Just because *you* and many other gamers don't have a problem doesn't mean that games are not addictive. Yes, anything can be addictive, but it's about the rate of addiction. Gaming has a lot more in common with gambling than just the name. They're both about repeating the exact same thing over and over and over with no clear goal other those which people impose on themselves, often with limited success. It's a system of reward which encourages the player to continue whether he "wins" or "loses." In terms of gambling, there's always one more hand. If you go to any card game and utter the phrase, "I should go.. just one more hand," everyone will chuckle in a knowing way.. it's HARD to get up and walk away, for everybody... moreso for people with addictive personalities. It's the same thing online, except it's "just one more level." In online games, as in casinos, there are frequently people who will spend 24 hours straight playing, or longer. That sort of behavior is not frequently associated with other, less addictive activities, such as the oft-quoted TV watching.
Anyway, I'm not against either online games or gambling and I'm not saying they're teh debbil; rather I think it's important to acknowledge that they are inherently addictive activities, and perhaps to provide methods to identify and help people who display symptoms of addiction. In the end, as the article says, it doesn't really matter what you call it -- the behavior is destructive, dangerous, and the individuals often don't realize it until it's too late.
Actually, a good lawyer does care because he wants to win, which means he can charge the next guy even more, and ensure that there will be a steady flow of next guys. Maybe a few just want to drag things out because they can't get new clients, but they're the exceptions.
I doubt that it is HD, but that's just talking about the output from the unit to a TV (presumably a composite output), not the display itself. It's entirely possible, and not unlikely, to have an HD display with a SD output.
That's why whenever I go to the park, I always run toward the large flocks of pigeons while flapping an umbrella and crying out "PAKAW! PAKAW!" Sure, it's a little embarrassing, and the people who get droppings on them in the ensuing mass migration get a little upset, but if it saves even one pigeon, then it's worth it.
Unfortunately, I believe it's only scaring them away from people who charge them with umbrellas while screaming which, in my experience, is not a significant number. I fear I'll soon have to resort to more drastic measures, like holding out some popcorn and then cold-cocking the first sonofa dove that makes a lunge for it. Of course I'll tell them it's only for their own good, and it hurts me more than it hurts them.
Buying dual core/64 bit processors is a bit like buying an SUV to drive on paved roads.
It's funny that for years SMP was marketed exclusively for servers. When enthusiasts would investigate, they were always advised to steer clear of multiple processors because of incompatibility, and because they just didn't provide any clear advantage for day-to-day use. But now that we seem to have hit the MHz brick wall (for now), it's all about SMP, which is somehow more practical now that it's two processors on one core.. nevermind the fact that there's hardly any software that can take advantage of it, and worse yet -- no clear concept of how multithreading could help something like games. Indeed, most processor-intensive applications intrinsically rely on one set of results before calculating the next set.
So I'm still sticking with my old 32-bit, single core, high clockspeed processors. Until there's software which takes serious advantage of a larger bus and SMP, there's absolutely no reason for me to buy anything else (aside from the biased pricing models as of late). And by "take advantage of," I don't mean "runs without frequent crashes."
Well, I'm not sure murder is the best analogy, and in fact I believe using it is the definition of the "straw man" term you were throwing around in the first half of your rant, but nonetheless: Laws are about the balance of interests; mainly society's interests vs. the individual's. In considering society's interest, one must also factor in the expense and feasibility of enforcement versus the benefit of lowering the undesired behavior, including expected effectiveness and the cost of having otherwise productive people in jail. If a law is difficult to enforce, then we have two options: First, we can spend a lot of money and manpower to enforce it, or second we can tacitly allow the behavior. Neither option is particularly palletable, however in the case of murder, it's clearly worthwhile to spare no expense in the attempt to deter such acts. When it is not worthwhile, then we are doing society a disservice by expending a disproportionate amount of resources in an attempt to combat a certain behavior. Additionally, if we tacitly allow an illegal behavior, then we're making a mockery of the law. It sends the message that law is more of a suggestion than a rule, and as long as you don't break them "too badly," you're okay. Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of laws which fall into that category, however that's no reason to introduce even more of them into the system.
So that's one part of it. The other question is: How much does it harm society to allow the unchecked distribution of intellectual "property?" Does it discourage the creation of new content, and if so, to what extent? These are the questions that should be answered in order to determine what, if any, effort is put into further regulation. I believe the grandparent is of the field of thought that copyrights (in their current form) provide little benefit for society as a whole, and in fact are balanced in favor of corporate interests.
The Ubuntu live CD didn't ask me before it overwrote my MBR, nor did GRUB find the mount point for my XP installation on a RAID. In fact, it didn't even boot into Linux when it was done. So yeah, I was digging through CDs to find XP so I could FIXMBR. So yeah, the best solution is for an OS to just ask before f*cking with the MBR.r
What are you talking about?!?!? The U.S. incarceration rate in 2004 was the highest in the world, at 724 per 100,000 population. Second was Russia, at 532 per 100,000. Obviously we're doing something right, catching all those criminals. We're number one!
Individual was seen on Wednesday July 26, at approximately 0619 making suspicious inquiries regarding the nature of data categorization and storage. The subject posed as a "concerned reader," and asked what appeared to be harmless questions, however informants have stated that he may, in fact, have been planning to submit his own stories to improper categories. Surveillance indicates that this is just the beginning of a massive campaign of disinformation and misinformation designed to thwart intelligence collection and law enforcement capabilities -- clearly a grave threat to national security.
It is further believed that "mrxak" may actually be an alias, however his true identity has yet to be discovered. Subject must remain under continued observation at all times.
I always throw in the word "review" when looking for product information. As for finding actual prices, it helps if you know the manufacturer model number (which is usually NOT the same as model printed on the front, even if that happens to be a number). If you can find just one site that sells the product, they usually have the MFR Model number, and you can go from there. Also starting points like Amazon or CNet will often have information, as well as links to other information.
I am not a physicist, but I am a proctologist, which means I have an expert understanding of you.
Re:The Most Important Question
on
Prey Review
·
· Score: 1
Actually, he has a Zippo for light. In fact, the only decent line of monologue is when the narrator says, "Man it's dark in here.. I'm doomed." The rest of the dialog is basically just a compilation of the 7 words you can't say on TV. Not that there's anything wrong with that; it just gets monotonous.
Yep.. and it's everywhere: all over storefronts, "special club" entrances, the guy sitting across from you on the train, the ads on TV and in the paper, etc, etc.
Not that I think there's anything wrong with it, per se, but let's call a spade a spade.
"In the West, there is a stereotype of: "Visual Novel = Dating Sim Game = Hentai", but that is wrong.
It is?
Umeda is a self-confessed otaku, one of Japan's growing legion of men obsessed with anime, comics, action figures, and videogames. And when Umeda claims otaku status, it's no idle boast. "Here's the real evidence," he says, producing a certificate and ID that confirm his standing as "otaku elite." He earned this rank by getting a very high score on a rigorous National Unified Otaku Certification Test last summer. The exam was something of a Japanese obsession, despite having been available only as an insert in Elfics magazine, which features cheesecake drawings of scantily clad, underage girls on the cover. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/posts.htm l?pg=5
Slashdot Mirror
Just because *you* and many other gamers don't have a problem doesn't mean that games are not addictive. Yes, anything can be addictive, but it's about the rate of addiction. Gaming has a lot more in common with gambling than just the name. They're both about repeating the exact same thing over and over and over with no clear goal other those which people impose on themselves, often with limited success. It's a system of reward which encourages the player to continue whether he "wins" or "loses." In terms of gambling, there's always one more hand. If you go to any card game and utter the phrase, "I should go.. just one more hand," everyone will chuckle in a knowing way.. it's HARD to get up and walk away, for everybody... moreso for people with addictive personalities. It's the same thing online, except it's "just one more level." In online games, as in casinos, there are frequently people who will spend 24 hours straight playing, or longer. That sort of behavior is not frequently associated with other, less addictive activities, such as the oft-quoted TV watching.
Anyway, I'm not against either online games or gambling and I'm not saying they're teh debbil; rather I think it's important to acknowledge that they are inherently addictive activities, and perhaps to provide methods to identify and help people who display symptoms of addiction. In the end, as the article says, it doesn't really matter what you call it -- the behavior is destructive, dangerous, and the individuals often don't realize it until it's too late.
Actually, a good lawyer does care because he wants to win, which means he can charge the next guy even more, and ensure that there will be a steady flow of next guys. Maybe a few just want to drag things out because they can't get new clients, but they're the exceptions.
SHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
There's nothing to learn here, move along.
I doubt that it is HD, but that's just talking about the output from the unit to a TV (presumably a composite output), not the display itself. It's entirely possible, and not unlikely, to have an HD display with a SD output.
That's why whenever I go to the park, I always run toward the large flocks of pigeons while flapping an umbrella and crying out "PAKAW! PAKAW!" Sure, it's a little embarrassing, and the people who get droppings on them in the ensuing mass migration get a little upset, but if it saves even one pigeon, then it's worth it.
Unfortunately, I believe it's only scaring them away from people who charge them with umbrellas while screaming which, in my experience, is not a significant number. I fear I'll soon have to resort to more drastic measures, like holding out some popcorn and then cold-cocking the first sonofa dove that makes a lunge for it. Of course I'll tell them it's only for their own good, and it hurts me more than it hurts them.
Buying dual core/64 bit processors is a bit like buying an SUV to drive on paved roads.
It's funny that for years SMP was marketed exclusively for servers. When enthusiasts would investigate, they were always advised to steer clear of multiple processors because of incompatibility, and because they just didn't provide any clear advantage for day-to-day use. But now that we seem to have hit the MHz brick wall (for now), it's all about SMP, which is somehow more practical now that it's two processors on one core.. nevermind the fact that there's hardly any software that can take advantage of it, and worse yet -- no clear concept of how multithreading could help something like games. Indeed, most processor-intensive applications intrinsically rely on one set of results before calculating the next set.
So I'm still sticking with my old 32-bit, single core, high clockspeed processors. Until there's software which takes serious advantage of a larger bus and SMP, there's absolutely no reason for me to buy anything else (aside from the biased pricing models as of late). And by "take advantage of," I don't mean "runs without frequent crashes."
Well, I'm not sure murder is the best analogy, and in fact I believe using it is the definition of the "straw man" term you were throwing around in the first half of your rant, but nonetheless: Laws are about the balance of interests; mainly society's interests vs. the individual's. In considering society's interest, one must also factor in the expense and feasibility of enforcement versus the benefit of lowering the undesired behavior, including expected effectiveness and the cost of having otherwise productive people in jail. If a law is difficult to enforce, then we have two options: First, we can spend a lot of money and manpower to enforce it, or second we can tacitly allow the behavior. Neither option is particularly palletable, however in the case of murder, it's clearly worthwhile to spare no expense in the attempt to deter such acts. When it is not worthwhile, then we are doing society a disservice by expending a disproportionate amount of resources in an attempt to combat a certain behavior. Additionally, if we tacitly allow an illegal behavior, then we're making a mockery of the law. It sends the message that law is more of a suggestion than a rule, and as long as you don't break them "too badly," you're okay. Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of laws which fall into that category, however that's no reason to introduce even more of them into the system.
So that's one part of it. The other question is: How much does it harm society to allow the unchecked distribution of intellectual "property?" Does it discourage the creation of new content, and if so, to what extent? These are the questions that should be answered in order to determine what, if any, effort is put into further regulation. I believe the grandparent is of the field of thought that copyrights (in their current form) provide little benefit for society as a whole, and in fact are balanced in favor of corporate interests.
Congress and Wal-Mart
"Google Code" sounds way too professional. Might I suggest:
Google Repository for Open-Source Software
Or perhaps Google Open-source Repository Project.
It's a lot like religion, but we don't start wars
Yet...
The Ubuntu live CD didn't ask me before it overwrote my MBR, nor did GRUB find the mount point for my XP installation on a RAID. In fact, it didn't even boot into Linux when it was done. So yeah, I was digging through CDs to find XP so I could FIXMBR. So yeah, the best solution is for an OS to just ask before f*cking with the MBR.r
The sad thing is that Monopoly was a great way for kids to learn about money.
So I guess we can expect a dramatic rise in people who leave their money laying out when they go to the bathroom.
And Luke replied, "Dude, my cloak is NODROP, and besides, disciples can't even equip swords!"
What are you talking about?!?!? The U.S. incarceration rate in 2004 was the highest in the world, at 724 per 100,000 population. Second was Russia, at 532 per 100,000. Obviously we're doing something right, catching all those criminals. We're number one!
Strategic Data Report
26 July, 2006
Agent: StikyPad
Subject: mrxak
Individual was seen on Wednesday July 26, at approximately 0619 making suspicious inquiries regarding the nature of data categorization and storage. The subject posed as a "concerned reader," and asked what appeared to be harmless questions, however informants have stated that he may, in fact, have been planning to submit his own stories to improper categories. Surveillance indicates that this is just the beginning of a massive campaign of disinformation and misinformation designed to thwart intelligence collection and law enforcement capabilities -- clearly a grave threat to national security.
It is further believed that "mrxak" may actually be an alias, however his true identity has yet to be discovered. Subject must remain under continued observation at all times.
NNNN
Haha.. made quota!
Great! Now how do I filter out people who post serious replies to jokes?
(Also who do I see about collecting my profits?)
I understand why they'd be returned, and rightly so, but it's strange that there are no corroborating reports.
I always throw in the word "review" when looking for product information. As for finding actual prices, it helps if you know the manufacturer model number (which is usually NOT the same as model printed on the front, even if that happens to be a number). If you can find just one site that sells the product, they usually have the MFR Model number, and you can go from there. Also starting points like Amazon or CNet will often have information, as well as links to other information.
I am not a physicist, but I am a proctologist, which means I have an expert understanding of you.
Actually, he has a Zippo for light. In fact, the only decent line of monologue is when the narrator says, "Man it's dark in here.. I'm doomed." The rest of the dialog is basically just a compilation of the 7 words you can't say on TV. Not that there's anything wrong with that; it just gets monotonous.
I stumbled on a report that we're "returning" 42 cartons of dinosaur eggs to China.
Is that propoganda? I can't find any other reference besides those two questionable sources. Also, who thinks these things up?
on whether or not you consider 10,000 years to be ancient.
Yep.. and it's everywhere: all over storefronts, "special club" entrances, the guy sitting across from you on the train, the ads on TV and in the paper, etc, etc.
Not that I think there's anything wrong with it, per se, but let's call a spade a spade.
It is?
Gee, I hope my " Today's music sucks teh Sh!t " bumper sticker get's the word out.
Are you implying that the word out belongs to get, or that get is the word out?