Of the Sci-fi books on the list I enjoyed Tricia Sulivan's 'Maul' and 'Quicksilver' by Neal Stephenson (mind you putting this pook in Sci-Fi is stetching the genre definition quite some distance) . If you're a fan of Authur C Clarke you may enjoy Stephen Baxters work, the collection of short stories 'Vacuum Diagrams' is a good place to start.
Re:In the end, it's all about the games....
on
Mario's Revenge?
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· Score: 1
I would argue that the N64's games as they currently stand outshine any other console on the market :
Mario 64, Zelda, Mario Tennis, Lylat Wars, Golden Eye, Perfect Dark, Jet force Gemini (actually anything by Nintendo or Rare is pretty much guaranteed to shit on any competitors from a great height) I would argue that marketing and hype are more important than having decent games, this is certainly true of main stream succes most hardcoe gamers know what's good for them and steer clear of Sony
t.
Re:Why are US/JP/EU games not cross compatible?
on
Mario's Revenge?
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· Score: 2
Different TV standards and different languages are two technical reasons for territorial lockouts.
I dissagree with your lumping Europe in with the US market. European gamers are much more into football (soccer) games and Driving sims than their US counterparts and the relative lack of importance placed on FPS titles and complex RPGs.
I don't really understand what the point or relevance of this post is in a discussion which is ostensibly about the Hacker Ethic, perhaps if you learnt to write coherent sentences I could have gleaned something from it.
It's a shame that you can't justify or support your beliefs in any way and act like violence is something for the casual ammusement of yourself and your equally dead brained freinds.
If you had any conviction in your totally objectionable beliefs you'd post under a registered name. Never has the anonymous *COWARD* tag been so apt.
So many problems with the whole idea of micropayment systems I can't be bothered re hashing whats allready been said but in my opinion this weeks NTK put it best :
"The whole point of a peer-to- peer system is that anyone can swap any file with anyone else - if BMG are going to restrict it to certain approved promo tracks, or run compensatory payment tracking for every file on the system (which'd be fun for bands who are signed to different labels in different territories), they might as well do it with a few industrial strength ftp-sites. And if they don't, they continue to run the risk of copyright actions from, ooh - off the top of our heads, every other record company in the world. And even if the Nap magically chases the *bad* files out of its walled garden, won't the action move to more staid (and more heartily defended) "Napster for workgroups" projects like.NET and Groove? BMG don't seem to have the faintest inkling of how intimately P2P and piracy are interlinked - but, hey, they're a major label, and therefore their job is to waste huge amounts of money on what the kids seem to like. Also, it'll be far funnier to watch, if the Napster/ BMG deal turns out less like AOL buying Netscape, and more like the Sex Pistols signing to EMI."
a palentologist friend of mine informs me that it is accepted thought, and has been among members of his discipline for at least as long as he's been studying it (5 years) not only based on metaboloism but on probably diet, balance and bone structure.
t.
They are quoting the speed in Mach numbers to make the speed sound more impressive than it is...
The speed of sound changes with air density - if the air density is zero (as in space) then the speed of sound is zero m/s, the air density is very thin high so the speed of sound will be very low. So if you quote this womans speed in mach numbers as she falls then she will start off at mach 1.5 and then slow down to about mach 0.5 (I seem to remember that people fall at about 200m/s through air close to the ground). In reality the actual speed change will probably be from about 250m/s to 200m/s.
I have a 486 for programing and comms stuff which works fine and I use my N64 to play Perfect Dark which is *so* much better than any PC FPS in one or multiplayer mode.
That's what a cache is, fast memory that keeps items that may be needed again in it there are constant improvements being made in the strategies by which a cache decides which things are going to be most usefull (which depends largely on what your using the machine for) There are other ways to speed up processors but seeing the article is about caches thats what it talks about.
I agree the concept of loading linux onto a zx81 is pointless bordering on perverse the fact that there's a good reason why the zx81 has the OS that it does and that's because it has like 1k of memory and the only externals it has to deal with are a casetteplayer and a TV. I have Linux on my PC because It helps me get the most out of it Linux on a ZX81 would not be any kind of improvement, in fact I suspect it would be impossible unless you added extra hardware or were prepared to spend a lot of time forwarding and rewinding the tape machine.
I have to say that as a dedicated "thumb buster joypad user" I would love the interface on things like Asherons Call to be "dumbed down" the assumption that a game is somehow more complex because you can't play it without a keyboard is just plain wrong. When I'm playing a game I want to be a close to the character as possible and this requires as transparent a UI as possible, something which bloated PC RPG's haven't managed very often enough (I also hate screens and screens of stats can't we just have some nice graphical representation)
come on you're suggesting that they can't ban you from using their software but you can ban them from using the internet, bit of a double standard. The internet should be accessible to the broadest number of devices possible. Also you do have the right to use emulators (although I'm sure Sony, Sega and Nintendo) would try to argue otherwise you just don't have the right to steal software.
The system doesn't translate between languages Sonic Team have created a symbolic communication system so that you can easily say the most common things to members of your party i.e tactical discussion during battle, bartering for items etc. The system is limited but I played a beta about a month ago and it does the job superbly, much easier and quicker than typing on a standard PC online game and much less ambiguity about who is speaking and so forth.
Will Katz ever tire of producing derivative articles in which he paraphrases other peoples arguments and appears to entirely miss the point (the Fukiyama vs Derrida argument about the end of history is a good starting point for this particular essay)
Can he please never be on the front page again as he really fucking annoys me!
warp and skam are both owned by sony, mille plateuax by emi blast first is owned by geffen haven't heard of the rest so I can't comment. But you get the point, ostensibly independant labels aren't really as independant as you might think. At the only truly independant label in japan is Escalator (their industry was 50% indie only 15 years ago!) and this trend of majors buying indies and retaining their name is picking up pace in the west too.
Just thought... Jive is still "independant" so you can still buy your Steps and Britney records with a clear concience ^_^.
I can't think of many labels off the top of my head that are still independent(i.e. not owned by or affiliated with one of the big 5) and release any decent music, If anyone can name any beyond this list : matador, bungalow, kitty yo, southern, rephlex, kranky, crypt, acid jazz um can't think of any more (I'm not even sure about matador)
Agreed, on a practical level these aren't considerations. But the intractability of certain problems is something I've come up against quite a few times since i've been writing software (especially in some searching and pattern matching). However esoteric these limitations may seem they are inherent in all the software we create.
The fact that software is, as you say, a universal macine simulator(note also simulator not emulator), puts some pretty strict limits on software i.e. only computable problems can be solved(Godels Incompleteness Thorem). Other problems will remain intractible because of the time complexity of the best algorithm which can solve them (factoring a number) untill the advent of practical quantum computing (I would imagine this is still some time away). I think more importantly though that the complexity of large scale systems is such that proving their reliability and correctness is an impossible task, you can fairly easily prove a bubblesort algorithm logically but doing the same for a program of a million lines is nigh on impossible unless you get a computer to do it quickly and then you have the problem of proving that computer, and all its software's correctness.
I think the point about worship and the comparison with religion is often supported by posts on/.
I imagine the sumerians face would be pretty much a mixture of apoplexy and disgust.
technology is not a political ideology
on
Selfish Society
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· Score: 1
First I have to say I don't believe tech culture is (generally speaking) selfish or narcisistic. Surely the massive successes gained through co-operation of the open source movement goes to prove this. Secondly, expecting a consistent ideology from people who have vastly differing socio-economic backgrounds is perhaps a little to much. Just because people use the same technology doesn't mean they should all be working towards the same goal. It's trite and obvious but technology is neutral and as empowering or restricting as you choose to let it be. I also note that Katz says communalism, surely that should be communism *you americans and your hang ups!)*
Slashdot Mirror
Of the Sci-fi books on the list I enjoyed Tricia Sulivan's 'Maul' and 'Quicksilver' by Neal Stephenson (mind you putting this pook in Sci-Fi is stetching the genre definition quite some distance) . If you're a fan of Authur C Clarke you may enjoy Stephen Baxters work, the collection of short stories 'Vacuum Diagrams' is a good place to start.
I would argue that the N64's games as they currently stand outshine any other console on the market : Mario 64, Zelda, Mario Tennis, Lylat Wars, Golden Eye, Perfect Dark, Jet force Gemini (actually anything by Nintendo or Rare is pretty much guaranteed to shit on any competitors from a great height) I would argue that marketing and hype are more important than having decent games, this is certainly true of main stream succes most hardcoe gamers know what's good for them and steer clear of Sony t.
I dissagree with your lumping Europe in with the US market. European gamers are much more into football (soccer) games and Driving sims than their US counterparts and the relative lack of importance placed on FPS titles and complex RPGs.
It's a shame that you can't justify or support your beliefs in any way and act like violence is something for the casual ammusement of yourself and your equally dead brained freinds.
If you had any conviction in your totally objectionable beliefs you'd post under a registered name. Never has the anonymous *COWARD* tag been so apt.
t.
not all bad then :]
t.
"The whole point of a peer-to- peer system is that anyone can swap any file with anyone else - if BMG are going to restrict it to certain approved promo tracks, or run compensatory payment tracking for every file on the system (which'd be fun for bands who are signed to different labels in different territories), they might as well do it with a few industrial strength ftp-sites. And if they don't, they continue to run the risk of copyright actions from, ooh - off the top of our heads, every other record company in the world. And even if the Nap magically chases the *bad* files out of its walled garden, won't the action move to more staid (and more heartily defended) "Napster for workgroups" projects like .NET and Groove? BMG don't seem to have the faintest inkling of how intimately P2P and piracy are interlinked - but, hey, they're a major label, and therefore their job is to waste huge amounts of money on what the kids seem to like. Also, it'll be far funnier to watch, if the Napster/ BMG deal turns out less like AOL buying Netscape, and more like the Sex Pistols signing to EMI."
a palentologist friend of mine informs me that it is accepted thought, and has been among members of his discipline for at least as long as he's been studying it (5 years) not only based on metaboloism but on probably diet, balance and bone structure. t.
The speed of sound changes with air density - if the air density is zero (as in space) then the speed of sound is zero m/s, the air density is very thin high so the speed of sound will be very low. So if you quote this womans speed in mach numbers as she falls then she will start off at mach 1.5 and then slow down to about mach 0.5 (I seem to remember that people fall at about 200m/s through air close to the ground). In reality the actual speed change will probably be from about 250m/s to 200m/s.
I have a 486 for programing and comms stuff which works fine and I use my N64 to play Perfect Dark which is *so* much better than any PC FPS in one or multiplayer mode.
That's what a cache is, fast memory that keeps items that may be needed again in it there are constant improvements being made in the strategies by which a cache decides which things are going to be most usefull (which depends largely on what your using the machine for) There are other ways to speed up processors but seeing the article is about caches thats what it talks about.
In the UK it was sold in assembled form (but you could get it in kit form if you wanted to buy on and have something to do)
generally people would write their own assembler and then write in assembler code.
I agree the concept of loading linux onto a zx81 is pointless bordering on perverse the fact that there's a good reason why the zx81 has the OS that it does and that's because it has like 1k of memory and the only externals it has to deal with are a casetteplayer and a TV. I have Linux on my PC because It helps me get the most out of it Linux on a ZX81 would not be any kind of improvement, in fact I suspect it would be impossible unless you added extra hardware or were prepared to spend a lot of time forwarding and rewinding the tape machine.
I have to say that as a dedicated "thumb buster joypad user" I would love the interface on things like Asherons Call to be "dumbed down" the assumption that a game is somehow more complex because you can't play it without a keyboard is just plain wrong. When I'm playing a game I want to be a close to the character as possible and this requires as transparent a UI as possible, something which bloated PC RPG's haven't managed very often enough (I also hate screens and screens of stats can't we just have some nice graphical representation)
come on you're suggesting that they can't ban you from using their software but you can ban them from using the internet, bit of a double standard. The internet should be accessible to the broadest number of devices possible. Also you do have the right to use emulators (although I'm sure Sony, Sega and Nintendo) would try to argue otherwise you just don't have the right to steal software.
The system doesn't translate between languages Sonic Team have created a symbolic communication system so that you can easily say the most common things to members of your party i.e tactical discussion during battle, bartering for items etc. The system is limited but I played a beta about a month ago and it does the job superbly, much easier and quicker than typing on a standard PC online game and much less ambiguity about who is speaking and so forth.
Can he please never be on the front page again as he really fucking annoys me!
Just thought... Jive is still "independant" so you can still buy your Steps and Britney records with a clear concience ^_^.
I can't think of many labels off the top of my head that are still independent(i.e. not owned by or affiliated with one of the big 5) and release any decent music, If anyone can name any beyond this list : matador, bungalow, kitty yo, southern, rephlex, kranky, crypt, acid jazz um can't think of any more (I'm not even sure about matador)
Agreed, on a practical level these aren't considerations. But the intractability of certain problems is something I've come up against quite a few times since i've been writing software (especially in some searching and pattern matching). However esoteric these limitations may seem they are inherent in all the software we create.
yeah, but they do look like big light bulbs and they glow and get bloody hot.
The fact that software is, as you say, a universal macine simulator(note also simulator not emulator), puts some pretty strict limits on software i.e. only computable problems can be solved(Godels Incompleteness Thorem). Other problems will remain intractible because of the time complexity of the best algorithm which can solve them (factoring a number) untill the advent of practical quantum computing (I would imagine this is still some time away). I think more importantly though that the complexity of large scale systems is such that proving their reliability and correctness is an impossible task, you can fairly easily prove a bubblesort algorithm logically but doing the same for a program of a million lines is nigh on impossible unless you get a computer to do it quickly and then you have the problem of proving that computer, and all its software's correctness. I think the point about worship and the comparison with religion is often supported by posts on /.
I imagine the sumerians face would be pretty much a mixture of apoplexy and disgust.
First I have to say I don't believe tech culture is (generally speaking) selfish or narcisistic. Surely the massive successes gained through co-operation of the open source movement goes to prove this. Secondly, expecting a consistent ideology from people who have vastly differing socio-economic backgrounds is perhaps a little to much. Just because people use the same technology doesn't mean they should all be working towards the same goal. It's trite and obvious but technology is neutral and as empowering or restricting as you choose to let it be. I also note that Katz says communalism, surely that should be communism *you americans and your hang ups!)*