Gearing Up For a Gaming Session posted at 12/07/2006 10:09 PM PST
9 Thumbs I know I always have my usual ritual I go through before I sit down for a gaming session. Be it 1 hour or 15, I need to be prepared. It wasn't till I started hanging around more gamers, that I noticed EVERYONE has their own checklist they run through before the console is powered up. I will let you in on my ritual, and maybe you can share yours as well...
1. Food - Snacks are a MUST when gaming with me. My personal favorite has always been the Bold and Zesty Chex mix... Followed closely by Salt and Vinegar chips... MMMmmm... [image of chex mix, with brand prominently displayed[
2. Caffeine - Any kind... Must have it! Either doing the Dew or meeting Juan Valdez for that perfect cup of coffee, There has to be caffeine around and in immediate proximity! [image of a starbuck's brand cup of coffee, with logo prominent and a slogan (starbucks is now open in your neighborhood) in the corner]
3. Comfortable Seat - After the food and drink are covered, its off to find a nice plush palace for my ass to sit in while I am blasting away on GoW. Now, at my place, I'll kick people out of my favorite seat. At a friends place, I'll search till I find the spot and will not let it go. I'm deadly when it comes to keeping my ass comfy. I may need to get one of these...
4. Celebration Dance - Oh yes! I actually think of a new celebration dance to do each week when I totally kick someones ass on a game. Haha! I wish you guys could have seen some of the ones in the past... Good times! (Even if there is no one around, I still do it to the screen!)
Well, that about sums it up for me. After my checklist has been satisfied, its on! Turn it on and let the games begin!
Two out of the four items on 'her' list were blatant adverts, and the copy for the rest of the 'blog' was amusingly stilted ("A few of my girlfriends and I went to a party the other night and on the TV was a show called "Smackdown". I was sitting there thinking to myself, "What is the entertainment value of this?""). I'm not sure wether to laugh or grab a kleenex tissue and cry into my Budweiser.
"Ok, well, it was a nice run, but now we're screwed and we'll be lucky if we're still in business in 2010"? I mean, they will be lucky if they remain in business, and things are bleak for linux (except for suse, natch) but it's his job to present a brave face and reassuring words for stockholders, isn't it?
Again, the unbiased blog does not exist. The complaint I'm hearing seems to boil down to the fact that that her bias doesn't line up with other posters' own biases than anything else. It doesn't necessarily follow that the accuracy of the stories at groklaw are flawed.
I'm still waiting on the specifics of how the stories on her web log are inaccurate, I'm not in the least bit impressed with meaningless ad hominems ("shill", etc).
I can understand and respect the idea that her bias leads her to present false conclusions as facts; but so far no one has come up and said anything specific beyond "boo hoo she likes gplv3"; what I'm after is "her bias lead her to report C as Y and to report D as X".
Everyone's biased, and yes, bias can lead (but does not necessarily lead) to inaccuracys. So, let's hear the specifics
What specific facts does she gets wrong in her reporting?
>This article, as well as many of the comments PJ made under the article, have lead me to the conclusion that Groklaw is not an objective and/or reliable source of information,
You won't find a news outlet completely free of bias; that just isn't going to happen. The idea of a bias-free blog (and groklaw -first and foremost- is a blog) is absurd on its' face.
As to your second claim; that it's not a reliable source of information; I would like to know why specifically you assert that their information is unreliable and what specifically they get wrong.
Or is it (as I suspect) that you simply disagree with their bias, and have a hard time seperating their bias from the accuracy of their reporting.
This was too good to last; now there are no decent (note that word) outlets for unemcumbered music. Anyways, anyone have any clue how long this will take?
Something really, really bothers me about where the conversation usually goes when discussing the recent MS/Novell deal.And that's that some fanboi usually pipes up and says "Well, if MS sues Linux IBM will step up and defend us with their army of patent lawyers".
This is a very, very false hope, it's also really unlikely.
What the people who say this are forgetting is that IBM was the behemoth before MS was, and they didn't accumalate that patent portfolio just because they liek to collect stuff. IBM were royal fuckers, and just because they've been dabbling about with SuSE for a couple of years doesn't mean that they are going to take on someone with the portfolio and legal power of MS (which is large enough to put IBM in a world of pain).
IBM likes linux but IBM LOVES patents
It's a LOT more likely that if MS started making legal threats against non-suse distributors, IBM would simply switch over to an MS-approved Linux and let everyone else fend for themselves.
IBM is not your savior, don't look in that corner for hope, it ain't there.
While I can't speak for all americans, I can tell you that I, for one, am getting pretty damned sick of you people over in europe critisizing us for every little thing. It's not like you're any freeer under in the EU than we are, thank you very much.
He considers it a free license; just not one that guarentees your freedom. Anyway, the main point is that a BSD OS and GNU userland would have worked just as well as Linux + GNU has while we wait for the HURD to come along.
Given that Sun has given away it's kernel as it is, I don't see how they're any safer with regards to trade secret litigation than they would be if they go the GNU route.
Sorry for the fanboyish response, but I think releaseing various parts of Open Solaris under the GNU license would lead to some great developments. As I understand it, that would enable a lot of features of the Solaris kernel to be imported into Linux and vice-versa.
Of course, there'd be a problem with that whole "gnu's NOT unix" thing...;)
>And if there had not been Linux (GNU was already developing Hurd at that time...) there would have been GNU?
Yes, because the GNU tools were preffered (to vendor supplied ones) on most unix platforms at the time, and many of them were incorporated into 386BSD when it was released in 1990/1991.
There was a ton of corporate sponsorship of the FSF before Linus submitted his homework request to the net because the GNU tools were considered superior to what was shipped with most Unixes.
So yes, virginia; if Linus had never come along the GNU movement would have been just fine.
Sorry, but all that Linus did was to get help on his pet project. The real people who advanced freedom and the cause of free software were the folks over at the GNU project and (at the time) the CSRG. Usually I agree with the people who roll their eyes when Stallman goes on about GNU/blah but this time I can see his point... Linus winning this award actually helps to bury them, and worse yet it detracts from the ideals of the GNU movement (and remember, in 1992 if there had been no GNU, there would have been no Linux; period).
Sorry, as far as impact and influence goes -like him or loathe him- Stallman has had more of an active, positive influence on the open source movement; Linus is merely a clever student who managed to wring the most homework help out of the internet...Stallman started the movement which eventually led to Sun opening up their crown jewels.
I think that your post is a little too strong for what is actually the case. Linus does not 'hate' Free Software, but he has expressed distaste and irritation over the notion of standing up for princibles when it comes at the expense of developer convience (for example, look at the whole bitkeeper fiasco). I doubt he'd oppose this deal and if he did, it would be for "practical" reasons -not because of reasons having to do with software freedom.
Lastly, no one is holding any kind of gun to his head, so I doubt that he is in 'misery' when it comes to kernel maintenance. If he was, with his skills and temperment, he'd find a good paying job and say 'nuts to you guys'.
Slashdot Mirror
Two out of the four items on 'her' list were blatant adverts, and the copy for the rest of the 'blog' was amusingly stilted ("A few of my girlfriends and I went to a party the other night and on the TV was a show called "Smackdown". I was sitting there thinking to myself, "What is the entertainment value of this?""). I'm not sure wether to laugh or grab a kleenex tissue and cry into my Budweiser.
"Ok, well, it was a nice run, but now we're screwed and we'll be lucky if we're still in business in 2010"? I mean, they will be lucky if they remain in business, and things are bleak for linux (except for suse, natch) but it's his job to present a brave face and reassuring words for stockholders, isn't it?
It's like they say, no one on their deathbed ever says "ba ba ba ba Barbara Ann
Ba ba ba ba Barbara Ann
Oh Barbara Ann, take my hand
Barbara Ann
You got me rockin' and a-rollin'
Rockin' and a-reelin'
Barbara Ann ba ba
Ba Barbara Ann"
Again, the unbiased blog does not exist. The complaint I'm hearing seems to boil down to the fact that that her bias doesn't line up with other posters' own biases than anything else. It doesn't necessarily follow that the accuracy of the stories at groklaw are flawed.
I'm still waiting on the specifics of how the stories on her web log are inaccurate, I'm not in the least bit impressed with meaningless ad hominems ("shill", etc).
I can understand and respect the idea that her bias leads her to present false conclusions as facts; but so far no one has come up and said anything specific beyond "boo hoo she likes gplv3"; what I'm after is "her bias lead her to report C as Y and to report D as X".
Everyone's biased, and yes, bias can lead (but does not necessarily lead) to inaccuracys. So, let's hear the specifics
What specific facts does she gets wrong in her reporting?
>This article, as well as many of the comments PJ made under the article, have lead me to the conclusion that Groklaw is not an objective and/or reliable source of information,
You won't find a news outlet completely free of bias; that just isn't going to happen. The idea of a bias-free blog (and groklaw -first and foremost- is a blog) is absurd on its' face.
As to your second claim; that it's not a reliable source of information; I would like to know why specifically you assert that their information is unreliable and what specifically they get wrong.
Or is it (as I suspect) that you simply disagree with their bias, and have a hard time seperating their bias from the accuracy of their reporting.
but MOD PARENT UP! That is the best analogy I've read on the subject.
But this ain't over...not by a long shot!
This was too good to last; now there are no decent (note that word) outlets for unemcumbered music. Anyways, anyone have any clue how long this will take?
and, of course, instead of popcorn they'll be selling hot grits at the concession stand
Something really, really bothers me about where the conversation usually goes when discussing the recent MS/Novell deal.And that's that some fanboi usually pipes up and says "Well, if MS sues Linux IBM will step up and defend us with their army of patent lawyers".
This is a very, very false hope, it's also really unlikely.
What the people who say this are forgetting is that IBM was the behemoth before MS was, and they didn't accumalate that patent portfolio just because they liek to collect stuff. IBM were royal fuckers, and just because they've been dabbling about with SuSE for a couple of years doesn't mean that they are going to take on someone with the portfolio and legal power of MS (which is large enough to put IBM in a world of pain).
IBM likes linux
but IBM LOVES patents
It's a LOT more likely that if MS started making legal threats against non-suse distributors, IBM would simply switch over to an MS-approved Linux and let everyone else fend for themselves.
IBM is not your savior, don't look in that corner for hope, it ain't there.
While I can't speak for all americans, I can tell you that I, for one, am getting pretty damned sick of you people over in europe critisizing us for every little thing. It's not like you're any freeer under in the EU than we are, thank you very much.
are you volunteering?
between foregoing security updates or switching to that bloated thunderbird GUI monstrosity...
He considers it a free license; just not one that guarentees your freedom. Anyway, the main point is that a BSD OS and GNU userland would have worked just as well as Linux + GNU has while we wait for the HURD to come along.
>>So yes, virginia; if Linus had never come along the GNU movement would have been just fine.
...and BSD, my friend, and BSD.
>oh yes, just fine, running on propitiate OS like Solaris and AIX.
Given that Sun has given away it's kernel as it is, I don't see how they're any safer with regards to trade secret litigation than they would be if they go the GNU route.
>so I don't really see what Solaris would gain.
Device drivers
Sorry for the fanboyish response, but I think releaseing various parts of Open Solaris under the GNU license would lead to some great developments. As I understand it, that would enable a lot of features of the Solaris kernel to be imported into Linux and vice-versa.
;)
Of course, there'd be a problem with that whole "gnu's NOT unix" thing...
Just not one that I agree with.
Your main point is dead on, but there are a few other projects working on open-source compilers; off the top of my head I know of:
TCC, written by the guy who created QEMU
BCC, "Bruce's C Compiler", which spits out 16-bit code (for embedded machines?)
OpenWatcom C compiler which is only for OS/2, DOS and Win32, but they're porting it to *nix Real Soon Now.
There's also one I'm forgetting which has been talked about in the OpenBSD mailing list as a free alternative to GCC; but I forget the name of it.
>And if there had not been Linux (GNU was already developing Hurd at that time...) there would have been GNU?
Yes, because the GNU tools were preffered (to vendor supplied ones) on most unix platforms at the time, and many of them were incorporated into 386BSD when it was released in 1990/1991.
There was a ton of corporate sponsorship of the FSF before Linus submitted his homework request to the net because the GNU tools were considered superior to what was shipped with most Unixes.
So yes, virginia; if Linus had never come along the GNU movement would have been just fine.
Sorry, but all that Linus did was to get help on his pet project. The real people who advanced freedom and the cause of free software were the folks over at the GNU project and (at the time) the CSRG. Usually I agree with the people who roll their eyes when Stallman goes on about GNU/blah but this time I can see his point... Linus winning this award actually helps to bury them, and worse yet it detracts from the ideals of the GNU movement (and remember, in 1992 if there had been no GNU, there would have been no Linux; period).
Sorry, as far as impact and influence goes -like him or loathe him- Stallman has had more of an active, positive influence on the open source movement; Linus is merely a clever student who managed to wring the most homework help out of the internet...Stallman started the movement which eventually led to Sun opening up their crown jewels.
I think that your post is a little too strong for what is actually the case. Linus does not 'hate' Free Software, but he has expressed distaste and irritation over the notion of standing up for princibles when it comes at the expense of developer convience (for example, look at the whole bitkeeper fiasco). I doubt he'd oppose this deal and if he did, it would be for "practical" reasons -not because of reasons having to do with software freedom.
Lastly, no one is holding any kind of gun to his head, so I doubt that he is in 'misery' when it comes to kernel maintenance. If he was, with his skills and temperment, he'd find a good paying job and say 'nuts to you guys'.
My guess is that he's for it but he knows everyone would throw a shitfit if he said so.
Bags of money or making nice which geeks who aren't even on their payroll....
Yeah, sure. I see 'em doing what the samba teams says. Yep. Sure thing. Uh-huh.