Games like Balder's gate or Morrowind are absurdly long, 60 hours plus
Somebody hasn't played Dragon Warrior VII - I'm 60 hours in and I still have at least 10 hours before I can beat it. DWVII also features interesting character customization abilities - not too different than FFV or FFT - though it would easily take 200+ hours to master all the classes for everyone.
For comparison, I beat morrowind in around 40 hours and baldur's gate in 60 hours (and I did every single quest in baldur's gate too).
Final Fantasy tactics rocks too - i like games that make me think and the controversial (if your catholic) plot was a nice change from "kill the foozle" (well, you do kill a foozle in FFT, but anyway). We need more like it.
I feel that if a game is old you (as a developer/publisher) should either:
1) Re-release it periodically. If it's worth buying they'll make money. 2) Give it away.
Companies like Nintendo are doing the former and others are doing the latter (didn't looking glass studios give away system shock?).
It's too bad that a lot of companies choose to keep an iron grip on their intellectual property instead of using it to increase their reputation, especially since fans are downloading these classics anyways - why not make it legitimate?
You're probably right, though Tolkien was rolling (his eyes) when he saw people dressing up as elves in the 60's, IIRC, so I doubt this would surprise him.
It will be kinda sad when leet games are all bragging about the phat lewt they got camping the Shelob spawn...
In any case, at least with the media saturation, many new people are exposed to Tolkiens work - hell, some of em may make it through the Silmarillion:)
How is Slashdot any different than a MMORPG? You build imaginary and real status and communicate with others. There's even downtime at slashdot (I have to wait between comment posts).
They don't mention if the study was double blind, they don't mention how the judges evaluated the performances...
It sounds compelling, but they certainly don't give me reason to believe it from the article. Of course, just like every other news story like this (such as the mozart effect), we won't see a follow up article if it proves to be bullsh!t and people are going to be repeating this "fact" for many years to come.
Operating a motorized wheelchair while impaired is actually against the law (at least in Canada). People can and have been arrested for it.
Course, it would probably be worst in a wheelchair controlled by your mind. You'd think about vomitting and the wheelchair would tip forward and vomit you into the street.:]
My apologies in advance if this comes across as mean-spirited - I'm using this to summarize my opinions about Atkins and weight loss in general and make it my sig so I can quit repeating myself.
That said, who said I said that high carb diets are the way to go? High carbs = high calories. People consume too many calories, these days from carbohydrates rather than fat.
Personally, I have been following a diet with a low caloric density, which is essentially what dietitians have been preaching for years. Unfortunately, this message somehow got filtered and warped and we now have Snackwell cookies and "no fat" fruit juice (no fat in my oj? well no shit!). Idiots like Susan Powter even said things like "only the fat you eat becomes fat on your body" (not an exact quote). As you say, Americans are fatter than ever. That is because they eat more calories despite eating less fat. Check out this section in the USDA factbook - you'll note that people are eating less fat but are eating more calories (thanks to eating too much refined grains, for example).
Here is an abstract on the longest (that I have heard of) independent study of the Atkins diet. Note that they are only evaluating his weight loss claims, not the other nonsense he published("fatigue, irritability, depression, trouble concentrating, headaches, insomnia, dizziness, joint and muscle aches, heartburn, colitis, premenstrual syndrome, and water retention and bloating"). When I call bullshit, i'm not just talking about the weight loss. If that statement doesn't make your snake-oil detector go nuts, I have a bridge I want to sell you:D
The conclusion of the study is that, in the long term, the Atkins diet is no better than traditional diet methods (high-carb, low-fat). People lost roughly the same amount of weight after 12 months and both studies had high attrition rates.
In fact, the chief researcher of this study (Gary Foster of the University of Pennsylvania) is quoted as saying the Atkins diet "gives people a framework to eat fewer calories, since most of the choices in this culture are carbohydrate driven." Basically, it's a low cal diet in disguise.
Also, please save your anecdotes. I lost weight by cutting calories, increasing my BMR through weight training, and lots of exercise, but I certainly can't prove that, least of all to you, because for all you know there were other factors I am mis-reporting or I could be simply lying. For all I know you lost much of the weight by taking a walk every night. Or perhaps you lost 40% muscle mass along with that weight. And perhaps one of us is going to gain all the weight back and then some in the future. My fiance lost 20 pounds eating nothing but animal crackers, fruits, and vegetables, but that's hardly healthy and worth promoting. Show me some long term studies (at least link to the abstracts) or don't bother.
A lot of people argue that we've displaced our unemployment to other countries. For example, a lot of third world countries have industrialized farming that has resulted in mass famine. They produce more food yet have more famine.
I'm not going to debate this - I don't know much about it and my point isn't very clear, but feel free to look this stuff up and see what others are saying...
Since we're all talking about bullshit, I feel I have to mention that those personality types are bullshit as well. See here.
That said, geeks aren't always cold-minded individuals that want everything to make sense. Love is essentially a chemical reaction; a lie. But I have no problem living that lie and I don't waste my time questioning it. Sure it's not what it seems, but it's a nice experience, so that works for me.
In any case, i've met a lot of geeks that will believe any old bullshit (atkins has really taken hold in the geek community for some reason, for example), and plenty of non-geeks are brights as well.
This comes as no surprise - a lot of scientists have been taken in by quackery over the years, often because they are too trusting (the scientific community is built on honesty) or because they believe their powers of observation are infallible.
No doubt. Calling someone a loser because of what O/S they are running automatically *makes the caller* the loser. Thankfully I've never met anyone like that in the flesh - just on the wild expanses of the Internet. Everybody I've ever met runs whatever O/S they need to do the job, whether it's Linux, Windows, BSD, or whatever.
That kind of shit is what makes Linux advocates all look insane and results in me having to explain that, no, not all Linux users are short-sighted, socially-inept zealots every time I bring Linux up at work. It's a lot easier to sell Linux to people without the idiotic pomposity.
heh, it's like showing off with a Linux box on your shelf and preaching to anyone curious enough to ask. Red Hat should start selling Linux posters - that would work just as well:D
Slashdot Mirror
Games like Balder's gate or Morrowind are absurdly long, 60 hours plus
Somebody hasn't played Dragon Warrior VII - I'm 60 hours in and I still have at least 10 hours before I can beat it. DWVII also features interesting character customization abilities - not too different than FFV or FFT - though it would easily take 200+ hours to master all the classes for everyone.
For comparison, I beat morrowind in around 40 hours and baldur's gate in 60 hours (and I did every single quest in baldur's gate too).
Final Fantasy tactics rocks too - i like games that make me think and the controversial (if your catholic) plot was a nice change from "kill the foozle" (well, you do kill a foozle in FFT, but anyway). We need more like it.
I feel that if a game is old you (as a developer/publisher) should either:
1) Re-release it periodically. If it's worth buying they'll make money.
2) Give it away.
Companies like Nintendo are doing the former and others are doing the latter (didn't looking glass studios give away system shock?).
It's too bad that a lot of companies choose to keep an iron grip on their intellectual property instead of using it to increase their reputation, especially since fans are downloading these classics anyways - why not make it legitimate?
I don't get fucked with during [...] sex.
Er, I think you may be doing something wrong then...
Interesting point.
:) I should do this more often.
I could counter that by saying that nobody needs a phone.
Then you could counter by saying that phones are a necessity in our modern world.
Then we'd verbally abuse each other for awhile until someone invokes Godwin's Law.
That was easy. I just saved myself about three or four posts
You're probably right, though Tolkien was rolling (his eyes) when he saw people dressing up as elves in the 60's, IIRC, so I doubt this would surprise him.
:)
It will be kinda sad when leet games are all bragging about the phat lewt they got camping the Shelob spawn...
In any case, at least with the media saturation, many new people are exposed to Tolkiens work - hell, some of em may make it through the Silmarillion
Not to mention friend lists and people constantly bitching about the administration...
I could go on, but I think I have made my point.
How is Slashdot any different than a MMORPG? You build imaginary and real status and communicate with others. There's even downtime at slashdot (I have to wait between comment posts).
That said, flash is evil! EVIL!
And so's the cat.
Gou gispelled "gould."
I agree, but don't forget a lot of proprietary products have wierd names too... Java? Java Beans?
:]
Well, ok, that's all i can think of, but you get my point
They don't mention if the study was double blind, they don't mention how the judges evaluated the performances...
:)
It sounds compelling, but they certainly don't give me reason to believe it from the article. Of course, just like every other news story like this (such as the mozart effect), we won't see a follow up article if it proves to be bullsh!t and people are going to be repeating this "fact" for many years to come.
Why yes, I am in a bad mood today
Sorry, I read the articles, not the slashdot blurbs.
:p
I never seem to fit in, wherever I go
I think of Australian beer every seven seconds.
Fun IIRCAFAIKIANAL Fact: I live in an apartment above an "Australian" bar in Calgary, AB.
I really should check it out. I'd rather a Mexican bar, but what can you do?
Operating a motorized wheelchair while impaired is actually against the law (at least in Canada). People can and have been arrested for it.
:]
Course, it would probably be worst in a wheelchair controlled by your mind. You'd think about vomitting and the wheelchair would tip forward and vomit you into the street.
Are these books all in Spanish? Are there english versions available? I can't seem to find any on the site...
Excerpts would be nice too....
My apologies in advance if this comes across as mean-spirited - I'm using this to summarize my opinions about Atkins and weight loss in general and make it my sig so I can quit repeating myself.
:D
That said, who said I said that high carb diets are the way to go? High carbs = high calories. People consume too many calories, these days from carbohydrates rather than fat.
Personally, I have been following a diet with a low caloric density, which is essentially what dietitians have been preaching for years. Unfortunately, this message somehow got filtered and warped and we now have Snackwell cookies and "no fat" fruit juice (no fat in my oj? well no shit!). Idiots like Susan Powter even said things like "only the fat you eat becomes fat on your body" (not an exact quote). As you say, Americans are fatter than ever. That is because they eat more calories despite eating less fat. Check out this section in the USDA factbook - you'll note that people are eating less fat but are eating more calories (thanks to eating too much refined grains, for example).
Here is an abstract on the longest (that I have heard of) independent study of the Atkins diet. Note that they are only evaluating his weight loss claims, not the other nonsense he published("fatigue, irritability, depression, trouble concentrating, headaches, insomnia, dizziness, joint and muscle aches, heartburn, colitis, premenstrual syndrome, and water retention and bloating"). When I call bullshit, i'm not just talking about the weight loss. If that statement doesn't make your snake-oil detector go nuts, I have a bridge I want to sell you
The conclusion of the study is that, in the long term, the Atkins diet is no better than traditional diet methods (high-carb, low-fat). People lost roughly the same amount of weight after 12 months and both studies had high attrition rates.
In fact, the chief researcher of this study (Gary Foster of the University of Pennsylvania) is quoted as saying the Atkins diet "gives people a framework to eat fewer calories, since most of the choices in this culture are carbohydrate driven." Basically, it's a low cal diet in disguise.
Also, please save your anecdotes. I lost weight by cutting calories, increasing my BMR through weight training, and lots of exercise, but I certainly can't prove that, least of all to you, because for all you know there were other factors I am mis-reporting or I could be simply lying. For all I know you lost much of the weight by taking a walk every night. Or perhaps you lost 40% muscle mass along with that weight. And perhaps one of us is going to gain all the weight back and then some in the future. My fiance lost 20 pounds eating nothing but animal crackers, fruits, and vegetables, but that's hardly healthy and worth promoting. Show me some long term studies (at least link to the abstracts) or don't bother.
Wait, the US Homeland Security Department is running Windows?
HA HA ha ha he hee ha HA ha HA HA ha ha he hee ha HA ha HA HA ha ha he hee ha HA ha
<wheeze>
heh ha he ha ha ha ho hooooo
<cough>
Holy shit, the USA is fucked.
doesn't seem to work anymore. You have you use animated gifs of letters or flash to make blinking text these days.
A lot of people argue that we've displaced our unemployment to other countries. For example, a lot of third world countries have industrialized farming that has resulted in mass famine. They produce more food yet have more famine.
I'm not going to debate this - I don't know much about it and my point isn't very clear, but feel free to look this stuff up and see what others are saying...
But maybe I'm being too much INTJ on this ;-)
Since we're all talking about bullshit, I feel I have to mention that those personality types are bullshit as well. See here.
That said, geeks aren't always cold-minded individuals that want everything to make sense. Love is essentially a chemical reaction; a lie. But I have no problem living that lie and I don't waste my time questioning it. Sure it's not what it seems, but it's a nice experience, so that works for me.
In any case, i've met a lot of geeks that will believe any old bullshit (atkins has really taken hold in the geek community for some reason, for example), and plenty of non-geeks are brights as well.
This comes as no surprise - a lot of scientists have been taken in by quackery over the years, often because they are too trusting (the scientific community is built on honesty) or because they believe their powers of observation are infallible.
That's what I thought, but then why is GB and GBA lacking a region control of any kind?
Oh my god, these audiophiles are sick! Won't someone pleeease think of the audio?!?
Actually, I know a rail thin guy that whenever he wore a certain sports coat, his butt doubled in size appearance and looked fat.
EXACTLY!! And they wonder why I keep flaunting the company dress code with my tight leather pants...
No doubt. Calling someone a loser because of what O/S they are running automatically *makes the caller* the loser. Thankfully I've never met anyone like that in the flesh - just on the wild expanses of the Internet. Everybody I've ever met runs whatever O/S they need to do the job, whether it's Linux, Windows, BSD, or whatever.
That kind of shit is what makes Linux advocates all look insane and results in me having to explain that, no, not all Linux users are short-sighted, socially-inept zealots every time I bring Linux up at work. It's a lot easier to sell Linux to people without the idiotic pomposity.
Just buy one of the many Linux books available - many of which come with Linux distros on cd's. Pay for the printed material, not the cd's :)
Speaking of which, does red hat sell manuals? I'm pretty sure Mandrake does...
heh, it's like showing off with a Linux box on your shelf and preaching to anyone curious enough to ask. Red Hat should start selling Linux posters - that would work just as well :D