Okay, I'm stepping out on a limb here, but I think that they don't make sim-molestation games because the majority of the population finds it icky. I know there's anime that deals with it, but for the vast majority of people, child molestation and rape is a really nasty subject. Personally, even simulated molestation and rape would turn my stomach.
1) car 2) house 3) 4) utilities 5) monthly non-utilities (cell phone?) 6) insurance (car/health separate) 7) retirement
Anything that is eBilled monthly, I paperclip together, along with a post-it saying when they were eBilled (confirmation screen printout optional) and file it under 'Monthly'. Other bills I pay get placed sans paper clip in the 'Monthly' folder. Car/house bills/papers have their own folders, ordered by when they came in (ie, i always put them in front). Since 99% of my purchases are made via credit card, I have a receipts folder ordered by date and large purchases are noted with post-its. At time of purchase, I put the receipt in my wallet and when it gets too painful to sit on, I clean it out.
I keep all current folders in a bin under my desk, complete with built in bins for post-its and paper clips. When the folders (usually 'Receipts') start taking too much room, I move them to cardboard boxes in my storage room. I can find nearly any bill/receipt within minutes, it's all right next to where I spend most of my time (computer) and it doesn't get in my way or others' ways.
Caveat: I'm 25, single, no kids. My system may get overwhelmed by someone that could, say, actually benefit from a Palm Pilot's scheduler feature (if you have kids/wife/dog, you know what I mean).
Close...external HP-Writer, spring of 1996 (a year later than the filed patent) while working as an intern at a defense contractor in McLean, Va. I guarantee these things had been out before that, too.
You had 'discovered' a new way to store music...that being a small in size, digital way to store music. Prior to mp3, there was no way to store music digitally without taking up a lot of honking space. Remember, this is also before hard drives were sickly big (in 1996 when I started ripping to mp3, I had a 6 gig hard drive...and that was large).
Ogg is *nothing new*. It's different, not *new*. Until mp3 licensing fees start affecting Joe User, he's not going to care about different formats. MP3 is mainstream, Ogg isn't, and the audio quality difference matters about as much as the quality difference between mp3s and cds...that being none at all, except to the 1% of people that are self-proclaimed audiophiles.
Ogg is wonderful, sure, but your argument that it's equivalent to the mp3 revolution is lacking.
Technically, they're separate websites. In reality, they're typically set to the same thing. If you want to get technical, when you set up your DNS file, you are supposed to declare www as a CNAME of your domain (in this case, winamp.com). You don't have to...in fact, a lot of places don't. Try removing the www from some websites and note that they don't go anywhere...those are people that haven't set a resolution for their domain, only for www.domain.com.
I believe it became a 'standard' early in the web's (note: not the *Internet's* life, the web's life) life. I remember in high school (Thomas Jefferson HS for Sci/Tech, near Washington, D.C.), we had the first high school web server (hell, before most colleges) back in the early 90's, and it was http://thor.tjhsst.edu. We switched over around 1995 because www was more 'normal'. These days, people take it for granted.
Gotta disagree with you here. Most non-developers use way more Access that Oracle/SQL Server/Sybase/etc, because everyone has it on their machine (comes with Office). People who are requirements or test people at my work use it to tap into our Sybase database because it's easy to build queries visually. Bunch of data, need to crossreference, don't know Perl? Use Access. Business types use it a lot more than any other database.
While I don't typically defend MS, your analogy isn't accurate. Ford and MS are in completely different fields, offering completely different products. There's no chance for a customer mix up, therefore there's no valid complaint. On the other hand, MS and Lindows have competing products, and the name Lindows (MS argues) could be confusing when someone goes out to buy software. Take it from someone who did software distribution for a large university, and has a computer illiterate family...it can/will happen.
This doesn't mean Microsoft isn't a huge cock, just that they have a legitimate complaint.
A lot of this is surmised from the web cams that have been on set and available to Insider subscribers. I believe the rest is piece-mealed from interviews and people onset. The fact is, nobody is given a full script, including the actors, so nobody knows the full story, but you can piece a bunch of little clips together and figure out what the whole story is. There will also, more than likely (the first two had it), be a book that is released just slightly before the movie that follows the plot nearly perfectly. I read Episode I before seeing it, and although there were discontinuities between the two, it was close enough. Somehow, the author of that book has to write it, edit it and publish it in the next 1.5 years.
My point is, a lot of leaks probably aren't true, at least not 100%. But if 50% of the leaks are half right, you still get a basic idea of the plot line. Does Mace get stabbed, shot or poisoned? Who knows, but we all know he dies. Web cam shots of him practicing light saber battles with Anakin would lead you to believe he prolly dies at the hands of Anakin.
Uh, no... - Amidala assasination attempt - Separatists - Secret army - Jedi losing power of force sight - Realization that many Jedi are becoming too sure of themselves - *Another* fucking Sith Lord?! - Senate under influence by yet *ANOTHER* Sith Lord - More Jedi dying than ever before - War?
Dude, even the scenery was dark. Coruscant is a dark place, how many day scenes did you really see on the planet's surface? Tattoine, okay, it's a *desert*, it has to be bright. The cloners live on a planet perpetually experiencing a storm, so no light gets through. The droid factories were underground.
There was a single scene, the stupid "Sound of Music" scene that started the love story between the two. That's kinda an essential plot element, so I'm willing to let it slide. This was NOT a bright, happy, fluffy movie, though.
Somehow, I doubt that Natalie Portman with hot grits and naked is what we're likely to see...more than likely, it's pushing to envelope for gruesomeness and excessive fight scenes. In order to convince us that Anakin is essentially killed and "resurrected" as Vader, Lucas is going to burn him to death and make it damn vile.
not standard, but de facto standard, meaning that when you ask someone for a 'document', the vast majority are going to assume you mean an MS Office word/powerpoint/excel file.
standard MS Office document format - it changes with every major release
but, if I'm not mistaken, most if not all Office programs are backwards compatible...ie, 2000 can read 97's files and save to that format as well. It's called progress...everything from databases to programming languages to file formats goes through changes. I've actually been amazed how simple it is to upgrade from one version of Office to another, just open and Save and you have a new file in the new format.
--trb
Re:Um, never...
on
PC Annoyances
·
· Score: 2, Funny
A computer is a tool, nothing more, nothing less. I've got no emotional attachment to it whatsoever.
Hi, you must be new around here, welcome to Slashdot!
I'm assuming this ranking comes from the opinion of most non-video gaming adults about the undead...while it's a standard group to have in any video game (especially RPG), for most people it gives them "the willies". The idea that you actively play them and, to an extent, try to get them to do evil things is beyond most. I can still remember my grandmother not wanting me to play D&D because you could play as, essentially, a necromancer. Bad things.
Whether people hold religious beliefs or not, playing with deceased people is typically not a valid form of entertainment? Don't believe me? Ask your parents what they would think about playing a game as a demon that consumes its own kind for energy (I think I remembered that correctly). It's just kinda icky to most people.
PC/Console games have gotten pretty complicated, IMHO. I would suggest going back to older arcade games. Klax is awesome, Tetris is another that rocks.
If you really want to stick with console, go for Super Mario Brothers (NES), starting with the original...the linearity will make it easy for him to follow and get the hang of the controls. Since you have a Gamecube, a game that can be both mindless and complicated is Super Smash Bros. It's mindless because you CAN just button mash and the resulting graphics are pretty, but like any fighting game there are combos and special moves to find out about.
As far as the 4' tall stack of books, take the Jeff Foxworthy approach..."When I was growing up, we had a 300lb. television sitting on top of a TV tray. My father's thinking was 'Let him pull it over on himself once...he'll learn!'"
As you can tell, I'm *so* not ready to be a parent.
For dolts (like me) who had no clue what antimatter really is, I found this article over at Scientific American that gives a good overview and explains what exactly (and why) antimatter is. It's readable, too, to a non-physics geek.
Somewhat odd that now you can't buy a pack of 10 disks without 50% of them going bad within a week after purchase...There's something to be said for good, solid craftsmanship, even in the simplest devices.
Personally, it peaked with Starcraft for me. I'm just now replaying Brood Wars because I realized I had never finished it, and it's *still* a fun game, albeit a little rote.
My wish for an RTS game is the following: the build, collect, search, destroy algorithm would still hold true, but it could actually be expanded over multiple missions. In other words, when you built that command center in the first mission, it stuck around throughout the game. Resources would be harder to get, so that Carrier would actually MEAN something and you would want to protect it at all cost.
What RTS games come down to is you are playing a very small part in the very big picture, and the author's have a hard time establishing a believable storyline with only showing a single battle. Perhaps entire campaigns, where you zoom in on individual battles, or something would be more interesting.
So they have recorded lifespans of 100-200 years old? Isn't this just like humans?
But somewhat remarkably, it appears to never really stop growing. It's just very, very slow.
Isn't this ALSO just like humans? We typically 'increase diameter' as we enter middle age too, albeit from too much beer and chips. I'm not sure I give this study a lot of credibility using the word 'immortal'.
Kids will buy music no matter what, they aren't worried about that. However, as it's also the demographic that does the most downloading (let's face it, they're the biggest consumers), they're hoping to scare either the kids themselves or the parents of the kids into compliance.
The music will still be sold. Most kids won't take a political stand like we do and say "Don't buy me CDs, F* the RIAA". They don't care.
I suppose a 10% decline is quite steep, but considering the console itself isn't the money maker for the companies, aren't they still expecting huge profits? Consider...if each console owner purchases 1 game per year, with sales as they are you're talking about an increase of ~20 million games per year. This compounds each year of the consoles' "life" such that after 5 years worth of sales like this, you'd be expecting 100 million games sold per year, with a yearly increase in the number of sales. That seems like a decent profit margin.
Amen. My Discover Card gives me 1% back, which may not seem like a lot, but watch what happens when you pay your rent/mortgage on it...1% of ~$1500 is $15. Couple this with gas (~120 a month), groceries, consumer shopping and you have a hefty monthly amount. Also, when you defer payment for a month, you can direct deposit paychecks into a savings/money market account, earn the month's worth of interest and add more money to that savings. It's not a lot in comparison with your annual earnings, but it adds up after awhile...and remember what everyone has always told you about compound interest?
If it doesn't have stats and random encounters, it's not a real rpg.
Gonna have to disagree with you here. Ultima 4 was about the pinnacle of RPGs for me (thank you paying some homage to it later in your post). When you say "role playing game", I don't know how you can't think of Ultima 4...you had to literally become the Avatar in this game in order to succeed. I'm not saying it changed your personal philosophies or anything, but if there is any credit in the "violent games breed violent people" creed, Ultima 4 would passify even those people. Maybe I'm misinterpreting what you mean by random encounters, but you were able to run away from the encounters you could see in the overworld, so you weren't really forced into any fight.
On another note, Wizardry 8 is disappointing if you have played Wiz7. However, if you haven't played Wiz7, you may be surprised by the size of Wiz8. I had friends who got bored really quick because the game is kinda stagnant at the beginning. Good game tho, overall.
Blogs basically brought making a personal website into the mainstream so, just like everything else that turns mainstream, there's a lotta crap to sort through. There are a ton of informational blogs out there, and it can be like reading through the editorial page in the newspaper. You just have to sort through the masses to find the one gem.
On a personal note, I use my blog as a way to update people that i haven't seen in awhile to what I'm doing, current events, Christmas wishlists (at this time of year), and keep my links to my friends. For people without a lot of free time, or whose friends live across the country/world, it's useful. It's also a good place to display a resume and showcase one's talents, since I wrote my own blogging software.
Slashdot Mirror
Okay, I'm stepping out on a limb here, but I think that they don't make sim-molestation games because the majority of the population finds it icky. I know there's anime that deals with it, but for the vast majority of people, child molestation and rape is a really nasty subject. Personally, even simulated molestation and rape would turn my stomach.
--trb
I divide bills/papers up by category...
1) car
2) house
3)
4) utilities
5) monthly non-utilities (cell phone?)
6) insurance (car/health separate)
7) retirement
Anything that is eBilled monthly, I paperclip together, along with a post-it saying when they were eBilled (confirmation screen printout optional) and file it under 'Monthly'. Other bills I pay get placed sans paper clip in the 'Monthly' folder. Car/house bills/papers have their own folders, ordered by when they came in (ie, i always put them in front). Since 99% of my purchases are made via credit card, I have a receipts folder ordered by date and large purchases are noted with post-its. At time of purchase, I put the receipt in my wallet and when it gets too painful to sit on, I clean it out.
I keep all current folders in a bin under my desk, complete with built in bins for post-its and paper clips. When the folders (usually 'Receipts') start taking too much room, I move them to cardboard boxes in my storage room. I can find nearly any bill/receipt within minutes, it's all right next to where I spend most of my time (computer) and it doesn't get in my way or others' ways.
Caveat: I'm 25, single, no kids. My system may get overwhelmed by someone that could, say, actually benefit from a Palm Pilot's scheduler feature (if you have kids/wife/dog, you know what I mean).
--trb
Doesn't this lose a little meaning when not only have the movies come out, but 2/3 of them are on DVD?
--trb
Close...external HP-Writer, spring of 1996 (a year later than the filed patent) while working as an intern at a defense contractor in McLean, Va. I guarantee these things had been out before that, too.
--trb
You had 'discovered' a new way to store music...that being a small in size, digital way to store music. Prior to mp3, there was no way to store music digitally without taking up a lot of honking space. Remember, this is also before hard drives were sickly big (in 1996 when I started ripping to mp3, I had a 6 gig hard drive...and that was large).
Ogg is *nothing new*. It's different, not *new*. Until mp3 licensing fees start affecting Joe User, he's not going to care about different formats. MP3 is mainstream, Ogg isn't, and the audio quality difference matters about as much as the quality difference between mp3s and cds...that being none at all, except to the 1% of people that are self-proclaimed audiophiles.
Ogg is wonderful, sure, but your argument that it's equivalent to the mp3 revolution is lacking.
--trb
Technically, they're separate websites. In reality, they're typically set to the same thing. If you want to get technical, when you set up your DNS file, you are supposed to declare www as a CNAME of your domain (in this case, winamp.com). You don't have to...in fact, a lot of places don't. Try removing the www from some websites and note that they don't go anywhere...those are people that haven't set a resolution for their domain, only for www.domain.com.
I believe it became a 'standard' early in the web's (note: not the *Internet's* life, the web's life) life. I remember in high school (Thomas Jefferson HS for Sci/Tech, near Washington, D.C.), we had the first high school web server (hell, before most colleges) back in the early 90's, and it was http://thor.tjhsst.edu. We switched over around 1995 because www was more 'normal'. These days, people take it for granted.
--trb
Gotta disagree with you here. Most non-developers use way more Access that Oracle/SQL Server/Sybase/etc, because everyone has it on their machine (comes with Office). People who are requirements or test people at my work use it to tap into our Sybase database because it's easy to build queries visually. Bunch of data, need to crossreference, don't know Perl? Use Access. Business types use it a lot more than any other database.
--trb
While I don't typically defend MS, your analogy isn't accurate. Ford and MS are in completely different fields, offering completely different products. There's no chance for a customer mix up, therefore there's no valid complaint. On the other hand, MS and Lindows have competing products, and the name Lindows (MS argues) could be confusing when someone goes out to buy software. Take it from someone who did software distribution for a large university, and has a computer illiterate family...it can/will happen.
This doesn't mean Microsoft isn't a huge cock, just that they have a legitimate complaint.
--trb
A lot of this is surmised from the web cams that have been on set and available to Insider subscribers. I believe the rest is piece-mealed from interviews and people onset. The fact is, nobody is given a full script, including the actors, so nobody knows the full story, but you can piece a bunch of little clips together and figure out what the whole story is. There will also, more than likely (the first two had it), be a book that is released just slightly before the movie that follows the plot nearly perfectly. I read Episode I before seeing it, and although there were discontinuities between the two, it was close enough. Somehow, the author of that book has to write it, edit it and publish it in the next 1.5 years.
My point is, a lot of leaks probably aren't true, at least not 100%. But if 50% of the leaks are half right, you still get a basic idea of the plot line. Does Mace get stabbed, shot or poisoned? Who knows, but we all know he dies. Web cam shots of him practicing light saber battles with Anakin would lead you to believe he prolly dies at the hands of Anakin.
--trb
And remember how light and fluffy it was?
Uh, no...
- Amidala assasination attempt
- Separatists
- Secret army
- Jedi losing power of force sight
- Realization that many Jedi are becoming too sure of themselves
- *Another* fucking Sith Lord?!
- Senate under influence by yet *ANOTHER* Sith Lord
- More Jedi dying than ever before
- War?
Dude, even the scenery was dark. Coruscant is a dark place, how many day scenes did you really see on the planet's surface? Tattoine, okay, it's a *desert*, it has to be bright. The cloners live on a planet perpetually experiencing a storm, so no light gets through. The droid factories were underground.
There was a single scene, the stupid "Sound of Music" scene that started the love story between the two. That's kinda an essential plot element, so I'm willing to let it slide. This was NOT a bright, happy, fluffy movie, though.
--trb
Somehow, I doubt that Natalie Portman with hot grits and naked is what we're likely to see...more than likely, it's pushing to envelope for gruesomeness and excessive fight scenes. In order to convince us that Anakin is essentially killed and "resurrected" as Vader, Lucas is going to burn him to death and make it damn vile.
--trb
MS Office is NOT a standard format
not standard, but de facto standard, meaning that when you ask someone for a 'document', the vast majority are going to assume you mean an MS Office word/powerpoint/excel file.
standard MS Office document format - it changes with every major release
but, if I'm not mistaken, most if not all Office programs are backwards compatible...ie, 2000 can read 97's files and save to that format as well. It's called progress...everything from databases to programming languages to file formats goes through changes. I've actually been amazed how simple it is to upgrade from one version of Office to another, just open and Save and you have a new file in the new format.
--trb
A computer is a tool, nothing more, nothing less. I've got no emotional attachment to it whatsoever.
Hi, you must be new around here, welcome to Slashdot!
--trb
I'm assuming this ranking comes from the opinion of most non-video gaming adults about the undead...while it's a standard group to have in any video game (especially RPG), for most people it gives them "the willies". The idea that you actively play them and, to an extent, try to get them to do evil things is beyond most. I can still remember my grandmother not wanting me to play D&D because you could play as, essentially, a necromancer. Bad things.
Whether people hold religious beliefs or not, playing with deceased people is typically not a valid form of entertainment? Don't believe me? Ask your parents what they would think about playing a game as a demon that consumes its own kind for energy (I think I remembered that correctly). It's just kinda icky to most people.
--trb
PC/Console games have gotten pretty complicated, IMHO. I would suggest going back to older arcade games. Klax is awesome, Tetris is another that rocks.
If you really want to stick with console, go for Super Mario Brothers (NES), starting with the original...the linearity will make it easy for him to follow and get the hang of the controls. Since you have a Gamecube, a game that can be both mindless and complicated is Super Smash Bros. It's mindless because you CAN just button mash and the resulting graphics are pretty, but like any fighting game there are combos and special moves to find out about.
As far as the 4' tall stack of books, take the Jeff Foxworthy approach..."When I was growing up, we had a 300lb. television sitting on top of a TV tray. My father's thinking was 'Let him pull it over on himself once...he'll learn!'"
As you can tell, I'm *so* not ready to be a parent.
--trb
For dolts (like me) who had no clue what antimatter really is, I found this article over at Scientific American that gives a good overview and explains what exactly (and why) antimatter is. It's readable, too, to a non-physics geek.
--trb
Somewhat odd that now you can't buy a pack of 10 disks without 50% of them going bad within a week after purchase...There's something to be said for good, solid craftsmanship, even in the simplest devices.
--trb
Personally, it peaked with Starcraft for me. I'm just now replaying Brood Wars because I realized I had never finished it, and it's *still* a fun game, albeit a little rote.
My wish for an RTS game is the following: the build, collect, search, destroy algorithm would still hold true, but it could actually be expanded over multiple missions. In other words, when you built that command center in the first mission, it stuck around throughout the game. Resources would be harder to get, so that Carrier would actually MEAN something and you would want to protect it at all cost.
What RTS games come down to is you are playing a very small part in the very big picture, and the author's have a hard time establishing a believable storyline with only showing a single battle. Perhaps entire campaigns, where you zoom in on individual battles, or something would be more interesting.
--trb
So they have recorded lifespans of 100-200 years old? Isn't this just like humans?
But somewhat remarkably, it appears to never really stop growing. It's just very, very slow.
Isn't this ALSO just like humans? We typically 'increase diameter' as we enter middle age too, albeit from too much beer and chips. I'm not sure I give this study a lot of credibility using the word 'immortal'.
--trb
Kids will buy music no matter what, they aren't worried about that. However, as it's also the demographic that does the most downloading (let's face it, they're the biggest consumers), they're hoping to scare either the kids themselves or the parents of the kids into compliance.
The music will still be sold. Most kids won't take a political stand like we do and say "Don't buy me CDs, F* the RIAA". They don't care.
--trb
How about we start downloading Zeppelin, AC/DC and the Beatles instead, and perhaps they'll get the hint and produce some *good* music again?
--trb
I suppose a 10% decline is quite steep, but considering the console itself isn't the money maker for the companies, aren't they still expecting huge profits? Consider...if each console owner purchases 1 game per year, with sales as they are you're talking about an increase of ~20 million games per year. This compounds each year of the consoles' "life" such that after 5 years worth of sales like this, you'd be expecting 100 million games sold per year, with a yearly increase in the number of sales. That seems like a decent profit margin.
--trb
Amen. My Discover Card gives me 1% back, which may not seem like a lot, but watch what happens when you pay your rent/mortgage on it...1% of ~$1500 is $15. Couple this with gas (~120 a month), groceries, consumer shopping and you have a hefty monthly amount. Also, when you defer payment for a month, you can direct deposit paychecks into a savings/money market account, earn the month's worth of interest and add more money to that savings. It's not a lot in comparison with your annual earnings, but it adds up after awhile...and remember what everyone has always told you about compound interest?
--trb
If it doesn't have stats and random encounters, it's not a real rpg.
Gonna have to disagree with you here. Ultima 4 was about the pinnacle of RPGs for me (thank you paying some homage to it later in your post). When you say "role playing game", I don't know how you can't think of Ultima 4...you had to literally become the Avatar in this game in order to succeed. I'm not saying it changed your personal philosophies or anything, but if there is any credit in the "violent games breed violent people" creed, Ultima 4 would passify even those people. Maybe I'm misinterpreting what you mean by random encounters, but you were able to run away from the encounters you could see in the overworld, so you weren't really forced into any fight.
On another note, Wizardry 8 is disappointing if you have played Wiz7. However, if you haven't played Wiz7, you may be surprised by the size of Wiz8. I had friends who got bored really quick because the game is kinda stagnant at the beginning. Good game tho, overall.
--trb
Blogs basically brought making a personal website into the mainstream so, just like everything else that turns mainstream, there's a lotta crap to sort through. There are a ton of informational blogs out there, and it can be like reading through the editorial page in the newspaper. You just have to sort through the masses to find the one gem.
On a personal note, I use my blog as a way to update people that i haven't seen in awhile to what I'm doing, current events, Christmas wishlists (at this time of year), and keep my links to my friends. For people without a lot of free time, or whose friends live across the country/world, it's useful. It's also a good place to display a resume and showcase one's talents, since I wrote my own blogging software.
--trb