for me this is the first *real* use of the Internet in a meaningful way
For me the whole "Dean as Internet candidate" thing pretty much confirmed what I already knew about the people using the Internet.
Most of us are fervent ideologues who will write pages and pages and pages of blogs for/against our cause de cour, will clog the bandwidth with our incessant ranting on subject after subject in forums and chatrooms, and will violently flame anyone who DOESN'T find such behavior appealing as a pathetic ignoramus. However, when we actually have to leave our computer, get our fat bums OUT of our chair, and go outside (potentially in SUNLIGHT, and probably dealing with REAL PEOPLE (face to face!)) and take a half hour to go vote, we can't be bothered. Surprise, Mr. Dean, Iowa illustrated that you are supported by financially secure democracy-poseurs.
Internet voting? I say no, thank you very much. I prefer my democracy run by people who may or may not "give a shit" compared to your average blogger, but who WILL get off their ass and go vote (giant busloads of seniors, migrant laborers, and others voting because of a free meal or other inducement are NOT included in this!).
...but please: if you are seriously saying that playing violent video games and seeing a constant barrage of simulated violence DOESN'T have a behavioral effect on people, then someone should tell companies that every penny they are spending on advertising doesn't work.
If they are spending million$ on showing you a lifestyle or a fashion or a behavior that will lead you to buy their product, they must have some justification?
So is it inconceivable that a similar series of totally negative images and behaviors would have a negative effect on kids?
Maybe he could invent a New Kind of Server, one that doesn't get whacked when mentioned on/. It's not down, but it's gasping.
And, someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but is it genius to put a gigantic 1192 page tome on the web and NOT make it a downloadable pdf, but to insist that people BROWSE it online?
(still waiting for my registration reply, maybe it'll be downloadable in there?)
Spamming is not only irritating, it's pointless. Who is paying these people to spam us? Are people actually buying penis enlarging pills and patches, herbal viagra, mortgage refinancing, credit repair kits, or any of that stuff? Enough to put millions of dollars a month into the hands of career spammers?
SHH!! If people paying for these things start looking carefully to see if they actually get a return on their investment, all sort of lunacy may follow: - Companies may start asking: Let's see, I spend $1 million on making the ad, and another $1 million for a 30-second spot on the superbowl - did I really get $2 million more PROFIT (not sales) that I wouldn't have gotten anyway without it? - Producers might realize that there are hundreds and thousands of extremely talented actors willing to work for salaries many orders of magnitude less than big Hollywood stars, are we really getting that many more people walking into a movie BECAUSE it's starring the Governator or Julia Roberts? - Sports franchises might wonder why they are paying $40 million in salaries for 5 guys to play basketball to (if you take out the advertising revenue, above) sell 15,000 seats that are probably worth about $15 each in net profit - that's a measly $225,000 per soldout game. 100 games later, they've paid for about half the team. - People might start wondering why they are paying $8 to go to a movie, or $100 for an event (concert/sport) ticket, when there are about 10,000 other things better that they could do with their lives.
I too think it's GREAT that we have multiple players competing for achievement in space: China, Russia, Europe, USA, even Japan.
Good luck to all - we'll see you up there. Because humans always seem to do better when they are racing each other. Yes, sometimes it brings out the worst in people, but usually it brings out the best.
The space station, which could have been truly great, ended up being something classically accomplished by committee... A lot of concessions and compromises have kept the space station from realizing it's potential.
Making it a perfect counterpart to the similarly-designed shuttle.
They both suck.
Write them both off and spend the money on a space elevator.
principle of government procurement: why buy one when you can buy two at twice the price
I'd mod this -1, ignorant. Generally with advanced projects like this the cost is hardly 1=N, 2=2N. The first one might cost a ton, but the second one, being a simple duplication of parts and methods developed for the first, is far, far cheaper (sometimes as much as an order of magnitude).
But hey, who am I to stand in the way of a pointless swipe at The Government?
NASA should send actually people up-diddly-up instead of drones, just because (1) there would be volunteers and (2) they would strike the public's imagination and generate sympathy for that kind of research, which in turn would turn into funding... ...until someone inevitably gets blown to smithereens, and then millions of people for whom life itself is too much of a challenge will post on popular internet technology sites about how dangerous it is, how unnecessary the risk, and how that money would be better spent on feeding the hungry here on Planet Earth.
...technicians are preparing to wipe Spirit's flash memory clean of science and engineering files...
Science and Engineering files indeed.
In an update to the story, the RIAA has decided to develop and send a battlefleet to Mars, on a tip that no-good-pirate types were resorting to OFF PLANET storage of illegally-downloaded mp3's.
Think that's depressing? Daily high temps at both landing sites (0 deg C) exceed the forecasted daily highs here (Northern MN, USA) by a dozen degrees or more.
Unfortunately, here such temps are no big deal. Why am I living here again?:)
^^^ What Marsala said (except about Far Cry). I'd very, very highly recommend the Radiant editor, if only because it's very mature, very stable, and really seems designed to offer the designer flexible and fast tools for most tasks. Once you're over the learning curve, it's really smooth to use.
I'd only add that the only way you are going to 'get anywhere' in terms of walking into this industry is to have exceptional skill and a list of things you've already done that are outstanding.
There are umpteen bazillion college and highschool students out there wallowing in free time, much of it they use to develop levels, mods, textures, etc. for their favorite games. Every popular game out there has at least a half-dozen total conversions and countless modifications, scenarios, and levels. You need to have a portfolio of at LEAST a half-dozen major works (fully completed and playable levels) or a TC project to get listened to. These have to be popular and widely known for you to get more than that - which means that unless you are incredibly lucky, it'll be a lot more than a half-dozen levels you design to get 6 that are worth presenting.
Basically, like everything else in life, there are no shortcuts. You have to do your time one way or another.
Oh, yeah, and many African countries can't use them, since the EU has blackmailed them into similarly refusing GM or have their agri products blackballed.
Thousands of/. posters solve all the world's problems in a few snide lines of comment, despite rarely leaving their little veal-fattening pens or even RTFA. Fixing a software glitch a few million miles away is child's play in THIS neighborhood, my friend.
...and then/. will hate him like a holy Jihad, with every other story a lefthanded rant about how Google sucks, and how the world of mindless sheep computer users just don't properly appreciate the open-source alternatives (which are JUST AS GOOD even though they're: a) not as stable b) hell to install)
That, I feel, is one of the reasons that made (makes?) us the good side.
I'll agree with you 100% there. That we feel pain about doing it, no matter the necessity, is, ironically, a good thing.
I just really get tired of the people who post from some utopian na-na land who can't be made to see that there is sometimes a necessity to doing something that is abhorrent. Sorry to have lumped you in there.
Yes, go to the red v blue page, there are bitorrent links for the whole first season, haven't checked season 2 yet.
Re:Militarisation of space - one option
on
The Future of NASA
·
· Score: 1
...just because the US is powerful right now doesn't mean it should have total rights to everything it finds in space. I mean, by that logic the US itself would still be part of France and Britain.
Hello? We WOULD be part of France and Britain if we hadn't bought our way out of one (because it was locked in a conflict and needed money) and fought our way free of the other. So it's a triumph of the two evils that so many people here on/. seem to abhor: capitalism (anything is for sale) and militarism.
Although I suppose if Jimmy Carter or Jesse Jackson had been around, they could have 'negotiated' us free with George III and 'mediated' us the Louisiana Territory. Yeah, right.
America, the rest of the world is praying that you wake up and dump Bush this year...
So let me see if I understand you. Of the 300 million people that live and work daily under the policies and programs of the Bush Administration, at least 50% current approve of what he's doing. These people must all be stupid and/or tools of biased conservative media (I can barely write that phrase with a straight face), while you, the enlightened foreigner (who necessarily must rely on remote feed news services) is not only somehow getting the untainted truth but ALSO insightful enough to be able to tell US that this fellow's a scoundrel?
Wow, I wish I were as conceited, err, as lucky as you.
Re:Technology is inherently bad
on
The Future of NASA
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money can not be eaten. I'm only going to start worrying when we run out of environmentalists and ketchup.
Slashdot Mirror
for me this is the first *real* use of the Internet in a meaningful way
For me the whole "Dean as Internet candidate" thing pretty much confirmed what I already knew about the people using the Internet.
Most of us are fervent ideologues who will write pages and pages and pages of blogs for/against our cause de cour, will clog the bandwidth with our incessant ranting on subject after subject in forums and chatrooms, and will violently flame anyone who DOESN'T find such behavior appealing as a pathetic ignoramus.
However, when we actually have to leave our computer, get our fat bums OUT of our chair, and go outside (potentially in SUNLIGHT, and probably dealing with REAL PEOPLE (face to face!)) and take a half hour to go vote, we can't be bothered. Surprise, Mr. Dean, Iowa illustrated that you are supported by financially secure democracy-poseurs.
Internet voting? I say no, thank you very much. I prefer my democracy run by people who may or may not "give a shit" compared to your average blogger, but who WILL get off their ass and go vote (giant busloads of seniors, migrant laborers, and others voting because of a free meal or other inducement are NOT included in this!).
...but please: if you are seriously saying that playing violent video games and seeing a constant barrage of simulated violence DOESN'T have a behavioral effect on people, then someone should tell companies that every penny they are spending on advertising doesn't work.
If they are spending million$ on showing you a lifestyle or a fashion or a behavior that will lead you to buy their product, they must have some justification?
So is it inconceivable that a similar series of totally negative images and behaviors would have a negative effect on kids?
Dude, your ideas may have merit, but you lose credibility when you credit them to Mr. Moore:
l
http://www.hardylaw.net/Truth_About_Bowling.htm
Maybe he could invent a New Kind of Server, one that doesn't get whacked when mentioned on /.
It's not down, but it's gasping.
And, someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but is it genius to put a gigantic 1192 page tome on the web and NOT make it a downloadable pdf, but to insist that people BROWSE it online?
(still waiting for my registration reply, maybe it'll be downloadable in there?)
I give the now-obligatory but wholly sincere greetings to our new teeny tiny robotic overlords.
Spamming is not only irritating, it's pointless. Who is paying these people to spam us? Are people actually buying penis enlarging pills and patches, herbal viagra, mortgage refinancing, credit repair kits, or any of that stuff? Enough to put millions of dollars a month into the hands of career spammers?
SHH!! If people paying for these things start looking carefully to see if they actually get a return on their investment, all sort of lunacy may follow:
- Companies may start asking: Let's see, I spend $1 million on making the ad, and another $1 million for a 30-second spot on the superbowl - did I really get $2 million more PROFIT (not sales) that I wouldn't have gotten anyway without it?
- Producers might realize that there are hundreds and thousands of extremely talented actors willing to work for salaries many orders of magnitude less than big Hollywood stars, are we really getting that many more people walking into a movie BECAUSE it's starring the Governator or Julia Roberts?
- Sports franchises might wonder why they are paying $40 million in salaries for 5 guys to play basketball to (if you take out the advertising revenue, above) sell 15,000 seats that are probably worth about $15 each in net profit - that's a measly $225,000 per soldout game. 100 games later, they've paid for about half the team.
- People might start wondering why they are paying $8 to go to a movie, or $100 for an event (concert/sport) ticket, when there are about 10,000 other things better that they could do with their lives.
That's crazy talk, man.
I too think it's GREAT that we have multiple players competing for achievement in space: China, Russia, Europe, USA, even Japan.
Good luck to all - we'll see you up there. Because humans always seem to do better when they are racing each other. Yes, sometimes it brings out the worst in people, but usually it brings out the best.
Per Astra, As Astra!
The space station, which could have been truly great, ended up being something classically accomplished by committee ... A lot of concessions and compromises have kept the space station from realizing it's potential.
Making it a perfect counterpart to the similarly-designed shuttle.
They both suck.
Write them both off and spend the money on a space elevator.
Actually, I'd believe the poster was going for a "+1 Funny" quoting yet another movie.
:`(
I guess that makes me -1, Ignorant.
Working on opposite sides of the red planet
No fooling, they are like 1 minute away from being precisely on opposite longitudes.
Nice aim, at that distance.
principle of government procurement: why buy one when you can buy two at twice the price
I'd mod this -1, ignorant.
Generally with advanced projects like this the cost is hardly 1=N, 2=2N.
The first one might cost a ton, but the second one, being a simple duplication of parts and methods developed for the first, is far, far cheaper (sometimes as much as an order of magnitude).
But hey, who am I to stand in the way of a pointless swipe at The Government?
NASA should send actually people up-diddly-up instead of drones, just because (1) there would be volunteers and (2) they would strike the public's imagination and generate sympathy for that kind of research, which in turn would turn into funding...
...until someone inevitably gets blown to smithereens, and then millions of people for whom life itself is too much of a challenge will post on popular internet technology sites about how dangerous it is, how unnecessary the risk, and how that money would be better spent on feeding the hungry here on Planet Earth.
...technicians are preparing to wipe Spirit's flash memory clean of science and engineering files...
Science and Engineering files indeed.
In an update to the story, the RIAA has decided to develop and send a battlefleet to Mars, on a tip that no-good-pirate types were resorting to OFF PLANET storage of illegally-downloaded mp3's.
Think that's depressing? Daily high temps at both landing sites (0 deg C) exceed the forecasted daily highs here (Northern MN, USA) by a dozen degrees or more.
:)
Unfortunately, here such temps are no big deal.
Why am I living here again?
...the manual explains in great detail but very rough spelling and grammar...
And how this is different from any of the recent manuals I've read, again?
At least with Chaucer's manual, eventually, you WOULD understand what the fsck you were doing, which is more than can be said for some tech writings.
^^^ What Marsala said (except about Far Cry).
I'd very, very highly recommend the Radiant editor, if only because it's very mature, very stable, and really seems designed to offer the designer flexible and fast tools for most tasks. Once you're over the learning curve, it's really smooth to use.
I'd only add that the only way you are going to 'get anywhere' in terms of walking into this industry is to have exceptional skill and a list of things you've already done that are outstanding.
There are umpteen bazillion college and highschool students out there wallowing in free time, much of it they use to develop levels, mods, textures, etc. for their favorite games. Every popular game out there has at least a half-dozen total conversions and countless modifications, scenarios, and levels. You need to have a portfolio of at LEAST a half-dozen major works (fully completed and playable levels) or a TC project to get listened to. These have to be popular and widely known for you to get more than that - which means that unless you are incredibly lucky, it'll be a lot more than a half-dozen levels you design to get 6 that are worth presenting.
Basically, like everything else in life, there are no shortcuts. You have to do your time one way or another.
Since GM bioproducts are forbidden for use there.
Oh, yeah, and many African countries can't use them, since the EU has blackmailed them into similarly refusing GM or have their agri products blackballed.
Sorry!
Bigboo-tay!
How hard is that, really?
/. posters solve all the world's problems in a few snide lines of comment, despite rarely leaving their little veal-fattening pens or even RTFA. Fixing a software glitch a few million miles away is child's play in THIS neighborhood, my friend.
Thousands of
...and then /. will hate him like a holy Jihad, with every other story a lefthanded rant about how Google sucks, and how the world of mindless sheep computer users just don't properly appreciate the open-source alternatives (which are JUST AS GOOD even though they're:
a) not as stable
b) hell to install)
Can I be modded +1, Prophetic?
So you're saying my brain is running Windows?
It would explain a lot, but this whole "we are Microsoft" thing has just gone too far.
That, I feel, is one of the reasons that made (makes?) us the good side.
I'll agree with you 100% there. That we feel pain about doing it, no matter the necessity, is, ironically, a good thing.
I just really get tired of the people who post from some utopian na-na land who can't be made to see that there is sometimes a necessity to doing something that is abhorrent. Sorry to have lumped you in there.
Yes, go to the red v blue page, there are bitorrent links for the whole first season, haven't checked season 2 yet.
...just because the US is powerful right now doesn't mean it should have total rights to everything it finds in space. I mean, by that logic the US itself would still be part of France and Britain.
/. seem to abhor: capitalism (anything is for sale) and militarism.
Hello? We WOULD be part of France and Britain if we hadn't bought our way out of one (because it was locked in a conflict and needed money) and fought our way free of the other. So it's a triumph of the two evils that so many people here on
Although I suppose if Jimmy Carter or Jesse Jackson had been around, they could have 'negotiated' us free with George III and 'mediated' us the Louisiana Territory. Yeah, right.
America, the rest of the world is praying that you wake up and dump Bush this year...
So let me see if I understand you. Of the 300 million people that live and work daily under the policies and programs of the Bush Administration, at least 50% current approve of what he's doing. These people must all be stupid and/or tools of biased conservative media (I can barely write that phrase with a straight face), while you, the enlightened foreigner (who necessarily must rely on remote feed news services) is not only somehow getting the untainted truth but ALSO insightful enough to be able to tell US that this fellow's a scoundrel?
Wow, I wish I were as conceited, err, as lucky as you.
Only after the last tree has been cut down,
only after the last river has been poisoned,
only after the last fish has been caught,
only then will you find that money can not be eaten.
I'm only going to start worrying when we run out of environmentalists and ketchup.