Good point. I guess it's just easier if I'm willing to stoop to first-strike war tactics. Taking the high-road morally is harder than attacking from high-ground. The fact that the video game presents me with that choice is admirable.
Unfortunately, with the abstraction of the Civ-illians into numbers representing population or little animated characters, it's hard to know what someone like me would do in real life. Were I the ruler of a Civilization, would I have the moral fortitude to not slaughter resisting populations? Or would I take the easy road to domination? I guess the world is lucky I'm so lazy.
As the player of a game, I can adopt a separate set of morals for the simulated universe and what I do there is not necessarily indicitave of what I would do in the real 'verse. (Aside from GTA - I do drive worse IRL after playing GTA, but I almost never carjack)
I don't know about peaceful. Warring only in self-defence might be a non-aggressive military stance, but war is still war. I have not played a single Civ game where the AI didn't try to take what's mine. (*disclaimer - I've still only played one map on civ 4, so maybe IV changes things from Civ III). And I can't just build culture, because when the aggressive AI culture comes for my land, I want to be able to defend it.
When the AI came for the Russians, I did not speak out because I was trying to settle the foothills with the Gold resource.
When the AI came for the French, I did not speak out because I was still building my strategic, fledgling outer cites and didn't want to lose them.
When the AI came for me there was no one left to speak for me.
Peace in "Civilization #" is just like peace in the real world. It's nice, and you can work with it when you have it, but don't count on it for long. And the best way to prevent that aggressive culture from attacking you is to pre-emptively initiate a regime change on their asses. Some say I'm a war-hawk. I say I'm just two steps ahead. They might even greet me as liberators and throw flowers at my feet.
I would almost prefer a (low) monthly fee to the initial purchase price. I think it would keep the company motivated to provide some decent upkeep to their product, whereas a single up-front cost might lend to the host-company's apathy once you initial offering is collected. That way I can quit whenever I feel like and not feel like I have to play long enough to recoup the initial cost.
Hell, even crack dealers will sometimes give you your first one for free, and they do tons of repeat business.
However, my only experience with a MMORPG was "The Realm" originally produced by Sierra, but then changed hands a few times. The client software was freely downloadable off the Internet. Small monthly fee. $5/month, I think.
Not nessecarily. Right and wrong hasen't changed any.
...but now two wrongs can make a right. I think someone said it's like multiplying negative numbers or something. If you do it right, you'll get a positive.
-(Sony Rootkit) X -(The Warden) = -(Cheating)... hmmm, I think I must've messed up the math.
That is an interesting link. And more interesting would be to know how far this has progressed since.
I was actually referring to the lack of a hypothetical database of the laser printer owners, but my paranoia can see a time when the coding of every product is tracked in case it's used in a crime. But that's just what I'm prophesizing from down here in my underground bunker.
Yes, they must, otherwise this tracking information is useless, right?
I don't know that the lack of a database would make the information useless. It may work like running ballistics tests on a shell casing found at a crime scene and matching it to a weapon seized from a suspect.
Even if there ability to find a suspect is limited, they may have the ability to prove, within a court of law, that a document came from the printer in your basement.
IANAClimatologist, but I always thought this was an interesting observation about how air traffic affects climate and what was observed following 3 days of extreme reduction in air traffic post 9/11/2001. (apologies, I couldn't find a link to the actual CNN article re-posted on this page.) http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Environmental/Co ntrails.htm
One thing that surprised me was the claim that the contrails left in the wake of the jets may actually be helping to reduce global warming.
Well said. I participated in a few of the ACM regional programming contests in college. At one, we absolutely did NOT know how to work as a team. We each took a problem and went our own way, spending all of our time figuring out our own problems, code, and mistakes. This made our own time at the shared workstation very valuable and that of our teammates seem less so. Eventually tempers flared and hissy fits ensued.
At another one we mixed up the teams and did much better. One guy didn't even go to the workstation. He just stayed in the "thinking" area and served as a second set of eyes and second brain for the others. He was probably the most valuable person on that team.
We still did lousy in all the contests because in the end, we're probably only mediocre programmers. But the experiences are almost always fun.
I don't believe the numbers either. I'll bet he used a machine to generate the numbers and those machines just happen to be the ones who would likely rise to power if we accept that study.
It's called cruise control because that's what they're after. Control.
First they came for the acceleration, but I did not speak up because my foot was cramping.
Then they came for the windows and locks, but I did not speak up because I didn't want to lean across the car to unlock and roll down.
Then they came for me and and there was no one left to speak up for me.
When the cars don't need drivers we'll be useless to them.
It's still waiting for Linus Torvalds to claim registration #1, which has been reserved for him for the last ten years.
So it's a counter that starts at an arbitrary number other than one? I had enough trouble indexing my arrays from 0. This is gonna cause all sorts of different "off by one" errors. Can I start my own counter at 50.000 and claim the first 50.000 are reserved?
Y'know, That's an interesting thought, but there are people who complain of jetlag after flying north or south (not even crossing a timezone). Maybe they have a different definition of jetlag, or maybe they somehow use their ever so tiny approach to the speed of light as reason for messing up their internal clocks. Or maybe its just a great excuse to not show up for work the next day.
Slashdot Mirror
Sure, but carrying around 80 opterons on your keychain can be cumbersome.
Unfortunately, with the abstraction of the Civ-illians into numbers representing population or little animated characters, it's hard to know what someone like me would do in real life. Were I the ruler of a Civilization, would I have the moral fortitude to not slaughter resisting populations? Or would I take the easy road to domination? I guess the world is lucky I'm so lazy.
As the player of a game, I can adopt a separate set of morals for the simulated universe and what I do there is not necessarily indicitave of what I would do in the real 'verse. (Aside from GTA - I do drive worse IRL after playing GTA, but I almost never carjack)
When the AI came for the Russians, I did not speak out because I was trying to settle the foothills with the Gold resource.
When the AI came for the French, I did not speak out because I was still building my strategic, fledgling outer cites and didn't want to lose them.
When the AI came for me there was no one left to speak for me.
Peace in "Civilization #" is just like peace in the real world. It's nice, and you can work with it when you have it, but don't count on it for long. And the best way to prevent that aggressive culture from attacking you is to pre-emptively initiate a regime change on their asses. Some say I'm a war-hawk. I say I'm just two steps ahead. They might even greet me as liberators and throw flowers at my feet.
Hell, even crack dealers will sometimes give you your first one for free, and they do tons of repeat business.
However, my only experience with a MMORPG was "The Realm" originally produced by Sierra, but then changed hands a few times. The client software was freely downloadable off the Internet. Small monthly fee. $5/month, I think.
-(Sony Rootkit) X -(The Warden) = -(Cheating)
Cuz I'm steve and I'm a super-villain
http://www.ubergeek.tv/article.php?pid=54
I was actually referring to the lack of a hypothetical database of the laser printer owners, but my paranoia can see a time when the coding of every product is tracked in case it's used in a crime. But that's just what I'm prophesizing from down here in my underground bunker.
Here's another one of interest that will probably show up on yro.slashdot.org, (if it hasn't already) but I don't feel like submitting. Monitoring traffic patterns by tracking cell phones. http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/ptech/10/17/monitorin g.motorists.ap/index.html
I don't know that the lack of a database would make the information useless. It may work like running ballistics tests on a shell casing found at a crime scene and matching it to a weapon seized from a suspect.
Even if there ability to find a suspect is limited, they may have the ability to prove, within a court of law, that a document came from the printer in your basement.
One thing that surprised me was the claim that the contrails left in the wake of the jets may actually be helping to reduce global warming.
Definitely not definitive, but interesting.
Well said. I participated in a few of the ACM regional programming contests in college. At one, we absolutely did NOT know how to work as a team. We each took a problem and went our own way, spending all of our time figuring out our own problems, code, and mistakes. This made our own time at the shared workstation very valuable and that of our teammates seem less so. Eventually tempers flared and hissy fits ensued.
At another one we mixed up the teams and did much better. One guy didn't even go to the workstation. He just stayed in the "thinking" area and served as a second set of eyes and second brain for the others. He was probably the most valuable person on that team.
We still did lousy in all the contests because in the end, we're probably only mediocre programmers. But the experiences are almost always fun.
It's called cruise control because that's what they're after. Control.
First they came for the acceleration, but I did not speak up because my foot was cramping.
Then they came for the windows and locks, but I did not speak up because I didn't want to lean across the car to unlock and roll down.
Then they came for me and and there was no one left to speak up for me.
When the cars don't need drivers we'll be useless to them.
Always facing us? I always thought it was always facing AWAY from us. Hence the name "moon" which I believe is latin for "to show the backside".
I long for the day when all scientific observations can be explained in relation to pimped out spinners.
Well done.
My ex-gf and I play Yugioh from time to time and we're in our late 20's. We're very immature though, so it's ok.
Simpsons did it.
Is it my monitor or does the photos taken at the JPL have a reddish tint?
So it's a counter that starts at an arbitrary number other than one? I had enough trouble indexing my arrays from 0. This is gonna cause all sorts of different "off by one" errors. Can I start my own counter at 50.000 and claim the first 50.000 are reserved?
Except that it would be exceptionally easy to get by shoulder surfing. Hey, I've seen "Hackers". I know.
I think even if you try ripping the same track twice on the same machine, you'll get two different MD5 sums. Try it.
Southpark. Underpant gnomes.
I shocked at your attitude on this electrifying issue.