Well, I'm not a youth, I'm almost 34. I read voraciously as a youth. When I finished college, I could afford a computer and a fast modem, then later DSL, and I stopped reading books alltogether, and almost completely stopped watching TV. Ten years later and thousands of hours of Doom, Diablo, Starcraft, Gran Turismo, Half-Life, Motor City Online, Counter-Strike, Vice City, etc. and video games have lost much of their appeal. My friends won't play with me because I can pick up pretty much any game and beat them. I'm better than 80 or 90 percent of the strangers online and I'm not going to get any better. MMORPGs hold no appeal for me.
But I'm not going back to TV. For the past 6 months or so, I'm reading books. Perhaps some great new game will pull be back again so I'll read less, but I don't think I'll stop reading. Not reading was just a phase.
Oh, and I forgot: the other big thing that changed from '67 to '04 is that most people under 25 can't afford the insurance on a coupe with a V8. It isn't the fault of the car maker exectutives that those things don't "sell like hotcakes."
" I miss when you could drive a stock car off the showroom floor...and it had enough power to smoke the tires for a couple of blocks...I often think that if you could get one car executive to take a 'chance'...and try the old idea behind the original GTO's and later other muscle cars...throw a monster engine into a decent body of a car...keep the interior minimalist...with real perfomance, and keep the price reasonable. I gotta think these things would sell like hotcakes..."
'67 GTO 236 ci V6 had 165HP weighed 3430 lbs. 428 ci V8 had 360HP weighed 3515
'04 Mustang 231 ci V6 has 190HP weighs 3290 lbs. 281 ci super-charged (Cobra) V8 has 390HP. car weighs 3665, gets 17mpg around town.
I can't argue that the '67 GTO isn't better looking, because it is. But in the '04 Mustang you can stop, turn, and survive a crash much better than you could in a '67 GTO, while burning less gas and polluting less per gallon burned. The V6 Mustang starts at about $18k sticker price, 5 minutes on Google doesn't reveal to me the original price of the GTO (which should be inflation-adjusted for direct comparison) but I see used classic GTOs for $15-31k.
The '05 Mustang doesn't look so much like it was designed on a CAD machine to be boring (unlike the new GTO) and the new 3-valve OHC V6 will get over 200HP. The slightly updated all-aluminum 4.6L SOHC V8 is going to be rated at over 300HP and come in at about $25k.
If you really want an old muscle-car, then you have to buy an old muscle-car. But if you want a new muscle-car, there it is, faster, safer, and more-efficient.
But I don't have any, so let me offer a factor you aren't considering. Software sales and the effect on developers. My theory is that if we had the data, it would show us that there was less of a drop in PS1 software titles around the PS2 release as compared to N64 software around the GameCube release, or SNES titles around the N64 release. For a single data point, I know that when my friend bought a shiny new PS2 and there were not yet many PS2 games, he continued to buy the latest, coolest PS1 games to play on it.
I think this would be a huge consideration to a Software developer. If I were a developer and was choosing today between developing my next game for XBox or PS2, and my game won't be done until about the time the neXtBox and PS3 make the earlier consoles obsolete, backwards-compatibility would be a big reason to develop for the PS2.
The PS1 game Driver was set in San Francisco, New York, and Miami, with the maps based on the real streets. I'm not making a judgement, I just thought it was an interesting paralell.
I wouldn't call Vice City an RPG either, but it does have some RPG elements in that you do build up your character. When you complete all the firetruck missions he becomes fireproof, when you complete the ambulance missions, he can run without getting tired, etc. I'm just sayin' you're right, it really blurs the genre lines.
But I still think the GTA3 games are better on the PC. My solution was to get an adapter to plug my old dual shock PS1 controller into my USB port. I used the sticks to drive and the mouse to shoot and it seemed like I got the best of both worlds without paying for an entire console.
The other giant advantage that the PC version gives you is that you can modify it. When I got tired of driving normal cars and dealing with traffic, I downloaded a car stat editor and made one of the unique vehicles (so I wouldn't run into someone else driving one) max speed, max accel, 40000 weight, 4wd,.000000001 damage, max braking, and I made the center-of-gravity about a foot below the ground level so it would always roll back on its wheels like a weeble-wobble. I also lowered it a bit so that when I hit other cars they would pop up into the air. That led to a mini-game of how far can you make the other cars go in the air, hours of fun.
I don't think copyright holders are limited to holding SCO responsible only for what SCO says in court. SCO has called the GPL invalid in many written statements. SCO has also claimed that you need to pay them money for their "intellectual property" in GPL'd software. These statements are incompatable with their distribution of the same software under the GPL. I fail to see why SCO would be "legally on safe ground now" just because they have not actually contested the validity of the GPL in court.
I like your V6 RWD chevette. Did you do the crab claw flames yourself?
I thought you might find this amusing. Ford did the same type of thing for the SEMA show. To show off their new 5.0L Cammer crate engine (aluminum block and heads, DOHC, 32-valves, 420 HP) they put one into a Focus. It isn't the first 5.0L Focus I've seen, either, but the pushrod powered one didn't have 420HP.
On a related note, I recall seeing video of a little tiny Dodge Colt, complete with roll cage and big slicks, and a 442 squeezed into the front (firewall was pushed back some) tearing up the dragstrips years ago. It tickles me to see little cars like Chevettes, Colts, or Foci staging up against Cameros. I think it would be funnier still to show up at an Import Drag night with V8 RWD power.
You know why it says "Made with water, grain, hops, and yeast" on the outside of the Budweiser can? Why doesn't it say barley? Because the grain is about half rice. RICE.
Beer isn't made with rice.
On a related note, heffeweitzen is half wheat and half barley. I tell friends that heffeweitzen is german for "half-beer."
The one time I filled out a card, after complaining that I didn't want to give out private information, the teller said I could just fill in Anonymous or John Doe if I wanted to. I expect most other places would do the same thing. Also, my local Thriftway does not use cards or track in any way that I can see.
I agree that The Market will push everyone to switch to alternative sources once fossil fuel gets more expensive than the alternatives.
However, my worry is that once we pass the peak oil production point, oil will get more expensive very rapidly. Too rapidly. Demand will continue to rise and when supply starts to drop, scarcity could balloon the cost far more and far faster than most people imagine.
The resulting high energy prices would be devastating to our economy, as they prevade the entire system and the economic system has a lot of positive feedback in it that leads to a sinking spiral.
Can alternative energy sources be scaled up and integrated into the infrastructure fast enough to prevent an economic and societal melt-down? I'm really trying not to be alarmist, but look at the big picture.
Research like that in the linked article are progress towards the right goal, but will it be enough?
"Heaven forbid that a company has a motive to do anything but market demand.
Like ethics and corporate responsiblity."
Unfortunately, a corporation's responsibility is to the shareholders, which means that their ONLY reason for existance is to maximize shareholder value. It would be unethical for the officers to violate the trust of their owners and spend money on anything just because it made the world a better place. Now a privately held company (and its owners) can decide to give half its profits to AIDS research or something equally good, but not a corporation. So in this example HP is "self-regulating" in order to avoid lawmakers getting involved and perhaps passing something that would be more expensive for them.
My point is that Corporations are amoral by their design. To the extent that they follow the laws, it is because it would be expensive not to. To the extent that they give to charity, it is because they think it will improve their public relations and give them an edge in winning sales. When Microsoft gives software to schools, it is because they want you make sure youngsters are learning MS stuff instead of Apple or Linux, and because they want to look like they aren't bullys. When Bill Gates gives millions of dollars away, it is his own money, not Microsoft's.
Don't anthropomorphize corporations. They don't want anything, they are a machine designed to make money. Once you accept this, it is easier to understand their actions and see through the PR.
"As #1 is not very likely to happen, the question is not whether we can afford to venture into space, but if we can afford not to.
If we do neither, we(as in humanity) will vanish inevitably."
If one accepts the proposition that humanity will use up the non-renewable resources and not make a technological leap that expands the sustainable capacity of the Earth; I still don't see how that inevitably leads to extinction. It seems to me that the worst that will happen is that humanity will die back to sustainable population levels. Perhaps that is half of the current population, but that is a long way from vanishing.
I'm in favor of exploration, but I find hyperbolic arguments for it to be counter-productive.
I stand corrected. I haven't seen the speedhack used in a couple years, so I thought it was dead.
That said, I still think there is no substitute for an active moderator. Sure, any game could be more secure, but how much effort can Valve be expected to put into a free game? It would be more secure if they didn't share the source, but then CS and Day of Defeat and several other games wouldn't exist at all. I don't mean to defend Valve, but I get the feeling that some people would complain no matter how much effort Valve put into patches and fixes. So if they can't really win the war against cheaters, how much effort is realistic? Obviously they did enough to have the most popular game of all time.
That is not how I remember it. Wallhacking, which as I understand it is a driver issue that is very difficult to code against, and speed cheats, which were defeated shortly after they appeared, appeared long before CS went to retail. The only real cure for cheaters was active server moderators. Still is. Server mods, which owe their existance to the open source, could discourage certain kinds of griefing and cheating, but there is no substitute for a good moderator.
One thing that is worth pointing out, even though it seems obvious: If you get a dish, when you or the tech are installing it, you should consider that the bare trees that don't block the signal right now will have leaves on them in a few months, which effectively block the signal. Also consider that most trees will be taller next year than they are this year.
I've seen it happen, and my buddy had to switch back to cable because there was not a suitable alternative installation site at his apartment.
This fellow specifically states that he uses buttons instead of a touch-screen because it didn't want to have to look away from the road to operate the computer.
He also says he spends a great deal of time in the car traveling across Europe for work. The two places he mentions are Copenhagen and the Czech Republic.
Reading between the lines, I'd say that everything but the GPS and the music player are for when the car is parked. He may not be near his office for a week at a time, perhaps. Being able to check email from his parked car may be more than just convenient.
We were talking about a plant that MAKES printed circuit boards, not just one that uses them. Finished circuit boards aren't hazardous, well, except that you could get lead poisoning from the solder if you are foolish in handling them.
I have to back you up on the PCB fabriction plant. I'm a PCB designer and have toured a few plants. On the most recent tour, the Salesman, who isn't even in the plant that much sounded like he had half a lung left. He wasn't overweight, but he was huffing and puffing just strolling around the lines and talking to us. His skin didn't look right either. He commented that some people talk about the distinctive smell of a PCB plant but he had no idea what they meant because he hasn't been able to smell anything in years.
Whenever things in the office are bad, I think about that guy, or the etch line technicians.
SCO may indeed be in trouble, but notice that their carefully worded claims say that Linux contains their intellectual property, which you need a license for. They do not claim that their copyrights have been violated. In fact, since intellectual property doesn't have any legal meaning, they aren't claiming anything at all.
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Well, I'm not a youth, I'm almost 34. I read voraciously as a youth. When I finished college, I could afford a computer and a fast modem, then later DSL, and I stopped reading books alltogether, and almost completely stopped watching TV. Ten years later and thousands of hours of Doom, Diablo, Starcraft, Gran Turismo, Half-Life, Motor City Online, Counter-Strike, Vice City, etc. and video games have lost much of their appeal. My friends won't play with me because I can pick up pretty much any game and beat them. I'm better than 80 or 90 percent of the strangers online and I'm not going to get any better. MMORPGs hold no appeal for me.
But I'm not going back to TV. For the past 6 months or so, I'm reading books. Perhaps some great new game will pull be back again so I'll read less, but I don't think I'll stop reading. Not reading was just a phase.
Oh, and I forgot: the other big thing that changed from '67 to '04 is that most people under 25 can't afford the insurance on a coupe with a V8. It isn't the fault of the car maker exectutives that those things don't "sell like hotcakes."
" I miss when you could drive a stock car off the showroom floor...and it had enough power to smoke the tires for a couple of blocks...I often think that if you could get one car executive to take a 'chance'...and try the old idea behind the original GTO's and later other muscle cars...throw a monster engine into a decent body of a car...keep the interior minimalist...with real perfomance, and keep the price reasonable. I gotta think these things would sell like hotcakes..."
'67 GTO
236 ci V6 had 165HP weighed 3430 lbs.
428 ci V8 had 360HP weighed 3515
'04 Mustang
231 ci V6 has 190HP weighs 3290 lbs.
281 ci super-charged (Cobra) V8 has 390HP. car weighs 3665, gets 17mpg around town.
I can't argue that the '67 GTO isn't better looking, because it is. But in the '04 Mustang you can stop, turn, and survive a crash much better than you could in a '67 GTO, while burning less gas and polluting less per gallon burned. The V6 Mustang starts at about $18k sticker price, 5 minutes on Google doesn't reveal to me the original price of the GTO (which should be inflation-adjusted for direct comparison) but I see used classic GTOs for $15-31k.
The '05 Mustang doesn't look so much like it was designed on a CAD machine to be boring (unlike the new GTO) and the new 3-valve OHC V6 will get over 200HP. The slightly updated all-aluminum 4.6L SOHC V8 is going to be rated at over 300HP and come in at about $25k.
If you really want an old muscle-car, then you have to buy an old muscle-car. But if you want a new muscle-car, there it is, faster, safer, and more-efficient.
What we really need is data, not anecdotes.
But I don't have any, so let me offer a factor you aren't considering. Software sales and the effect on developers. My theory is that if we had the data, it would show us that there was less of a drop in PS1 software titles around the PS2 release as compared to N64 software around the GameCube release, or SNES titles around the N64 release. For a single data point, I know that when my friend bought a shiny new PS2 and there were not yet many PS2 games, he continued to buy the latest, coolest PS1 games to play on it.
I think this would be a huge consideration to a Software developer. If I were a developer and was choosing today between developing my next game for XBox or PS2, and my game won't be done until about the time the neXtBox and PS3 make the earlier consoles obsolete, backwards-compatibility would be a big reason to develop for the PS2.
The PS1 game Driver was set in San Francisco, New York, and Miami, with the maps based on the real streets. I'm not making a judgement, I just thought it was an interesting paralell.
I wouldn't call Vice City an RPG either, but it does have some RPG elements in that you do build up your character. When you complete all the firetruck missions he becomes fireproof, when you complete the ambulance missions, he can run without getting tired, etc. I'm just sayin' you're right, it really blurs the genre lines.
.000000001 damage, max braking, and I made the center-of-gravity about a foot below the ground level so it would always roll back on its wheels like a weeble-wobble. I also lowered it a bit so that when I hit other cars they would pop up into the air. That led to a mini-game of how far can you make the other cars go in the air, hours of fun.
But I still think the GTA3 games are better on the PC. My solution was to get an adapter to plug my old dual shock PS1 controller into my USB port. I used the sticks to drive and the mouse to shoot and it seemed like I got the best of both worlds without paying for an entire console.
The other giant advantage that the PC version gives you is that you can modify it. When I got tired of driving normal cars and dealing with traffic, I downloaded a car stat editor and made one of the unique vehicles (so I wouldn't run into someone else driving one) max speed, max accel, 40000 weight, 4wd,
I was going to moderate this, but I couldn't find -1 bitter.
I don't think copyright holders are limited to holding SCO responsible only for what SCO says in court. SCO has called the GPL invalid in many written statements. SCO has also claimed that you need to pay them money for their "intellectual property" in GPL'd software. These statements are incompatable with their distribution of the same software under the GPL. I fail to see why SCO would be "legally on safe ground now" just because they have not actually contested the validity of the GPL in court.
I like your V6 RWD chevette. Did you do the crab claw flames yourself?
I thought you might find this amusing. Ford did the same type of thing for the SEMA show. To show off their new 5.0L Cammer crate engine (aluminum block and heads, DOHC, 32-valves, 420 HP) they put one into a Focus. It isn't the first 5.0L Focus I've seen, either, but the pushrod powered one didn't have 420HP.
On a related note, I recall seeing video of a little tiny Dodge Colt, complete with roll cage and big slicks, and a 442 squeezed into the front (firewall was pushed back some) tearing up the dragstrips years ago. It tickles me to see little cars like Chevettes, Colts, or Foci staging up against Cameros. I think it would be funnier still to show up at an Import Drag night with V8 RWD power.
"...but beer its not."
You know why it says "Made with water, grain, hops, and yeast" on the outside of the Budweiser can? Why doesn't it say barley? Because the grain is about half rice. RICE.
Beer isn't made with rice.
On a related note, heffeweitzen is half wheat and half barley. I tell friends that heffeweitzen is german for "half-beer."
The one time I filled out a card, after complaining that I didn't want to give out private information, the teller said I could just fill in Anonymous or John Doe if I wanted to. I expect most other places would do the same thing. Also, my local Thriftway does not use cards or track in any way that I can see.
I think it is really sad that none of the lower courts that heard this case overturned it.
I agree that The Market will push everyone to switch to alternative sources once fossil fuel gets more expensive than the alternatives.
However, my worry is that once we pass the peak oil production point, oil will get more expensive very rapidly. Too rapidly. Demand will continue to rise and when supply starts to drop, scarcity could balloon the cost far more and far faster than most people imagine.
The resulting high energy prices would be devastating to our economy, as they prevade the entire system and the economic system has a lot of positive feedback in it that leads to a sinking spiral.
Can alternative energy sources be scaled up and integrated into the infrastructure fast enough to prevent an economic and societal melt-down? I'm really trying not to be alarmist, but look at the big picture.
Research like that in the linked article are progress towards the right goal, but will it be enough?
"Heaven forbid that a company has a motive to do anything but market demand. Like ethics and corporate responsiblity."
Unfortunately, a corporation's responsibility is to the shareholders, which means that their ONLY reason for existance is to maximize shareholder value. It would be unethical for the officers to violate the trust of their owners and spend money on anything just because it made the world a better place. Now a privately held company (and its owners) can decide to give half its profits to AIDS research or something equally good, but not a corporation. So in this example HP is "self-regulating" in order to avoid lawmakers getting involved and perhaps passing something that would be more expensive for them.
My point is that Corporations are amoral by their design. To the extent that they follow the laws, it is because it would be expensive not to. To the extent that they give to charity, it is because they think it will improve their public relations and give them an edge in winning sales. When Microsoft gives software to schools, it is because they want you make sure youngsters are learning MS stuff instead of Apple or Linux, and because they want to look like they aren't bullys. When Bill Gates gives millions of dollars away, it is his own money, not Microsoft's.
Don't anthropomorphize corporations. They don't want anything, they are a machine designed to make money. Once you accept this, it is easier to understand their actions and see through the PR.
"As #1 is not very likely to happen, the question is not whether we can afford to venture into space, but if we can afford not to. If we do neither, we(as in humanity) will vanish inevitably."
If one accepts the proposition that humanity will use up the non-renewable resources and not make a technological leap that expands the sustainable capacity of the Earth; I still don't see how that inevitably leads to extinction. It seems to me that the worst that will happen is that humanity will die back to sustainable population levels. Perhaps that is half of the current population, but that is a long way from vanishing.
I'm in favor of exploration, but I find hyperbolic arguments for it to be counter-productive.
I stand corrected. I haven't seen the speedhack used in a couple years, so I thought it was dead.
That said, I still think there is no substitute for an active moderator. Sure, any game could be more secure, but how much effort can Valve be expected to put into a free game? It would be more secure if they didn't share the source, but then CS and Day of Defeat and several other games wouldn't exist at all. I don't mean to defend Valve, but I get the feeling that some people would complain no matter how much effort Valve put into patches and fixes. So if they can't really win the war against cheaters, how much effort is realistic? Obviously they did enough to have the most popular game of all time.
That is not how I remember it. Wallhacking, which as I understand it is a driver issue that is very difficult to code against, and speed cheats, which were defeated shortly after they appeared, appeared long before CS went to retail. The only real cure for cheaters was active server moderators. Still is. Server mods, which owe their existance to the open source, could discourage certain kinds of griefing and cheating, but there is no substitute for a good moderator.
One thing that is worth pointing out, even though it seems obvious: If you get a dish, when you or the tech are installing it, you should consider that the bare trees that don't block the signal right now will have leaves on them in a few months, which effectively block the signal. Also consider that most trees will be taller next year than they are this year.
I've seen it happen, and my buddy had to switch back to cable because there was not a suitable alternative installation site at his apartment.
And they will still lose in court.
Perhaps you are right, and Booble will still make money before the axe falls, but Google can't just ignore them. Google has to defend its trademark.
Didn't anyone else notice he said the car had an air-cooled V8 over the rear wheels?
I couldn't believe I was reading that correctly, and had to re-read it 4 times. That is far more strange than his custom computer.
This fellow specifically states that he uses buttons instead of a touch-screen because it didn't want to have to look away from the road to operate the computer.
He also says he spends a great deal of time in the car traveling across Europe for work. The two places he mentions are Copenhagen and the Czech Republic.
Reading between the lines, I'd say that everything but the GPS and the music player are for when the car is parked. He may not be near his office for a week at a time, perhaps. Being able to check email from his parked car may be more than just convenient.
We were talking about a plant that MAKES printed circuit boards, not just one that uses them. Finished circuit boards aren't hazardous, well, except that you could get lead poisoning from the solder if you are foolish in handling them.
"...because I believe that Open Source, as it is currently constituted, is a slippery slope."
I wonder if Darl knows that "Slippery Slope" is the name of a common logical fallacy. Might be a freudian slip way of admitting he's full of it.
I have to back you up on the PCB fabriction plant. I'm a PCB designer and have toured a few plants. On the most recent tour, the Salesman, who isn't even in the plant that much sounded like he had half a lung left. He wasn't overweight, but he was huffing and puffing just strolling around the lines and talking to us. His skin didn't look right either. He commented that some people talk about the distinctive smell of a PCB plant but he had no idea what they meant because he hasn't been able to smell anything in years.
Whenever things in the office are bad, I think about that guy, or the etch line technicians.
SCO may indeed be in trouble, but notice that their carefully worded claims say that Linux contains their intellectual property, which you need a license for. They do not claim that their copyrights have been violated. In fact, since intellectual property doesn't have any legal meaning, they aren't claiming anything at all.