Clearly the game is meant to be similar to Secret of Mana, which in itself isn't bad. I'd have prefered a more "normal" Final Fantasy, but i've enjoyed the Secret of Mana series, especially Seiken Densetsu 3.
However it seems to have a few "features" that really make me wonder.
What's up with the crystal thing you have to carry that generates a zone of protection from a hostile enviroment? I don't mean the in story reason (although i'm wondering about what a bleak and depressing place the world must be if everyone is traped in little circles around crystals) but the actual gameplay reason?
I can only assume that it's meant to keep the players from spliting up and wandering off screen for very long. However what was wrong with the Secret of Mana system where it's just not possible to walk off screen? Sure, that introduces a certain sense of artificiality to the game, but the crystal method introduces a big element of frustration. Picking up and setting down the crystal repeatedly is annoying. And when i was playing it at E3 the person carrying the crystal would sometimes start walking off without warning anyone else, leaving the people at the end of the group trailing in the death zone. The people getting damaged get pissed off, and it's generally no good. In Secret of Mana you'd get in arguments about which way you should be going, but no one was getting actively damaged in the process so people didn't usually get angry about it.
From what i saw at E3, it seems that if you play as a single player, the other people in the group disapear. What happened to the Secret of Mana system of having the computer take over any players that the humans aren't using? I can understand the gameplay seeming a bit lonely if you're the only person wandering about. Kind of a regression back to Dragon Warrior/Quest I days isn't it?
How does switching people in and out during the middle of the game work? If i play alone for a couple hours using one character, does that mean that when my friends decide to join in again their characters will all be lower level?
I had lots of fun playing Secret of Mana with my sister when i was growing up, but when she didn't feel like playing i had almost as much fun playing on my own. Getting friends to help out was great, but not necessary.
All in all with Crystal Chronicles it seems like they've emphasized the multiplayer aspect too much, to the point where it feels like they're punishing anyone who wants to play it single player. I can't imagine that's going to help sales out much.
Of course maybe i'm wrong, maybe when i actually start playing the game from the begining for significant amounts of time rather than ten minutes at a booth at E3 it will seem a lot more fun. Hopefully.
Without a primary, allowing a newly recalled governor back on the ballot is nothing but a tremendous waste of taxpayer's dollars and runs completely contrary to any sort of democratic ideal still held here.
How is that the case? If people still like him better than the other candidates, how is it not democratic for him to get the job again.
As it is, it's conceivable that 50.1% of the people could decide they hate Davis, but the new governor is elected with 10% of the vote and 90% of the people hate this new person. If Larry Flynt or that porn star somehow managed to pull off a win, do you think there wouldn't be another immediate recall which would waste even more taxpayer dollars?
It's not called hypocrisy, it's called "turn about is fair play"
I wouldn't have considered issuing a recall for a Republican governor who won fairly before this whole fiasco. I'll probably be willing to let bygones be bygones if the recall fall flat on it's face. However if it wins, i'll be first in line to sign the next recall petition for a Republican governor, fair or not.
Republicans like to talk about Democrats being whiney pushovers, such Democrats may exist, i don't really know, but i'm sure not one of them. I think the recall is stupid and unfair, but if the Republicans want to make that the rules of the games, then i'm not going to shy away from playing too.
Sure, it'll probably lead to a cycle of destruction as California spends all it's time and money on recall after recall, but these days there's a part of me that says, so what? Republicans seem to think that nothing they do is going to have unintended negative effects, well fine. Maybe we should just sit back and let the Republicans have their way and see how long they manage to hold things together. If everything works out well, great, we were wrong, isn't it swell that we don't need to worry about it. If not, at least we'll have the laugh last as we choke on poisonous fumes while the oceans flood our cities.
If we try and prevent disater, those who oppose us only laugh at us and say there was nothing to worry about if we succeed.
I've found specific references for the intial $3 billion bailout package that the government gave to California Edison to help patch up the energy crisis. I know that the government was also talking about funding new power plants or something like that, so $3 billion might be just the begining of the amount spent on the energy crisis.
Oh, and as long as we're talking about tax issues, part of the problem is the voter proposition that limited property taxes to something insanely small. We're paying more in sales and income taxes so property owners can get a break, and that one is entirely the fault of the voters.
Damn it, i wish slashdot still worked with Netscape. I _thought_ i posted a response to this on sunday, but apparently i got the blank page of "didn't work" rather than the blank page of "did work" for this one.
Yeah, i have no clue what the actual spintronics formula is, the article didn't say and it would be usefull information to have.
However without knowing any more about it, it's still possible to make comparisons of the nature of this law with the nature of other laws. Equations describing similar behavior are sometimes similar, and sometimes not, so have having the formla itself might or might not be informative in that regard. Newtonian and relativistic physics is the first case that comes to mind where formulas that descrbe what is basically the same process come out completly differently, and i'm sure there are other examples.
It's got feet larger than a gorilla, and according to one eyewitness report it's taller than an average person.
Half of them will claim it's bigfoot, the other half will claim that if it took us this long to find a new giant ape that's been around for who knows how long, how can mainsteam scientists say that the stuff they're looking for is impossible/extremely unlikely.
This of course ignores the fact that finding a new ape in Africa isn't all that unusual. If they'd found it in Washington State then they'd have a bit better claim. And even finding a new ape species in north america is far more likely that finding a surviving population of dinosaurs or whatever the latest cryptozoologist thing is.
Pictures of the animal are rare, but it seems slightly taller than most gorillas, with a flatter face.
What the article actually says is "the animal has feet that are about two inches bigger than the average gorilla and is more flat-faced than other apes."
Just because it's feet are bigger doesn't mean that it's taller. That's making unwaranted assumptions about it's body structure.
Later on in the article there is the report that "It was walking bipedally (upright) and was taller than her, and she's six feet tall." However humans have a tendency to unconsciously misjudge and/or exagerate size of unfamiliar things. Large primates are big, they weigh a lot, tend to be wider than humans, and are covered in fur. All of which problably makes humans judge them as bigger than they are. Gorillas can be up to six feet tall too, and if she saw one of those walking past while she was sitting down in a car she'd probably describe it as taller than herself as well.
I've never heard of any such studies, and a few quick google searches turn nothing up. Furthermore, a lot of the points mentioned sound very suspicious.
They've improved intelligence by nearly 40%? Measured how? We can't even come uip with a good system for measuring human intelligence, yet you expect me to believe they can assign a precise numerical figure to how much smarter these supposed apes are?
they are unable to develop more advanced behavious such as speach and the concept of friendship.
Give me a break. First of all, apes are already capable of developing the advanced behavior of speach. Or rather, the advanced behavior of language. I'm sure you've heard of apes that have been tought sign language? They're certainly not very good at it, but they are clearly communicating in a very simple way using language.
The reason they haven't developed verbal speach is because they don't have the physical ability to produce the same sounds tha humans can. Breeding apes for intelligence won't ever produce a specimen that is able to speak english or any other human lanaguge, nor would any scientist ever expect it to.
As for friendship, there are pleanty of cases of animals showing friendship for others. Both in primates and in other species. Perhaps you've heard of cats and dogs? About 60 seconds of websearching was enough to find evidence that friendship among normal priamtes has already documented and researched by anthropologists.
And last and least, take a look at this person's posting history.
If they can obtain enough cells from the poo to extract the mitochondrial DNA, why can't they PCR the rest of the DNA as well?
My impression from the article is that they're working on standard DNA sequencing as well. However the mitochondrial DNA is easier to work with so that got finished first.
As to why mitochondrial DNA is easier to deal with, i don't have a clue. Unless it's just the simple fact that there's a lot less information in the mitochondrial DNA.
I think the word your looking for is sketchy. I read the piece and wondered how this got to slashdot.
Because so many people complained about the "ad" earlier and the lack of real news that was actually for nerds. Unfortunatly, you can't please all the slashdotters even some of the time.
Re:What does this have to do with ohm's law?
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· Score: 5, Informative
Ohm's law is "voltage dropped across a load is directly proportional to the current through the load, for a constant load". What does this have to do with the law the article talks about?
Ohm's law describes the creation of a current by the application of a voltege. This new law seems to describe the creation of a, um, whatever you want to call the "movement" of the spin of an electron, by the application of an electric field. Or more accuratly, it probably describes the movement of a group of spins.
They're describing generally the same kind of action, at least viewed in a certain way, in two different kind of "substances."
Nothing you said really disagreed with what i said.
There's a difference between knowing who's to blame and telling them they're to blame for it. You can think that the user is an idiot but still be politic about helping them.
Just because you're being paid to be nice to them and make them feel good doesn't mean that they're not an idiot for not looking at the manual in the first place.
I must be one of a few people who realized that last line is your sig, and only because we've seen it before.
Did you mean to say "one of only a few"? Otherwise it doesn't make much sense. I congratulate you on your great mental feat in recognizing the difference between "Howard Dean" the signature, and "Howard Dean for President" the campaign slogan. I'm sure you're right, most other people on slashdot are confused by the several dozen posters (at least) they think are claiming to be Howard Dean.
Everybody knows slashdot's readership is too fat to go out in public infront of their community into one spot and face their adversaries on voting day
Wow, you must be from strange country where the contestants face off in giant election day Mortal Kombat.
Here in america, we don't gather together in a large group in election day to battle our adversaries, instead people go individualy or in small groups to polling centers, where there are small booths where they perform the actual voting. So they're not actually being seen in front of their community while voting, and they neither the politicans running nor the electorate face off against their adversaries.
This is really unusual, i managed to do a better job of insulting myself than the incoherent responder!:) Good job xintegerx! You have secured your place in history!
My PS2 used to lock up on the second half of the Escaflowne series, which seems to indicate that it had the 1.20 drivers, which is strange, because i got my PS2 on the first day. Was the first batch mixed 1.10 and 1.20?
I took the PS2 into the local EB, and they said the only way to fix it would be to trade it in for a new one. They decided to be nice and let me do so, even though i hadn't actually bought the unit there (but i do buy a lot of games there, which is presumably why they felt like being nice) and the new one worked with Escaflowne just fine.
However a year or two later i get the X-Men DVD, and that skips all over the place once it gets about halfway through, however that problem is only reported for the 1.10 drivers.
Either there are still some big holes in that report, or my PS2 got "upgraded" from version 1.20 to 1.10. I definitely need to go check out the driver version when i get home. Another DVD i've had problems with that i don't see on that list is Spiderman.
One question though, why can't Sony give copies of the driver disk to local stores? Forcing people to live with a crappy(er) DVD player or shell out $20 for the upgrade may net them a little more cash, but i can't imagine that it's very good PR.
All in all i can't complain too much. I knew the PS2 DVD player would likely be a piece of crap when it came out, and it's tided me over to the point where DVD players have gone from affordable to downright cheap. However the experience has reaffirmed my belief that getting a game console for any other reason than to play games on it is a waste of time and money.
People calling tech support lines have bought a product which is meant to do something. The fact that they can't work it out even when everything is working is the fault of a bad UI - not the users.
And written language is badly designed because people can't just pick up a book and read it without several years of instruction first?
UIs can be badly designed, but if the user hasn't even made an attempt to check the manual or the help files, i know where i'd be placing the blame first.
If the user has taken those preliminary steps and is still flummoxed, then something is wrong, either the UI is faulty, the manual or help files are incomplete, or they're badly indexed. (I'll agree the user shouldn't have to read the _entire_ set of documents just to fix one problem)
In that case the next version of the product should have that feature fixed, or the docs or index to the docs updated.
However issue of whether it's a bad UI or a bad user aside, you're right, tech support should be glad that there are so many clueless people willing to keep them employed, and to provide amusing stories to the rest of us.
small groups of engineers who went to completely electronic communication in their workgroups became 'very lonely, depressed, negative, anti-social, brilliant people.'
I'm already lonely, depressed, negative, and anti-social, but now i can become brilliant too! Sign me up!
On the other hand: who exchanges the fictional money into real money? The company? If so, the company needs some solid funding, because at one point in time, all the MMORG player could decide to exchange all their MMORG money. I guess that would push any company into bankrupcy.
The Skynet Mail Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line August 4th, 2007. Human decisions are removed from the mail routing system. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.
The fact is this system is mainly aimed at the younger generations...cartoony graphics, cartoony games, mostly harmless adventure games, while the major console market is in the older generations.
GameCube's biggest flaw at this point is the FUD that keeps getting tossed at it, your post being a great example.
There are a lot of mature games for the GameCube, both in terms of games that are actually mature and in terms of games that get that big M for their rating. Metroid Prime, Eternal Darkness, Resident Evil, BMX XXX, Blood Omen 2, Mortal Kombat, i can look up more if you really want.
The media has often encouraged the view of the GameCube being for younger players, although their latest tendency has been to distort sales figures of the GameCube and XBox to make Microsoft look good and Nintendo look bad. The MagicBox reported on wednesday (you have to scroll down a little bit) that "Nintendo clarified that they have sold 800,000 units of GameCube worldwide in the first quarter of 2003, not the 80,000 units reported by other agencies such as Lycos, Reuters and Bloomberg."
Yet despite that, two days later most news sites are still reporting the 80,000 sales figure, and none of the major news sites have issued corrections to their reports, which are still being used as fodder for Nintendo-bashing. Only a few sites are reporting the correct number and are willing to say that the GameCube and XBox are actually neck and neck. Some people have claimed that 80,000 is an accurate number of units shipped, but if so, then the news sites should be reporting 80,000 shipped not 80,000 sold.
Some analysts think that Nintendo needs to cut prices to which i agree. However that alone won't be enough. They need to advertise the mature games for their system better. They're doing poorly because they're allowing Sony and Microsoft to gain the upperhand in the image department.
Wow, 28 and you're done maturing? Thats quite the outlook. I guess you're right, because your language, logic, and behavior seem frozen at the 11 year old level, so you got me there.
I know reading is hard, but i said that i was "about as grown up as i ever plan to get." I didn't say i was done maturing.
I just refuse to submit to an societally determined notion of what's "growing up" and accept definition that as a synonym for mature. I intend to continue developing deeper and better relationships with my friends and family, promoting beneficial change in the political and social systems of the US, expanding my mind by continued education, and among many other things, continue to enjoy the entertainment provided, in one of it's forms, by well done video games. However not among the "many other things" is stressing out about whether or not my consoles are sitting on the floor in front of the tv or are sitting on shelves in an entertainment center.
I can only imagine you have never seen a big boy entertainment center. The "shelves" (more like cubby holes) are a set height and width. I know Disney has taught you that if you wish it, it will come true, but the size is set. The Gamecube is too tall for them. If this concept is too tough for you to grasp I suggest you take some fundamental math classes and familiarize yourself with simple concepts such as size and possibly newtonian physics and concepts like matter.
Sorry to disapoint you, but i've seen them at home when growing up, i can see one right now in the confrence room at work, i've seen them at stores, and i've seen them at some friends' houses.
Guess what? Every halfway decently built entertainment center i've seen has pegs that allow you to place the shelves at any level you want and thereby provide room to store whatever type of consumer electronics on it that you wish. I suggest you familiarize yourself with such simple concepts as comparison shopping and look before you buy.
I've got a small entertainment center that fits just my tv and some DVDs, and using advanced mathematical and physics knowledge that i picked up at college i was able to judge the size of the tv and adjust the shelves so they contained it nicely.
Assuming your mail-order bride does arrive, maybe the wench can help you lift your toys off the ground. I'm sure she will be of the stout type and able to help you construct "shelves" for your den.
Wow, you started out the whole flaming thing by insulting my ability to read, and now have scaled upwards to insulting my girlfriend. I can see why you were scared to log in to write this comment. Congratulations, you've managed to even pass below the threshold of good taste to which i am willing to descend to meet you. No matter how viscious, uncouth and unintelligent you may be, i'm not going to stoop to insulting your friends and family.
If she wants me to move the stuff, i'll go out and buy an entertainment center, however unlike you, i am smart enough to look at what i'm getting before i purchase it, and i'll get one with moveable shelves and use my already demonstrated spatial sense and engineering ability to assemble the device in the correct layout to accomodate the devices i wish to place in it.
Way to back-peddle on your homophobic insult, though. Real nice work. Its already posted for everyone to see though. I need not say anymore on that issue.
Sorry, you can try to put words in my mouth all you want, but i'm not the one who thinks that all interior decorators are homosexuals, I do think that interior decorating is a pretty useless field regardless of whether it's practiced my heterosexuals or homosexuals, especially when applied to matters such as which console to purchase. Making decisions based on such irrelevant criteria is even more imbecilic than choosing which entertainment center to buy without considering what features would be most usefull to the application to which you will be applying it.
I dont choose them to match my decor, but they have to be functional with it. I guess function and form escape you though? I don't know about you, but in a grown-up's house stuff doesn't just sit on the floor. Maybe when you are a big boy you will pick up your toys.
Nope, i'm 28 and about as grown up as i ever plan to get, sorry if you've gotten old and bitter. My girlfriend may make me pick up the place a bit once she moves out here, but if so i'll just have to manage the difficult task of figuring out how to put the GameCube and PS2 on a shelf. Although i'm sure it will be a difficult task given that you haven't been able to manage it, but i'm sure i'll eventually prevail.
And, though I am not an interior decorator, was that a thinly veiled homophobic statement? Talk about AOL quality discussion. So Gamecube fanboys are also homophobes, check. GG
GG? What's that? Sorry i don't keep up with the latest kiddie slang.
I didn't say you were a homosexual, and i'm not sure why you were so quick to jump to that conclusion. Isn't that whole "all homsexuals are interior decorators" thing a myth anyways? If it makes you feel better, i can call you an artiste instead, except that i know a lot of artists and none of them worry about what the GameCube looks like either, and come to think of it, they've all figured out how to fit it into their entertainment centers as well.
No, what i was trying to emphasize was the stupidity of picking out a console based on what the console looks like and how it matches your furniture. If you're really that much more concerned about what the console looks like on your shelf (oh wait, you haven't figured out how to put it on a shelf yet, sorry) rather than what the games look like on the screen, i'm really not sure why your opinion should matter at all anyways.
And yes, the LOL was a direct insult. I'm glad you picked up on it. Enjoy it.
I picked up on the part where you sounded like an idiot. Somehow missed the part where i was laughing at anything other than you. But keep it up, you make a great twelve year old.
This is a fatal design flaw to me. If it won't fit with the design of my house (a pretty standard American design) why would I buy it?
Ahh, such a well thought out analysis. You choose game consoles to match your interior decor.
Strange, the GameCubes at work fits into the entertainment center in the confrence room just fine. That's the only case i know of where the owner bothered putting them into any kind of entertainment center. Most of my geek friends just have them sitting on the floor next to or in front of the tv, or stacked on top of each other with the GameCube on top.
Oh, but you're an interior decorator so such an arangement wouldn't work for you. Guess the rest of us will have to get by making our decisions based on which console has the best games.
LOL
Maybe this discussion forum is a little too advanced for you. Perhaps you might want to consider the AOL chatrooms instead?
You are so far off its not even funny. The casual gamer doesn't get told anything about games. The casual gamer knows Grand Theft Auto, Madden, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. The casual gamer doesn't get told anything about any console because they don't read the mags or research the stuff online. That is what defines casual.
I fail to see how they're not told anything about games or consoles. They may not look up accurate information on websites, but they'll talk to their friends, watch tv, and look at box art and other ads. They only look at the image and perception, without taking the time to dig up the reality. That's what they're told, and that's what they're making their decisions based off of. They don't exist in some magical space where they receive no information whatsoever.
I don't think they "deloped" ED, RE, or any of those games. They published ED, but thats the only one. The others they merely allowed them to be released. Thank you for bringing up MK though, go back and check it against the arcade and Genesis versions. Come back, then remember that was your arguement, not mine. LOL
Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance, maybe you've heard of it? Oh, i guess not since you seem to think the GameCube has no mature games. Go look it up. You can try comparing the arcade version against the Genesis version, but good luck finding a Genesis version of it in existance.
Sure, Nintendo screwed themselves over back then, but we are talking about the present. Even your casual gamers are deciding between a PS2, GameCube, and XBox, not a SNES or a Genesis.
And come on, how many of the mature games on the PS2 and XBox were actually developed directly by Sony and Microsoft? Not 2nd party and 3rd party games, not afiliate studios, but directly by Sony or Microsoft? Sony and Microsoft don't have to make the games themselves in order to be considered to be mature, so neither should Nintendo.
There is nothing wrong with being the console for kids. The Gamecube is, but its not image, its the substance of the thing.
They've got mature games, i can pick them up and touch them, is that not substantial enough for you? All you ahve to go on is what people think of it as, which is purely image and perception. Nintendo seems intent to encourage that image at times, which is unfortunate, but they have also demonstarted a commitment to releasing mature games, even if they don't advertise them as much. Which is the substance, and which is the perception? If you can't tell the difference you really need some help.
Anyone know if the developers get any kind of kickback when their games get rented?
I don't want to start a filesharing type discussion about whether it's fair, legal, moral, or anything else for the rental store to profit from renting out the same game to multiple people. I'm just wondering from an economic standpoint whether in increase in rentals is good or bad for the game industry.
If the publisher/developer gets paid a small percentage of every rental, all is good. If not, then theoretically speaking, if half the people on the planet decided to rent most games rather than buy them the game industry could see gross profits decrease by a factor of ten or a hundred or even more.
Slashdot Mirror
However it seems to have a few "features" that really make me wonder.
What's up with the crystal thing you have to carry that generates a zone of protection from a hostile enviroment? I don't mean the in story reason (although i'm wondering about what a bleak and depressing place the world must be if everyone is traped in little circles around crystals) but the actual gameplay reason?
I can only assume that it's meant to keep the players from spliting up and wandering off screen for very long. However what was wrong with the Secret of Mana system where it's just not possible to walk off screen? Sure, that introduces a certain sense of artificiality to the game, but the crystal method introduces a big element of frustration. Picking up and setting down the crystal repeatedly is annoying. And when i was playing it at E3 the person carrying the crystal would sometimes start walking off without warning anyone else, leaving the people at the end of the group trailing in the death zone. The people getting damaged get pissed off, and it's generally no good. In Secret of Mana you'd get in arguments about which way you should be going, but no one was getting actively damaged in the process so people didn't usually get angry about it.
From what i saw at E3, it seems that if you play as a single player, the other people in the group disapear. What happened to the Secret of Mana system of having the computer take over any players that the humans aren't using? I can understand the gameplay seeming a bit lonely if you're the only person wandering about. Kind of a regression back to Dragon Warrior/Quest I days isn't it?
How does switching people in and out during the middle of the game work? If i play alone for a couple hours using one character, does that mean that when my friends decide to join in again their characters will all be lower level?
I had lots of fun playing Secret of Mana with my sister when i was growing up, but when she didn't feel like playing i had almost as much fun playing on my own. Getting friends to help out was great, but not necessary.
All in all with Crystal Chronicles it seems like they've emphasized the multiplayer aspect too much, to the point where it feels like they're punishing anyone who wants to play it single player. I can't imagine that's going to help sales out much.
Of course maybe i'm wrong, maybe when i actually start playing the game from the begining for significant amounts of time rather than ten minutes at a booth at E3 it will seem a lot more fun. Hopefully.
How is that the case? If people still like him better than the other candidates, how is it not democratic for him to get the job again.
As it is, it's conceivable that 50.1% of the people could decide they hate Davis, but the new governor is elected with 10% of the vote and 90% of the people hate this new person. If Larry Flynt or that porn star somehow managed to pull off a win, do you think there wouldn't be another immediate recall which would waste even more taxpayer dollars?
I wouldn't have considered issuing a recall for a Republican governor who won fairly before this whole fiasco. I'll probably be willing to let bygones be bygones if the recall fall flat on it's face. However if it wins, i'll be first in line to sign the next recall petition for a Republican governor, fair or not.
Republicans like to talk about Democrats being whiney pushovers, such Democrats may exist, i don't really know, but i'm sure not one of them. I think the recall is stupid and unfair, but if the Republicans want to make that the rules of the games, then i'm not going to shy away from playing too.
Sure, it'll probably lead to a cycle of destruction as California spends all it's time and money on recall after recall, but these days there's a part of me that says, so what? Republicans seem to think that nothing they do is going to have unintended negative effects, well fine. Maybe we should just sit back and let the Republicans have their way and see how long they manage to hold things together. If everything works out well, great, we were wrong, isn't it swell that we don't need to worry about it. If not, at least we'll have the laugh last as we choke on poisonous fumes while the oceans flood our cities.
If we try and prevent disater, those who oppose us only laugh at us and say there was nothing to worry about if we succeed.
Oh, and as long as we're talking about tax issues, part of the problem is the voter proposition that limited property taxes to something insanely small. We're paying more in sales and income taxes so property owners can get a break, and that one is entirely the fault of the voters.
Yeah, i have no clue what the actual spintronics formula is, the article didn't say and it would be usefull information to have.
However without knowing any more about it, it's still possible to make comparisons of the nature of this law with the nature of other laws. Equations describing similar behavior are sometimes similar, and sometimes not, so have having the formla itself might or might not be informative in that regard. Newtonian and relativistic physics is the first case that comes to mind where formulas that descrbe what is basically the same process come out completly differently, and i'm sure there are other examples.
Half of them will claim it's bigfoot, the other half will claim that if it took us this long to find a new giant ape that's been around for who knows how long, how can mainsteam scientists say that the stuff they're looking for is impossible/extremely unlikely.
This of course ignores the fact that finding a new ape in Africa isn't all that unusual. If they'd found it in Washington State then they'd have a bit better claim. And even finding a new ape species in north america is far more likely that finding a surviving population of dinosaurs or whatever the latest cryptozoologist thing is.
What the article actually says is "the animal has feet that are about two inches bigger than the average gorilla and is more flat-faced than other apes."
Just because it's feet are bigger doesn't mean that it's taller. That's making unwaranted assumptions about it's body structure.
Later on in the article there is the report that "It was walking bipedally (upright) and was taller than her, and she's six feet tall." However humans have a tendency to unconsciously misjudge and/or exagerate size of unfamiliar things. Large primates are big, they weigh a lot, tend to be wider than humans, and are covered in fur. All of which problably makes humans judge them as bigger than they are. Gorillas can be up to six feet tall too, and if she saw one of those walking past while she was sitting down in a car she'd probably describe it as taller than herself as well.
Got any evidence to back up your claim?
I've never heard of any such studies, and a few quick google searches turn nothing up. Furthermore, a lot of the points mentioned sound very suspicious.
They've improved intelligence by nearly 40%? Measured how? We can't even come uip with a good system for measuring human intelligence, yet you expect me to believe they can assign a precise numerical figure to how much smarter these supposed apes are?
they are unable to develop more advanced behavious such as speach and the concept of friendship.
Give me a break. First of all, apes are already capable of developing the advanced behavior of speach. Or rather, the advanced behavior of language. I'm sure you've heard of apes that have been tought sign language? They're certainly not very good at it, but they are clearly communicating in a very simple way using language.
The reason they haven't developed verbal speach is because they don't have the physical ability to produce the same sounds tha humans can. Breeding apes for intelligence won't ever produce a specimen that is able to speak english or any other human lanaguge, nor would any scientist ever expect it to.
As for friendship, there are pleanty of cases of animals showing friendship for others. Both in primates and in other species. Perhaps you've heard of cats and dogs? About 60 seconds of websearching was enough to find evidence that friendship among normal priamtes has already documented and researched by anthropologists.
And last and least, take a look at this person's posting history.
My impression from the article is that they're working on standard DNA sequencing as well. However the mitochondrial DNA is easier to work with so that got finished first.
As to why mitochondrial DNA is easier to deal with, i don't have a clue. Unless it's just the simple fact that there's a lot less information in the mitochondrial DNA.
Because so many people complained about the "ad" earlier and the lack of real news that was actually for nerds. Unfortunatly, you can't please all the slashdotters even some of the time.
Ohm's law describes the creation of a current by the application of a voltege. This new law seems to describe the creation of a, um, whatever you want to call the "movement" of the spin of an electron, by the application of an electric field. Or more accuratly, it probably describes the movement of a group of spins.
They're describing generally the same kind of action, at least viewed in a certain way, in two different kind of "substances."
Nothing you said really disagreed with what i said.
There's a difference between knowing who's to blame and telling them they're to blame for it. You can think that the user is an idiot but still be politic about helping them.
Just because you're being paid to be nice to them and make them feel good doesn't mean that they're not an idiot for not looking at the manual in the first place.
Did you mean to say "one of only a few"? Otherwise it doesn't make much sense. I congratulate you on your great mental feat in recognizing the difference between "Howard Dean" the signature, and "Howard Dean for President" the campaign slogan. I'm sure you're right, most other people on slashdot are confused by the several dozen posters (at least) they think are claiming to be Howard Dean.
Everybody knows slashdot's readership is too fat to go out in public infront of their community into one spot and face their adversaries on voting day
Wow, you must be from strange country where the contestants face off in giant election day Mortal Kombat.
Here in america, we don't gather together in a large group in election day to battle our adversaries, instead people go individualy or in small groups to polling centers, where there are small booths where they perform the actual voting. So they're not actually being seen in front of their community while voting, and they neither the politicans running nor the electorate face off against their adversaries.
This is really unusual, i managed to do a better job of insulting myself than the incoherent responder! :) Good job xintegerx! You have secured your place in history!
I took the PS2 into the local EB, and they said the only way to fix it would be to trade it in for a new one. They decided to be nice and let me do so, even though i hadn't actually bought the unit there (but i do buy a lot of games there, which is presumably why they felt like being nice) and the new one worked with Escaflowne just fine.
However a year or two later i get the X-Men DVD, and that skips all over the place once it gets about halfway through, however that problem is only reported for the 1.10 drivers.
Either there are still some big holes in that report, or my PS2 got "upgraded" from version 1.20 to 1.10. I definitely need to go check out the driver version when i get home. Another DVD i've had problems with that i don't see on that list is Spiderman.
One question though, why can't Sony give copies of the driver disk to local stores? Forcing people to live with a crappy(er) DVD player or shell out $20 for the upgrade may net them a little more cash, but i can't imagine that it's very good PR.
All in all i can't complain too much. I knew the PS2 DVD player would likely be a piece of crap when it came out, and it's tided me over to the point where DVD players have gone from affordable to downright cheap. However the experience has reaffirmed my belief that getting a game console for any other reason than to play games on it is a waste of time and money.
And written language is badly designed because people can't just pick up a book and read it without several years of instruction first?
UIs can be badly designed, but if the user hasn't even made an attempt to check the manual or the help files, i know where i'd be placing the blame first.
If the user has taken those preliminary steps and is still flummoxed, then something is wrong, either the UI is faulty, the manual or help files are incomplete, or they're badly indexed. (I'll agree the user shouldn't have to read the _entire_ set of documents just to fix one problem)
In that case the next version of the product should have that feature fixed, or the docs or index to the docs updated.
However issue of whether it's a bad UI or a bad user aside, you're right, tech support should be glad that there are so many clueless people willing to keep them employed, and to provide amusing stories to the rest of us.
I'm already lonely, depressed, negative, and anti-social, but now i can become brilliant too! Sign me up!
I'm not sure, but i would guess it works the same as MMORPGs in the US. The players trade and sell items/cash among each other, and the company has nothing to do with it. Given how much discusion there has been about games that involve financial transactions with the company in exchange for items i think we would have heard about it if there was one in Korea that had actually implemented the practice.
And Skynet fights back.
GameCube's biggest flaw at this point is the FUD that keeps getting tossed at it, your post being a great example.
There are a lot of mature games for the GameCube, both in terms of games that are actually mature and in terms of games that get that big M for their rating. Metroid Prime, Eternal Darkness, Resident Evil, BMX XXX, Blood Omen 2, Mortal Kombat, i can look up more if you really want.
The media has often encouraged the view of the GameCube being for younger players, although their latest tendency has been to distort sales figures of the GameCube and XBox to make Microsoft look good and Nintendo look bad. The MagicBox reported on wednesday (you have to scroll down a little bit) that "Nintendo clarified that they have sold 800,000 units of GameCube worldwide in the first quarter of 2003, not the 80,000 units reported by other agencies such as Lycos, Reuters and Bloomberg."
Yet despite that, two days later most news sites are still reporting the 80,000 sales figure, and none of the major news sites have issued corrections to their reports, which are still being used as fodder for Nintendo-bashing. Only a few sites are reporting the correct number and are willing to say that the GameCube and XBox are actually neck and neck. Some people have claimed that 80,000 is an accurate number of units shipped, but if so, then the news sites should be reporting 80,000 shipped not 80,000 sold.
Some analysts think that Nintendo needs to cut prices to which i agree. However that alone won't be enough. They need to advertise the mature games for their system better. They're doing poorly because they're allowing Sony and Microsoft to gain the upperhand in the image department.
Hey, I responded to your anonymous comment below if you care. (This would be a lot easier if you were brave enough to take credit for your own words.)
I know reading is hard, but i said that i was "about as grown up as i ever plan to get." I didn't say i was done maturing.
I just refuse to submit to an societally determined notion of what's "growing up" and accept definition that as a synonym for mature. I intend to continue developing deeper and better relationships with my friends and family, promoting beneficial change in the political and social systems of the US, expanding my mind by continued education, and among many other things, continue to enjoy the entertainment provided, in one of it's forms, by well done video games. However not among the "many other things" is stressing out about whether or not my consoles are sitting on the floor in front of the tv or are sitting on shelves in an entertainment center.
I can only imagine you have never seen a big boy entertainment center. The "shelves" (more like cubby holes) are a set height and width. I know Disney has taught you that if you wish it, it will come true, but the size is set. The Gamecube is too tall for them. If this concept is too tough for you to grasp I suggest you take some fundamental math classes and familiarize yourself with simple concepts such as size and possibly newtonian physics and concepts like matter.
Sorry to disapoint you, but i've seen them at home when growing up, i can see one right now in the confrence room at work, i've seen them at stores, and i've seen them at some friends' houses.
Guess what? Every halfway decently built entertainment center i've seen has pegs that allow you to place the shelves at any level you want and thereby provide room to store whatever type of consumer electronics on it that you wish. I suggest you familiarize yourself with such simple concepts as comparison shopping and look before you buy.
I've got a small entertainment center that fits just my tv and some DVDs, and using advanced mathematical and physics knowledge that i picked up at college i was able to judge the size of the tv and adjust the shelves so they contained it nicely.
Assuming your mail-order bride does arrive, maybe the wench can help you lift your toys off the ground. I'm sure she will be of the stout type and able to help you construct "shelves" for your den.
Wow, you started out the whole flaming thing by insulting my ability to read, and now have scaled upwards to insulting my girlfriend. I can see why you were scared to log in to write this comment. Congratulations, you've managed to even pass below the threshold of good taste to which i am willing to descend to meet you. No matter how viscious, uncouth and unintelligent you may be, i'm not going to stoop to insulting your friends and family.
If she wants me to move the stuff, i'll go out and buy an entertainment center, however unlike you, i am smart enough to look at what i'm getting before i purchase it, and i'll get one with moveable shelves and use my already demonstrated spatial sense and engineering ability to assemble the device in the correct layout to accomodate the devices i wish to place in it.
Way to back-peddle on your homophobic insult, though. Real nice work. Its already posted for everyone to see though. I need not say anymore on that issue.
Sorry, you can try to put words in my mouth all you want, but i'm not the one who thinks that all interior decorators are homosexuals, I do think that interior decorating is a pretty useless field regardless of whether it's practiced my heterosexuals or homosexuals, especially when applied to matters such as which console to purchase. Making decisions based on such irrelevant criteria is even more imbecilic than choosing which entertainment center to buy without considering what features would be most usefull to the application to which you will be applying it.
Real quick
Nope, i'm 28 and about as grown up as i ever plan to get, sorry if you've gotten old and bitter. My girlfriend may make me pick up the place a bit once she moves out here, but if so i'll just have to manage the difficult task of figuring out how to put the GameCube and PS2 on a shelf. Although i'm sure it will be a difficult task given that you haven't been able to manage it, but i'm sure i'll eventually prevail.
And, though I am not an interior decorator, was that a thinly veiled homophobic statement? Talk about AOL quality discussion. So Gamecube fanboys are also homophobes, check. GG
GG? What's that? Sorry i don't keep up with the latest kiddie slang.
I didn't say you were a homosexual, and i'm not sure why you were so quick to jump to that conclusion. Isn't that whole "all homsexuals are interior decorators" thing a myth anyways? If it makes you feel better, i can call you an artiste instead, except that i know a lot of artists and none of them worry about what the GameCube looks like either, and come to think of it, they've all figured out how to fit it into their entertainment centers as well.
No, what i was trying to emphasize was the stupidity of picking out a console based on what the console looks like and how it matches your furniture. If you're really that much more concerned about what the console looks like on your shelf (oh wait, you haven't figured out how to put it on a shelf yet, sorry) rather than what the games look like on the screen, i'm really not sure why your opinion should matter at all anyways.
And yes, the LOL was a direct insult. I'm glad you picked up on it. Enjoy it.
I picked up on the part where you sounded like an idiot. Somehow missed the part where i was laughing at anything other than you. But keep it up, you make a great twelve year old.
Ahh, such a well thought out analysis. You choose game consoles to match your interior decor.
Strange, the GameCubes at work fits into the entertainment center in the confrence room just fine. That's the only case i know of where the owner bothered putting them into any kind of entertainment center. Most of my geek friends just have them sitting on the floor next to or in front of the tv, or stacked on top of each other with the GameCube on top.
Oh, but you're an interior decorator so such an arangement wouldn't work for you. Guess the rest of us will have to get by making our decisions based on which console has the best games.
LOL
Maybe this discussion forum is a little too advanced for you. Perhaps you might want to consider the AOL chatrooms instead?
You are so far off its not even funny. The casual gamer doesn't get told anything about games. The casual gamer knows Grand Theft Auto, Madden, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. The casual gamer doesn't get told anything about any console because they don't read the mags or research the stuff online. That is what defines casual.
I fail to see how they're not told anything about games or consoles. They may not look up accurate information on websites, but they'll talk to their friends, watch tv, and look at box art and other ads. They only look at the image and perception, without taking the time to dig up the reality. That's what they're told, and that's what they're making their decisions based off of. They don't exist in some magical space where they receive no information whatsoever.
I don't think they "deloped" ED, RE, or any of those games. They published ED, but thats the only one. The others they merely allowed them to be released. Thank you for bringing up MK though, go back and check it against the arcade and Genesis versions. Come back, then remember that was your arguement, not mine. LOL
Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance, maybe you've heard of it? Oh, i guess not since you seem to think the GameCube has no mature games. Go look it up. You can try comparing the arcade version against the Genesis version, but good luck finding a Genesis version of it in existance.
Sure, Nintendo screwed themselves over back then, but we are talking about the present. Even your casual gamers are deciding between a PS2, GameCube, and XBox, not a SNES or a Genesis.
And come on, how many of the mature games on the PS2 and XBox were actually developed directly by Sony and Microsoft? Not 2nd party and 3rd party games, not afiliate studios, but directly by Sony or Microsoft? Sony and Microsoft don't have to make the games themselves in order to be considered to be mature, so neither should Nintendo.
There is nothing wrong with being the console for kids. The Gamecube is, but its not image, its the substance of the thing.
They've got mature games, i can pick them up and touch them, is that not substantial enough for you? All you ahve to go on is what people think of it as, which is purely image and perception. Nintendo seems intent to encourage that image at times, which is unfortunate, but they have also demonstarted a commitment to releasing mature games, even if they don't advertise them as much. Which is the substance, and which is the perception? If you can't tell the difference you really need some help.
I don't want to start a filesharing type discussion about whether it's fair, legal, moral, or anything else for the rental store to profit from renting out the same game to multiple people. I'm just wondering from an economic standpoint whether in increase in rentals is good or bad for the game industry.
If the publisher/developer gets paid a small percentage of every rental, all is good. If not, then theoretically speaking, if half the people on the planet decided to rent most games rather than buy them the game industry could see gross profits decrease by a factor of ten or a hundred or even more.