Inflation is one thing, and real. But how do you measure inflation? Inflation is measured most commonly by consumer price index(CPI). In CPI, the cost of a bundle of goods at a retail store is used to caculate inflation. It doesn't consider what people buy today, or new products. As such its highly dependent on the goods selected and how much of each good is to be purchased. CPI is what is commonly used in "inflation" calculators.
My point was that the kinds of expenses in a budget aren't usually in such a measure of inflation, and that historical data on the subject can be quite flawed.
Basically. Some might tell you that experimental is closer to an add on pack that you have to jump through hoops to install. These hoops are there for a reason: a lot of people run unstable and wouldn't be happy to see some important library changed out from underneath them with only one accommodating package. Thats the kind of experimental they mean. Its suggested that first time uploads be placed in experimental if you're not sure it will actually work on a given system. Debian has several systems available to developers to test things on for basic operation.
But really, the release cycle is a dependent on a couple of things: the number of submitted bugs in a package and the number of platforms debian runs on. Seems like with every release Debian picks up more architectures. If you're running PPC or SPARC it sounds like a nice deal, but many people looking for a i386 desktop solution see the consequential slow release cycle and shudder. But I'd rather not restart X into a crash screen, so I don't try to run the experimental XFree. I've run into problems with upgrades to GNOME on unstable--moving from 1.4 to 2.x originally didn't have any migration rules so your old.gnome conf files would knock gnome out. But overall its been pretty solid, most of the developers run unstable on their desktop, enough that in the past, freezing unstable until certain conditions were met was considered a motivator. Maybe if there was a push for developers toward testing as the preferred branch and unstable for new but known to be broken in certain cases, stable might closer reflect today's software and unstable might actually be up to date.
I've been using debian for about a year now, and its pretty fun. I just upgraded X and it took a whopping 10 minutes. The difference isn't very noticable to me. The changelog has lots of bugfixes concerning DRI that probably have kept it in experimental for so long. Seems like basically the most critical apps have a longer testing pipeline to run through into stable. Usually it takes 10 days in unstable to become a candidate for "testing." "Stable" hasn't moved in a long while because there's been some longstanding bugs between certain popular packages. Maybe QA is something underappreciated on a volunteer based distribution, but I like being able to look at a specific package's bug list.
Unless international warfare is in your bundle of goods used to normalize inflation, it hardly seems appropriate to model budgets from decades to a century ago in today's inflation adjusted dollars.
"I think it was a matter of form factor. I think it was the lack of third-party support. I think it was the way the market shifted toward an older audience," says video-games analyst, John Taylor, of Arcadia Investment Corp. "All of those things combined to hold GameCube back."
Or maybe it was largely because consumers had already spent three hundred dollars on one system a year ago, didn't feel that any particular title demanded they empty their wallets when it came out, and felt they already had a comparable system thanks to the gaming media's need to pidgeonhole gaming systems into "generations" when clearly the term has been pointless ever since polygon based gaming took hold of the market. At the most precursory level, the sony playstation had a 32bit processor and the n64 had a 64. Fortunately for the media these two seperate and unique beasts wind up performing about the same, plus or minus the developer's raw technical ability. But what generation does the dreamcast belong to? The PS2 came out two years later and the visual quality between the two is often difficult to percieve.
What really matters, and nintendo has recognized, is time to market. Be the guy who defines the "generation" and make waves, either through temporary scarcity resulting in mere containers for the system being sold at 299 or by building a system backwards compatible with its predecessor. The president of Nintendo has stated they have learned this much. SNES had a huge run because it came out with a large number of cool games early on. The n64 had two, and 8 by christmas. The gamecube had 2 and 4 by christmas. It seems nintendo has realized they can't produce quality flagship software in time enough for launch. They may soon be taking the Sony approach of putting the hardware out there early, flooding the media with atmospheric trailers, releasing a demo disc attached to a shitty game and then releasing the goods a year later. For all we know, Mario 128 is exactly that.
Or maybe Nintendo will really bank heavily on the quirky game design via toys like gameboy DS or whatever.
When Nintendo dismisses internet play as unworkable in the near term, what most internet nerds don't get is that Nintendo was investigating networking on their hardware before they or sony knew what a fucking console was. The Bandai Satellite offered downloadable information, and RANDnet is a fully bidirectional connection. They've tried their hands at making subscription services worthwhile, and didn't see a way to make it work, even within the population dense Japan.
If you compare the populace interested in Nintendo games against the kind of person who would like distant and anonymous online game playing, the intersection isn't really big enough. I'd rather be playing Four Swords with my buddies, sans latency, really.
Most Linux distos include a blanket warning statement that says "THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS" and basically they claim no fitness for any particular task. While that portion of the contract may be invalid, a buyer looking for a particular fitness seems to be without a market. Its not like this is a Linux or a Open Source phenomenon; you have to look long and hard to find any commercial system with a guarentee. (Progeny, perhaps?)
What his article comes down to is trust, or the expectation of trust. He brings up Debian's downtimes, but its not like Microsoft's update system hasn't encountered its own share of troubles. I mean, why does anyone trust SkyOS? Should I trust it more than a open source kernel? Why do I trust Microsoft to Get It Right(tm)?
This might be because the next Zelda slated for release is the Four Swords for cube, which is a new Zelda designed around multiplayer. And if the reports that it won't require a GBA are true, that will go on my purchase list!
All I gotta say is, why were you looking for games without a "may cause seizures" warning if you had no expectation that they would cause harm to your son?
Well basically, video games are not for epileptics. Most (if not all) publishers place a blanket warning that it could cause seizures. I highly doubt that anyone without one has gone through any sort of testing to claim that seizures won't happen while playing -- its a dangerous scenario period.
While you should have known better, only your barrister or lawyer can tell you who will pay your medical bills. Duh.
There's a difference between compiled for 686 and optimized for 686. If your software is compiled for 686, there's a good chance that once in a while you'll run into an invalid instruction and the program will halt. If its optimized, I'm told that it may mean more work for a processor not 686 based but I'm not familiar with these platform independent optimizations.
That said, there's plenty to be gained indeed from newer hardware. MMX, sse, sse2 can all be used quite well in mpeg decoding, and general bit blitting. I recall reading about a 16 instuction matrix multiply routine in a Hugi magazine not too long ago, so the extra opcodes can help if present and your compiler knows how to use them effectively.
But there's certainly plenty to be gained from compiling one's own kernel and libraries.
Well I wouldn't say we practiced "Xtreme programming" aka Agile somethingorother, but I did program in pairs for a while. It really isn't that bad of a deal. The trick is to lay out a basic skeleton first, so you know where you're going. Agile techniques aren't a replacement for good design. It's a method to see your design fail faster, therefore costing less.
I'm all for it. The typical slashdotter probably wouldn't be though. But bear in mind that many of the slashdot crowd are IT professionals, a single occupation within a greater sphere that has seen significant job losses. The sad reality of computers these days is that if you want to do something with computers, the best way to get a job is to know something about what you're doing with them.. I believe this was said by Joel of JoelOnSoftware or some such semiluminary.
Well, as a physician, you've got some specialized knowledge that will come in handy from time to time. I'm sure you've heard plenty about biotech. I've seen some of these DNA "computers" and chips, and it seems very wasteful. Grow specimen, extract and treat dna, splash on a grid with transverse dna's and call it a computation. Then record the data and throw it away. This is just one example of the biotech oddities that seperate the field from your average HTTP server. There's all sorts of places to work. Merck, Eli Lilly, etc. Having a MD with some working knowledge of computer programming will get you further than having a degree in computer programming and a working knowledge of human physiology.
Your best bet is to start writing programs for yourself, and maybe design a few gui tools to put on top of them. Basically build a working portfolio that demonstrates you can write in perl, SQL or whatever, then apply. Or maybe you will find that a few of your own programs are marketable to your friends. I hear many doctors enjoy PDAs and related software. If your a general practicioner, you might try thinking about what sort of software would make your practice faster, more reliable or more cost effective. By all means, read up on HIPAA and the sorts of laws regulating how software should treat patient data. Maybe buy a pda and a wireless reciever and learn how to interface software from the pda to a database over the wireless in a safe, secure manner.
Learning to program is not that difficult. Some languages make it more obscure than others, and some languages are built for more specific domains than others, but here at KSU we only really have three "how to program" type classes of varying difficulty before you begin to learn how to specify WHAT you should program, be it a database, an operating system or a 3d renderer.
Maybe you should be offended that it implies that "Western" cultures are full of people who are argumentitive, subversive and prone to waste time questioning decisions.
I'd imagine you'd take offense at this, even though it fits your post to a tee.
Really, by the time a position makes it to advertising in common places, it IS a lottery. Joel is lucky in that he's not HR full time for a large firm advertising in high visibility areas. A good rule of thumb in these scenarios is that they'll spend about 30 seconds looking at your application/resume/cover letter. Often applications for a position number in the thousands,so there's good reason for it. As you point out, the people screening these teaming masses may not understand speciific aspects of the job themselves. A resume and cover letters are tools to get an interview. You want to demonstrate that you can communicate quickly and be crystal clear.
The requirements thing is iffy. Some things you can get away with waving away, either because nobody has the specific skill set or because you show elsewhere that you have quickly picked up skills in the past and still can. Other requirements, like interviewing in NYC, aren't likely to be waived, and maybe even asking for them to be is ample justification for roundfiling. This is of course assuming the skillset wasn't tailored to the guy the hiring manager has in mind but has to jump through corporate hoops to hire. Often solicitation for applications is occuring while they begin interviewing candidates from within the company and from employee recommendations.
You're right though, in a way. Just because you've won the lottery doesn't mean you should be prepared to kowtow. If you've won the lottery, there's an expectation that you are in demand. One time in an interview I was asked if I had any other outstanding job offers or interviews. I wasn't sure whether to be offended, to tell the truth or lie. On one hand, telling them you have a job offer may serve as reinforcing their opinion, but on the other it may serve as an excuse to find someone else, who is less likely to jump to a competitor, having been introduced to the market and trained on their dime.
The real lesson here is networking. Toastmasters is a concept that has grown beyond its means, but there's plenty of other ways to find connected friends. Attend Linux User Groups if that's your bag. Keep in touch with college friends and remind them from time to time if you're looking for breadmoney. People on the inside of a job opening have a HUGE advantage; applying before the masses do with the endorsement of a current employee almost makes interviews formalities.
They are the most litigious in the realm of emulation and ROMs but they also have the most to lose. Sony's playstation hardly has a history to build on (note that sony has also pursued emulators to court, something that Nintendo hasn't if I recall correctly). Microsoft hasn't had any problems since they have no history at all. Emulation cuts into remarketing concepts and games already built.
That Nintendo just won't let us have games for free is sucky, but their entire empire was built on survival. Their refusal to enter the CD realm was partially based on a lack of expertise, and a lack of expensive facilities. Sony already had plenty of CD based factories, but Nintendo was still in the chip market. CD piracy was of course another consideration, one that ultimately came back to bite Sony in the butt as personal cd burners came to market.
Sega has probably been the most emu friendly, but thats not exactly an endorsement. As I recall, they settled their suit against a popular Genesis emulation by building Sega PC Sonic fun packs that are built on the author's emulation technology. And then the saturn has just been too rare (and large) and unheard of for emulation, let alone market exploitation. Though Sega has been releasing some other games for GBA as a sega classics, and the sonic mega collection on gamecube.
So no illusions, just know that Nintendo works with the strategy that's worked for them -- conservative decisions. They spend a good deal of R&D money, but they do exercise caution in what they release, and how they move. Of the Big 3, Nintendo has the smallest bankroll. On the other hand they're also the most game dedicated. They're the least likely to pull out if things are looking down. At some point Microsoft's due dilligence will have to examine the XBox situation (at which point heads would roll if they hadn't already all left the company (interesting sign)).
Basically, shitty hardware in, shitty results out. We have an eMachines at home that suits most needs but will tank when bittorrent exceeds a certain number of active connections. Result is a blue screen. All I can really do is tell bittorrent to be conservative, which naturally impedes performance.
If the hardware is bad, most operating systems don't let programs know it. The role of an operating system is to present a uniform interface and manage multiple processes. That's where hardware fixes must rely if its even possible to write a software fix. Some problems, like fault-prone RAM, are nearly impossible to handle, even in the all knowing kernelspace. I wonder how much of "windows instability" was indirectly related to PC vendors skimping on commodity parts.
Building a PC from scratch isn't easy to do right. A strong analogy for building a PC is building a motor vehicle from parts. You can pick out a nice frame and body from a junkyard, but the real important part is what's inside and how well it all works together. Customizing the system to a specific use does require some insight, which the author had some of by way of guide, but was missing on-site expertise. The mythTV guide on prerequisites has a somewhat detailed discussion on the topic. If you want to build a customized system as a project, do so. But if what you really want is a customized system done by somebody else, it will cost you, both in price and flexibility. Duh.
In real world systems, internet secure voting protocols are indeed on another level of existance. They require that the person who cast the vote is who they say they are, while at the same time needing to ensure that nobody can figure out who the person casting the vote is. A difficult bag indeed.
Day of Defeat has done a good job with the sniper rifles. The sniper class is only as valuable as their shoddy pistol while on the move, but painful when in position.
Its very balanced, and you can see a wide diversity of player classes at the top. There's several reasons for this. Firstly, the game is about taking ground, not holding it. Snipers are good at closing off routes, not at capturing flag points. Secondly, machine gunners often fit better. They can keep down a whole squad, while the best a sniper can do is scare a squad off and maybe reduce the infantry movement to a trickle. Third, there really aren't any choke off points. It might take two or three campers to hold a position in place, which will really start to eat into offensive progress.
Really, there's always a counter to a camper in the game. A squad of infantry can clear out a sniper by force. A single infantry can clear out a sniper with a grenade. A single sniper can put the hurt on a machine gunner. A machine gunner can ream infantry as well, but a well placed grenade will doom one.
Unfortunately, DoD can be really hard to get adjusted to; its very easy to become a casualty. The author of the article claims that being shot with a sniper rifle can't kill you, but even if thats true, you certainly won't be moving much. Personally, I like playing as your basic grunt and sniping with that. Just lying down on the ground and crawling gives you plenty of accuracy boost.
Ah, but child, you forget that the network port is actually faster than your precious disc drive. There's already a couple of builds out there that hijack an online game and place in a small boot loader that operates over said network. FWIW, most of the piratey bootloaders are too slow and buggy, the "Streaming" of the image across the network isn't fast enough or low latency enough. A demo coder group has released an incredibly faster bootloader, however it doesn't support bootloading a lot of data, intentionally. They don't wish to condone or support piracy.
Sadly, none of these bootloaders are open source or GPL'd.
I'm no expert in electromagnetic interference, but if cell phones can cause cancer, then a electromagnetic would probably be dangerous enough to give the doorman a brain tumor the size of your average human head =)
Slashdot Mirror
Inflation is one thing, and real. But how do you measure inflation? Inflation is measured most commonly by consumer price index(CPI). In CPI, the cost of a bundle of goods at a retail store is used to caculate inflation. It doesn't consider what people buy today, or new products. As such its highly dependent on the goods selected and how much of each good is to be purchased. CPI is what is commonly used in "inflation" calculators.
My point was that the kinds of expenses in a budget aren't usually in such a measure of inflation, and that historical data on the subject can be quite flawed.
Basically. Some might tell you that experimental is closer to an add on pack that you have to jump through hoops to install. These hoops are there for a reason: a lot of people run unstable and wouldn't be happy to see some important library changed out from underneath them with only one accommodating package. Thats the kind of experimental they mean. Its suggested that first time uploads be placed in experimental if you're not sure it will actually work on a given system. Debian has several systems available to developers to test things on for basic operation.
.gnome conf files would knock gnome out. But overall its been pretty solid, most of the developers run unstable on their desktop, enough that in the past, freezing unstable until certain conditions were met was considered a motivator. Maybe if there was a push for developers toward testing as the preferred branch and unstable for new but known to be broken in certain cases, stable might closer reflect today's software and unstable might actually be up to date.
But really, the release cycle is a dependent on a couple of things: the number of submitted bugs in a package and the number of platforms debian runs on. Seems like with every release Debian picks up more architectures. If you're running PPC or SPARC it sounds like a nice deal, but many people looking for a i386 desktop solution see the consequential slow release cycle and shudder. But I'd rather not restart X into a crash screen, so I don't try to run the experimental XFree. I've run into problems with upgrades to GNOME on unstable--moving from 1.4 to 2.x originally didn't have any migration rules so your old
I've been using debian for about a year now, and its pretty fun. I just upgraded X and it took a whopping 10 minutes. The difference isn't very noticable to me. The changelog has lots of bugfixes concerning DRI that probably have kept it in experimental for so long. Seems like basically the most critical apps have a longer testing pipeline to run through into stable. Usually it takes 10 days in unstable to become a candidate for "testing." "Stable" hasn't moved in a long while because there's been some longstanding bugs between certain popular packages. Maybe QA is something underappreciated on a volunteer based distribution, but I like being able to look at a specific package's bug list.
Unless international warfare is in your bundle of goods used to normalize inflation, it hardly seems appropriate to model budgets from decades to a century ago in today's inflation adjusted dollars.
"I think it was a matter of form factor. I think it was the lack of third-party support. I think it was the way the market shifted toward an older audience," says video-games analyst, John Taylor, of Arcadia Investment Corp. "All of those things combined to hold GameCube back."
Or maybe it was largely because consumers had already spent three hundred dollars on one system a year ago, didn't feel that any particular title demanded they empty their wallets when it came out, and felt they already had a comparable system thanks to the gaming media's need to pidgeonhole gaming systems into "generations" when clearly the term has been pointless ever since polygon based gaming took hold of the market. At the most precursory level, the sony playstation had a 32bit processor and the n64 had a 64. Fortunately for the media these two seperate and unique beasts wind up performing about the same, plus or minus the developer's raw technical ability.
But what generation does the dreamcast belong to? The PS2 came out two years later and the visual quality between the two is often difficult to percieve.
What really matters, and nintendo has recognized, is time to market. Be the guy who defines the "generation" and make waves, either through temporary scarcity resulting in mere containers for the system being sold at 299 or by building a system backwards compatible with its predecessor. The president of Nintendo has stated they have learned this much. SNES had a huge run because it came out with a large number of cool games early on. The n64 had two, and 8 by christmas. The gamecube had 2 and 4 by christmas. It seems nintendo has realized they can't produce quality flagship software in time enough for launch. They may soon be taking the Sony approach of putting the hardware out there early, flooding the media with atmospheric trailers, releasing a demo disc attached to a shitty game and then releasing the goods a year later. For all we know, Mario 128 is exactly that.
Or maybe Nintendo will really bank heavily on the quirky game design via toys like gameboy DS or whatever.
Discover has taken care of that, even before Knoppix got on top of that. You can thank Progeny for that.
When Nintendo dismisses internet play as unworkable in the near term, what most internet nerds don't get is that Nintendo was investigating networking on their hardware before they or sony knew what a fucking console was. The Bandai Satellite offered downloadable information, and RANDnet is a fully bidirectional connection. They've tried their hands at making subscription services worthwhile, and didn't see a way to make it work, even within the population dense Japan.
If you compare the populace interested in Nintendo games against the kind of person who would like distant and anonymous online game playing, the intersection isn't really big enough. I'd rather be playing Four Swords with my buddies, sans latency, really.
Most Linux distos include a blanket warning statement that says "THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS" and basically they claim no fitness for any particular task. While that portion of the contract may be invalid, a buyer looking for a particular fitness seems to be without a market. Its not like this is a Linux or a Open Source phenomenon; you have to look long and hard to find any commercial system with a guarentee. (Progeny, perhaps?)
What his article comes down to is trust, or the expectation of trust. He brings up Debian's downtimes, but its not like Microsoft's update system hasn't encountered its own share of troubles. I mean, why does anyone trust SkyOS? Should I trust it more than a open source kernel? Why do I trust Microsoft to Get It Right(tm)?
This might be because the next Zelda slated for release is the Four Swords for cube, which is a new Zelda designed around multiplayer. And if the reports that it won't require a GBA are true, that will go on my purchase list!
All I gotta say is, why were you looking for games without a "may cause seizures" warning if you had no expectation that they would cause harm to your son?
Well basically, video games are not for epileptics. Most (if not all) publishers place a blanket warning that it could cause seizures. I highly doubt that anyone without one has gone through any sort of testing to claim that seizures won't happen while playing -- its a dangerous scenario period.
While you should have known better, only your barrister or lawyer can tell you who will pay your medical bills. Duh.
Everyone but the company who's stock was sold for extra resources...
There's a difference between compiled for 686 and optimized for 686. If your software is compiled for 686, there's a good chance that once in a while you'll run into an invalid instruction and the program will halt. If its optimized, I'm told that it may mean more work for a processor not 686 based but I'm not familiar with these platform independent optimizations.
That said, there's plenty to be gained indeed from newer hardware. MMX, sse, sse2 can all be used quite well in mpeg decoding, and general bit blitting. I recall reading about a 16 instuction matrix multiply routine in a Hugi magazine not too long ago, so the extra opcodes can help if present and your compiler knows how to use them effectively.
But there's certainly plenty to be gained from compiling one's own kernel and libraries.
Kansas State University.
Well I wouldn't say we practiced "Xtreme programming" aka Agile somethingorother, but I did program in pairs for a while. It really isn't that bad of a deal. The trick is to lay out a basic skeleton first, so you know where you're going. Agile techniques aren't a replacement for good design. It's a method to see your design fail faster, therefore costing less.
I'm all for it. The typical slashdotter probably wouldn't be though. But bear in mind that many of the slashdot crowd are IT professionals, a single occupation within a greater sphere that has seen significant job losses. The sad reality of computers these days is that if you want to do something with computers, the best way to get a job is to know something about what you're doing with them.. I believe this was said by Joel of JoelOnSoftware or some such semiluminary.
Well, as a physician, you've got some specialized knowledge that will come in handy from time to time. I'm sure you've heard plenty about biotech. I've seen some of these DNA "computers" and chips, and it seems very wasteful. Grow specimen, extract and treat dna, splash on a grid with transverse dna's and call it a computation. Then record the data and throw it away. This is just one example of the biotech oddities that seperate the field from your average HTTP server. There's all sorts of places to work. Merck, Eli Lilly, etc. Having a MD with some working knowledge of computer programming will get you further than having a degree in computer programming and a working knowledge of human physiology.
Your best bet is to start writing programs for yourself, and maybe design a few gui tools to put on top of them. Basically build a working portfolio that demonstrates you can write in perl, SQL or whatever, then apply. Or maybe you will find that a few of your own programs are marketable to your friends. I hear many doctors enjoy PDAs and related software. If your a general practicioner, you might try thinking about what sort of software would make your practice faster, more reliable or more cost effective. By all means, read up on HIPAA and the sorts of laws regulating how software should treat patient data. Maybe buy a pda and a wireless reciever and learn how to interface software from the pda to a database over the wireless in a safe, secure manner.
Learning to program is not that difficult. Some languages make it more obscure than others, and some languages are built for more specific domains than others, but here at KSU we only really have three "how to program" type classes of varying difficulty before you begin to learn how to specify WHAT you should program, be it a database, an operating system or a 3d renderer.
Maybe you should be offended that it implies that "Western" cultures are full of people who are argumentitive, subversive and prone to waste time questioning decisions.
I'd imagine you'd take offense at this, even though it fits your post to a tee.
Really, by the time a position makes it to advertising in common places, it IS a lottery. Joel is lucky in that he's not HR full time for a large firm advertising in high visibility areas. A good rule of thumb in these scenarios is that they'll spend about 30 seconds looking at your application/resume/cover letter. Often applications for a position number in the thousands,so there's good reason for it. As you point out, the people screening these teaming masses may not understand speciific aspects of the job themselves. A resume and cover letters are tools to get an interview. You want to demonstrate that you can communicate quickly and be crystal clear.
The requirements thing is iffy. Some things you can get away with waving away, either because nobody has the specific skill set or because you show elsewhere that you have quickly picked up skills in the past and still can. Other requirements, like interviewing in NYC, aren't likely to be waived, and maybe even asking for them to be is ample justification for roundfiling. This is of course assuming the skillset wasn't tailored to the guy the hiring manager has in mind but has to jump through corporate hoops to hire. Often solicitation for applications is occuring while they begin interviewing candidates from within the company and from employee recommendations.
You're right though, in a way. Just because you've won the lottery doesn't mean you should be prepared to kowtow. If you've won the lottery, there's an expectation that you are in demand. One time in an interview I was asked if I had any other outstanding job offers or interviews. I wasn't sure whether to be offended, to tell the truth or lie. On one hand, telling them you have a job offer may serve as reinforcing their opinion, but on the other it may serve as an excuse to find someone else, who is less likely to jump to a competitor, having been introduced to the market and trained on their dime.
The real lesson here is networking. Toastmasters is a concept that has grown beyond its means, but there's plenty of other ways to find connected friends. Attend Linux User Groups if that's your bag. Keep in touch with college friends and remind them from time to time if you're looking for breadmoney. People on the inside of a job opening have a HUGE advantage; applying before the masses do with the endorsement of a current employee almost makes interviews formalities.
They are the most litigious in the realm of emulation and ROMs but they also have the most to lose. Sony's playstation hardly has a history to build on (note that sony has also pursued emulators to court, something that Nintendo hasn't if I recall correctly). Microsoft hasn't had any problems since they have no history at all. Emulation cuts into remarketing concepts and games already built.
That Nintendo just won't let us have games for free is sucky, but their entire empire was built on survival. Their refusal to enter the CD realm was partially based on a lack of expertise, and a lack of expensive facilities. Sony already had plenty of CD based factories, but Nintendo was still in the chip market. CD piracy was of course another consideration, one that ultimately came back to bite Sony in the butt as personal cd burners came to market.
Sega has probably been the most emu friendly, but thats not exactly an endorsement. As I recall, they settled their suit against a popular Genesis emulation by building Sega PC Sonic fun packs that are built on the author's emulation technology. And then the saturn has just been too rare (and large) and unheard of for emulation, let alone market exploitation. Though Sega has been releasing some other games for GBA as a sega classics, and the sonic mega collection on gamecube.
So no illusions, just know that Nintendo works with the strategy that's worked for them -- conservative decisions. They spend a good deal of R&D money, but they do exercise caution in what they release, and how they move. Of the Big 3, Nintendo has the smallest bankroll. On the other hand they're also the most game dedicated. They're the least likely to pull out if things are looking down. At some point Microsoft's due dilligence will have to examine the XBox situation (at which point heads would roll if they hadn't already all left the company (interesting sign)).
Basically, shitty hardware in, shitty results out. We have an eMachines at home that suits most needs but will tank when bittorrent exceeds a certain number of active connections. Result is a blue screen. All I can really do is tell bittorrent to be conservative, which naturally impedes performance.
If the hardware is bad, most operating systems don't let programs know it. The role of an operating system is to present a uniform interface and manage multiple processes. That's where hardware fixes must rely if its even possible to write a software fix. Some problems, like fault-prone RAM, are nearly impossible to handle, even in the all knowing kernelspace. I wonder how much of "windows instability" was indirectly related to PC vendors skimping on commodity parts.
Building a PC from scratch isn't easy to do right. A strong analogy for building a PC is building a motor vehicle from parts. You can pick out a nice frame and body from a junkyard, but the real important part is what's inside and how well it all works together. Customizing the system to a specific use does require some insight, which the author had some of by way of guide, but was missing on-site expertise. The mythTV guide on prerequisites has a somewhat detailed discussion on the topic. If you want to build a customized system as a project, do so. But if what you really want is a customized system done by somebody else, it will cost you, both in price and flexibility. Duh.
In real world systems, internet secure voting protocols are indeed on another level of existance. They require that the person who cast the vote is who they say they are, while at the same time needing to ensure that nobody can figure out who the person casting the vote is. A difficult bag indeed.
Silicon dioxide is also known as "sand." Sorry, I'll try to keep the technical terms to a minimum =).
Even worse -- if you run a fridge, you could be in a heap of heat.
Day of Defeat has done a good job with the sniper rifles. The sniper class is only as valuable as their shoddy pistol while on the move, but painful when in position.
Its very balanced, and you can see a wide diversity of player classes at the top. There's several reasons for this. Firstly, the game is about taking ground, not holding it. Snipers are good at closing off routes, not at capturing flag points. Secondly, machine gunners often fit better. They can keep down a whole squad, while the best a sniper can do is scare a squad off and maybe reduce the infantry movement to a trickle. Third, there really aren't any choke off points. It might take two or three campers to hold a position in place, which will really start to eat into offensive progress.
Really, there's always a counter to a camper in the game. A squad of infantry can clear out a sniper by force. A single infantry can clear out a sniper with a grenade. A single sniper can put the hurt on a machine gunner. A machine gunner can ream infantry as well, but a well placed grenade will doom one.
Unfortunately, DoD can be really hard to get adjusted to; its very easy to become a casualty. The author of the article claims that being shot with a sniper rifle can't kill you, but even if thats true, you certainly won't be moving much. Personally, I like playing as your basic grunt and sniping with that. Just lying down on the ground and crawling gives you plenty of accuracy boost.
Ah, but child, you forget that the network port is actually faster than your precious disc drive. There's already a couple of builds out there that hijack an online game and place in a small boot loader that operates over said network. FWIW, most of the piratey bootloaders are too slow and buggy, the "Streaming" of the image across the network isn't fast enough or low latency enough. A demo coder group has released an incredibly faster bootloader, however it doesn't support bootloading a lot of data, intentionally. They don't wish to condone or support piracy.
Sadly, none of these bootloaders are open source or GPL'd.
I'm no expert in electromagnetic interference, but if cell phones can cause cancer, then a electromagnetic would probably be dangerous enough to give the doorman a brain tumor the size of your average human head =)