1. An RFP may not injure friendly forces, or, through inaction, allow a friendly forces to come to harm from enemy forces.
Somehow, I suspect that orders 1 and 2 would be flip flopped as far as current military goes. Or more importantly, the Zeroth Law (R. Daneel) would come into play (Go read the "Foundation" series or find some in the "I, Robot" series which talk about the Zeroth Law if you're clueless, or someone who feels up to it can type up an applicable translation, as the verbage fails me right now)
The concept behind the Zeroth Law though is that given the power of immortality, combined w/ R. Daneel's knowledge of the "future" (again, see the Foundation series to understand all of this much better), he must not take an action which would cause irreperable harm to the greater cause of society. That is how he was able to... nah, I won't ruin it, but let's say there was a First Law violation because of the Zeroth Law's supercedence.
The reasoning behind all of this is that sometimes you must kill a friendly in the name of national secrets. For example, say there was a 'spy', or commando, who was out doing work. Brass got word that he was going to get captured and probably tortured, but could not get word to him. In addition, they knew there would be no chance of escape. Just as these agents are taught to commit suicide, there is the possibility that a 'killer drone' would be sent out to terminate him before national secrets could be divulged. I think the scenario works better if he's already captured, and an RFP must take him out as he exists in say, a secluded base with strong defensees which would provide incredible risk for a large manned fighter but a small, manueverable RFP would be able to penetrate.
So that's what Asimov would say. Or perhaps the RFP would garner sentience and say it itself. Who knows. I'm just more scared about Skylab or whatever the AI thing in Terminator was called.
I wonder how this will affect Transmeta's IPO this morning. Typically the noon hours are light on trading, but if Compaq is pulling it, and IBM is delaying, will they reach the predicted $55/share that analysts are forecasting, or will they drop below the $18/$21 intro price?
I think it goes without saying that the Ultimate *Nix Systems Admin Handbook, heck, the Ultimate Systems Admin Handbook period, is the BOFH. (Also available here and here)
but isn't it a cheaper alternative to buy a few old 486's and let the engineers kids play with them?
The way I figure, the kids already have a disposition to electronics due to their environment, so give them a few flashing lights, a sharp object or two in the form of a screw driver, and you're set.
Oh, and don't say I'm being sexist. We all know the girls would get a kick out of playing with toner ribbons, or play "House" with Suzy Semiconducter and Phil Pentium (Ok, now you can say I'm being sexist).
Actually, something even worse to think is that when DirectX was released (waay back in the day), Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog on PC, along w/ Comix Zone and Ecco the Dolphin. Sounds like all they did was copy all 8 games they initially released w/ the DirectX launch, and copy to CD. Now, it may be just me, but does Sega really think there is a market for DirectX remakes of 1980's era games?
It is not hard to make an argument that they might lose sales in this situation when many of the classic game fans that might buy these titles can already easily download the games and play them via emulation.
The only problem I have with that argument, is it seems to be based on games which were not capitalizing on the prevalent social belief. For example, a game like Civilization - great game, but comparitively week now a days. However, it can (and has been) released in the sort of 'classic' form. However, a game like 'Little Mermaid Fun Studio' or 'CHiPS: Living on the edge' (or for an even better argument in the feminaziest modern day and age, a title like 'Barbie's Paint and Play') [note: I do not know if these games actually exist. They are mentioned for use as example], there is really no marketability.
So I suppose it's subjective to the game. There are certain genres (ie: simulation, adventure, fantasy) that would no doubt suceed with a little touch up work and repackaging. I mean, heck, I've seen old Atari games repackaged by Activision and sold for $40 for the bundle of 12 - but those were all games without significant social connections.
Personally, I think it would be better if games stopped trying to capitalize on the social trends, and instead focus on quality, not cross-marketeering. So many great games existed on the Nintendo because movie/media companies weren't willing to spend money to platformize a movie/show, although, when they did, they often did so so sparingly w/ the money that it resulted in really CRAPPY games.
But thanks for bringing up that good point that some games still have a market, but just remember that some games are doomed to be abandoned - hence the 'need' for sites that host Abandonware.
Let us hold a wake on Slashdot for the classic games which we will no longer be able to illegally obtain. Yes, dear readers, we shall all miss such classics as:
Sonic Spinball
Yo Noid!
Mario Picross
Remember, dear brethren, the legacy these games left before it is too late.
Seriously though, other than a few classic games (For me, 'classic' refers to the Mega Man series, but for some it may be the Zelda series, the Ultima series, and who knows what else), will these games be missed? From my understanding, it's not like there is money being taken, because the only money that the companies would make is from royalties, and you can't make royalties off games that aren't sold anymore (used games shop don't pay royalties). So how is theft occuring?
Or are they saying you are 'introducing' more 'copies' of a game then the market initially had, and thus the amount of money being lost is equal to the price of the game at market introduction? Sounds like that would be a pretty weak (and greedy) excuse.
that Greenspun should stick to managing our economy instead of managing our software engineers.......
Nah, in all seriousness, the article is interesting, but according to what I've heard, isn't middle management supposed to be heading down south? Then why an article on managing programmers in a journal like ArsDigita?
However, I did have some issues. For example, Greenspun implies that programmers are naturally arrogant, saying that either the bad programmer is so bad that he's unwilling to accept good ideas, and that the good programmer is so good that he assumes that his idea is the best. That seems to be a bit harsh on the programming community.
On the flip side, one of my favorite comments was the one that read: We thus proved the management adage that a deadline just gives someone an excuse to procrastinate and do nothing until the very end. .... So true, so true
Future News Article:
The small area of Phuket, located in the bustling country of Thailand, has seen it's GDP rise exponentially, due to the introduction of their latest service, Phuket Fun. Using Phuket Fun, security minded individuals can browse safely and anonymously, having their IP address completely masked.
Should a company or individual do a lookup on the idea, they will see that the user is coming from Phuket U. A new era in privacy has thus been issued in, with companies like Akamai and services like geoTrace being told what they should have been rightfully told when they suggested such services - to Phuket.
In all seriousness (which is rare for me), what would be the effect of using one of the many anonymous proxies out there which effectively mask your IP? Agreebly, these companies would have logs of your IP, but toss one of these companies into some off shore third world country (note: I simply used Phuket for the fun of the word), where the government can't control the people or the information, but thanks to grants/loans from places like the World Bank have been able to establish some form of information infrastructure, and you'd be safe! (And you'd also have a run-on sentance, but that is besides the point)
In either event, I'm more concerned about the IPv6 potential for damage/abuse/blatent violations of rights than I am about having someone figure out that I live in Georgia (even though a Neotrace lookup from multiple people repeatedly implies I am in sunny California - don't I wish). It seems like just another company had some peeved geek sarcasticly tell the marketering guy "Oh, you want your database to be done by eunichs?!? Yeah, sounds like a great idea. While you're at it, why don't I create a program to find out where internet l-users live. That's another really great idea."
Oh well, there's my two cents (Out of pity for having to endure my poor jokes).
Better for the environment, eh? So what, Tuxracer will soon sport a nice add "No penguins were (seriously) harmed in the production of this game"... Erf
Hrrm.. Learn something new every day... Although isn't the greater difficulty in loosing that '3D' look. Not necessarily the poly count, but that plasticine look that a large majority of photo-realistic 3D pictures seem to have. And I'm not talking about stuff like the blatently obvious Toy Story or Dinosaurs, but even the subtle 3D photos seem to have some sort of, I guess, spray on sheen or plastic look. It's like everything has some high amount of reflectivity, or there's always an all illuminating omni-light. Just my thoughts on 3D modeling at present.
It is going to be an organic, realtime multiplayer...
Am I missing something with this "organic" bit? How exactly can a computer game, a program run on a machine which is triggered by small electral impulses, be organic?
The only possible explanation of this is that the Media Monkeys behind Cyan/Headpsin have watched one too many commercials for Herbal Essences. Does this mean will seem some heavily anti-aliased busty blonde in our "gaming trade magazines", with the caption:
MUDPIE: It's a totally organic experience....... Just be careful, when you play with MUD, things get messy.
Rather humorous though, but please, someone explain this concept of organic computer games.
I think it's important to note your comment: Or at the very least, chess likers are nerds.
We need to learn that while chess likers may be nerds, that doesn't necessarily mean nerds are chess likers. That was the basis of my comment, because you don't see Slashdot covering articles on say, extreme sports (unless of course someone developed some new kayak which had a Linux-powered GPS system in it or was called "The Penguin";-)
Of course, hoping for diversity on Slashdot may be like hoping for the Slashcode to be written in ASP (Not that I hope such a horrid fate upon it, mind you). I was just sharing my two cents
Hear hear! I'm up for a game of that. I forgot about that. I think Calvinball, of all activities, would be the quintessential geek sport. Of course, it would require some coordination, and that goes against the stereotype, so even more so.
Re:Question about chess/players and alternate game
on
Kasparov King No More
·
· Score: 1
Indentially, I believe I saw an article two or three months ago talking about the Star Trek 3D chess. I think someone actually created the boards. I know the rules are outlined w/in the many Trekkie dictionaries (suprisingly). Personally, I'd like to see the Klingon sort of games. I mean, what guy wouldn't love to be given a really sharp weapon and be told to maim and mutilate the opponent in the name of sport? Footbal - fah.. It's for sissies who want pads >=)
that nerds (ie: news for nerds) like Chess... Are there no nerds in this modern age of social and digital revolution that like the extreme sports? Why are we still contained to such sports as Chess, Backgammon, and the like? Why haven't 'nerds' invented their own game, much like societies 'dating game' that is highly exclusive and highly competitive? Oh well, just my rant against society.
On a serious note though, did anyone read that last paragraph? If not, I'll summarize - "Well guys, we spent millions in goverment funding, and came up with some pretty cool shizz. The only downside is, uh, it really doesn't have practical application! But hey, who cares, we've got the media giving us attention".
So this is just yet another technology that has about the technological impact on computers that Aibo had on personal pets, and everyones up in arms talking about how now the new revolution in computers is upon us. Yeah, it's great to know, but we've got a LONG way to go before this will have practical application.
Company Term = Geek Term
"Home PC" = One bad Quake Machine
"Home Internet Connection" = 50 ms ping on a T1
"Cell Phone" = Wireless Porn (I don't have the Wired article to link to, my bad)
"Handheld PC" = Fun toy to entertain the Dumb Masses... Ever control a Windows 2000 server from one of those things? Cooool shizz man...
So lemme get this straight, you are suggest you combine:
Children + Sugar = Hyper
Then Hyper + Open Source....
Oh boy, there goes the neighborhood... Next thing you know, KDE will be sporting a lovely new "aKtive DEsktop" or worse yet, be renaming itself KDE.NET.
On the other hand, this may explain the latest Red Hat release....
"Gee folks, we here at Red Hat are really sorry about all those darned bugs in our latest release. What can I say, other than we here learned that our maximum limit is 43 snickers and 3 boxes of Ju Ju Be's"
Slashdot Mirror
1. An RFP may not injure friendly forces, or, through inaction, allow a friendly forces to come to harm from enemy forces.
Somehow, I suspect that orders 1 and 2 would be flip flopped as far as current military goes. Or more importantly, the Zeroth Law (R. Daneel) would come into play (Go read the "Foundation" series or find some in the "I, Robot" series which talk about the Zeroth Law if you're clueless, or someone who feels up to it can type up an applicable translation, as the verbage fails me right now)
The concept behind the Zeroth Law though is that given the power of immortality, combined w/ R. Daneel's knowledge of the "future" (again, see the Foundation series to understand all of this much better), he must not take an action which would cause irreperable harm to the greater cause of society. That is how he was able to... nah, I won't ruin it, but let's say there was a First Law violation because of the Zeroth Law's supercedence.
The reasoning behind all of this is that sometimes you must kill a friendly in the name of national secrets. For example, say there was a 'spy', or commando, who was out doing work. Brass got word that he was going to get captured and probably tortured, but could not get word to him. In addition, they knew there would be no chance of escape. Just as these agents are taught to commit suicide, there is the possibility that a 'killer drone' would be sent out to terminate him before national secrets could be divulged. I think the scenario works better if he's already captured, and an RFP must take him out as he exists in say, a secluded base with strong defensees which would provide incredible risk for a large manned fighter but a small, manueverable RFP would be able to penetrate.
So that's what Asimov would say. Or perhaps the RFP would garner sentience and say it itself. Who knows. I'm just more scared about Skylab or whatever the AI thing in Terminator was called.
I wonder how this will affect Transmeta's IPO this morning. Typically the noon hours are light on trading, but if Compaq is pulling it, and IBM is delaying, will they reach the predicted $55/share that analysts are forecasting, or will they drop below the $18/$21 intro price?
I think it goes without saying that the Ultimate *Nix Systems Admin Handbook, heck, the Ultimate Systems Admin Handbook period, is the BOFH. (Also available here and here)
I think all of us can relate
I tell ya.. Slashdot says something Pro-Microsoft, the Internet will crash tomorrow at election day, and the US Government gives it's employees a raise.. Oh, did I mention that pigs have flown?
Now all we need is for the Transmeta IPO
But that goes against the cardinal rule of "Big Media" - Money is to be taken, not given
I can just imagine it now... One last chance to exchange barbs between Gore and Bush...
Gore: Well, I 'invented' the Internet
Bush(not knowing his mic is on):Yeah, and you also crashed it.
but isn't it a cheaper alternative to buy a few old 486's and let the engineers kids play with them?
The way I figure, the kids already have a disposition to electronics due to their environment, so give them a few flashing lights, a sharp object or two in the form of a screw driver, and you're set.
Oh, and don't say I'm being sexist. We all know the girls would get a kick out of playing with toner ribbons, or play "House" with Suzy Semiconducter and Phil Pentium (Ok, now you can say I'm being sexist).
hehehe..
Billco -
Actually, something even worse to think is that when DirectX was released (waay back in the day), Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog on PC, along w/ Comix Zone and Ecco the Dolphin. Sounds like all they did was copy all 8 games they initially released w/ the DirectX launch, and copy to CD. Now, it may be just me, but does Sega really think there is a market for DirectX remakes of 1980's era games?
It is not hard to make an argument that they might lose sales in this situation when many of the classic game fans that might buy these titles can already easily download the games and play them via emulation.
The only problem I have with that argument, is it seems to be based on games which were not capitalizing on the prevalent social belief. For example, a game like Civilization - great game, but comparitively week now a days. However, it can (and has been) released in the sort of 'classic' form. However, a game like 'Little Mermaid Fun Studio' or 'CHiPS: Living on the edge' (or for an even better argument in the feminaziest modern day and age, a title like 'Barbie's Paint and Play') [note: I do not know if these games actually exist. They are mentioned for use as example], there is really no marketability.
So I suppose it's subjective to the game. There are certain genres (ie: simulation, adventure, fantasy) that would no doubt suceed with a little touch up work and repackaging. I mean, heck, I've seen old Atari games repackaged by Activision and sold for $40 for the bundle of 12 - but those were all games without significant social connections.
Personally, I think it would be better if games stopped trying to capitalize on the social trends, and instead focus on quality, not cross-marketeering. So many great games existed on the Nintendo because movie/media companies weren't willing to spend money to platformize a movie/show, although, when they did, they often did so so sparingly w/ the money that it resulted in really CRAPPY games.
But thanks for bringing up that good point that some games still have a market, but just remember that some games are doomed to be abandoned - hence the 'need' for sites that host Abandonware.
Remember, dear brethren, the legacy these games left before it is too late.
Seriously though, other than a few classic games (For me, 'classic' refers to the Mega Man series, but for some it may be the Zelda series, the Ultima series, and who knows what else), will these games be missed? From my understanding, it's not like there is money being taken, because the only money that the companies would make is from royalties, and you can't make royalties off games that aren't sold anymore (used games shop don't pay royalties). So how is theft occuring?
Or are they saying you are 'introducing' more 'copies' of a game then the market initially had, and thus the amount of money being lost is equal to the price of the game at market introduction? Sounds like that would be a pretty weak (and greedy) excuse.
that Greenspun should stick to managing our economy instead of managing our software engineers.......
.... So true, so true
Nah, in all seriousness, the article is interesting, but according to what I've heard, isn't middle management supposed to be heading down south? Then why an article on managing programmers in a journal like ArsDigita?
However, I did have some issues. For example, Greenspun implies that programmers are naturally arrogant, saying that either the bad programmer is so bad that he's unwilling to accept good ideas, and that the good programmer is so good that he assumes that his idea is the best. That seems to be a bit harsh on the programming community.
On the flip side, one of my favorite comments was the one that read:
We thus proved the management adage that a deadline just gives someone an excuse to procrastinate and do nothing until the very end.
Future News Article:
The small area of Phuket, located in the bustling country of Thailand, has seen it's GDP rise exponentially, due to the introduction of their latest service, Phuket Fun. Using Phuket Fun, security minded individuals can browse safely and anonymously, having their IP address completely masked.
Should a company or individual do a lookup on the idea, they will see that the user is coming from Phuket U. A new era in privacy has thus been issued in, with companies like Akamai and services like geoTrace being told what they should have been rightfully told when they suggested such services - to Phuket.
In all seriousness (which is rare for me), what would be the effect of using one of the many anonymous proxies out there which effectively mask your IP? Agreebly, these companies would have logs of your IP, but toss one of these companies into some off shore third world country (note: I simply used Phuket for the fun of the word), where the government can't control the people or the information, but thanks to grants/loans from places like the World Bank have been able to establish some form of information infrastructure, and you'd be safe! (And you'd also have a run-on sentance, but that is besides the point)
In either event, I'm more concerned about the IPv6 potential for damage/abuse/blatent violations of rights than I am about having someone figure out that I live in Georgia (even though a Neotrace lookup from multiple people repeatedly implies I am in sunny California - don't I wish). It seems like just another company had some peeved geek sarcasticly tell the marketering guy "Oh, you want your database to be done by eunichs?!? Yeah, sounds like a great idea. While you're at it, why don't I create a program to find out where internet l-users live. That's another really great idea."
Oh well, there's my two cents (Out of pity for having to endure my poor jokes).
You mean to actually imply that the Homecoming Queen nominees are not sluts? Hrrm, not so for my school
I wonder...
Is all that we think or seem but a Meme within a Meme?
Better for the environment, eh? So what, Tuxracer will soon sport a nice add "No penguins were (seriously) harmed in the production of this game"... Erf
Hrrm.. Learn something new every day... Although isn't the greater difficulty in loosing that '3D' look. Not necessarily the poly count, but that plasticine look that a large majority of photo-realistic 3D pictures seem to have. And I'm not talking about stuff like the blatently obvious Toy Story or Dinosaurs, but even the subtle 3D photos seem to have some sort of, I guess, spray on sheen or plastic look. It's like everything has some high amount of reflectivity, or there's always an all illuminating omni-light. Just my thoughts on 3D modeling at present.
It is going to be an organic, realtime multiplayer ...
Am I missing something with this "organic" bit? How exactly can a computer game, a program run on a machine which is triggered by small electral impulses, be organic?
The only possible explanation of this is that the Media Monkeys behind Cyan/Headpsin have watched one too many commercials for Herbal Essences. Does this mean will seem some heavily anti-aliased busty blonde in our "gaming trade magazines", with the caption:
MUDPIE: It's a totally organic experience....... Just be careful, when you play with MUD, things get messy.
Rather humorous though, but please, someone explain this concept of organic computer games.
I think it's important to note your comment:
;-)
Or at the very least, chess likers are nerds.
We need to learn that while chess likers may be nerds, that doesn't necessarily mean nerds are chess likers. That was the basis of my comment, because you don't see Slashdot covering articles on say, extreme sports (unless of course someone developed some new kayak which had a Linux-powered GPS system in it or was called "The Penguin"
Of course, hoping for diversity on Slashdot may be like hoping for the Slashcode to be written in ASP (Not that I hope such a horrid fate upon it, mind you). I was just sharing my two cents
Hear hear! I'm up for a game of that. I forgot about that. I think Calvinball, of all activities, would be the quintessential geek sport. Of course, it would require some coordination, and that goes against the stereotype, so even more so.
Indentially, I believe I saw an article two or three months ago talking about the Star Trek 3D chess. I think someone actually created the boards. I know the rules are outlined w/in the many Trekkie dictionaries (suprisingly). Personally, I'd like to see the Klingon sort of games. I mean, what guy wouldn't love to be given a really sharp weapon and be told to maim and mutilate the opponent in the name of sport? Footbal - fah.. It's for sissies who want pads >=)
that nerds (ie: news for nerds) like Chess... Are there no nerds in this modern age of social and digital revolution that like the extreme sports? Why are we still contained to such sports as Chess, Backgammon, and the like? Why haven't 'nerds' invented their own game, much like societies 'dating game' that is highly exclusive and highly competitive? Oh well, just my rant against society.
I do believe Nature gets the "award" that "Dr. Evil" introduced to "us" with over-using "quotes".
'nano-computer' 'by-hand' 'self assembly' 'control'
On a serious note though, did anyone read that last paragraph? If not, I'll summarize - "Well guys, we spent millions in goverment funding, and came up with some pretty cool shizz. The only downside is, uh, it really doesn't have practical application! But hey, who cares, we've got the media giving us attention".
So this is just yet another technology that has about the technological impact on computers that Aibo had on personal pets, and everyones up in arms talking about how now the new revolution in computers is upon us. Yeah, it's great to know, but we've got a LONG way to go before this will have practical application.
Not really, lets look at thethe perks
Company Term = Geek Term "Home PC" = One bad Quake Machine "Home Internet Connection" = 50 ms ping on a T1 "Cell Phone" = Wireless Porn (I don't have the Wired article to link to, my bad) "Handheld PC" = Fun toy to entertain the Dumb Masses... Ever control a Windows 2000 server from one of those things? Cooool shizz man...
Next you're going to tell me that these people want to actually be PAID for their work, instead of getting stock options....
I swear.. people are just too greedy now a days...
So lemme get this straight, you are suggest you combine:
Children + Sugar = Hyper Then Hyper + Open Source....
Oh boy, there goes the neighborhood... Next thing you know, KDE will be sporting a lovely new "aKtive DEsktop" or worse yet, be renaming itself KDE.NET.
On the other hand, this may explain the latest Red Hat release....
"Gee folks, we here at Red Hat are really sorry about all those darned bugs in our latest release. What can I say, other than we here learned that our maximum limit is 43 snickers and 3 boxes of Ju Ju Be's"