of the matter is that the quote is completely out of character for Duell, whose 1899 report to President McKinley notes that the number of patents increased over the following year, and suggests that "aid and effectual encouragement" could help in inventors by "improving the American patent system". No mention of shutting it down, no mention of everything having been invented.
The article from which I drew most of this info from: Skeptical Inquirer: A Patently False Patent Myth Still! (May-June, 2003)
(As an interesting side-note, posts on various mailing lists which I found while searching for that article suggest that the quote was first identified as apocryphal by 60 years ago. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the NY Times for Oct. 15, 1995, where this tidbit was mentioned, so I can't check their source on that.)
The Thing On the Doorstep & Other Weird Stories has notes by the same guy. I'd recommend it as well, even though I'm not a huge fan of The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward (which, along with At the Mountains of Madness, takes up a major portion of the book). Out of all my various Lovecraft books (Del Ray ones, various 60s and 70s compilations, etc), the Penguin ones are my favourites just for that reason.
(And I see that there is also a third collection with notes by S.T. Joshi: The Dreams in the Witch House & Other Weird Stories. I'll have to go looking for it. Maybe I'll finally be able to toss some of the other compilations on Book Crossing. As is, they all have one or two stories that aren't in any of my other comps.)
Getting slightly offtopic: for anyone looking for decent vintage (ie: 30s or earlier) fantasy or weird tales compilations, I'd recommend any of the Penguin compilations editted by Joshi. I've been trying to lend the recent Dunsany one to any friend who likes that kind of stuff.
It does look like that, except that it has the Windows and menu keys -- something that no real Model M had.
We have a few more months to wait, but I am certain, that if the controller is not completely mind blowingly different, they wouldn't have included the GC ports.
See, I thought that too (and still think that), however, a friend of mine thinks differently. His opinion is that the GC ports are only there so that the GBA link cables can be used with GC games.
We'll all just have to wait and see, I guess.
How about the comments of someone who checked with Wired, or Nintendo's own response to the article?
Or you could, you know, go straight to the supposed source (Wired Magazine, Feb. 2005 issue), and see that it's not listed anywhere.
No, he meant dispersed. It has a habit of failing violently. Makes a mean fish puree though.
No, then they'll move on to the YuzzBox.
Lower right hand side, next to the part about tell your friends
Ah. I was searching the page for 'megaphone', but never thought to pay attention to those graphics on the right.
The "design" page tells you that the hands aren't included either.
Dammit! But I could really have used a pair of sexy-looking hands!
Don't forget the Mac mini's fine print:
Keyboard, mouse, megaphone and display sold separately.
Megaphone?
I won't be satisfied until all the conflicting requests cause the robot to burst into flames.
I personally prefer a good ad hominen, you tree-hugging pinko commie traitor.
I think the problem Drudge has is the pro-active part.
I'll agree, it seems a bit sleezy in that it implies that tactics in the past will definitely used again. However, at the same time, I see the reason for it: they're saying that these tactics have been used in the past, so it only makes sense to make sure that people are aware of them and on the lookout to ensure that they aren't used again.
Right, one million hashes per second... (How long does a SHA-0 has take to generate anyways? I usually do this example when dealing with other crypto systems that take slightly longer to run through.)
That drops our number to brute force 2 ^ 80 hashes down to... 1.2 x 10 ^ 9 years, or one billion and 200 million years. Not anywheres near as long, but still not something you could conceivably do at home.