7 years of gestation, and its suddenly coming of age? What happened to childhood? These new technologies grow up so fast... Hey! Damn kids! Get off my lawn!
They aren't "opposites", but they are at odds on points of fact, especially to those who take their religious texts literally. One need only see that the correct helio-centric model of the solar system to invalidate many religious assertions that the earth is the center of the universe.
I have found kids want a way to explain the world as much as adults and a God can be useful in that way.
Hey, did you hear about this new way of trying to explain and understand the world around you? Its based on collecting evidence, observation, and drawing conclusions... really far out there, I know, but its kind of appealing. I think its called... sclience? Silence? Something like that.
Don't delude yourself into thinking that Lycos makes any money on subscriptions. All their revenue comes from advertisements. That wasn't "sticking up his time" - its his JOB to field these kinds of complaints, he's in Customer Service. That's CUSTOMER Service, not EMPLOYER Service. And yes, she's a customer as she is using the service, regardless of whether she's a PAYING customer or not. As a Customer Service rep, he has failed.
Before too many people begin criticizing this woman for using a free email service and not following the terms of the account, let me just say that this is as much about them deleting her email as it is the responses she received from management. Go read the replies she got from the head of Customer Service. That kind of answer is totally unprofessional. There are words used to describe people who exhibit that kind of behavior, words akin to "douche bag" and "asshole". Personally, I was unaware that those were job titles used at Lycos...
Even if you do not give any notice, they can't sue you. In the US, 2 weeks notice is not a law, merely a good-relations custom. The only way that he could feasibly be sued is if there was some contract he signed agreeing to certain end-of-employment terms, but unless they were weighty enough to be signed with witnesses and a lawyer present, then they probably don't hold much water either.
Given the fact that people aren't really flocking to Vista yet, its probably gonna be "Hasta la XP" for a while - in which case, yeah, its just until you need to install with special RAID/SCSI support.
You actually think Vista is good for gaming? Hardly.
Check this out. Me, I'll wait and see what the good folks at ReactOS come up with before I even consider switching to that buggy, insecure piece of bloatware that is Vista. XP does everything I need without throwing on unnecessary visual absurdities like a 3D desktop, and will continue to do so for a long time to come.
You keep using that word "upgrade". I do not think you and I are viewing the same reality if you think that Vista is an "upgrade" from XP. Right now, Vista is to XP what ME was to 98. We'll need at least a year of fixes/tweaks/updates/patches/3rd party cracks in order that Vista might have its problems addressed and become as usable as XP. The few advantages of Vista do not outweigh the glaring disadvantages (uses more system resources in an idle state, security vulnerabilities, media-crippling DRM, limited hardware changes allowed, and driver limitations to name a few).
While it is true that there are only a few prominent strategies used in high-level Starcraft games in the beginning, this is only because they were found to have the right combination of versatility and effectiveness. Once the initial rush phase is over, if the various sides have survived then it becomes a whole different game, and much more individualized and reactive. Terrans and Protoss start setting up defensive structures, and can go in several different directions from there (for example, the Terrans could continue with marine-medic rushes to keep the enemy on their toes while building up to, say, battleships, nukes, goliath-siege tank groups, or others). That many games end in the first few minutes following the initial rushes is a testament to the players that pursue those strategies, being able to pull them off as well as they do. Add additional players and things get more interesting, as you have to not only beat your first target as fast as possible (or at least slow them down), but also defend your own base from the other players. Its strategy on a more micro-management level than TA, and one of the reasons I enjoyed TA was that it didn't require that level of nit-picking.
You are correct, TA had no melee units. One of the 3rd party units I remember was based off a Protoss Zealot (called the Zlot in-game), but it simulated melee attacks by having a projectile range of only the length of its arms.
TA did have some differentiation in sides, if only in that they favored different strategies with their units. Overall, the Arm units were faster, while the Core units were more heavily armed and armored. Still, as you say, some of this was lost with the units introduced later, the various sides becoming a more homogeneous.
On the subject of all things TA, you might check out the following...
TA Spring is an open source RTS project that largely recreated TA in a better engine, along with deformable terrain and other goodies. Supreme Commander is Chris Taylor's new baby, a spiritual successor to TA with all kinds of new goodies, 3 different factions, to-scale nukes, and multi-monitor support!
Starcraft and TA both have their high points. Starcraft offers a variety of specialized abilities on several units that can greatly change the strategic gameplay - for example, Zerg being able to burrow, Terrans getting into bunkers and having their buildings capable of flight, etc. Starcracft also forces different types of choices, as not all units can hit everything else (ie. a Zergling being unable to attack a flying unit). Total Annihilation, on the other hand, focuses more on large-scale strategy and counters (easier to accomplish when your army size is not limited by control). Individual units in TA are simultaneously more and less versatile than those in Starcraft - for example, even a lowly AK or PeeWee can shoot at aircraft (although they might not do so very well), but aside from move and attack, they don't have any special abilities.
See that? You can be a fan of both games, appreciate the differences, and still not be an ass-hat! By claiming partisanship and ignoring the other side of things, you're as bad as those you despise in the Starcraft camp.
1) If you make no effort to be friendly, you'll have a hard time making friends. Your behavior thus far proves this, but you can't say I didn't try.
2) I'd be surprised if there wasn't any testing going on now, but as of yet, there has been no tests to determine if there are long-term side effects. As far as military contractors go, I have a close relative working for the same contractor who built this system, and while he cannot relate the nature of his work to me, he has told me of the failings of their internal decision making processes and office politics at length. Bottom line is, never be surprised at what military contracting companies do and don't do in the name of making a buck. As with any industry, the most important decisions will always be made by the person with the least relevant knowledge.
Both cases cause the vehicle to go out of control - have you seen what happens to a vehicle when it tires are blown out by a spike strip? The difference is, as soon as the car gets off the sprayed surface (presumably they're not going to cover the *entire* ground surface between the road and the building) it has traction again, and can stop. During the time it is on the black-ice, however, its capabilities will at least be reduced enough (compared to the fully-functional pursuit vehicles) to allow for a faster and easier resolution to the situation.
1. Two wrongs don't make a right. Being a sociopathic asshole as revenge still makes you a sociopathic asshole. No more, no less. It does not a moral high ground make.
Well, for starters, this was simply an example. I, for one, would not be a "cyber-bully", but rather, a cyber-retaliator. In this example, the role I was playing wasn't a general, random sociopath, but a selective one. Given that I did not further define the character, he could very well be a perfectly nice, normal person most of the time, but one that doesn't take kindly to being jerked around and responds in-kind when some arbitrary line is crossed.
2. Much as I'd like to think you're some uber-l33t haxx0r that hacks right into Blizzard's login servers at the fall of a hat, reality is a lot less glamourous. If there were that easy to hack that, the gold farmer gang would have done it long ago, because they make RL money selling that gold. And frankly, the average high-school nerd isn't half as much of a computer genius as he likes to pretend. He wouldn't even know where to start.
Again, an example case, and one brought up primarily because I've got WoW on the brain right now. Regardless, there are ways of getting into someone's account other than "hacking". Social engineering, shoulder surfing (they might use the same password on their WoW account as their Hotmail account that they log in to every day in the library, for example), and other common password guessing techinques (hobby, pet's name, etc) work.
In the very few cases when a nerd actually gets someone's password, it isn't some great feat of hacking, but plain old being a dishonest asshole. E.g., being told that password and then mis-using it. Makes for some revenge possibilities against an ex-girlfriend, for example, but a great feat of hacking it ain't.
Keyloggers can get a password, or the techniques mentioned above work as well. However, my original examples didn't rely exclusively on having a password for the purposes of revenge - they also used anonymous harassment through the online medium. Other possibilities exist as well.
3. Being kicked when you were an innocent, doesn't give you the right to pick on an innocent too. That's no longer even revenge. And frankly that's what 99% of cyber-bullying is. Some frustrated nobody venting frustration on an innocent third party. I'd like to believe that all cyber-bullying is only justified vengeance, but it ain't. Even your example involves harrassing someone's parents, which is already a third party to your little conflict. Most cases aren't even that targetted.
When did I mention picking on an innocent? I specifically referenced revenge, never picking on a random person.
5. Frankly, out of the two, I'll have to say I respect the physical bully more. At least he takes the risks and is prepared to deal with the consequences. I wish I could say the same about the low-lives hiding behing a pseudonym to harrass. At heart both are just the same kind of bully, at heart both would punch your clock just as gladly, except the latter doesn't have the balls to do it in person. It doesn't make a moral high ground. It just moves one from merely being a low-life sadistic idiot to being a _cowardly_ low-life sadistic idiot. It's not a redeeming quality, it's just one more low-life quality to dislike added into an already disgusting mix.
No, there's no moral high-ground in revenge, but "having the balls" to fight physically isn't a respectable choice in this no-win scenario - in fact, if you know you're physically inferior, then choosing to fight with your fists instead of your mind is downright foolish. Neither choice is all that smart to begin with, but if you are gonna do it, then you may as well dictate the terms and play in your own field.
I thought a buck was a deer, not a horse. Unless you're referring to the horse bucking, in which case yes, stopping here is good, we don't want to trample the others commenting in this thread. If it *is* a deer you're referring to, please turn off your headlights, you made it stop in the middle of the road, and other readers are trying to get by.
The "best" way to do this and continue to be anonymous would probably be just to take a laptop with a wireless card to an open WAP, fire up TOR, and send an email through a temporary-address service to the bully's parents as a "concerned student" informing them of their child's behavior. Granted, this would rely on resources that not all kids in this situation would have access to, but its the most anonymous means available, and involves the least direct revenge and a decent possibility of the problem being resolved by the parents.
Yes, the tools are available to anyone, but not everyone will either a) know how to use them, or b) know that they exist. And yes, my specific example may rely on admission of guilt, but other many possibilities exist. Instead of making a direct live and let-live ultimatum, you could simply destroy their lives through their online presence, effectively and anonymously, without anyone but yourself ever knowing. For example, take a laptop and a wireless card to an open WAP. Use TOR to send some emails from a fake, temporary address. After that, use your imagination - you could simply email the bully's parents to inform them of his behavior, or you could get cold revenge by emailing his friends and/or relatives, claiming to be him, and destroying the relationships. If you were a really vindictive person, use the account to start sending mail to various government officials, threatening their lives, and leave (read: plant) just enough information in the email to let it get traced back to him (not that I endorse this tactic, but its one possibility among many).
Hey, don't jump all over me buddy, I was simply voicing my concerns in light of the fact that we've seen no studies about the long-term effects of exposure this weapon. If tests should show that it is relatively safe, then I'm all for its use and its inclusion in the police and military's "less than lethal" weapons arsenals. This weapon/tool could save lives, its very promising - I would just like to see proof that it is safe (or at least relatively safe) for wide deployment before that happens.
That was more my point in the first place - if the person has any online presence then it can be exploited, exposed, and destroyed. WoW was just an example case. I could have just as well said using the bully's email address (bonus points for sending it through his wireless access point) to send emails to any number of people. His friends, his teachers, his parents, government officials... the list goes on and on, and the possibilities for screwing up the bully's life are practically endless. As with all things though, the trick is not to get caught.
I stand corrected. I have fallen prey to the mistake of imagining the middle east largely as a sandy pottery kiln turned up to 11. Its still a pretty cool tech, though, if it works as well as they speculate.
The thing that I find somewhat amusing about the whole issue of "cyber-bullying" is that the online world is the traditional playground of geeks. Now those geeks are getting picked on in their playground instead of just the one at school - the difference being that in this playground, the geeks are the bigger, stronger ones. So, you decided to try to mess with me online eh? Lets see how tough you act when your Myspace page is filled with horse porn, and your parents' inbox is filled with spam from the darkest corners of the web, with your name in them. Still acting tough? Whoops, sorry, I guess my finger slipped and I sharded all your purples in WoW. And distributed your gold to everyone in Ironforge (you Alliance pansy). And got you kicked out of your guild. So, stop picking on me at school, and I'll stop destroying you at home and online. Deal?
Slashdot Mirror
7 years of gestation, and its suddenly coming of age? What happened to childhood? These new technologies grow up so fast... Hey! Damn kids! Get off my lawn!
They aren't "opposites", but they are at odds on points of fact, especially to those who take their religious texts literally. One need only see that the correct helio-centric model of the solar system to invalidate many religious assertions that the earth is the center of the universe.
I have found kids want a way to explain the world as much as adults and a God can be useful in that way.
Hey, did you hear about this new way of trying to explain and understand the world around you? Its based on collecting evidence, observation, and drawing conclusions... really far out there, I know, but its kind of appealing. I think its called... sclience? Silence? Something like that.
Don't delude yourself into thinking that Lycos makes any money on subscriptions. All their revenue comes from advertisements. That wasn't "sticking up his time" - its his JOB to field these kinds of complaints, he's in Customer Service. That's CUSTOMER Service, not EMPLOYER Service. And yes, she's a customer as she is using the service, regardless of whether she's a PAYING customer or not. As a Customer Service rep, he has failed.
Before too many people begin criticizing this woman for using a free email service and not following the terms of the account, let me just say that this is as much about them deleting her email as it is the responses she received from management. Go read the replies she got from the head of Customer Service. That kind of answer is totally unprofessional. There are words used to describe people who exhibit that kind of behavior, words akin to "douche bag" and "asshole". Personally, I was unaware that those were job titles used at Lycos...
Even if you do not give any notice, they can't sue you. In the US, 2 weeks notice is not a law, merely a good-relations custom. The only way that he could feasibly be sued is if there was some contract he signed agreeing to certain end-of-employment terms, but unless they were weighty enough to be signed with witnesses and a lawyer present, then they probably don't hold much water either.
the board [...] probably comes equipped with a floppy drive.
Wow, they had on-board floppy drives on your planet? How interesting.
Given the fact that people aren't really flocking to Vista yet, its probably gonna be "Hasta la XP" for a while - in which case, yeah, its just until you need to install with special RAID/SCSI support.
Don't forget though, that your motherboard needs to support booting from USB in order for this to work.
You actually think Vista is good for gaming? Hardly.
Check this out.
Me, I'll wait and see what the good folks at ReactOS come up with before I even consider switching to that buggy, insecure piece of bloatware that is Vista. XP does everything I need without throwing on unnecessary visual absurdities like a 3D desktop, and will continue to do so for a long time to come.
Yes, that would then read "British announce E-Voting for Pilots."
You keep using that word "upgrade". I do not think you and I are viewing the same reality if you think that Vista is an "upgrade" from XP. Right now, Vista is to XP what ME was to 98. We'll need at least a year of fixes/tweaks/updates/patches/3rd party cracks in order that Vista might have its problems addressed and become as usable as XP. The few advantages of Vista do not outweigh the glaring disadvantages (uses more system resources in an idle state, security vulnerabilities, media-crippling DRM, limited hardware changes allowed, and driver limitations to name a few).
While it is true that there are only a few prominent strategies used in high-level Starcraft games in the beginning, this is only because they were found to have the right combination of versatility and effectiveness. Once the initial rush phase is over, if the various sides have survived then it becomes a whole different game, and much more individualized and reactive. Terrans and Protoss start setting up defensive structures, and can go in several different directions from there (for example, the Terrans could continue with marine-medic rushes to keep the enemy on their toes while building up to, say, battleships, nukes, goliath-siege tank groups, or others). That many games end in the first few minutes following the initial rushes is a testament to the players that pursue those strategies, being able to pull them off as well as they do. Add additional players and things get more interesting, as you have to not only beat your first target as fast as possible (or at least slow them down), but also defend your own base from the other players. Its strategy on a more micro-management level than TA, and one of the reasons I enjoyed TA was that it didn't require that level of nit-picking.
You are correct, TA had no melee units. One of the 3rd party units I remember was based off a Protoss Zealot (called the Zlot in-game), but it simulated melee attacks by having a projectile range of only the length of its arms.
TA did have some differentiation in sides, if only in that they favored different strategies with their units. Overall, the Arm units were faster, while the Core units were more heavily armed and armored. Still, as you say, some of this was lost with the units introduced later, the various sides becoming a more homogeneous.
On the subject of all things TA, you might check out the following...
TA Spring is an open source RTS project that largely recreated TA in a better engine, along with deformable terrain and other goodies.
Supreme Commander is Chris Taylor's new baby, a spiritual successor to TA with all kinds of new goodies, 3 different factions, to-scale nukes, and multi-monitor support!
Starcraft and TA both have their high points. Starcraft offers a variety of specialized abilities on several units that can greatly change the strategic gameplay - for example, Zerg being able to burrow, Terrans getting into bunkers and having their buildings capable of flight, etc. Starcracft also forces different types of choices, as not all units can hit everything else (ie. a Zergling being unable to attack a flying unit). Total Annihilation, on the other hand, focuses more on large-scale strategy and counters (easier to accomplish when your army size is not limited by control). Individual units in TA are simultaneously more and less versatile than those in Starcraft - for example, even a lowly AK or PeeWee can shoot at aircraft (although they might not do so very well), but aside from move and attack, they don't have any special abilities.
See that? You can be a fan of both games, appreciate the differences, and still not be an ass-hat! By claiming partisanship and ignoring the other side of things, you're as bad as those you despise in the Starcraft camp.
But I thought Starcraft worked on Mac too...
Laugh. Its funny.
1) If you make no effort to be friendly, you'll have a hard time making friends. Your behavior thus far proves this, but you can't say I didn't try.
2) I'd be surprised if there wasn't any testing going on now, but as of yet, there has been no tests to determine if there are long-term side effects. As far as military contractors go, I have a close relative working for the same contractor who built this system, and while he cannot relate the nature of his work to me, he has told me of the failings of their internal decision making processes and office politics at length. Bottom line is, never be surprised at what military contracting companies do and don't do in the name of making a buck. As with any industry, the most important decisions will always be made by the person with the least relevant knowledge.
Both cases cause the vehicle to go out of control - have you seen what happens to a vehicle when it tires are blown out by a spike strip? The difference is, as soon as the car gets off the sprayed surface (presumably they're not going to cover the *entire* ground surface between the road and the building) it has traction again, and can stop. During the time it is on the black-ice, however, its capabilities will at least be reduced enough (compared to the fully-functional pursuit vehicles) to allow for a faster and easier resolution to the situation.
1. Two wrongs don't make a right. Being a sociopathic asshole as revenge still makes you a sociopathic asshole. No more, no less. It does not a moral high ground make.
Well, for starters, this was simply an example. I, for one, would not be a "cyber-bully", but rather, a cyber-retaliator. In this example, the role I was playing wasn't a general, random sociopath, but a selective one. Given that I did not further define the character, he could very well be a perfectly nice, normal person most of the time, but one that doesn't take kindly to being jerked around and responds in-kind when some arbitrary line is crossed.
2. Much as I'd like to think you're some uber-l33t haxx0r that hacks right into Blizzard's login servers at the fall of a hat, reality is a lot less glamourous. If there were that easy to hack that, the gold farmer gang would have done it long ago, because they make RL money selling that gold. And frankly, the average high-school nerd isn't half as much of a computer genius as he likes to pretend. He wouldn't even know where to start.
Again, an example case, and one brought up primarily because I've got WoW on the brain right now. Regardless, there are ways of getting into someone's account other than "hacking". Social engineering, shoulder surfing (they might use the same password on their WoW account as their Hotmail account that they log in to every day in the library, for example), and other common password guessing techinques (hobby, pet's name, etc) work.
In the very few cases when a nerd actually gets someone's password, it isn't some great feat of hacking, but plain old being a dishonest asshole. E.g., being told that password and then mis-using it. Makes for some revenge possibilities against an ex-girlfriend, for example, but a great feat of hacking it ain't.
Keyloggers can get a password, or the techniques mentioned above work as well. However, my original examples didn't rely exclusively on having a password for the purposes of revenge - they also used anonymous harassment through the online medium. Other possibilities exist as well.
3. Being kicked when you were an innocent, doesn't give you the right to pick on an innocent too. That's no longer even revenge. And frankly that's what 99% of cyber-bullying is. Some frustrated nobody venting frustration on an innocent third party. I'd like to believe that all cyber-bullying is only justified vengeance, but it ain't. Even your example involves harrassing someone's parents, which is already a third party to your little conflict. Most cases aren't even that targetted.
When did I mention picking on an innocent? I specifically referenced revenge, never picking on a random person.
5. Frankly, out of the two, I'll have to say I respect the physical bully more. At least he takes the risks and is prepared to deal with the consequences. I wish I could say the same about the low-lives hiding behing a pseudonym to harrass. At heart both are just the same kind of bully, at heart both would punch your clock just as gladly, except the latter doesn't have the balls to do it in person. It doesn't make a moral high ground. It just moves one from merely being a low-life sadistic idiot to being a _cowardly_ low-life sadistic idiot. It's not a redeeming quality, it's just one more low-life quality to dislike added into an already disgusting mix.
No, there's no moral high-ground in revenge, but "having the balls" to fight physically isn't a respectable choice in this no-win scenario - in fact, if you know you're physically inferior, then choosing to fight with your fists instead of your mind is downright foolish. Neither choice is all that smart to begin with, but if you are gonna do it, then you may as well dictate the terms and play in your own field.
I thought a buck was a deer, not a horse. Unless you're referring to the horse bucking, in which case yes, stopping here is good, we don't want to trample the others commenting in this thread. If it *is* a deer you're referring to, please turn off your headlights, you made it stop in the middle of the road, and other readers are trying to get by.
The "best" way to do this and continue to be anonymous would probably be just to take a laptop with a wireless card to an open WAP, fire up TOR, and send an email through a temporary-address service to the bully's parents as a "concerned student" informing them of their child's behavior. Granted, this would rely on resources that not all kids in this situation would have access to, but its the most anonymous means available, and involves the least direct revenge and a decent possibility of the problem being resolved by the parents.
Yes, the tools are available to anyone, but not everyone will either a) know how to use them, or b) know that they exist. And yes, my specific example may rely on admission of guilt, but other many possibilities exist. Instead of making a direct live and let-live ultimatum, you could simply destroy their lives through their online presence, effectively and anonymously, without anyone but yourself ever knowing. For example, take a laptop and a wireless card to an open WAP. Use TOR to send some emails from a fake, temporary address. After that, use your imagination - you could simply email the bully's parents to inform them of his behavior, or you could get cold revenge by emailing his friends and/or relatives, claiming to be him, and destroying the relationships. If you were a really vindictive person, use the account to start sending mail to various government officials, threatening their lives, and leave (read: plant) just enough information in the email to let it get traced back to him (not that I endorse this tactic, but its one possibility among many).
Hey, don't jump all over me buddy, I was simply voicing my concerns in light of the fact that we've seen no studies about the long-term effects of exposure this weapon. If tests should show that it is relatively safe, then I'm all for its use and its inclusion in the police and military's "less than lethal" weapons arsenals. This weapon/tool could save lives, its very promising - I would just like to see proof that it is safe (or at least relatively safe) for wide deployment before that happens.
That was more my point in the first place - if the person has any online presence then it can be exploited, exposed, and destroyed. WoW was just an example case. I could have just as well said using the bully's email address (bonus points for sending it through his wireless access point) to send emails to any number of people. His friends, his teachers, his parents, government officials... the list goes on and on, and the possibilities for screwing up the bully's life are practically endless. As with all things though, the trick is not to get caught.
I stand corrected. I have fallen prey to the mistake of imagining the middle east largely as a sandy pottery kiln turned up to 11. Its still a pretty cool tech, though, if it works as well as they speculate.
The thing that I find somewhat amusing about the whole issue of "cyber-bullying" is that the online world is the traditional playground of geeks. Now those geeks are getting picked on in their playground instead of just the one at school - the difference being that in this playground, the geeks are the bigger, stronger ones. So, you decided to try to mess with me online eh? Lets see how tough you act when your Myspace page is filled with horse porn, and your parents' inbox is filled with spam from the darkest corners of the web, with your name in them. Still acting tough? Whoops, sorry, I guess my finger slipped and I sharded all your purples in WoW. And distributed your gold to everyone in Ironforge (you Alliance pansy). And got you kicked out of your guild. So, stop picking on me at school, and I'll stop destroying you at home and online. Deal?