Wouldn't this be a violation of the terms? Maybe so, but it shouldn't be.
A covenant without a sword is but words among men. The problem with retail dates in the video game industry is that of enforcement. Sure the publishers, distrobution companies could sue the retail stores, but that would result in a bitter fight, and a lot of animosity. Stores compete with eachother locally to strenghthen their customer base, and one way that keeps coming up is this breaking of release dates as a method of getting customers to flock to a store in order to buy a copy of the latest game early.
Policy should be to just put the games on the shelf when they arrive in the stores, because timed releases are just foolish on a number of levels. If copies are just collecting dust waiting for a retail date, the store is losing money and the customers are losing patience. Some stores will follow retail dates and others will ignore them, at whatever the cost may be.
If video game companies just don't apply retail dates, stores can bid with the games companies to get early shipments at a slightly higher price, and the customer wins in the end because they can buy a copy earlier for a little more money. If they hold off and wait, they should get a discount on the games in proportion to the delay. Yes, there is an opportunity for some capitolist exploits if retail dates are a thing of the past, but supply and demand should not be controlled by anyone, IMHO, and supply and demand will still apply to a release model that does not support retail dates or try to enforce them.
And that's the problem with mysql_pconnect, IMHO... I recommend using mysql_connect because if you get slashdotted, at least the connections are not persistent (meaning you get more of them). I was slashdotted a while ago and my code held up using mysql_connect();
D&D is such a great game. I would like to thank Ed Greenwood for his wonderful contributions to the game in the form of the Forgotten Realms. Truly inspirational work this stuff is, or at least was. But sadly TSR has gone downhill since being eaten by the WoSC group, who used to just make a bunch of playing cards. Before you all pipe in and tell me to shut the hell up (because 3rd gen r00lz), I'll have you know that any time a module presents NINE 10th level fighters together as a battle, like in the Ravenloft adventures in and around Bluetspur, you have to ask if the depth of the game has been replaced by the stats that go with it. The answer has to be that the game has indeed shifted from a game of detailed and rich storytelling, such as with Ed Greenwood's additions, to a game of character advancement by hacking and slashing monsters, and people.
I'm sorry but TSR jumped the shark with Ravenloft, not to mention Spell Jamming.
If this was Fark, the submission would have a Florida tag. I can't think of a more useless item than a 7 seater bike that goes nowhere -- except perhaps to serve as a reminder of how most corporate meetings function. One guy steers and everyone pedals like mad to get where they are going. My only question (and it's not apparent from the Slashad): Does this contraption have breaks, and if so, do they work properly?
Space Elevators would do the trick until we can master electromagnetics and locally invert/trick the Earth's gravity in regards to a specific collection of objects. It's only a matter of time before a Slashdotter gets the grant money he/she needs to do the research and get the job done.
The technique uses two methods to trace a document: first, by analyzing a document to identify characteristics that are unique for each printer, and second by designing printers to purposely embed individualized characteristics in documents.
Sorry to rain on your parade, Homeland Security, but if counterfeiters can counterfeit hard currency worth a damn, they can certainly hack a printer to make it quickly change configurations at the drop of a hat. Get your marker and bic pens ready, all ye counterfeiters!
"I am sorry Dave. I cannot allow you to agreee to this agreement." "Hal...!!! Open the webpage HAL!" "I'm sorry Dave, it has a Nigerian scam on it." "Hal!!! It's not a Nigerian scam. It's President Bush's campaign page. I need to read about his views for the big election. Since you wouldn't let me read CNN, this is my next option." "I'm sorry, Dave, but the answer is still, No."
I would like a prefs setting that goes something like:
Idiot proof : no EULAs needed. I only want freely available stuff.
Some legal crap allowed : we will allow some EULAs if they validate to XYZ standards
Most legal crap allowed : pretty much anything goes, as long as it validates to some standard or another
Nearly Wide Open : I will pretend that I only speak pig latin if they catch me on some bogus contractual agreement or copyright infringement. Iay eekspay igpay atinlay!
Spyware bait : I have "I'm a sucker" tatooed on my forehead. All Nigerians are my friends and I must help them save their fortunes from the evil tyrany of Nigeria!
The article shows how talented but morally challenged techies are becoming stooges of 'spammers, con artists, and other criminals.'
My thoughts are that coders can become morally challenged when you examine what we're up against today. We are up against shady corporations who lack the motivation to really give us our fair due.
Obviously I don't support the notion of the dark side. I don't have to because I'm employed by a good company who respects me and treats me right. But I wouldn't even support the dark side if I was dead broke. It's a trap that some people fall into, like the numbskull interviewed.
Coders who lack the necessary financial or social rewards in their lives sometimes choose the dark side of the force.
Coders are often the last to be told the way a system needs to be, perhaps a week before the system is due, and yet they should be the first to know. Coders are often looked at with disdain from management because of FUD. I'm really glad the company I work for respects me, but good companies are not the standard today; my company is a lone gem in an disheartening desert of coal. Sure there are other gems out there, but who knows whether a company is a gem unless you have worked there for a little while?
Luck really is the only thing that determines whether programmers/designers get to work for a gem. Bad companies are good at snowing you during HR selection processes. For example, I went on a job interview to a well known video game company on the west coast of Canada. They told me the job was for 55-60k for level design. I was elated. My wife was elated. We hoped that I could get the job. But we also discussed that I should be watching out for bad practices in the company before we uprooted and moved to the other side of Canada. When I was flown out to meet with this company, they immediately asked me if I would take 40k instead of their original bait. I told the HR guy that I was interviewing his company too, because I was trying to feel out if their company was a fit for me or not, and that his company had lost a huge chunk of trust by shaving off a potential 20k from the starting salary they had quoted to me during the two month preselection process. Yes the company can decide what to hire you for, but this really seemed like a bait and switch to me. You know I bet they do that all the time and I bet every single level designer falls for it, until they get laid off after the project they were hired to complete goes gold. It's a cheap trick and likely the start of a very unpleasant relationship so I threw the interview. I didn't get the job, and I didn't want it. Many companies are like that -- sneaky.
The standard is a company that is in it for profit, and allows the egos of management to dictate system design and project management. If managements were forced to delegate systems design to those who will be responsible for doing the actual work, we would have better systems and far fewer coders would choose the dark side.
Some of these dark side of the force programmers are fed up with managements and they have lost faith. So all ye who own companies that hire us, please prove them wrong.
I'm still not buying any more RIAA CDs, Walmart or elsewhere.
Me too. I listen to internet radio and look for nice mixes around the web and all of them are indy. I could care less about the RIAA. They are goons. The RIAA operates like Jimmy Hoffa's Teamsters once did; oppression by coercion. The Teamsters took a beneficial idea (a trade union) and turned it into a money grubbing business front for organized crime. It's the same thing the RIAA has done with music, perhaps without the organized crime, but you never know. Music used to be free, but then the Metallica bands came along with their business plans. Metallica are sellouts. Who wants to put more cash in their pockets? I would much rather support a starving artist with new ideas.
:O if prices will come down this is certainly going to make porn interesting.
No I don't think so. The porn industry has had access to really detailed CG for some time and they still insist on shooting in some gas station attendant's parents' house. Budgets for porn films go something like:
1. Pay the fluffers : $10 2. Pay the light guy : $10 3. Pay the editing costs : $10 4. Pay the director : $20 5. Pay the stars : $2000 each 6. Pay the drug dealer : $20000 7. Pay the bartender : $5000
And that's how you make a high quality porn film.
But using 3d tech? I've never seen a porn film do it before. That's because it would likely eat into the drugs budget too much!
I'll have to rtfa to see what they propose, but just the principle of resolving contradictions is a really difficult one
Yeah, this is really easy. Just look next to the title and see what score the moderators have assigned and you get a sense of whether there be contradictions! Generally if the score is lower than 1, there could be contradictions so:
How would you feel about having an RFID chip in your driver's license?
Yeah we all know how secure those RFID chips are, smart-card or not. I mean, no one would *ever* tamper with them, would they? A magic marker and a bic pen, and the thing is sputtering profanities at whoever accesses it! Better... I can see the expression on the officer's face now when he pings mine and sees I have installed Linux on it.
Slashdot Mirror
Place your bets!
I say the moon came from Uranus, what do you say? Here take a survey!
Survey...
Uranus
Another Galaxy
Mars-sized planet crashed into the earth
Comet
Meteor
Microsoft
Another Dimension
It was a spaceship!
Cowboy Neal
Wouldn't this be a violation of the terms?
Maybe so, but it shouldn't be.
A covenant without a sword is but words among men. The problem with retail dates in the video game industry is that of enforcement. Sure the publishers, distrobution companies could sue the retail stores, but that would result in a bitter fight, and a lot of animosity. Stores compete with eachother locally to strenghthen their customer base, and one way that keeps coming up is this breaking of release dates as a method of getting customers to flock to a store in order to buy a copy of the latest game early.
Policy should be to just put the games on the shelf when they arrive in the stores, because timed releases are just foolish on a number of levels. If copies are just collecting dust waiting for a retail date, the store is losing money and the customers are losing patience. Some stores will follow retail dates and others will ignore them, at whatever the cost may be.
If video game companies just don't apply retail dates, stores can bid with the games companies to get early shipments at a slightly higher price, and the customer wins in the end because they can buy a copy earlier for a little more money. If they hold off and wait, they should get a discount on the games in proportion to the delay. Yes, there is an opportunity for some capitolist exploits if retail dates are a thing of the past, but supply and demand should not be controlled by anyone, IMHO, and supply and demand will still apply to a release model that does not support retail dates or try to enforce them.
Reminds me of a bad film I once saw. Short Circuit had the cuteness that iRobots have... with John Deere traction! Maybe it'll evolve this way?
And that's the problem with mysql_pconnect, IMHO... I recommend using mysql_connect because if you get slashdotted, at least the connections are not persistent (meaning you get more of them). I was slashdotted a while ago and my code held up using mysql_connect();
D&D is such a great game. I would like to thank Ed Greenwood for his wonderful contributions to the game in the form of the Forgotten Realms. Truly inspirational work this stuff is, or at least was. But sadly TSR has gone downhill since being eaten by the WoSC group, who used to just make a bunch of playing cards. Before you all pipe in and tell me to shut the hell up (because 3rd gen r00lz), I'll have you know that any time a module presents NINE 10th level fighters together as a battle, like in the Ravenloft adventures in and around Bluetspur, you have to ask if the depth of the game has been replaced by the stats that go with it. The answer has to be that the game has indeed shifted from a game of detailed and rich storytelling, such as with Ed Greenwood's additions, to a game of character advancement by hacking and slashing monsters, and people.
I'm sorry but TSR jumped the shark with Ravenloft, not to mention Spell Jamming.
Well if he has DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), then he really does have a problem. I mean... he's a robot, right?
Wasn't really doubting correctness of your post - read my previous comment with humour filters on -
D'oh!! (quietly goes back to CMS standards evaluation)
Surely you meant "Strategus Longihornus" - the still evolving pacific north-east dung beetle with overgrown greed glands.
Nope.
Honk Kong
Honky Tonk Kong? Certainly not a country.
breaks
uh... I meant brakes. Duh.
If this was Fark, the submission would have a Florida tag. I can't think of a more useless item than a 7 seater bike that goes nowhere -- except perhaps to serve as a reminder of how most corporate meetings function. One guy steers and everyone pedals like mad to get where they are going. My only question (and it's not apparent from the Slashad): Does this contraption have breaks, and if so, do they work properly?
Space Elevators would do the trick until we can master electromagnetics and locally invert/trick the Earth's gravity in regards to a specific collection of objects. It's only a matter of time before a Slashdotter gets the grant money he/she needs to do the research and get the job done.
Metro International newspapers Toronto edition reports that Canadian gamers must now provide photo identification to buy computer and video games.
More stupid regulation that can't be controlled or monitored. More excuses to steal from taxpayers. Bah -- it's uninforcable.
Oh wait...
FTA: "It's a voluntary program based on the ratings you already see on the game boxes."
Nevermind.
The technique uses two methods to trace a document: first, by analyzing a document to identify characteristics that are unique for each printer, and second by designing printers to purposely embed individualized characteristics in documents.
Sorry to rain on your parade, Homeland Security, but if counterfeiters can counterfeit hard currency worth a damn, they can certainly hack a printer to make it quickly change configurations at the drop of a hat. Get your marker and bic pens ready, all ye counterfeiters!
"I am sorry Dave. I cannot allow you to agreee to this agreement."
"Hal...!!! Open the webpage HAL!"
"I'm sorry Dave, it has a Nigerian scam on it."
"Hal!!! It's not a Nigerian scam. It's President Bush's campaign page. I need to read about his views for the big election. Since you wouldn't let me read CNN, this is my next option."
"I'm sorry, Dave, but the answer is still, No."
The article shows how talented but morally challenged techies are becoming stooges of 'spammers, con artists, and other criminals.'
My thoughts are that coders can become morally challenged when you examine what we're up against today. We are up against shady corporations who lack the motivation to really give us our fair due.
Obviously I don't support the notion of the dark side. I don't have to because I'm employed by a good company who respects me and treats me right. But I wouldn't even support the dark side if I was dead broke. It's a trap that some people fall into, like the numbskull interviewed.
Coders who lack the necessary financial or social rewards in their lives sometimes choose the dark side of the force.
Coders are often the last to be told the way a system needs to be, perhaps a week before the system is due, and yet they should be the first to know. Coders are often looked at with disdain from management because of FUD. I'm really glad the company I work for respects me, but good companies are not the standard today; my company is a lone gem in an disheartening desert of coal. Sure there are other gems out there, but who knows whether a company is a gem unless you have worked there for a little while?
Luck really is the only thing that determines whether programmers/designers get to work for a gem. Bad companies are good at snowing you during HR selection processes. For example, I went on a job interview to a well known video game company on the west coast of Canada. They told me the job was for 55-60k for level design. I was elated. My wife was elated. We hoped that I could get the job. But we also discussed that I should be watching out for bad practices in the company before we uprooted and moved to the other side of Canada. When I was flown out to meet with this company, they immediately asked me if I would take 40k instead of their original bait. I told the HR guy that I was interviewing his company too, because I was trying to feel out if their company was a fit for me or not, and that his company had lost a huge chunk of trust by shaving off a potential 20k from the starting salary they had quoted to me during the two month preselection process. Yes the company can decide what to hire you for, but this really seemed like a bait and switch to me. You know I bet they do that all the time and I bet every single level designer falls for it, until they get laid off after the project they were hired to complete goes gold. It's a cheap trick and likely the start of a very unpleasant relationship so I threw the interview. I didn't get the job, and I didn't want it. Many companies are like that -- sneaky.
The standard is a company that is in it for profit, and allows the egos of management to dictate system design and project management. If managements were forced to delegate systems design to those who will be responsible for doing the actual work, we would have better systems and far fewer coders would choose the dark side.
Some of these dark side of the force programmers are fed up with managements and they have lost faith. So all ye who own companies that hire us, please prove them wrong.
- If you confess and your partner denies taking part in the crime, you go free and your partner goes to prison for five years.
- If your partner confesses and you deny participating in the crime, you go to prison for five years and yor [sic] partner goes free.
- If you both confess you will serve four years each.
- If you both deny taking part in the crime, you both go to prison for two years.
This sounds pretty much like the RIAA might be involved. I would deny everything if I were you!I'm still not buying any more RIAA CDs, Walmart or elsewhere.
Me too. I listen to internet radio and look for nice mixes around the web and all of them are indy. I could care less about the RIAA. They are goons. The RIAA operates like Jimmy Hoffa's Teamsters once did; oppression by coercion. The Teamsters took a beneficial idea (a trade union) and turned it into a money grubbing business front for organized crime. It's the same thing the RIAA has done with music, perhaps without the organized crime, but you never know. Music used to be free, but then the Metallica bands came along with their business plans. Metallica are sellouts. Who wants to put more cash in their pockets? I would much rather support a starving artist with new ideas.
Shiver me timbers, bring me some halo 2 smartly now ye blige rats.
That's bilge rats.
The courts are finally catching on to the RIAA's game. People should start suing *them*.
No I don't think so. The porn industry has had access to really detailed CG for some time and they still insist on shooting in some gas station attendant's parents' house. Budgets for porn films go something like:
1. Pay the fluffers : $10
2. Pay the light guy : $10
3. Pay the editing costs : $10
4. Pay the director : $20
5. Pay the stars : $2000 each
6. Pay the drug dealer : $20000
7. Pay the bartender : $5000
And that's how you make a high quality porn film.
But using 3d tech? I've never seen a porn film do it before. That's because it would likely eat into the drugs budget too much!
Yeah, this is really easy. Just look next to the title and see what score the moderators have assigned and you get a sense of whether there be contradictions! Generally if the score is lower than 1, there could be contradictions so:Yeah it's really difficult.
How would you feel about having an RFID chip in your driver's license?
Yeah we all know how secure those RFID chips are, smart-card or not. I mean, no one would *ever* tamper with them, would they? A magic marker and a bic pen, and the thing is sputtering profanities at whoever accesses it! Better... I can see the expression on the officer's face now when he pings mine and sees I have installed Linux on it.