First of all I, and I suspect many other/. readers, have read all five books (many times). Secondly, while there is a great deal of Christian symbolism in The Chronicles of Narnia, that is no reason for anybody to start gagging. Just because you don't have the same believes as someone else is no reason not to appreciate that person's beliefs. And if some people do dislike christian symbolism to the point of gagging, (1) why would they be watching TCoN at all? It's common knowledge they christian fables; (2) Even if they do start watching them, why would it only be on the last one or two that they'd start gagging? The entire series, from book one on, is steeped in Christianity, not just the last couple.
So you're saying that there was absolutely no allegory in any of Tolkien's work?
It's a pretty safe thing to say, as Tolkien himself protested the allegorizing of his novels. Basically, allegory (as Tolkien despised it) was a 1:1 correlation. "The message of The Lord of the Rings is that industrialization is evil." "The One Ring represents atomic weapons, which are totally evil and will corrupt anyone who uses them." These are examples of common allegories people tie to Tolkien's books, and they are wrong not because the books can't be used to symbolize them (Tolkien actually did dislike the industrial revolution), but because Tolkien was not saying that. He was telling a deeply symbolic story, but symbolism is vastly different from allegory. Allegory is "X means Y". Symbolism may have different meanings to different people, or at different times, or have many meanings to a single person. So even if the parent poster wasn't saying it, I will: There is no allegory in The Lord of the Rings.
This article discusses a number of things that make Tolkien and Lewis two of my favorite authors. Many of the points discussed I was already aware of (some only recently), but much of Tolkien & Lewis's relationship is not common knowledge to the public. This is unfortunate, because as the article points out, we probably wouldn't have their literary works today if it weren't for their friendship with each other.
The Lion, Witch Wardrobe. Sheesh, what's next, A Wrinkle in Time? Let's hear it for grade-school fiction!
There's a reason these are grade-school fiction. They have immense value as both marvelously entertaining stories, and as wonderful literature. On the other hand, while the Dragonlance books are mildly (if that) entertaining, their literary value is nil. You seem to think that grade-school fiction, just by being grade-school fiction, has no value. This is completly backwards. In order for something to become grade-school fiction it needs to be well written, meaningful, and all around worthwhile to teach & study.
This is something that they differ on, but it was never a cause of a "falling-out." Just because two authors have different styles is no reason for them not to be friends.
This is standard operating procedure for stores of all types. Walk into any grocery store, walk around looking for the "On Sale" or "As Advertised" price stickers, lift them up & look at the regular price sticker underneath. Sometimes the regular price will be more, sometimes the same. The only difference is that sometimes the price is advertised. How many times have you seen things advertised for "Our Everyday low price"? If it's everyday, then it's not discounted, but they are advertising it as a low price anyway.
Of course, just because everyone does this doesn't make it nice. I find it really annoying, but it's usually easy to pick out what are actually discounted sale items, and I am usually satisfied if I consider my purchase to be a fair price.
That's rather harsh. I think the primary motive is kindness. I mean, what type of gamer really cares about "one's image in the media"? Gamers play games for fun, and would be giving games to others to share the fun. I think it is only because of the skewed image the media has of gamers that Ticktockman points out that this is an act of kindness, not violence.
"...the consensus among gamers and developers is that open source games still lag behind proprietary games in
originality, sophistication, and artwork"
I disagree with OS games not being original. Liquid Wars won Happy Penguin's "Most Original Linux Game 2002", and is IMO on of the most original games I've ever played.
That's a very good point. The biggest difference that I see is that "ACME Sysadmin" probably is making an effort to ensure the security of his systems, while "Home User" outright states that he is relying on Microsofts word (IMO definetly not a "reasonable attempt").
I agree with this. A parallel that occured to me while reading the article was library cards. If a book checked out on my library card is over due, I am the one responsible to pay the fine, regardless of whether or not I was the one who checked the book out, whether or not I read the book, and whether or not it was my fault the book was over due. If it was on my card, I pay the fine, period.
I disagree rather strongly. As both a hardcore gamer and a hardcore linux user, I am speaking from experience when I say there is not that much difference in the number of games available between M$ Windows and Linux. The biggest difference is that there are more free/open source games for linux, which is a good thing, but somewhat less commercial games, which would be a bad thing, but what with winex & other emulators, even with commercial games I can choose from basically the same games for both Windows & Linux.
That might explain more Linux users subscribing, but how would you tie that to they staying loyal to the game? The original article states "Linux users tend to remain subscribers for a longer time."
I don't see how that could be a function of the/. effect.
The deciding factor for me purchasing KoTOR is whether or not it is ported to Linux. It is based on the NWN engine, so it would be a snap to port, but BioWare needs LucasArts to OK it, and LucasArts won't. Why? Because LucasArts plays up to that other OS company for some reason.
If I see Linux support, I will buy it. If not, not.
I wish it would, but it won't. I don't expect anything to actually kill the Xbox or Xbox2, because M$ has the money to pour into it regardless of it's success. Most of M$ products actually lose them money, it's just that they make so much on their OSes & MS Office that they can afford to lose money on other things simply for the market share.
It wasn't "electing to not do business with somebody" that was the robbery, it was what would happen if you did elect to do business with them. In order for them to publish the writer's book, the writer was required to relinquish all claims to the copyright (rightfully theirs) to the publisher.
There is NO FIRST SALE RIGHT FOR SOUND RECORDINGS OR COMPUTER SOFTWARE insofar as 1) this only pertains to rental, lease or lending -- you can still sell this stuff used if you lawfully acquired it, 2) this only pertains to sound recordings, or computer software that is not embodied in hardware, or that is not intended for use on a limited purpose computer for game playing (i.e. console games), 3) there are some exceptions for libraries with regards to this, but most of us are not a real library.
So you actually would be infringing copyrights to lend a CD to a friend, provided that a court construes "lending" in the statute to be the same kind of lending, which on the face of it, seems to be inescapable.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't the exception "2) this only pertains to sound recordings, or computer software that is not embodied in hardware..." be interpreted in a manner to allow lending a CD? The physical media is hardware that (in many cases) embodies the recording. This would allow the lending of a physical CD (and the embodied recording), but not "unembodied" pure data, such as p2p filesharing.
The most important computer skill anyone can learn is, IMO, how to Read The Friendly Manual. If you can teach people how to figure out how to do something, or fix a problem, without having to call tech support or their teenage son (I'm both), you will make the world a much better place.
For MS Windows, the best tool to teach people to use to learn is probably the Help files. Yes, these are all too often poorly written, but it constantly surprises me that not only do people sometimes have a hard time understanding the help files, but how many people don't even know how to use them.
Also, I would recommend teaching people how to read the PDF users manuals most software comes with. Perhaps unfortunatly, most software today only ships with a "Quick Install Guide" on actual paper, so I'm afraid all too many people think their new software doesn't have a manual.
Slashdot Mirror
First of all I, and I suspect many other /. readers, have read all five books (many times). Secondly, while there is a great deal of Christian symbolism in The Chronicles of Narnia, that is no reason for anybody to start gagging. Just because you don't have the same believes as someone else is no reason not to appreciate that person's beliefs. And if some people do dislike christian symbolism to the point of gagging, (1) why would they be watching TCoN at all? It's common knowledge they christian fables; (2) Even if they do start watching them, why would it only be on the last one or two that they'd start gagging? The entire series, from book one on, is steeped in Christianity, not just the last couple.
This article discusses a number of things that make Tolkien and Lewis two of my favorite authors. Many of the points discussed I was already aware of (some only recently), but much of Tolkien & Lewis's relationship is not common knowledge to the public. This is unfortunate, because as the article points out, we probably wouldn't have their literary works today if it weren't for their friendship with each other.
This is something that they differ on, but it was never a cause of a "falling-out." Just because two authors have different styles is no reason for them not to be friends.
This is standard operating procedure for stores of all types. Walk into any grocery store, walk around looking for the "On Sale" or "As Advertised" price stickers, lift them up & look at the regular price sticker underneath. Sometimes the regular price will be more, sometimes the same. The only difference is that sometimes the price is advertised. How many times have you seen things advertised for "Our Everyday low price"? If it's everyday, then it's not discounted, but they are advertising it as a low price anyway.
Of course, just because everyone does this doesn't make it nice. I find it really annoying, but it's usually easy to pick out what are actually discounted sale items, and I am usually satisfied if I consider my purchase to be a fair price.
Just my 2 cents worth.
That's rather harsh. I think the primary motive is kindness. I mean, what type of gamer really cares about "one's image in the media"? Gamers play games for fun, and would be giving games to others to share the fun. I think it is only because of the skewed image the media has of gamers that Ticktockman points out that this is an act of kindness, not violence.
Will these domain names be Funkifiable?
For example, http://slashdot.org == http://1109654166/.
I disagree with OS games not being original. Liquid Wars won Happy Penguin's "Most Original Linux Game 2002", and is IMO on of the most original games I've ever played.
Just my 2 cents
A game I play fairly often performs better under WineX than under M$ Windows. You may have heard of it: WarCraft III.
Under Linux/WineX I run it at 1280x1024, under Windows I can't stand the performance at any resolution higher than 1024x768.
That's a very good point. The biggest difference that I see is that "ACME Sysadmin" probably is making an effort to ensure the security of his systems, while "Home User" outright states that he is relying on Microsofts word (IMO definetly not a "reasonable attempt").
I agree with this. A parallel that occured to me while reading the article was library cards. If a book checked out on my library card is over due, I am the one responsible to pay the fine, regardless of whether or not I was the one who checked the book out, whether or not I read the book, and whether or not it was my fault the book was over due. If it was on my card, I pay the fine, period.
That's exactly the point: with M$ Windows, it would be pirating, with GPL'd software, it's completely legal (at least unless SCO gets their way...).
I disagree rather strongly. As both a hardcore gamer and a hardcore linux user, I am speaking from experience when I say there is not that much difference in the number of games available between M$ Windows and Linux. The biggest difference is that there are more free/open source games for linux, which is a good thing, but somewhat less commercial games, which would be a bad thing, but what with winex & other emulators, even with commercial games I can choose from basically the same games for both Windows & Linux.
That might explain more Linux users subscribing, but how would you tie that to they staying loyal to the game? The original article states "Linux users tend to remain subscribers for a longer time."
/. effect.
I don't see how that could be a function of the
The deciding factor for me purchasing KoTOR is whether or not it is ported to Linux. It is based on the NWN engine, so it would be a snap to port, but BioWare needs LucasArts to OK it, and LucasArts won't. Why? Because LucasArts plays up to that other OS company for some reason. If I see Linux support, I will buy it. If not, not.
It wasn't "electing to not do business with somebody" that was the robbery, it was what would happen if you did elect to do business with them. In order for them to publish the writer's book, the writer was required to relinquish all claims to the copyright (rightfully theirs) to the publisher.
The most important computer skill anyone can learn is, IMO, how to Read The Friendly Manual. If you can teach people how to figure out how to do something, or fix a problem, without having to call tech support or their teenage son (I'm both), you will make the world a much better place.
For MS Windows, the best tool to teach people to use to learn is probably the Help files. Yes, these are all too often poorly written, but it constantly surprises me that not only do people sometimes have a hard time understanding the help files, but how many people don't even know how to use them.
Also, I would recommend teaching people how to read the PDF users manuals most software comes with. Perhaps unfortunatly, most software today only ships with a "Quick Install Guide" on actual paper, so I'm afraid all too many people think their new software doesn't have a manual.
If you intend on teach about Linux at all, make sure they know about The Linux Documentation Project and especially the HOWTOs there.
I was wondering about this as well... maybe they just used 2.4.19-rc1. Anybody know for sure?