I'm actually surprised the DOE come to a logical conclusion. I could be wrong but with the current technology, the amount of energy that we can produce from corn (or grass,...) doesn't even equal the amount that we use to produce it (converting it to ethanol or whatever...). There is some promise with genetically engineered bacteria producing ethanol, but what happens when that stuff gets into the wild (which is inevitable given what happened with genetically engineered food).
Personally I'm still looking towards solar or fusion....
I went to the Georgia Institute of Technology. It is one of the best engineering schools in the South (and some would argue in the country). I was in their computer science program. In their defense, there were courses that emphasized out of the box problems and courses that taught you skills for the real world. However (like most schools including the ivy leagues) the majority of the classes were still about mind numbing regurgitation of what the professors spit out... Half of the things I learned have no place in the world at large in both my personal and professional life...
This article is unfair to center the attention on Indian education. I can say the same thing for US education in general. School is about regurgitation and not much else. Personally I feel that my university degree is more about how well I listen to directions and follow orders than thinking.
I couldn't find a lawyer for justice... I just didnt' have the finances for making Choicepoint pay... All I got from them was a year membership in Equifax's credit changes alert.
This reminds me of the "settlement" Nintendo got for price fixing.
Anyways here's how I think I got victimized (though I could be wrong). My previous employer used Choicepoint verify my resume information before hiring me... Not sure how to avoid this situation
I have trouble buying this.
I think a more important question is whether IQ and academic grades are a true measure of intelligence in general.
Moreover just because the people in the study used email, it does not mean that email is the cause for their drop in IQ score.
"ReadySET is an open source project to produce and maintain a library of reusable software engineering document templates. These templates provide a ready starting point for the documents used in software development projects. Using good templates can help developers work more quickly, but they also help to prompt discussion and avoid oversights.
"
I've been watching the Compiere project for a while:
http://www.compiere.org/
I think this project can gain a lot of ground from this Peoplesoft fiasco if it improves its marketing... and doesnt require users to use Oracle as a backend ($1500 is a lot of money for little people). I think there is currently work going on for porting this to postgres though.
Looking at the style/hip look, features (MP3/MP4 playback), and given either a big enough flash card or the ability to potentially read burned PSP sized dvds, I think the PSP is more a competitor to Apple's Ipod.
All of these approaches are based on a false premise, the same desperate illusion that every programmer clings to: that the universe of problems to be solved is homogeneous, and that our task as programmers is predictable enough for one approach, one methodology, one language, one standard library to fit all problems...
It's refreshing to read that a respected programmer in specific language not being too closed minded about other programing languages or solutions.
... that Flash is on the front page of Slashdot again
lately I've been hearing alot about this horrible upcoming MS thing called XAML - and (quoting a nameless slashdotter) how it's akin to VB crack for its power and ease of use.
I could be wrong, but I think many people have overlooked that the kind of pervasive scary crap is already here, and it has been here for awhile now.
While I love Java and use it heavily, I admit that Flash is more ubiquitious it runs on almost every major OS and browser. Delivers more on the write once run anywhere.
-Flash is extremely fast and easy to install. it's literally point and click. I don't even think the player is even a 1mb...
-Flash is extremely easy to learn and use: my female, graphic designer cousin who hates anything "technical and dorky" makes flash apps all the time; hell most of flash dev is visual drag and drop
-Flash is getting more powerful by the minute:
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/flashpro/ development/ http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/flashpro/ video/ http://www.macromedia.com/software/central/
"If you have multiple plot lines, you cannot make them each as good as you can 1 single one."
You probably didn't play BG2 then; just one of its story branches could make a good game on its own.
"And no, it would be impossible to discuss characters in a game where you take totally different paths. The characterrs aren't the same- NPCA to me ends up with a ddifferent sstory and personality than to you. There's no basis for comparison. There's no way to talk abot personality traits, etc."
that's the whole point dumbass - how can you compare the same character against itself? There's a lot more to talk about when you compare different characters and different experiences.
"As for "good game design" removing the boring parts- it couldn't. "
Well then you're probably not old enough to have played the 1st Dragon Warrior, the Phantasy Stars, or even the 1st Final Fantasy - to know how much of that redundant "work" that they took out and replaced and evolved with better story/cg/experiences
"Any part you already beat of a game is boring the second time through. "
well a good replayable game has little of the same stuff you encountered the second time you play it.
"If I can't get the whole experience on the first time through, you won't get a dime of my money."
to each his own
If the developer if of Square's caliber (both in resources and the skill of their designers and developers), then maintaining the strength of the story while giving the player freedom is possible. While you do have a strong point with games like Morrowind existing (yes it was really nice looking with lots of freedom but it had weak story = boring), but you're also acting like games with both good story and flexibility are impossible and haven't already been developed. The proof is Knights of the Old Republic and Baldur's Gate II.
It really doesn't make sense for people to want good companies like Square to rest on their laurels and not push the genre further by taking risks. Hell, this is what made the Final Fantasy series a lot better than the Dragon Warrior series in the long run (before Square Enix became one).
"One of the most fun things is talking about the story and the game with other fans. If you each have a separate story, thats ruined."
It's a lot more boring to talk about the same experience with the same game than it is to talk about what happened to your character in your game and vice versa. It would be cool to be able to take the Ring yourself and become the dark lord... I'm another player who didn't make that choice would be keen on hearing about it especially if he isn't going to play the game again.
" I DONT WANT TO FUCKING PLAY THE GAME AGAIN. I just invested 60-100 hours in a game. Why in the hell would I want to go through the boring leveling up parts again? Why would I want to go through it when 90% of it would be the exact same as last time?"
1) With proper design, there wouldn't any boring "leveling up parts".
2)The whole point of flexibility is so that if the game played over again it wouldn't be 90% similar from the last game. A good replayable game would only be about 20% similar to your last game.
I've played both JRPGs (FF series, etc...) and WRPGs (Fallout, etc...). Unless you can say the same, I would atleast try out something like Baldur's Gate II - you might be surprised.
How is giving the player choices that actually affect the game world (which adds replayability) "de-evolving"? I don't think freedom in a game world should be limited to Western rpgs, nor does having more freedom and flexibility in a game automatically make Japanese themed storylines more Western.
The direction and risk these Japanese game designers (and their companies) are taking should be applauded, considering it takes a lot of balls to do something drastically different from your peers.
I love and use Java like hell, even though applets are now usable - but so far only Flash can really claim write once, run anywhere ubiquity. I don't even think XAML stands up to it and Flash is already pretty much in every browser from Win, Mac, to Linux....
They provide call screening software for windows - pretty cheap... but yeah I'd rather see ToeJam fly (or Asterisk not require expensive pci cards to use) than have to use a windows box that restarts itself every morning at 1am....
With the economy of VOIP, the realities of a global economy, and the fact that not all countries follow US law - is this really a surprise? I don't think this is something legislation could solve - it's more of a technical issue.
As for my house, we have an automated Windows - PC based telephone answering system to filter unwanted calls from a company in australia - http://www.nch.com.au/.
I could be wrong by there currently aren't any practical open source alternatives (for linux) - last I checked SourceForge's Toejam project is on hold since the developer is having personal/financial problems (he posted it on his site) and with Asterix http://www.asterisk.org/, the hardware needed is quite expensive.
PersonalBrain (www.thebrain.com) is really good. Unlike most information managers, it doesn't use a tree structure - instead it uses a graph structure. The best way to describe it is a personal graphical wiki.
The only problem with PersonalBrain is that it's windows only and the $80 license fee is steep for something that isn't crossplatform. They have a java serverside edition... but it sounds like it's a couple of grand to license.....
I could be wrong but has anyone thought of any psychological reasons for this? Being that this "curse" is pretty well publicized - it could be another case of "self ful-filling prophecy", or a better one:
Other "average" players get jealous of the cover man (being the madden cover is a really big deal in terms of rep - since nfl players really like the game, when I was at EA we gave them advanced copies) and just decide to hit the bastard harder than ussual... (Rage and jealously does play a factor in sports) - remember the Curt Shilling / Doug Glanville incident?
All Bioware made games have been some of the best games I've ever played - very deep / good gameplay with good story... the only common bad thing is that all Bioware games is that the endings (except for Baldur's Gate II) seem too short. Given the size and depth of most their games, you get the feeling of "all this work for nothing". This includes the 1st KOTOR (for ex. there is no mention of the end result of your relationship with your love interest in the story... this is a lot like the 1st Neverwinter stand alone game...)
Hopefully giving development to former members of Black Isle will change this. I definitely enjoyed the endings to the Fallout Series and Planetscape Torment.
Re:Are there any cars better than this?
on
The Bugatti Veyron
·
· Score: 1
what's the point of only being able to drive around in a circle at a couple hundred miles an hour?
Slashdot Mirror
I'm actually surprised the DOE come to a logical conclusion. I could be wrong but with the current technology, the amount of energy that we can produce from corn (or grass, ...) doesn't even equal the amount that we use to produce it (converting it to ethanol or whatever...). There is some promise with genetically engineered bacteria producing ethanol, but what happens when that stuff gets into the wild (which is inevitable given what happened with genetically engineered food).
Personally I'm still looking towards solar or fusion....
I went to the Georgia Institute of Technology. It is one of the best engineering schools in the South (and some would argue in the country). I was in their computer science program. In their defense, there were courses that emphasized out of the box problems and courses that taught you skills for the real world. However (like most schools including the ivy leagues) the majority of the classes were still about mind numbing regurgitation of what the professors spit out... Half of the things I learned have no place in the world at large in both my personal and professional life...
This article is unfair to center the attention on Indian education. I can say the same thing for US education in general. School is about regurgitation and not much else. Personally I feel that my university degree is more about how well I listen to directions and follow orders than thinking.
This reminds me of the "settlement" Nintendo got for price fixing.
Anyways here's how I think I got victimized (though I could be wrong). My previous employer used Choicepoint verify my resume information before hiring me... Not sure how to avoid this situation
I could be wrong, but doesn't Neverwinter Nights and Second Life already let you do this?
I have trouble buying this.
I think a more important question is whether IQ and academic grades are a true measure of intelligence in general.
Moreover just because the people in the study used email, it does not mean that email is the cause for their drop in IQ score.
http://readyset.tigris.org/
I use this at work and it's a dream.
From the site:
"ReadySET is an open source project to produce and maintain a library of reusable software engineering document templates. These templates provide a ready starting point for the documents used in software development projects. Using good templates can help developers work more quickly, but they also help to prompt discussion and avoid oversights. "
I think something like Eclipse Wiki http://eclipsewiki.sourceforge.net/ - a plugin for the Eclipse IDE http://www.eclipse.org/ is open source nice alternative for having relational data organization.
I think this project can gain a lot of ground from this Peoplesoft fiasco if it improves its marketing... and doesnt require users to use Oracle as a backend ($1500 is a lot of money for little people). I think there is currently work going on for porting this to postgres though.
Looking at the style/hip look, features (MP3/MP4 playback), and given either a big enough flash card or the ability to potentially read burned PSP sized dvds, I think the PSP is more a competitor to Apple's Ipod.
It's refreshing to read that a respected programmer in specific language not being too closed minded about other programing languages or solutions.
http://www.overboost.com
Car modding is definitely not cheap though...
lately I've been hearing alot about this horrible upcoming MS thing called XAML - and (quoting a nameless slashdotter) how it's akin to VB crack for its power and ease of use.
I could be wrong, but I think many people have overlooked that the kind of pervasive scary crap is already here, and it has been here for awhile now./ development/
/ video/
While I love Java and use it heavily, I admit that Flash is more ubiquitious it runs on almost every major OS and browser. Delivers more on the write once run anywhere.
-Flash is extremely fast and easy to install. it's literally point and click. I don't even think the player is even a 1mb...
-Flash is extremely easy to learn and use: my female, graphic designer cousin who hates anything "technical and dorky" makes flash apps all the time; hell most of flash dev is visual drag and drop
-Flash is getting more powerful by the minute: http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/flashpro
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/flashpro
http://www.macromedia.com/software/central/
"If you have multiple plot lines, you cannot make them each as good as you can 1 single one." You probably didn't play BG2 then; just one of its story branches could make a good game on its own. "And no, it would be impossible to discuss characters in a game where you take totally different paths. The characterrs aren't the same- NPCA to me ends up with a ddifferent sstory and personality than to you. There's no basis for comparison. There's no way to talk abot personality traits, etc." that's the whole point dumbass - how can you compare the same character against itself? There's a lot more to talk about when you compare different characters and different experiences. "As for "good game design" removing the boring parts- it couldn't. " Well then you're probably not old enough to have played the 1st Dragon Warrior, the Phantasy Stars, or even the 1st Final Fantasy - to know how much of that redundant "work" that they took out and replaced and evolved with better story/cg/experiences "Any part you already beat of a game is boring the second time through. " well a good replayable game has little of the same stuff you encountered the second time you play it. "If I can't get the whole experience on the first time through, you won't get a dime of my money." to each his own
It really doesn't make sense for people to want good companies like Square to rest on their laurels and not push the genre further by taking risks. Hell, this is what made the Final Fantasy series a lot better than the Dragon Warrior series in the long run (before Square Enix became one).
"One of the most fun things is talking about the story and the game with other fans. If you each have a separate story, thats ruined."
It's a lot more boring to talk about the same experience with the same game than it is to talk about what happened to your character in your game and vice versa. It would be cool to be able to take the Ring yourself and become the dark lord... I'm another player who didn't make that choice would be keen on hearing about it especially if he isn't going to play the game again.
" I DONT WANT TO FUCKING PLAY THE GAME AGAIN. I just invested 60-100 hours in a game. Why in the hell would I want to go through the boring leveling up parts again? Why would I want to go through it when 90% of it would be the exact same as last time?"
1) With proper design, there wouldn't any boring "leveling up parts".
2)The whole point of flexibility is so that if the game played over again it wouldn't be 90% similar from the last game. A good replayable game would only be about 20% similar to your last game.
I've played both JRPGs (FF series, etc...) and WRPGs (Fallout, etc...). Unless you can say the same, I would atleast try out something like Baldur's Gate II - you might be surprised.
The direction and risk these Japanese game designers (and their companies) are taking should be applauded, considering it takes a lot of balls to do something drastically different from your peers.
Bioware already did it with Knights of the Old Republic.
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/flashpro/ development/
http://www.macromedia.com/software/central/
Am I wrong?
I love and use Java like hell, even though applets are now usable - but so far only Flash can really claim write once, run anywhere ubiquity. I don't even think XAML stands up to it and Flash is already pretty much in every browser from Win, Mac, to Linux....
They provide call screening software for windows - pretty cheap... but yeah I'd rather see ToeJam fly (or Asterisk not require expensive pci cards to use) than have to use a windows box that restarts itself every morning at 1am....
As for my house, we have an automated Windows - PC based telephone answering system to filter unwanted calls from a company in australia - http://www.nch.com.au/. I could be wrong by there currently aren't any practical open source alternatives (for linux) - last I checked SourceForge's Toejam project is on hold since the developer is having personal/financial problems (he posted it on his site) and with Asterix http://www.asterisk.org/, the hardware needed is quite expensive.
The only problem with PersonalBrain is that it's windows only and the $80 license fee is steep for something that isn't crossplatform. They have a java serverside edition... but it sounds like it's a couple of grand to license.....
I'm a bit disappointed they didn't display the Megway's XXX ride feature....
http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/stark_jayson/120128 3.html
Hopefully giving development to former members of Black Isle will change this. I definitely enjoyed the endings to the Fallout Series and Planetscape Torment.
what's the point of only being able to drive around in a circle at a couple hundred miles an hour?