I was a BETA tester for WoW since early January, pretty much one of the very first groups in after it went to Beta level. Despite the pricing issues I have with any MMORPG, WoW was a lot of fun and it is the first MMORPG that I have considered purchasing.
I haven't made my mind up yet (again, the pricing) but if you're in to that kind of thing, Blizzard has done an excellent job with WoW its nicely polished and as always its graphics are beautiful. Its a lot of fun and very addictive!
Sorry, I was thinking multilingual descriptions for a minute there. But I guess books do have different numbers for different languages.
But still, you could have multiple language descriptions for a book written in English, but I'd have to add a specification for which description I wanted to retrieve.
Oh lord, you ain't kidding. And the fact that you couldn't even do a simple swap between Netscape & IE because the positioning code was different as well, so what was x=0, y=0, screenwidth and screenheight were completely different depending on the browser.
I've noticed the same thing, thankfully with Firefox and IE 6, plus the other 'major' browsers if you code to W3C standard they all look pretty much the same. There still seem to be a few Javascript points remaining, Mozilla complains at things that IE doesn't, but the vast majority of the time you can do pretty well without browser specific tweaks.
One complaint though, using CSS layering, the default z-buffer renders differently in IE than Firefox (if not set explicitly), I've noticed a couple sites that have menus that are not visible in firefox but render fine in IE because someone didn't set proper z values.
Obviously, because why would you be selecting the quantity on hand if you're sorting by it? Its just used as a criteria. You'd want something more along the lines of:
SELECT product.ISBN_number, product_description.title, product_description.author FROM product, product_description WHERE product.product_id = product_description.product_id ORDER BY product.quantityonhand DESCENDING;
Re:I want to, but should I?
on
Review: Half-Life 2
·
· Score: 4, Informative
I didn't read the review, because I'm still playing and I didn't want to chance upon any spoilers that might not have been warned against.
I never played Half-Life to any real extent, I started it, shot a few aliens, then went to counter-strike so a lot of things are very new to me.
Well, let me tell you that Half-life 2 has been a lot like falling down the rabbit-hole. It submerged me in this world and I haven't been up for air since. Its a lot of fun, and more than a little disturbing at times, but there were no issues with holdover information, you will pick up everything you need to know about the story as you go.
Its good to see other people starting to catch on to the idea of Socialism that has been a developing trend in Europe and Canada for a few decades.
But in counter-point to your exaggeration, I personally don't think that way. Software doesn't need to be free, but I greatly appreciate those people who do contribute their time to making free software. Music doesn't need to be free, but at current prices I'm not in a hurry to buy, I'll just keep making my own.
However, I do think there are some things that should be freely available to everyone for the greater good. Healthcare, Education, and it so happens that scientific facts also fall under this heading to me.
I had the opposite occur. With 1.0PR I was having rather regular crashes when I opened the browser, and an annoying one that occured everytime I attempted to open any sort of streaming media. (I resorted to IE to watch the SpaceShip One launch).
However, with the full 1.0 I haven't had a single crash yet, and I've been using it a lot since the first day it was available.
Uh, we've been pushing to get the UN into Sudan for a month... but guess what? The government and the rebels just signed a peace agreement this evening that ends their 21-year old civil war in front of the UN Security Council who was holding a special meeting in Africa!
I personally believe troops should have been sent in, but the government of Sudan a couple weeks ago outright refused ANY foreign troops to intervene.
rate per 100,000 population (2003) Canada vs US All: 8884.8 vs 8126.8 Violence: 962.8 vs 475.0 Homicide: 1.7 vs 5.7 Attempted homicide: 2.2 vs ? Assaults: 746.5 vs 327.1 Sexual assault: 74.1 vs 32.1 Robbery: 89.6 vs 142.2 Property crimes: 4121.4 vs 3588.4 Auto Theft: 540.7 vs 433.4 Theft over $5000: 63.6 vs ? Traffic offences: 366.3 vs ?
Homicide by method Canada vs US Per 100,000 (all): 1.7 vs 5.7 All: 548 vs 14408 Shooting: 161 (29.4%) vs 9638 (66.9%) Stabbing: 142 (25.9%) vs 1816 (12.6%) Beating: 120 (21.9%) vs 1597 (11.1%) Strangulation: 63 (11.5%) vs 184 (1.3%) Fire: 12 (2.2%) vs 163 (1.1%) Other: 27 (4.9%) vs 182 (1.3%) Unknown: 23 (4.2%) vs 828 (5.7%)
There are you actual statistics. I couldn't find some for the US, but I think this gives an accurate enough impression. All statistics are for the year 2003, taken from Statistics Canada Crime and Justice Reports http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/justic.htm and the FBI Uniform Crime Reports http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/03cius.htm
I made no claims that we are Utopic, certainly we have our problems, we aren't perfect but we are doing very well for ourselves anyway, Kyoto protocol and everything.
Why did Quebec try to separate? Well, it starts from the fact that we created a nation by binding together two different cultures that had been at war on-and-off for a few hundred years. The history of the seperatists is a long one, and requires someone of a more political disposition than I to explain well. But nevertheless, aside from a few incidents (very famous ones inside Canada) we held ourselves together in peace, if not exactly harmony. Today we are closer than ever to accepting who we are, but its been a long road.
I will point out however, that we have not come anywhere close to an all-out conflict as occurred in the United States during the civil war, which did literally rip the country to pieces. And both sides in that war shared the same heritage no less!
I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be a spokesman for our country. I know that we have our problems, and I'm very aware that there are a lot of differing viewpoints in our country. I'm simply trying to express that our country as a whole does what it can to help others, improve the world in the way that we know how and that the majority of Canadians are happy with who and what we are. There is always someone who is going to disagree with any piece of legislation that passes or doesn't pass. But we have ratified Kyoto, and on the world stage we are doing very well for ourselves.
I apologize if I came off as pretentious in my previous post.
I'm Canadian, we ratified the Kyoto Accord and guess what? We're very happy with who we are and do our best to serve as a good example for the rest of the world as much as the US tries to do.
I'm Canadian. We ratified Kyoto, we have a healthy economy. We have a social safety net, and a large federal surplus. We have universal health care. Our unemployment rate is a little higher than the US but we are doing extremely well, thank you for asking.
Yes, well the US these days doesn't seem to have a problem ignoring the rest of the world and doing whatever it wants with its fingers in its ears. Most of the rest of us, the industrialized nations of the world are trying to do whats right. The Economy Isn't Everything.
Well, for application fees I guess thats just the socialist Canadian side of me showing. That everyone should be able to travel freely as a citizen without having to go through the expense and hassle of obtaining a passport. But for the most part that is just speculation as what it COULD be used for.
As for the rest of your questions, I have no idea:). I'm simply trying to address the knee-jerk reaction a lot of people seem to have as soon as the idea of 'national identification' comes up.
Your questions are good, and they are the ones you should be asking your government. They are the real issues with such an idea, and ought to be considered carefully.
I have no idea:). I'm simply trying to address the knee-jerk reaction a lot of people seem to have as soon as the idea of 'national identification' comes up.
Your question is a good one, its the RIGHT one, and one you should be asking your government. But objections to giving the government your information, and concerns over the fact that they 'suddenly have all this information about me' are tin-foil hat concerns BECAUSE they already have this information at their fingertips, and as for 'wanting to track you', you need to take a look at all the information you give them that you accept everyday.
A passport is a federally issued piece of identification that identifies you as a citizen of a specific country. It is a required document in order to be allowed entry when crossing almost any international border (or port). Without it, most countries will refuse entry, this includes returning to your home country from a foreign one. There are some borders (Canada/US for one) that allows entry with only a piece of photo ID (ie. drivers licence) and a birth certificate instead.
A government issue national identification is really no different than either a passport or drivers license/birth certificate, allowing someone to correctly identify you as a citizen. It could even have the potential of being equivalent to a passport, one that is given automatically to every citizen instead of being forced to pay the application fees and wait period etc that is currently required.
In addition, a drivers licence serves a larger purpose than simple permission to use the roadways (aside from the fact that you are allowed to use the roads with bicycles, etc without a licence). It serves as an important piece of identification so that you can prove who you are, because there are many things that you cannot do without identification. It is illegal to even hold a job without proper identification of at least a SSN.
You'd be surprised at how many people have passports since they are required for almost all international travel. Canada/US used to be an exception (I am Canadian and have been to the US a few times), but now they can refuse you entry without one (if they choose to do so).
Bank card... the bank has your personal information on file (name, address, SSN if you have a loan, etc), they not only track any cash you withdraw, but also cheques (both those that you write, and those that you receive like pay cheques), mortgages, loans, they have access to your credit history.
Drivers License, well thats a government thing but again it has all relavent personal information on it (including things like race, sex, age, etc. that other government agencies are not permitted to collect), they also have information related to the vehicles registered under your name, driving history, and through the police any past criminal history or civil infractions that you have committed.
My point is, a national identification card as proof of who you are isn't something to get excited over. Its not like the government would suddenly have new information about you that it didn't have easy access to beforehand. Proof of identity is a requirement these days, to get anything done you need something that proves who you are. Just because a piece of identification is federal issue does not suddenly make your information matter any more to them than it already does.
Just because bad examples of software exist, doesn't mean that all software is going to be bad. There is already quite complex integrated software not to mention new navigation software in modern cars, and with the regulation imposed on the automobile industry and the fact that the industry has come to realize that "SAFETY SELLS!" there would likely be a great deal of energy spent on making sure the system is 'perfect' before it goes to market.
I remember my Real-time programming professor at university making mention of a Russian space capsule (possibly Soyuz, but I'm not 100% sure on that) as an example of excellent graceful fail programming. The capsule was in the process of decelerating for reentry when something screwed up. The module was getting erroneous data that was telling it that 'up' was the opposite direction that it thought it was. The program got confused, and firing the rockets would probably drove them straight into the ground. So what happened was that if the data being received was outside the expected bounds, it defaulted to a failure backup plan to return the cosmonauts to earth alive. As a testament to Russian engineering of the day, the programmers knew that inside the capsule the astronauts could survive ballistic reentry. So the program defaulted to its backup of 'fall like a rock'. An example of smart programming because had it attempted to continue despite contradictory data by firing its rockets, it most likely would have killed everyone on board.
Slashdot Mirror
I was a BETA tester for WoW since early January, pretty much one of the very first groups in after it went to Beta level. Despite the pricing issues I have with any MMORPG, WoW was a lot of fun and it is the first MMORPG that I have considered purchasing.
I haven't made my mind up yet (again, the pricing) but if you're in to that kind of thing, Blizzard has done an excellent job with WoW its nicely polished and as always its graphics are beautiful. Its a lot of fun and very addictive!
Sorry, I was thinking multilingual descriptions for a minute there. But I guess books do have different numbers for different languages.
But still, you could have multiple language descriptions for a book written in English, but I'd have to add a specification for which description I wanted to retrieve.
Oh lord, you ain't kidding. And the fact that you couldn't even do a simple swap between Netscape & IE because the positioning code was different as well, so what was x=0, y=0, screenwidth and screenheight were completely different depending on the browser.
I've noticed the same thing, thankfully with Firefox and IE 6, plus the other 'major' browsers if you code to W3C standard they all look pretty much the same. There still seem to be a few Javascript points remaining, Mozilla complains at things that IE doesn't, but the vast majority of the time you can do pretty well without browser specific tweaks.
One complaint though, using CSS layering, the default z-buffer renders differently in IE than Firefox (if not set explicitly), I've noticed a couple sites that have menus that are not visible in firefox but render fine in IE because someone didn't set proper z values.
Obviously, because why would you be selecting the quantity on hand if you're sorting by it? Its just used as a criteria. You'd want something more along the lines of:
SELECT product.ISBN_number, product_description.title, product_description.author FROM product, product_description WHERE product.product_id = product_description.product_id ORDER BY product.quantityonhand DESCENDING;
I didn't read the review, because I'm still playing and I didn't want to chance upon any spoilers that might not have been warned against.
I never played Half-Life to any real extent, I started it, shot a few aliens, then went to counter-strike so a lot of things are very new to me.
Well, let me tell you that Half-life 2 has been a lot like falling down the rabbit-hole. It submerged me in this world and I haven't been up for air since. Its a lot of fun, and more than a little disturbing at times, but there were no issues with holdover information, you will pick up everything you need to know about the story as you go.
All those futuristic documentaries that I've seen certainly seem to suggest so... that or "homosexual female" yarn, but either way, it works.
See: Charles Babbage
Fortunately, most metals are in fact, conductors. (Not that he used it in that way though...)
And somehow seem strangely baggy on overweight men, yet still fit skin tight on a thin, shapely female form.
Don't worry, I think you're safe. It doesn't seem that they're in any hurry to weave a microscopic carpet yet.
So, what you're saying is that a blind man and his dog in India are pondering a manned launch into space?
Thats pretty damn good...
Its good to see other people starting to catch on to the idea of Socialism that has been a developing trend in Europe and Canada for a few decades.
But in counter-point to your exaggeration, I personally don't think that way. Software doesn't need to be free, but I greatly appreciate those people who do contribute their time to making free software. Music doesn't need to be free, but at current prices I'm not in a hurry to buy, I'll just keep making my own.
However, I do think there are some things that should be freely available to everyone for the greater good. Healthcare, Education, and it so happens that scientific facts also fall under this heading to me.
I had the opposite occur. With 1.0PR I was having rather regular crashes when I opened the browser, and an annoying one that occured everytime I attempted to open any sort of streaming media. (I resorted to IE to watch the SpaceShip One launch).
However, with the full 1.0 I haven't had a single crash yet, and I've been using it a lot since the first day it was available.
Uh, we've been pushing to get the UN into Sudan for a month... but guess what? The government and the rebels just signed a peace agreement this evening that ends their 21-year old civil war in front of the UN Security Council who was holding a special meeting in Africa!
I personally believe troops should have been sent in, but the government of Sudan a couple weeks ago outright refused ANY foreign troops to intervene.
rate per 100,000 population (2003)
Canada vs US
All: 8884.8 vs 8126.8
Violence: 962.8 vs 475.0
Homicide: 1.7 vs 5.7
Attempted homicide: 2.2 vs ?
Assaults: 746.5 vs 327.1
Sexual assault: 74.1 vs 32.1
Robbery: 89.6 vs 142.2
Property crimes: 4121.4 vs 3588.4
Auto Theft: 540.7 vs 433.4
Theft over $5000: 63.6 vs ?
Traffic offences: 366.3 vs ?
Homicide by method
Canada vs US
Per 100,000 (all): 1.7 vs 5.7
All: 548 vs 14408
Shooting: 161 (29.4%) vs 9638 (66.9%)
Stabbing: 142 (25.9%) vs 1816 (12.6%)
Beating: 120 (21.9%) vs 1597 (11.1%)
Strangulation: 63 (11.5%) vs 184 (1.3%)
Fire: 12 (2.2%) vs 163 (1.1%)
Other: 27 (4.9%) vs 182 (1.3%)
Unknown: 23 (4.2%) vs 828 (5.7%)
There are you actual statistics. I couldn't find some for the US, but I think this gives an accurate enough impression. All statistics are for the year 2003, taken from Statistics Canada Crime and Justice Reports http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/justic.htm and the FBI Uniform Crime Reports http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/03cius.htm
I made no claims that we are Utopic, certainly we have our problems, we aren't perfect but we are doing very well for ourselves anyway, Kyoto protocol and everything.
Why did Quebec try to separate? Well, it starts from the fact that we created a nation by binding together two different cultures that had been at war on-and-off for a few hundred years. The history of the seperatists is a long one, and requires someone of a more political disposition than I to explain well. But nevertheless, aside from a few incidents (very famous ones inside Canada) we held ourselves together in peace, if not exactly harmony. Today we are closer than ever to accepting who we are, but its been a long road.
I will point out however, that we have not come anywhere close to an all-out conflict as occurred in the United States during the civil war, which did literally rip the country to pieces. And both sides in that war shared the same heritage no less!
I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be a spokesman for our country. I know that we have our problems, and I'm very aware that there are a lot of differing viewpoints in our country. I'm simply trying to express that our country as a whole does what it can to help others, improve the world in the way that we know how and that the majority of Canadians are happy with who and what we are. There is always someone who is going to disagree with any piece of legislation that passes or doesn't pass. But we have ratified Kyoto, and on the world stage we are doing very well for ourselves.
I apologize if I came off as pretentious in my previous post.
I'm Canadian, we ratified the Kyoto Accord and guess what? We're very happy with who we are and do our best to serve as a good example for the rest of the world as much as the US tries to do.
I'm Canadian. We ratified Kyoto, we have a healthy economy. We have a social safety net, and a large federal surplus. We have universal health care. Our unemployment rate is a little higher than the US but we are doing extremely well, thank you for asking.
Yes, well the US these days doesn't seem to have a problem ignoring the rest of the world and doing whatever it wants with its fingers in its ears. Most of the rest of us, the industrialized nations of the world are trying to do whats right. The Economy Isn't Everything.
Economy isn't everything. Most of the rest of the world has figured that out by now.
Well, for application fees I guess thats just the socialist Canadian side of me showing. That everyone should be able to travel freely as a citizen without having to go through the expense and hassle of obtaining a passport. But for the most part that is just speculation as what it COULD be used for.
:). I'm simply trying to address the knee-jerk reaction a lot of people seem to have as soon as the idea of 'national identification' comes up.
As for the rest of your questions, I have no idea
Your questions are good, and they are the ones you should be asking your government. They are the real issues with such an idea, and ought to be considered carefully.
I have no idea :). I'm simply trying to address the knee-jerk reaction a lot of people seem to have as soon as the idea of 'national identification' comes up.
Your question is a good one, its the RIGHT one, and one you should be asking your government. But objections to giving the government your information, and concerns over the fact that they 'suddenly have all this information about me' are tin-foil hat concerns BECAUSE they already have this information at their fingertips, and as for 'wanting to track you', you need to take a look at all the information you give them that you accept everyday.
A passport is a federally issued piece of identification that identifies you as a citizen of a specific country. It is a required document in order to be allowed entry when crossing almost any international border (or port). Without it, most countries will refuse entry, this includes returning to your home country from a foreign one. There are some borders (Canada/US for one) that allows entry with only a piece of photo ID (ie. drivers licence) and a birth certificate instead.
A government issue national identification is really no different than either a passport or drivers license/birth certificate, allowing someone to correctly identify you as a citizen. It could even have the potential of being equivalent to a passport, one that is given automatically to every citizen instead of being forced to pay the application fees and wait period etc that is currently required.
In addition, a drivers licence serves a larger purpose than simple permission to use the roadways (aside from the fact that you are allowed to use the roads with bicycles, etc without a licence). It serves as an important piece of identification so that you can prove who you are, because there are many things that you cannot do without identification. It is illegal to even hold a job without proper identification of at least a SSN.
You'd be surprised at how many people have passports since they are required for almost all international travel. Canada/US used to be an exception (I am Canadian and have been to the US a few times), but now they can refuse you entry without one (if they choose to do so).
Bank card... the bank has your personal information on file (name, address, SSN if you have a loan, etc), they not only track any cash you withdraw, but also cheques (both those that you write, and those that you receive like pay cheques), mortgages, loans, they have access to your credit history.
Drivers License, well thats a government thing but again it has all relavent personal information on it (including things like race, sex, age, etc. that other government agencies are not permitted to collect), they also have information related to the vehicles registered under your name, driving history, and through the police any past criminal history or civil infractions that you have committed.
My point is, a national identification card as proof of who you are isn't something to get excited over. Its not like the government would suddenly have new information about you that it didn't have easy access to beforehand. Proof of identity is a requirement these days, to get anything done you need something that proves who you are. Just because a piece of identification is federal issue does not suddenly make your information matter any more to them than it already does.
Or Diebold?
Just because bad examples of software exist, doesn't mean that all software is going to be bad. There is already quite complex integrated software not to mention new navigation software in modern cars, and with the regulation imposed on the automobile industry and the fact that the industry has come to realize that "SAFETY SELLS!" there would likely be a great deal of energy spent on making sure the system is 'perfect' before it goes to market.
I remember my Real-time programming professor at university making mention of a Russian space capsule (possibly Soyuz, but I'm not 100% sure on that) as an example of excellent graceful fail programming. The capsule was in the process of decelerating for reentry when something screwed up. The module was getting erroneous data that was telling it that 'up' was the opposite direction that it thought it was. The program got confused, and firing the rockets would probably drove them straight into the ground. So what happened was that if the data being received was outside the expected bounds, it defaulted to a failure backup plan to return the cosmonauts to earth alive. As a testament to Russian engineering of the day, the programmers knew that inside the capsule the astronauts could survive ballistic reentry. So the program defaulted to its backup of 'fall like a rock'. An example of smart programming because had it attempted to continue despite contradictory data by firing its rockets, it most likely would have killed everyone on board.