I'll never forget in 3rd grade when I was playing dodgeball at some summer camp [ok so it was between 3rd and 4th grade]. Anyhow, one of the conselors, rather large fellow... I'd guess he weighed over 200 lbs but then again I was in third grade....anyhow he unloaded at another counseler putting his fat ass behind the throw and I ended up stepping in the line of fire and taking one in the nuts. I hit the floor like a sack of potatoes... last time I ever played dodgeball although it wasn't the last time I got hit in the balls by a ball...
You're right, it's not an argument at all but it also doesn't mean that your opinion has any validity either. Opinions are things that we are all welcome to but they're all worth shit until you can actually back them up with some concrete suggestions/ideas/evidence whatever the fuck you may want.
"War is bad! Peace man peace!" Yes everyone wants peace, yes no one likes war, but give me some fucking solutions instead of whining like a little bitch.
$2500? On those minimum requirements? Are you kidding? I can get a dell machine that meet those requirements for under 1000. I could probably build my own system from scratch for 1200-1400 for those specs... shop at better places:p
It becomes a situation where we have to make trade offs, would we rather have a whole lot of toxic material that isn't as harmful or would we rather have a little bit of waste that could be very harmful. Furthermore, the technology behind nuclear power plants today is much much safer then it was even 20 years ago. The plants are run much more efficient and the probability of a melt-down scenerio are far less, that is not to say it couldn't/wouldn't happen.
Furthermore, you may have lived somewhere that you were able to live off the grid but there are large portions of this country that just could not do this. Yes much of california, texas, arizona, new mexico, florida and a handful of other states could get away with this but states like Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Washington, Oregon etc could not live off the grid. MAYBE in the summer months, but there is no way that it could occur in the winter. The only solution would be to create vast solar fields in the states that get that sort of sunlight throughout the year but then you'd meet problems with other environmental groups who say you're destroying indiginous desert species. In essence the space, money and environmental ramifications of such a money are just too great to overcome.
The only solution would be a draconian one where we gave a specific ration of power to each citizen of the US... that isn't going to happen, sorry. We're a capitalist country that operates on capitalist prinicpals, if people don't like that they can choose to live elsewhere but the fact is we're all in on this because we [Americans] choose to live in this country. I don't mean this to be a troll against the environmental movement, although it may come off that way. I would just like to see people come up with solutions that are applicable to the world we live in. Would I like to see this utopian green world where there is no pollution and everyone breathes clean air and shit like that? Of course I would, but you have to operate within the manifold to enact change you can't oblitterate the entire system because you don't like it.
The whole point Carlin is attempting to articulate is not that we shouldn't care but rather regardless of what we do we're insignificant. The plant was here long before we were here and the plant will be here long after we're gone. Even if we utterly ruin the plant from how we understand it to exist today, it will survive and more likely than not a new species more able to live in the climate produced will arise. It's nice to think that we'll still be around in a billion years, but we probably won't. Honestly, I think he's trying to say focus on things that are frankly more important, like friends and family and loved ones because even if it's just a cosmic second it's all we get so don't waste time on things we don't control and don't matter... but that's just my perspective.
Moreover, I do not want to be a member of the human species if we become "perfectly rational beings". As much as I am sometimes driven insane by irrational and emotional behavior, it is an essential aspect of our humanity. To be perfectly rational or perfectly emotional in our actions would be a huge flaw, the balance of the two is integral to our survival as a species.
Another problem that arises with this sort of analysis lies in the ethical implications. I haven't read the article so I won't pretend to say what the author is saying but based on what you think that the author is saying, he seems to be applying utilitarian ethics. The Kantian mode of ethics, in my view, is just as ineffective but utilitarianism is hamstringed by its inability to account for things that are ineffiable.
I hate people like you and your wife:-p Granted, I'm only saying that because I had a two year old sitting behind me the entire movie who was occupying his time either by screaming or kicking my chair... now if your two year old was well behaved, it's all good:)
I think baseball is also the only sport that has every at bat recorded going back to the 1960's and maybe even earlier. Every game can be recreated, almost at a pitch by pitch basis... no other sport has done that...
If my memory serves me, I believe SI actually published an article about Sidd Finch 15-20 years ago. It was right around April Fools Day so its authenticity is up for speculation but he has become something of an American Folk Legend... even if he is a brit:)
I am so sick of listening to your Red Sox Fans and Cubs Fans bitch about your stupid "curses". Cleveland hasn't won a title in ANYTHING in fifty years, baseball/basketball/football/hockey [yeah I know no pro team anymore but when I was a wee lad we had one] and you don't hear us bitching. Quit your whining:-p
I would agree that the other eight fielders play a huge role in a perfect game, but most perfect games occur because the pitcher is on his game so well that the fielders need to make routine outs. That being said it is a nine man effort, not a one man effort...
The greatest hockey game ever was for the NES... who remembers Ninentendo Hockey? Fat guys, medium guys and skinny guys... BOOYAH! Let's bring that shit back;)
"If you want videogames to be taken seriously, as art, then this needs to change" oh and I suppose that me pissing in a clear bucket and putting a crucifix in it is art too?
Get off your high horse and stop pretending like you are better then the rest of us. The fact of the matter is these video games are created for a single purpose, to sell. Sex sells so women are portrayed in various ways. You can't change economics, you can't change desire. It's just the reality of life. Not to mention most of the male characters you see in video games are just as absurd and one dimensional.
We are creatures that are archetypal in nature. Our archetypes are derived from our myths and our myths are at the root of who we are and are what we attempt to emulate. You can't and will not change that.
Wow where can I take that class? I love classes like that because there's nothing like a good ole fashion battle royal with words. Particularly when dealing with pigheaded, prejudice people who can't see beyond their own noises. It's fun to let them hang themeselves with their own stupidity....
Alright so I'm a recovering Geek so maybe my opinions don't count (I used to spend 8-10 hours a day on a computer in some manifestation, now I just use the thing to write essays and listen to music... at work I read slashdot because I have nothing else to do). I think that the idea of chip implentation holds some ostounding possibilities but I feel it's a Pandora's Box. Where do we stop? What if people decide to stop living their life in reality and choose to just plug in and have fantasies fed straight in to the brain.
The underlying core of being a human being is the ability to make connections with other human beings, thus the next logical question becomes are the connections that could be made "jacked-in" to an artificial reality be considered real. In my estimation it would be "possible" but quite a bit more difficult. As it is we all live behind masks (hence the term persona was adapted from Greek... the original meaning comes from Greek theatre and it was actually mask) and it is often difficult to get beyond those masks, which is necessay for a real connection to be made between two individuals. Thus the "plugged-in" notion would create another layer of illusion that we would have to deal with in order to make connections.
Another danger that I think exists with these sorts of interface are eluded to by Phillip K. Dick in some of his speeches and philosophical panderings; Dick asserts that at birth we are not "human beings" rather we exist as entities that have the potential to become so. He goes on to argue that due to the advances that are occuring within the computer world that our definition of who exactly can be a "human being" will need to be redifined. In essence Dick is attempting to assert the idea that we could have human-robots and robotic-humans. In other words, artificially created entities could attain personhood while homo sapiens could degenerate in to cold machines that are not human anymore.
Those criticsm being said, I think the technology has some amazing potential. I just don't plan to be having anyone or anything jacked in to my cranium, I enjoy my insanity and would like to keep it to myself thank you very much!
Anyone want to guess who named the Dark Ages the "Dark Ages"? Well I'll save you to time, it was the folks in the Renaissance who decided to do so. In all actuality, the Dark Ages have a great deal of art, literature and music that have impacted society. During this time period the Christian Churches really began to become the learning centers of western europe and a huge volume of philosophical work came out of this time. This was also the period in which the Gregorian Chants came from and are quite breathtaking (in my opinion). Furthermore, epic tales such as that of Beowulf and an assortment of other mythological tales came out of this era (If my memory serves me, the story of King Arthur comes from a historical figure in the 5th or 6th century). Anyhow, there is nothing dark about the dark ages, it's just the blokes from the Renaissance that decided to name it that (just as the people of the enlightenment era named themeselves as such... hell we call ourselves the era of modernity or post-modernity so those names are indicative of nothing.)
Yes Madden 2004 is a completely different game then Madden 2002. The physics engine is much more accurate (in 2002 you could run around the opponent if you had the hand-eye cordination but in 2004 physics engine doesn't allow you to do some of the ridiculous moves you could in prior versions), the franchise system has been updated a great deal not to mention the graphics are ten times better. Now, had you said is it better than 2003, it's only marginally better. Madden games, as a rule of thumb, only change a great deal every two years.
Alright, I'll admit it and let the masses of/. cut me down... I am a fan of the XBox. The controllers are a little bulky, but the graphics are great and they have some FUN games. Yesterday I finally picked up a copy of "Ninja Gaiden". I never played Ninja Gaiden for the NES but I remember hearing how cool it was... for the XBox it is amazing. It's the best game that I've played on the XBox since Halo... by far. Not only that, and this is where it's relevant to the topic, it has an XBox live feature. I *THINK* it's designed so that you fight other Ninja's around the world but I'm not really sure because I'm too cheap to shell out the bones for XBox Live. Anyhow Microsoft is smart to drop their shitty sports lines, NFL Fever was lame... give the Live access to EA and let them handle all that shit. Madden, is in my opinion, the best football sim and if I want people to get real messed up it's all about Street.
So here I am sitting here wasting time at work, assuming that I can go check out the screen shots of the game without coming across anything that might be considered "inappropriate" at work. So I click the link, wahoo Websense didn't block me for once! Going through the screen shots, reminiscing about old arcade games and I click page two... next thing I know there is a pixalated naked chick on my screen... god damn japanese games:P
I too have pirated games that I went on to buy, the most prominent of these games was WarCraft II. Had I not pirated some archaic alpha version (you had to mine ore as well as wood, gold and oil) and been slightly interested in the game I *NEVER* would have bought the game in the store once it was finally released. Furthermore, I liked Warcraft II so much that I decided to buy every game Blizzard has ever released since then (expansions, treasurer chests, battle.net editions etc etc). So ultimately Blizzard made an assload of money off of me getting a copy of the game illegally. I'm not saying that my acts were "ethically" right but I'm just attempting to illustrate the fact that sometime piracy helps game developers big time. That being said I miss the days of freeware and demo's. I hate having to spent $7 at Blockbuster to rent a game just to see if it's worth buying:-/
That's the exact reason why I quit the stupid game. I decided that I'd like to be a crafter for some really stupid reason (I still am not sure what convinced me to do that) but I wanted to shoot myself. After surveying for four days, I got to dig for minerals for another four days! Oh the fun we shall have, and once I'd finished digging for minerals and surveying I got to make pistol upgrades over and over and over and over and over and over again, and FINALLY after two weeks of that I was a master crafter! But the thrills don't stop there, then I decided to specialize in weaponsmithing so I got to make even MORE pistol upgrades! WAHOOOOOO now that's a good time had by all. Needless to say I got real bored, real fast with the game and canceled my account. The game is a waste of space in my mind but hey maybe some people enjoy it.
It's really fascinating to do some exploritory research in to where various words in the english language are really derived. For example, the word person comes from the greek word personae, which means mask. Strange at first but once one realizes that in the greek tragedy's the actors wore "personae" to depict a certain character. The natural evolution was the adaptation of the word to represent an individual. Language has this tendency to move from concrete to abstract, some may feel this is offtopic but I think it's important to understand where our words come from. It helps you understand the memtic nature of a culture quite a bit more.
I remember that Warcraft II employed an adaptive AI. As you played the game more and more it would begin to learn from what you did, in both single and multiplayer mode, and even begin to employ some of your own tactics. I remember playing the Alamo (pretty much like it sounds, six or seven computer oppenants vs you) on my friends computer and romping the computers (I just fortified myself until the stupid computer was done sending everything at me and started sending lines of peons into my gold mines to try and get money) and it was quite easy. Then I attempted to play it on my system (I played on kail an average of 4-5 hours a day, amazing how much time you have when you're in 8th grade) and the computer absolutely romped me. That being said, it was beatable I just had to move a bit faster and the AI would still fall into the stupid peon trap but it was a pain in the ass.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, Slashdot folks I said it. Star Wars is a horrible waste of time, yes this is a troll but someone had to say it.
I'll never forget in 3rd grade when I was playing dodgeball at some summer camp [ok so it was between 3rd and 4th grade]. Anyhow, one of the conselors, rather large fellow ... I'd guess he weighed over 200 lbs but then again I was in third grade....anyhow he unloaded at another counseler putting his fat ass behind the throw and I ended up stepping in the line of fire and taking one in the nuts. I hit the floor like a sack of potatoes ... last time I ever played dodgeball although it wasn't the last time I got hit in the balls by a ball ...
You're right, it's not an argument at all but it also doesn't mean that your opinion has any validity either. Opinions are things that we are all welcome to but they're all worth shit until you can actually back them up with some concrete suggestions/ideas/evidence whatever the fuck you may want.
"War is bad! Peace man peace!" Yes everyone wants peace, yes no one likes war, but give me some fucking solutions instead of whining like a little bitch.
$2500? On those minimum requirements? Are you kidding? I can get a dell machine that meet those requirements for under 1000. I could probably build my own system from scratch for 1200-1400 for those specs ... shop at better places :p
It becomes a situation where we have to make trade offs, would we rather have a whole lot of toxic material that isn't as harmful or would we rather have a little bit of waste that could be very harmful. Furthermore, the technology behind nuclear power plants today is much much safer then it was even 20 years ago. The plants are run much more efficient and the probability of a melt-down scenerio are far less, that is not to say it couldn't/wouldn't happen.
... that isn't going to happen, sorry. We're a capitalist country that operates on capitalist prinicpals, if people don't like that they can choose to live elsewhere but the fact is we're all in on this because we [Americans] choose to live in this country. I don't mean this to be a troll against the environmental movement, although it may come off that way. I would just like to see people come up with solutions that are applicable to the world we live in. Would I like to see this utopian green world where there is no pollution and everyone breathes clean air and shit like that? Of course I would, but you have to operate within the manifold to enact change you can't oblitterate the entire system because you don't like it.
Furthermore, you may have lived somewhere that you were able to live off the grid but there are large portions of this country that just could not do this. Yes much of california, texas, arizona, new mexico, florida and a handful of other states could get away with this but states like Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Washington, Oregon etc could not live off the grid. MAYBE in the summer months, but there is no way that it could occur in the winter. The only solution would be to create vast solar fields in the states that get that sort of sunlight throughout the year but then you'd meet problems with other environmental groups who say you're destroying indiginous desert species. In essence the space, money and environmental ramifications of such a money are just too great to overcome.
The only solution would be a draconian one where we gave a specific ration of power to each citizen of the US
The whole point Carlin is attempting to articulate is not that we shouldn't care but rather regardless of what we do we're insignificant. The plant was here long before we were here and the plant will be here long after we're gone. Even if we utterly ruin the plant from how we understand it to exist today, it will survive and more likely than not a new species more able to live in the climate produced will arise. It's nice to think that we'll still be around in a billion years, but we probably won't. Honestly, I think he's trying to say focus on things that are frankly more important, like friends and family and loved ones because even if it's just a cosmic second it's all we get so don't waste time on things we don't control and don't matter ... but that's just my perspective.
Moreover, I do not want to be a member of the human species if we become "perfectly rational beings". As much as I am sometimes driven insane by irrational and emotional behavior, it is an essential aspect of our humanity. To be perfectly rational or perfectly emotional in our actions would be a huge flaw, the balance of the two is integral to our survival as a species.
Another problem that arises with this sort of analysis lies in the ethical implications. I haven't read the article so I won't pretend to say what the author is saying but based on what you think that the author is saying, he seems to be applying utilitarian ethics. The Kantian mode of ethics, in my view, is just as ineffective but utilitarianism is hamstringed by its inability to account for things that are ineffiable.
I hate people like you and your wife :-p Granted, I'm only saying that because I had a two year old sitting behind me the entire movie who was occupying his time either by screaming or kicking my chair ... now if your two year old was well behaved, it's all good :)
Cricket doesn't count ... we don't play it in the US and afterall only the United States REALLY matters :)
I think baseball is also the only sport that has every at bat recorded going back to the 1960's and maybe even earlier. Every game can be recreated, almost at a pitch by pitch basis ... no other sport has done that ...
If my memory serves me, I believe SI actually published an article about Sidd Finch 15-20 years ago. It was right around April Fools Day so its authenticity is up for speculation but he has become something of an American Folk Legend ... even if he is a brit :)
I am so sick of listening to your Red Sox Fans and Cubs Fans bitch about your stupid "curses". Cleveland hasn't won a title in ANYTHING in fifty years, baseball/basketball/football/hockey [yeah I know no pro team anymore but when I was a wee lad we had one] and you don't hear us bitching. Quit your whining :-p
I would agree that the other eight fielders play a huge role in a perfect game, but most perfect games occur because the pitcher is on his game so well that the fielders need to make routine outs. That being said it is a nine man effort, not a one man effort ...
The greatest hockey game ever was for the NES ... who remembers Ninentendo Hockey? Fat guys, medium guys and skinny guys ... BOOYAH! Let's bring that shit back ;)
"My fat guy just whooped your skinny bitch ass!"
"If you want videogames to be taken seriously, as art, then this needs to change" oh and I suppose that me pissing in a clear bucket and putting a crucifix in it is art too?
Get off your high horse and stop pretending like you are better then the rest of us. The fact of the matter is these video games are created for a single purpose, to sell. Sex sells so women are portrayed in various ways. You can't change economics, you can't change desire. It's just the reality of life. Not to mention most of the male characters you see in video games are just as absurd and one dimensional.
We are creatures that are archetypal in nature. Our archetypes are derived from our myths and our myths are at the root of who we are and are what we attempt to emulate. You can't and will not change that.
Wow where can I take that class? I love classes like that because there's nothing like a good ole fashion battle royal with words. Particularly when dealing with pigheaded, prejudice people who can't see beyond their own noises. It's fun to let them hang themeselves with their own stupidity ....
Alright so I'm a recovering Geek so maybe my opinions don't count (I used to spend 8-10 hours a day on a computer in some manifestation, now I just use the thing to write essays and listen to music ... at work I read slashdot because I have nothing else to do). I think that the idea of chip implentation holds some ostounding possibilities but I feel it's a Pandora's Box. Where do we stop? What if people decide to stop living their life in reality and choose to just plug in and have fantasies fed straight in to the brain.
... the original meaning comes from Greek theatre and it was actually mask) and it is often difficult to get beyond those masks, which is necessay for a real connection to be made between two individuals. Thus the "plugged-in" notion would create another layer of illusion that we would have to deal with in order to make connections.
The underlying core of being a human being is the ability to make connections with other human beings, thus the next logical question becomes are the connections that could be made "jacked-in" to an artificial reality be considered real. In my estimation it would be "possible" but quite a bit more difficult. As it is we all live behind masks (hence the term persona was adapted from Greek
Another danger that I think exists with these sorts of interface are eluded to by Phillip K. Dick in some of his speeches and philosophical panderings; Dick asserts that at birth we are not "human beings" rather we exist as entities that have the potential to become so. He goes on to argue that due to the advances that are occuring within the computer world that our definition of who exactly can be a "human being" will need to be redifined. In essence Dick is attempting to assert the idea that we could have human-robots and robotic-humans. In other words, artificially created entities could attain personhood while homo sapiens could degenerate in to cold machines that are not human anymore.
Those criticsm being said, I think the technology has some amazing potential. I just don't plan to be having anyone or anything jacked in to my cranium, I enjoy my insanity and would like to keep it to myself thank you very much!
Anyone want to guess who named the Dark Ages the "Dark Ages"? Well I'll save you to time, it was the folks in the Renaissance who decided to do so. In all actuality, the Dark Ages have a great deal of art, literature and music that have impacted society. During this time period the Christian Churches really began to become the learning centers of western europe and a huge volume of philosophical work came out of this time. This was also the period in which the Gregorian Chants came from and are quite breathtaking (in my opinion). Furthermore, epic tales such as that of Beowulf and an assortment of other mythological tales came out of this era (If my memory serves me, the story of King Arthur comes from a historical figure in the 5th or 6th century). Anyhow, there is nothing dark about the dark ages, it's just the blokes from the Renaissance that decided to name it that (just as the people of the enlightenment era named themeselves as such ... hell we call ourselves the era of modernity or post-modernity so those names are indicative of nothing.)
Yes Madden 2004 is a completely different game then Madden 2002. The physics engine is much more accurate (in 2002 you could run around the opponent if you had the hand-eye cordination but in 2004 physics engine doesn't allow you to do some of the ridiculous moves you could in prior versions), the franchise system has been updated a great deal not to mention the graphics are ten times better. Now, had you said is it better than 2003, it's only marginally better. Madden games, as a rule of thumb, only change a great deal every two years.
Alright, I'll admit it and let the masses of /. cut me down ... I am a fan of the XBox. The controllers are a little bulky, but the graphics are great and they have some FUN games. Yesterday I finally picked up a copy of "Ninja Gaiden". I never played Ninja Gaiden for the NES but I remember hearing how cool it was ... for the XBox it is amazing. It's the best game that I've played on the XBox since Halo ... by far. Not only that, and this is where it's relevant to the topic, it has an XBox live feature. I *THINK* it's designed so that you fight other Ninja's around the world but I'm not really sure because I'm too cheap to shell out the bones for XBox Live. Anyhow Microsoft is smart to drop their shitty sports lines, NFL Fever was lame ... give the Live access to EA and let them handle all that shit. Madden, is in my opinion, the best football sim and if I want people to get real messed up it's all about Street.
So here I am sitting here wasting time at work, assuming that I can go check out the screen shots of the game without coming across anything that might be considered "inappropriate" at work. So I click the link, wahoo Websense didn't block me for once! Going through the screen shots, reminiscing about old arcade games and I click page two ... next thing I know there is a pixalated naked chick on my screen ... god damn japanese games :P
I too have pirated games that I went on to buy, the most prominent of these games was WarCraft II. Had I not pirated some archaic alpha version (you had to mine ore as well as wood, gold and oil) and been slightly interested in the game I *NEVER* would have bought the game in the store once it was finally released. Furthermore, I liked Warcraft II so much that I decided to buy every game Blizzard has ever released since then (expansions, treasurer chests, battle.net editions etc etc). So ultimately Blizzard made an assload of money off of me getting a copy of the game illegally. I'm not saying that my acts were "ethically" right but I'm just attempting to illustrate the fact that sometime piracy helps game developers big time. That being said I miss the days of freeware and demo's. I hate having to spent $7 at Blockbuster to rent a game just to see if it's worth buying :-/
That's the exact reason why I quit the stupid game. I decided that I'd like to be a crafter for some really stupid reason (I still am not sure what convinced me to do that) but I wanted to shoot myself. After surveying for four days, I got to dig for minerals for another four days! Oh the fun we shall have, and once I'd finished digging for minerals and surveying I got to make pistol upgrades over and over and over and over and over and over again, and FINALLY after two weeks of that I was a master crafter! But the thrills don't stop there, then I decided to specialize in weaponsmithing so I got to make even MORE pistol upgrades! WAHOOOOOO now that's a good time had by all. Needless to say I got real bored, real fast with the game and canceled my account. The game is a waste of space in my mind but hey maybe some people enjoy it.
It's really fascinating to do some exploritory research in to where various words in the english language are really derived. For example, the word person comes from the greek word personae, which means mask. Strange at first but once one realizes that in the greek tragedy's the actors wore "personae" to depict a certain character. The natural evolution was the adaptation of the word to represent an individual. Language has this tendency to move from concrete to abstract, some may feel this is offtopic but I think it's important to understand where our words come from. It helps you understand the memtic nature of a culture quite a bit more.
I remember that Warcraft II employed an adaptive AI. As you played the game more and more it would begin to learn from what you did, in both single and multiplayer mode, and even begin to employ some of your own tactics. I remember playing the Alamo (pretty much like it sounds, six or seven computer oppenants vs you) on my friends computer and romping the computers (I just fortified myself until the stupid computer was done sending everything at me and started sending lines of peons into my gold mines to try and get money) and it was quite easy. Then I attempted to play it on my system (I played on kail an average of 4-5 hours a day, amazing how much time you have when you're in 8th grade) and the computer absolutely romped me. That being said, it was beatable I just had to move a bit faster and the AI would still fall into the stupid peon trap but it was a pain in the ass.