The big question: Can you maintain your same style of living with the paycut, not having to give anything major up? If it just means not having a little bit more spending money, I'd say it was worth it. Not only would it be more interesting, but it sounds like it be more useful in securing a possibly better job later on. The money (depending on how much the cut is) will come back with time, but the old job will be mundane forever. If you find the work interesting, you are more likely to work harder and produce more results, which may in turn lead to promotions, more raises, etc.
If you can handle the paycut, I'd say go for it. What good is a little extra money when you get to the point where you hate going to work every day. I've been there, its not fun.
Having played GR for several years now (and still going) I constantly find myself looking to the left and right to see if any of my enemies are around. It would be much faster and easier to just look at my 2nd and 3rd LCD panel to get this information. It would also help with finding sniping targets without having to move, which does actually affect gameplay. Being somewhat colorblind myself, I rely on seeing movement to spot enemy snipers, but being able to see left, forward, and right without having to move my character would be a great benefit, if such a setup is possible.
The same goes for any other FPS I've ever played, including games like WoW (I couldn't count the number of times in a day I'm looking left and right searching for that last quest mob that I need to kill). I think the possbilities for this end only in the games you have. As I said before, I just hope the games support this, allowing you to devote one monitor to a single view.
Funny thing, I did have an interview at Microsoft... I had a second interview at Microsoft. I withdrew from the position I was considering since I was offered a better deal locally.
Apparently you can't recognize an apparently failed attempt at a funny post. No skin off my back, because even if it wasn't, I still couldn't give less of a shit what you (as AC nonetheless) thought about me. In fact, I don't even really know why I replied to this, but I'm not cancelling the post now since it would be a waste of my keystrokes.
On a side note, can you really say that Microsoft has no incompetence? Have you seen the list of security flaws, bugs, etc. in their software? That's not to say any other company is perfect either.
This is the piece of ammunition that I've been waiting for. Now I have scientific reasons for why we should turn down the damn thermostate to be UNDER 72 degrees. "Honey, we will destroy the Earth if we turn it up too high! Think about the children!"
you are looking in your memory when recounting a story
Maybe I'm missing the point, but this doesn't seem all that useful to me. If there is some definite pattern of brain activity that can be detected and distinguished from telling the truth, then fine. Otherwise, until we find those 2.5 million synapses that activate when you're lying, I bet someone will always be able to fool the machine.
I think we just need to get Wonder Woman back and ask to borrow her rope. Then we can deport her back to the Amazon and use airport security, equipped with invisible jet detection to prevent her from re-entering the country. The truth will always come out when the villain is caught in her lasso!
The real reason they don't want "just anyone" to see the source, or open it up to the public in general, is because they know that probably several thousand people (if not more) will completely re-engineer it and actually make it a relatively secure and/or stable operating system, and they don't want to be upstaged by some 15 year-old kid from Topeka.
Now what they SHOULD do is hold a contest, redesign/engineer Windows, and if you do a good-enough job, you get something... free Xbox360, a job, cash prize, whatever. Or they can mix-and-match components that various people design. They could take the best of all the submissions, have a great, stable OS, then it'd be just like Lin...... err... wait, nevermind, they'll never go for that.
It almost sounds to me like the same thing that I learned about sickle-cell anemia. That is, if you have the sickle-cell trait, you have partial sickle-cell anemia, but can still function relatively normal. However if you have the full sickle-cell anemia gene then you cannot function normally without assistance of some variety. A person with just the trait can function okay, but probably shouldn't mate with another person who has the sickle-cell trait, because that will probably produce offspring with full blown sickle-cell anemia.
Analagous to this, one socially inept parent mates with another socially inept (read: analytical) and breeds a super-socially inept child. Just seems weird to me.
I read an article a year or so ago about an autistic kid who was able to speak well enough to describe his thoughts. I don't recall the intricate details of the article, but he mentioned doing math by representing numbers as colors and sounds. When he would have to add two numbers together, for example, one might be the color blue, and the other was a gust of air or something. When he "added" the color blue to the air, and got blue air, he'd have his answer, which was his representation of the correct answer.
It seems strange to me that something that *I* perceive as a learned trait (social aptitude) could be a genetic thing, let alone cause autism, but I'll leave that to the experts.
I know at least a dozen people off the top of my head who went out and got GTA: San Andreas just because of the whole Hot Coffee thing. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the whole ESRB fiasco was expected by Rockstar. Who wouldn't take a bit of a hit to increase sales in the long run? I would guess that the majority (if not all) of the type of people who play GTA: SA are the types of people who will want to see the mod. Murder and violence in the game, but no sex? C'mon now, what kinda thinking is that?
I'd like to see what, if any, effect this will have on the WINE development. Last time I checked the application compatibility list, there were several programs that I use that weren't listed. I'd love to see that list continue to grow, then maybe someday I can lose Windoze altogether and go strictly 100% Linux. Oh, to dream...
You know there's just going to be some guy sitting at the big 9-screen display at the company HQ watching as the hard drives fill up with music, shifting his hands in that manical way saying: "MINE! THEY'RE ALL MINE! ALL THE MUSIC I COULD EVER WANT!!! MINE!!!"
He'll download all of it to his 500TB iPod Mega-edition and never listen to the same song twice in his life.
It would be impossible to even consider trying to quantify the number of media titles (games, movies, etc.) where killing has taken place. Of course I don't condone any type of real life murder, including the killing of peace/police officers. I do, however, wish to retain my right to play whatever the hell I want to play.
One thing that groups like this don't know or don't consider, is that the people who commit these heinous crimes are not the normal average everyday kids. If they have any type of mental instability that allows the line between reality and fantasy to blur enough to think that committing the crimes they see in these games is okay, then there is a word for that. Its called predisposition. Its not the games that is causing these violent crimes. I was playing GTA: San Andreas last night, where one of the missions I had to do was to rob a bank and a betting store. I successfully completed both missions, and guess what? This morning I woke up, ate my breakfast, took my kids to their babysitter, came to work, and so far have had a very productive day. Not once did the idea of robbing a bank or a betting store enter my mind, because I know the difference between real and fantasy. Those people who commit these crimes then blame video games or movies for them are either mentally ill, or they are just trying to find a scapegoat. Personally I feel that anyone that has the "mental" capability to actually take another person's life in cold blood has a mental defect, regardless of what the courts say. I'm not saying that these people should not go to prison, but I'm saying that thats not normal behavior.
I respect police officers and the dangerous job they do. I have several in my family, and have gone along on ridealongs with quite a few. I know all about the training they have, and the day-to-day dangers they can endure. However I do not feel that anyone has the right to tell me what I should and should not be able to play. One might say "Where can the line be drawn"... However given the history of 'cops and robbers', 'cowboys and indians', etc that I was bombarded with growing up, I don't think this is really any different, AS LONG AS the person playing these games is mentally fit to differentiate reality from fantasy. Do I feel that people should undergo mental testing to purchase a game? No. However I do feel that people need to stop blaming the games and movies and start putting the blame where it probably lies the most: On the parents. Parents need to teach their kids right and wrong, they need to teach their kids whats real and "make-believe". If they can see that their kid can't tell the difference between tv and real life, they need to seek professional help. I'm sick and tired of people blaming the game companies when its usually the parent's fault.
Children aren't born with an inherent understanding of good, evil, right,or wrong. They need to be taught these ideas. This is way before school, and rests entirely on the shoulders of the parents.
Once capitalism takes hold, and these broken-heart patches become available to the public, they will probably be more expensive than the average working person would be able to afford. I hope I'm wrong, but something tells me that I probably won't be.
I have a friend who moved to Canada last year, and he has been telling me stories about the health system up there. Basically health coverage is provided by the government at no charge to the patient. I don't know all of the details, but he told me he was in and out of a basic procedure that would normally cost $200-$500 here in the US, but he paid nothing, and didn't really have to wait that long.
Before someone starts pondering the past, present, and future of the 360, how about we wait a while (maybe more than 2 months???) so the rest of the bad bugs and whatnot can be discovered. Has the scratched disc problem been fixed? I've heard about several problems so far with the 360, and I haven't heard of too many resolutions. Let it run for a bit before you decide its fate. Can you tell who's going to win the Boston Marathon 5 seconds after the starting pistol? (Ok, maybe you can, that was a bad example!)
How about instead of trying to prevent children from being able to access material that the government (not society or the parents) deems inappropriate, perhaps they should consider funding a program to teach parents how to talk with (not just lecture) their kids, and perhaps monitor what they are doing online. My child will definitely not have unrestricted access to the internet when she is old enough to use the computer on her own. This will be for her protection, for my (computer's) protection, and for my whole family's protection. She is 4 years old, and she knows our address, our phone number, and the name of our city and state. (The problem with this is that she does not yet realize there are people who she should not give this information to.)
This has been said over and over again. Instead of relying on the religiously-minded government (can this really even be denied?) to TRY to prevent inappropriate material from being seen by children, lets get the parents to take on the responsibility that they should have had from the start. Should you blame HBO or one of the other uncensored premium channels because you let your 8-year old watch "Casino" on TV and now they're cursing like Nicky Santoro? Do we really need the government to decide what is appropriate? Would they have said I shouldn't have been allowed to watch Friday the 13th when I was young? My parents thought I was mature enough for it, and considering how I am 2 decades later, I'm inclined to agree with them. Granted every child is different, which is exactly why it should be left up to the parents. If the parents don't/can't/won't take on this responsibility, they should have thought about that before having children. Unplanned pregnancy you argue? Grow the hell up and deal with it. Its the parents responsibility to decide whats good for their kids and what isn't. Some laws exist to protect children because of stupid or ignorant parents. We don't need Mr. Bush telling my child that she can't watch Spongebob Squarepants on TV because some fundamentalist group said he was homosexual. That's not the issue here, but how much farther would it have to go to get there? Not very far.
Of course the gaming community is getting older. How many of those "targetted 15 year-olds" could afford to pay $300-$400+ for a new console system, or $1k+ for a new PC system to play games? Back while I was playing Sword of Fargoal on my Commodore-64, yeah I was probably in that demographic, however I have taken my desire to play games through my years and now I'm twice that age with the same desire. You know what the ladies always say... Boys will be boys, they just get more and more expensive toys as they grow up.
My parents bought me my first NES for maybe $40 if I remember correctly. Super Mario Brothers (this pre-dated the free Duck-Hunt addition) then soon afterward, Excitebike and Double Dribble. I got older, the systems got more advanced and more expensive. Give the next generation (like my children) some time to grow up and I bet you'll see an explosion of the gaming community. Kid sees Dad play WoW, Kid gets older, Kid plays WoW, Kid PKs Dad, Kid gets grounded, Dad ravages Kid's account for spare gold for epic mount, Kid disowns Dad, Dad sells Kid's account on eBay for $200 (used to by WoW gold for afore-mentioned epic mount). Kid runs away at age 16.
Maybe I should stop letting my kid watch me play WoW. I don't want them to run away!
I wish I had mod points right now, I'd mod this parent down as low as I could. Its the stupidest comment I've seen in the games section in a long time. The point of the game was lost, the reason why it is an effective recruiting tool was lost, and I would be surprised if he played it much, if at all.
Now they basically say, you are going to get capped by some camper. Woohoo! Sign me up!
So you've never played a racing game then got into your car and imagined yourself hitting 220mph on a straight flat stretch of country road? Its a very subtle psychological effect stemming from the adrenaline of being in combat coupled with the desire to survive and to win. Do they expect people who otherwise would never have enlisted to sign up just because of this game? Of course not, that's a preposterous idea. Just like the commercials on TV, it just plants a seed. Some seeds never germinate, others grow strong. If you're never exposed to military in any way, you are less likely to enlist. This is just another form of exposure.
That way you don't clog everyone elses day by asking the same questions that has been answered by these people 200 times already.
I don't know what kind of meetings you go to, but this is exactly WHY they have sales meetings. Instead of having all those people running around making their own interpretations about the product, coming to possibly different conclusions, or getting incomplete information, then having to contact the vendor and clarify, they get them all into one room and do it all at the same time. Meet with 100 salesmen in-duh-vidually, or meet with all 100 at once, so they can hear others questions as well as their answers? Not a tough choice.
I'm not in sales, and I'm not a giant fan of meetings, however the ones I do attend are mainly for me and my team and not a soapbox for the management. Its how they can convey team-oriented progress to us without having to meet with the 20+ of us separately and say the same thing to everyone. Fortunately the area where I work has a manager that is aware of when a meeting is not necessary, and they get cancelled or ended early often when they are not productive or when someone has more important work to do.
Nobody asked you to like meetings. Some are helpful, some are a waste of time. Its part of the job.
There is hardly anyone playing America's Army anymore. At least I couldn't find any servers playing it. VERY small numbers. And it's a great game too.
This is probably because you are lacking one more more patches. I was playing AA not 2 weeks ago, and there were hundreds of servers, more than half of them were full. AA is still alive and well, but if you aren't patched up, you will only see servers that match your current patch level, which probably are few. Download all the latest patches and see if you can see any more servers than before.
You might also want to check your filters to make sure you aren't looking for some old map that nobody likes anymore, or have turned off some of the other filter options. There were lots of the US West/East "official" servers, and even more leased ones just recently.
Calling for printing out a few dozen pages from Wikipedia, some medical history book, and a lifetime's amount of porn? (It'd make good bartering fodder for the Thunderdome wannabes!
Pressure to succeed? Yesterday The World ran a story on this. He was a national hero there, because of the S Korea's ambitions to be #1 in the biotech in the world.
Well that backfired, didn't it? Now I doubt he'll be able to get any respect anywhere in the world for his work, regardless of the circumstances. Is a lifetime of professional ruin worth that? Apparently it was for him.
They might just be pulling a Disney, and trying to keep others from using their product's name. At this point though, we'll just have to wait and find out.
I suggested months ago to Taco that he keep a database of abusive submitters and auto reject them. It would save them time and keep the occasional nutjob post from getting through. Taco told me it was not possible. At least he was kind enough to respond.
They would just create new/. accounts from a different email address and start all over. Reject by IP address. To prevent (or lessen) problems from this, make it a 2/4/etc week ban, automatically unbanning them after a while. If it happens again, perma-ban.
On a side note, aside from the blatant attempt at profiteering on some submissions, I can't stand wading through all of the 'this is a dupe' comments. If the person reading sees that its a dupe right away, they can skip that article and move on. Otherwise let the person who doesn't know that its a dupe RTFA without having to sift through hundreds of dupe comments (sometimes which get modded to +5 informative/insightful.) Anyone who mods a 'this is a dupe' comment up at all should be flogged and never allowed to moderate again.
Slashdot Mirror
The big question: Can you maintain your same style of living with the paycut, not having to give anything major up? If it just means not having a little bit more spending money, I'd say it was worth it. Not only would it be more interesting, but it sounds like it be more useful in securing a possibly better job later on. The money (depending on how much the cut is) will come back with time, but the old job will be mundane forever. If you find the work interesting, you are more likely to work harder and produce more results, which may in turn lead to promotions, more raises, etc.
If you can handle the paycut, I'd say go for it. What good is a little extra money when you get to the point where you hate going to work every day. I've been there, its not fun.
Having played GR for several years now (and still going) I constantly find myself looking to the left and right to see if any of my enemies are around. It would be much faster and easier to just look at my 2nd and 3rd LCD panel to get this information. It would also help with finding sniping targets without having to move, which does actually affect gameplay. Being somewhat colorblind myself, I rely on seeing movement to spot enemy snipers, but being able to see left, forward, and right without having to move my character would be a great benefit, if such a setup is possible.
The same goes for any other FPS I've ever played, including games like WoW (I couldn't count the number of times in a day I'm looking left and right searching for that last quest mob that I need to kill). I think the possbilities for this end only in the games you have. As I said before, I just hope the games support this, allowing you to devote one monitor to a single view.
Funny thing, I did have an interview at Microsoft... I had a second interview at Microsoft. I withdrew from the position I was considering since I was offered a better deal locally.
Apparently you can't recognize an apparently failed attempt at a funny post. No skin off my back, because even if it wasn't, I still couldn't give less of a shit what you (as AC nonetheless) thought about me. In fact, I don't even really know why I replied to this, but I'm not cancelling the post now since it would be a waste of my keystrokes.
On a side note, can you really say that Microsoft has no incompetence? Have you seen the list of security flaws, bugs, etc. in their software? That's not to say any other company is perfect either.
This is the piece of ammunition that I've been waiting for. Now I have scientific reasons for why we should turn down the damn thermostate to be UNDER 72 degrees. "Honey, we will destroy the Earth if we turn it up too high! Think about the children!"
you are looking in your memory when recounting a story
Maybe I'm missing the point, but this doesn't seem all that useful to me. If there is some definite pattern of brain activity that can be detected and distinguished from telling the truth, then fine. Otherwise, until we find those 2.5 million synapses that activate when you're lying, I bet someone will always be able to fool the machine.
I think we just need to get Wonder Woman back and ask to borrow her rope. Then we can deport her back to the Amazon and use airport security, equipped with invisible jet detection to prevent her from re-entering the country. The truth will always come out when the villain is caught in her lasso!
The real reason they don't want "just anyone" to see the source, or open it up to the public in general, is because they know that probably several thousand people (if not more) will completely re-engineer it and actually make it a relatively secure and/or stable operating system, and they don't want to be upstaged by some 15 year-old kid from Topeka.
Now what they SHOULD do is hold a contest, redesign/engineer Windows, and if you do a good-enough job, you get something... free Xbox360, a job, cash prize, whatever. Or they can mix-and-match components that various people design. They could take the best of all the submissions, have a great, stable OS, then it'd be just like Lin...... err... wait, nevermind, they'll never go for that.
It almost sounds to me like the same thing that I learned about sickle-cell anemia. That is, if you have the sickle-cell trait, you have partial sickle-cell anemia, but can still function relatively normal. However if you have the full sickle-cell anemia gene then you cannot function normally without assistance of some variety. A person with just the trait can function okay, but probably shouldn't mate with another person who has the sickle-cell trait, because that will probably produce offspring with full blown sickle-cell anemia.
Analagous to this, one socially inept parent mates with another socially inept (read: analytical) and breeds a super-socially inept child. Just seems weird to me.
I read an article a year or so ago about an autistic kid who was able to speak well enough to describe his thoughts. I don't recall the intricate details of the article, but he mentioned doing math by representing numbers as colors and sounds. When he would have to add two numbers together, for example, one might be the color blue, and the other was a gust of air or something. When he "added" the color blue to the air, and got blue air, he'd have his answer, which was his representation of the correct answer.
It seems strange to me that something that *I* perceive as a learned trait (social aptitude) could be a genetic thing, let alone cause autism, but I'll leave that to the experts.
I know at least a dozen people off the top of my head who went out and got GTA: San Andreas just because of the whole Hot Coffee thing. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the whole ESRB fiasco was expected by Rockstar. Who wouldn't take a bit of a hit to increase sales in the long run? I would guess that the majority (if not all) of the type of people who play GTA: SA are the types of people who will want to see the mod. Murder and violence in the game, but no sex? C'mon now, what kinda thinking is that?
I'd like to see what, if any, effect this will have on the WINE development. Last time I checked the application compatibility list, there were several programs that I use that weren't listed. I'd love to see that list continue to grow, then maybe someday I can lose Windoze altogether and go strictly 100% Linux. Oh, to dream...
I can see the marketing ploy in 2015 now....
Dude! You're gettin' 15 year contract with a 5-figure penalty for early termination!
You know there's just going to be some guy sitting at the big 9-screen display at the company HQ watching as the hard drives fill up with music, shifting his hands in that manical way saying: "MINE! THEY'RE ALL MINE! ALL THE MUSIC I COULD EVER WANT!!! MINE!!!"
He'll download all of it to his 500TB iPod Mega-edition and never listen to the same song twice in his life.
[ashamed]
Perhaps it would be bad time to ask for a RIM job.
*rimshot*
[/ashamed]
It would be impossible to even consider trying to quantify the number of media titles (games, movies, etc.) where killing has taken place. Of course I don't condone any type of real life murder, including the killing of peace/police officers. I do, however, wish to retain my right to play whatever the hell I want to play.
One thing that groups like this don't know or don't consider, is that the people who commit these heinous crimes are not the normal average everyday kids. If they have any type of mental instability that allows the line between reality and fantasy to blur enough to think that committing the crimes they see in these games is okay, then there is a word for that. Its called predisposition. Its not the games that is causing these violent crimes. I was playing GTA: San Andreas last night, where one of the missions I had to do was to rob a bank and a betting store. I successfully completed both missions, and guess what? This morning I woke up, ate my breakfast, took my kids to their babysitter, came to work, and so far have had a very productive day. Not once did the idea of robbing a bank or a betting store enter my mind, because I know the difference between real and fantasy. Those people who commit these crimes then blame video games or movies for them are either mentally ill, or they are just trying to find a scapegoat. Personally I feel that anyone that has the "mental" capability to actually take another person's life in cold blood has a mental defect, regardless of what the courts say. I'm not saying that these people should not go to prison, but I'm saying that thats not normal behavior.
I respect police officers and the dangerous job they do. I have several in my family, and have gone along on ridealongs with quite a few. I know all about the training they have, and the day-to-day dangers they can endure. However I do not feel that anyone has the right to tell me what I should and should not be able to play. One might say "Where can the line be drawn"... However given the history of 'cops and robbers', 'cowboys and indians', etc that I was bombarded with growing up, I don't think this is really any different, AS LONG AS the person playing these games is mentally fit to differentiate reality from fantasy. Do I feel that people should undergo mental testing to purchase a game? No. However I do feel that people need to stop blaming the games and movies and start putting the blame where it probably lies the most: On the parents. Parents need to teach their kids right and wrong, they need to teach their kids whats real and "make-believe". If they can see that their kid can't tell the difference between tv and real life, they need to seek professional help. I'm sick and tired of people blaming the game companies when its usually the parent's fault.
Children aren't born with an inherent understanding of good, evil, right,or wrong. They need to be taught these ideas. This is way before school, and rests entirely on the shoulders of the parents.
Once capitalism takes hold, and these broken-heart patches become available to the public, they will probably be more expensive than the average working person would be able to afford. I hope I'm wrong, but something tells me that I probably won't be.
I have a friend who moved to Canada last year, and he has been telling me stories about the health system up there. Basically health coverage is provided by the government at no charge to the patient. I don't know all of the details, but he told me he was in and out of a basic procedure that would normally cost $200-$500 here in the US, but he paid nothing, and didn't really have to wait that long.
Before someone starts pondering the past, present, and future of the 360, how about we wait a while (maybe more than 2 months???) so the rest of the bad bugs and whatnot can be discovered. Has the scratched disc problem been fixed? I've heard about several problems so far with the 360, and I haven't heard of too many resolutions. Let it run for a bit before you decide its fate. Can you tell who's going to win the Boston Marathon 5 seconds after the starting pistol? (Ok, maybe you can, that was a bad example!)
How about instead of trying to prevent children from being able to access material that the government (not society or the parents) deems inappropriate, perhaps they should consider funding a program to teach parents how to talk with (not just lecture) their kids, and perhaps monitor what they are doing online. My child will definitely not have unrestricted access to the internet when she is old enough to use the computer on her own. This will be for her protection, for my (computer's) protection, and for my whole family's protection. She is 4 years old, and she knows our address, our phone number, and the name of our city and state. (The problem with this is that she does not yet realize there are people who she should not give this information to.)
This has been said over and over again. Instead of relying on the religiously-minded government (can this really even be denied?) to TRY to prevent inappropriate material from being seen by children, lets get the parents to take on the responsibility that they should have had from the start. Should you blame HBO or one of the other uncensored premium channels because you let your 8-year old watch "Casino" on TV and now they're cursing like Nicky Santoro? Do we really need the government to decide what is appropriate? Would they have said I shouldn't have been allowed to watch Friday the 13th when I was young? My parents thought I was mature enough for it, and considering how I am 2 decades later, I'm inclined to agree with them. Granted every child is different, which is exactly why it should be left up to the parents. If the parents don't/can't/won't take on this responsibility, they should have thought about that before having children. Unplanned pregnancy you argue? Grow the hell up and deal with it. Its the parents responsibility to decide whats good for their kids and what isn't. Some laws exist to protect children because of stupid or ignorant parents. We don't need Mr. Bush telling my child that she can't watch Spongebob Squarepants on TV because some fundamentalist group said he was homosexual. That's not the issue here, but how much farther would it have to go to get there? Not very far.
Of course the gaming community is getting older. How many of those "targetted 15 year-olds" could afford to pay $300-$400+ for a new console system, or $1k+ for a new PC system to play games? Back while I was playing Sword of Fargoal on my Commodore-64, yeah I was probably in that demographic, however I have taken my desire to play games through my years and now I'm twice that age with the same desire. You know what the ladies always say... Boys will be boys, they just get more and more expensive toys as they grow up.
My parents bought me my first NES for maybe $40 if I remember correctly. Super Mario Brothers (this pre-dated the free Duck-Hunt addition) then soon afterward, Excitebike and Double Dribble. I got older, the systems got more advanced and more expensive. Give the next generation (like my children) some time to grow up and I bet you'll see an explosion of the gaming community. Kid sees Dad play WoW, Kid gets older, Kid plays WoW, Kid PKs Dad, Kid gets grounded, Dad ravages Kid's account for spare gold for epic mount, Kid disowns Dad, Dad sells Kid's account on eBay for $200 (used to by WoW gold for afore-mentioned epic mount). Kid runs away at age 16.
Maybe I should stop letting my kid watch me play WoW. I don't want them to run away!
I wish I had mod points right now, I'd mod this parent down as low as I could. Its the stupidest comment I've seen in the games section in a long time. The point of the game was lost, the reason why it is an effective recruiting tool was lost, and I would be surprised if he played it much, if at all.
Now they basically say, you are going to get capped by some camper. Woohoo! Sign me up!
So you've never played a racing game then got into your car and imagined yourself hitting 220mph on a straight flat stretch of country road? Its a very subtle psychological effect stemming from the adrenaline of being in combat coupled with the desire to survive and to win. Do they expect people who otherwise would never have enlisted to sign up just because of this game? Of course not, that's a preposterous idea. Just like the commercials on TV, it just plants a seed. Some seeds never germinate, others grow strong. If you're never exposed to military in any way, you are less likely to enlist. This is just another form of exposure.
That way you don't clog everyone elses day by asking the same questions that has been answered by these people 200 times already.
I don't know what kind of meetings you go to, but this is exactly WHY they have sales meetings. Instead of having all those people running around making their own interpretations about the product, coming to possibly different conclusions, or getting incomplete information, then having to contact the vendor and clarify, they get them all into one room and do it all at the same time. Meet with 100 salesmen in-duh-vidually, or meet with all 100 at once, so they can hear others questions as well as their answers? Not a tough choice.
I'm not in sales, and I'm not a giant fan of meetings, however the ones I do attend are mainly for me and my team and not a soapbox for the management. Its how they can convey team-oriented progress to us without having to meet with the 20+ of us separately and say the same thing to everyone. Fortunately the area where I work has a manager that is aware of when a meeting is not necessary, and they get cancelled or ended early often when they are not productive or when someone has more important work to do.
Nobody asked you to like meetings. Some are helpful, some are a waste of time. Its part of the job.
There is hardly anyone playing America's Army anymore. At least I couldn't find any servers playing it. VERY small numbers. And it's a great game too.
This is probably because you are lacking one more more patches. I was playing AA not 2 weeks ago, and there were hundreds of servers, more than half of them were full. AA is still alive and well, but if you aren't patched up, you will only see servers that match your current patch level, which probably are few. Download all the latest patches and see if you can see any more servers than before.
You might also want to check your filters to make sure you aren't looking for some old map that nobody likes anymore, or have turned off some of the other filter options. There were lots of the US West/East "official" servers, and even more leased ones just recently.
Calling for printing out a few dozen pages from Wikipedia, some medical history book, and a lifetime's amount of porn? (It'd make good bartering fodder for the Thunderdome wannabes!
Pressure to succeed? Yesterday The World ran a story on this. He was a national hero there, because of the S Korea's ambitions to be #1 in the biotech in the world.
Well that backfired, didn't it? Now I doubt he'll be able to get any respect anywhere in the world for his work, regardless of the circumstances. Is a lifetime of professional ruin worth that? Apparently it was for him.
They might just be pulling a Disney, and trying to keep others from using their product's name. At this point though, we'll just have to wait and find out.
I suggested months ago to Taco that he keep a database of abusive submitters and auto reject them. It would save them time and keep the occasional nutjob post from getting through. Taco told me it was not possible. At least he was kind enough to respond.
/. accounts from a different email address and start all over. Reject by IP address. To prevent (or lessen) problems from this, make it a 2/4/etc week ban, automatically unbanning them after a while. If it happens again, perma-ban.
They would just create new
On a side note, aside from the blatant attempt at profiteering on some submissions, I can't stand wading through all of the 'this is a dupe' comments. If the person reading sees that its a dupe right away, they can skip that article and move on. Otherwise let the person who doesn't know that its a dupe RTFA without having to sift through hundreds of dupe comments (sometimes which get modded to +5 informative/insightful.) Anyone who mods a 'this is a dupe' comment up at all should be flogged and never allowed to moderate again.
stories can take days to go from submission to actually appearing:
I wouldn't know about this. Mine are always rejected within minutes.