Thanks for the link... I don't have a land-line (Cell only), so I largely avoid the telemarketers, but if they start on me, that site looks quite useful.
Because now, with everything digital, a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy is as perfect as the original. Back then, there was a limit to how much you could copy before the quality was so low that no one would want it.
The real answer:
The MAFIAA realizes that their days are numbered, thanks to the Intarwebs (Tubes, , etc), and found enough congressmen and lawyers, and made them an offer they couldn't refuse.
Well put... I'd mod you up if I had points. I'm in mostly the same boat, leading by default in most 5-mans, and often leading Kara raids (Though I just handle tactics and combat decisions, while one of the guild officers makes sure we have a full group). It shows you what you're good at, and some of it really does translate to real life.
Good point, though I have to partially agree with one of the replies to your post. You probably had that ability before you started playing, whether you want to blame genetics or childhood development, so I don't think WoW actually turns people into leaders.
It can, however, show you what you're capable of, and help you refine your skills. I've experienced pretty much the same thing, though reluctantly. I spend a lot of my WoW time in PUGs (Grouping with strangers instead of friends), and I've found that I nearly always end up leading, even if I'm not the official "leader." I've noticed that whether I plan on it or not, I tend to take control, get extremely bossy, and usually get a good result. Now I'm one of the guild's main tanks in Karazhan (Hey, give us a break, we're casual raiders), and the pattern continues as I end up leading the tactical side of many of our raids...
So yeah, I think group/guild dynamics in WoW are a great way to learn about yourself, and what you're capable of. In any group or guild that isn't just your real-life friends, you'll always see people take the roles of the leader, the politician, the policeman, the rebel, the criminal, etc...
Sure, back in the old grade school days, it sucked to be called a nerd or a geek. But now I'm bringing in six figures, and the jocks who insulted me are working retail and food service because their football career never took off, and their degree in "communications" isn't worth the paper it's printed on.
Never liked the term "nerd" though... Sure, it's kinda the same thing, but the word reminds me of those stupid Revenge of the Nerd movies...
Just remember, guys... In this modern age, the geeks shall inherit the Earth.
We are samurai... The keyboard cowboys... And they... are the cattle... Moooooooooo...
I never got into TFC, but I was an old-school QWTF Medic/Sniper. I played the Sniper like an ambushing defender, not a balcony counter-sniper... I played the medic like rambo. If you combined the super nailgun with the plague axe (Remember you could whack a bad guy and infect them), the medic could run rings (Literally) around most other classes on offense, even before you added in the grenades...
Oh, and rocket-jumping on the soldier became a reflex after a while. If you couldn't do it, you just weren't a real TFer.
So I liked the original TF, and I have the Orange Box sitting next to my computer at home, not installed yet. Sure, they may have killed my psycho-medic, but we'll see how good the sniper rifle has become...
(Disclaimer: Yes, I realize this is all fiction. Just making that clear)
Pretty much in agreement with you on most points (Well, don't know much about the anti-blackout pants), but I don't think you can apply the need for IDFs to jump gates.
Keep in mind that jump gates weren't actually accelerating you to a new realm of fastness (Yes, I'm making up words) or anything... They were knocking you into hyperspace, which was presumably a different dimension of sorts. So when they hit the jump drive and zip into a gate, they're not really zooming into the distance, but just turning in a new direction. You make a right turn at the traffic light, they make an turn into a jump gate... The stretchy stuff and zooming effect would be a visual distortion, since they never really speed up. Since there's not really a sudden change in velocity (Just a normal turn), IDFs aren't needed.
Of course, this is just my take on it, from watching the entire series several times (Yay for DVD box sets)... If you want a definitive answer, gotta ask JMS.
Oh, and even the Minbari IDFs weren't perfect. There were a few bridge scenes on the White Stars where they had to grab a hold of something for sharp turns, or did the old Kirk-style shaking dance when something hit them.
Isn't it three ningies to one pew? But since a ningy is a triangular coin _______ miles to a side (Hey, I don't have the number memorized), no one has ever collected enough ningies to own one pew. Ningies are not negotiable currency, because the intergalactic banks refuse to deal in piddling small change.
Haha, I LOVE the Fel Reavers. That was my favorite part about Hellfire Penninsula! Every time I was with a group, and I glanced behind to see one about to get us, I had a Firefly/Serenity moment...
"REAVER!!!"
*party runs away*
And the devilsaurs back in the crater... Gotta love those Jurassic Park moments, when you run for your life from a giant T-rex, only to soon find half of the prehistoric jungle on your tail as you run away screaming (Well, not ACTUALLY screaming)...
The point I'm trying to make is that we're already stuck with animated banners. Google can't change that, at least in the short term.
Your argument is that we're choosing between text ads and banner ads. That's just not the case. I agree that banner ads suck, plain and simple. They are a problem, and Google is trying to reduce and control the problem because they know they can't eliminate it...
Current situation: Banner ads all over the place, stealing XX% of your bandwidth and annoying you with popups.
Ideal situation (Realistically): Text ads only (Not bloody likely to happen)
Google's idea: Banner adds stealing (XX-YY)% of your bandwidth, not blasting sounds in your face ("Congratulations! You've just won a free-- SHUT UP!"), not popping up giant ads over the article you're trying to view.
So, let's go with your cold analogy, since it applies better than the tapeworm analogy (Tapeworms can be removed. You try removing every banner ad on the web)... We can't cure it, but some magical company has figured out a way to reduce the time a cold affects you from 7 days to 2 days. Are they "Good" for helping, or "Evil" for not curing it completely?
First off, it looks like these will be ads on other peoples' sites, not on your search results. It can be used in addition to that "AdWords" thing, or "AdSense", whichever one it is... You decide to advertise on YOUR site, and you get banners from Google, the same way you would get embedded keyword links.
In addition, they're making some nice, strict rules. Here are some of their restrictions:
* No more than 50k in size unless the user interacts with it (Then it can load more) * No more than 15 seconds of animation * No popups or javascript alerts * No cookie usage (Not even Flash's version of local storage) * Must clearly show the company/product being advertised, not just some random crap * No sound or fancy cursors unless the user interacts with it
(Hopefully that entails clicking on it, and not just accidentally moving your cursor over it on the way to the link you want)
I would hope they're enforcing these rules by requiring the source file instead of just the compiled SWF, or at least have some kind of checks for stuff like this... But I don't see how this is any worse than the banners we have now. Granted, I'd prefer less banners and more text ads, but if the market has determined that animated banners are necessary, then at least Google is keeping a close eye on theirs.
I'm not one to mourn the dead. When a movie star or a musician dies, I usually just shrug and don't care much. Yeah, I'm heartless like that. But writers, well, I have a special respect for them.
Aside from being a programmer, I'm an amateur writer (One day I'll get my first novel published), and from the perspective of an aspiring author, the WoT series is just amazing. From a technical point of view, think of the number of characters and subplots he managed to keep afloat, all interacting and twisting in unexpected ways.
Some of you complain that he was too wordy. I agree somewhat, but what I've found is that there's a sort of balance you need to find when writing a story of this sort. If the action moves too fast, then people start to miss things, and the story might look amateurish because it lacks detail. If it moves too slow, then you get the kind of comments I've spent my lunch hour reading here. In my own novel, I think I'm leaning a bit to the other side, but that's beside the point.
Sorry if this is wordy (Great, now I'm falling into the trap), but I'm trying to figure out how to properly describe it. Here, think of a horror movie... A good one, if you can find one... Would it really be interesting if it was nothing but constant action? The guy walks into the house, and you just cut to two seconds before the monster jumps out at him. We don't really need to see him (Well, more likely "her") creeping through the house, one step at a time, checking a few rooms only to find absolutely nothing... Wait, you DO need that! Because no one wants to see one battle after another after another. You need the slow parts to accent the fast parts...
Ah hell, maybe I'm dead wrong about this. I'm no great author or filmmaker. I just hate to see people bashing one of my favorite writers (Along with Donaldson, Pohl, Asimov, and Anthony)...
So, sad to see him go, and sad to see the series interrupted... Book #11 will have to sit on my shelf, unread, until I see what happens next...
Just another example, much like the Star Trek one you posted.
(Personally, I'm against censorship in any media that the consumer actively chooses to consume. I don't like censorship in any form, but let the breeders exercise some modicum of control over their spawns if they want to.)
I'm strongly in favor of a levy on anything that can be used to play downloadable music if and only if the levy garantee that there will never be any trial of p2p downloader or uploader in this contry and that musician receive there due. I realise that it's atall order but in my mind anything less is a travesty.
Your proposal is acceptable. From this day forth, anyone found to be downloading or uploading to a P2P network, regardless of the data being transmitted, will be tossed in jail and maybe hung (Depending on whether we're in a bad mood) without a trial. Thank you for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Your supreme overlords
(And we'd like to thank our sponsors, GW Shrub & Co)
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Actually, my WoW guild leader used to run a guild in DaoC, and he says "Day-ock" on voice chat.
But then, he mispronounces everything...
Thanks for the link... I don't have a land-line (Cell only), so I largely avoid the telemarketers, but if they start on me, that site looks quite useful.
+1 Informative
You're not kidding... I checked that one out after work yesterday... It was actually distracting enough to pull me away from my Warcrack addiction...
I stated up late playing it...
I've been thinking about new tactics all day...
I even opened up Excel, shrunk the columns down to make a grid, and started plotting out mazes...
The secret is in those squirt gun towers... Upgrade them all the way, and stick some freezers near them, and you've got some serious death going.
Well well, noticed this one just in time... Nice of them to lock the old thread to make coordination difficult.
The RIAA-approved answer:
Because now, with everything digital, a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy is as perfect as the original. Back then, there was a limit to how much you could copy before the quality was so low that no one would want it.
The real answer:
The MAFIAA realizes that their days are numbered, thanks to the Intarwebs (Tubes, , etc), and found enough congressmen and lawyers, and made them an offer they couldn't refuse.
Well put... I'd mod you up if I had points. I'm in mostly the same boat, leading by default in most 5-mans, and often leading Kara raids (Though I just handle tactics and combat decisions, while one of the guild officers makes sure we have a full group). It shows you what you're good at, and some of it really does translate to real life.
Fortunately, people who do this are pretty easy to spot and avoid, if you know what to watch for.
Good point, though I have to partially agree with one of the replies to your post. You probably had that ability before you started playing, whether you want to blame genetics or childhood development, so I don't think WoW actually turns people into leaders.
It can, however, show you what you're capable of, and help you refine your skills. I've experienced pretty much the same thing, though reluctantly. I spend a lot of my WoW time in PUGs (Grouping with strangers instead of friends), and I've found that I nearly always end up leading, even if I'm not the official "leader." I've noticed that whether I plan on it or not, I tend to take control, get extremely bossy, and usually get a good result. Now I'm one of the guild's main tanks in Karazhan (Hey, give us a break, we're casual raiders), and the pattern continues as I end up leading the tactical side of many of our raids...
So yeah, I think group/guild dynamics in WoW are a great way to learn about yourself, and what you're capable of. In any group or guild that isn't just your real-life friends, you'll always see people take the roles of the leader, the politician, the policeman, the rebel, the criminal, etc...
Funny little social experiment.
Or, as good ol' St. George (Carlin) said...
"The planet is fine. The planet isn't going anywhere...... WE ARE! We're goin' away! Pack your shit, folks!"
Hey, I'm a geek, and proud of it!
Sure, back in the old grade school days, it sucked to be called a nerd or a geek. But now I'm bringing in six figures, and the jocks who insulted me are working retail and food service because their football career never took off, and their degree in "communications" isn't worth the paper it's printed on.
Never liked the term "nerd" though... Sure, it's kinda the same thing, but the word reminds me of those stupid Revenge of the Nerd movies...
Just remember, guys... In this modern age, the geeks shall inherit the Earth.
We are samurai... The keyboard cowboys... And they... are the cattle... Moooooooooo...
Actually, the last thought should be.... "GROUND! I wonder if it'll be friends with me!"
Sounds good... I'll have to try that out.
Of course I got Portal out of the way last night... SOOOOO fun.
The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.
You make a good point there...
I never got into TFC, but I was an old-school QWTF Medic/Sniper. I played the Sniper like an ambushing defender, not a balcony counter-sniper... I played the medic like rambo. If you combined the super nailgun with the plague axe (Remember you could whack a bad guy and infect them), the medic could run rings (Literally) around most other classes on offense, even before you added in the grenades...
Oh, and rocket-jumping on the soldier became a reflex after a while. If you couldn't do it, you just weren't a real TFer.
So I liked the original TF, and I have the Orange Box sitting next to my computer at home, not installed yet. Sure, they may have killed my psycho-medic, but we'll see how good the sniper rifle has become...
Great, now they're going to start calling themselves SourceForce to cover up the typo.
I mean, it does sound pretty cool, but it's totally meaningless.
Where are my mod points...
+5 -- Babylon 5 reference
(Disclaimer: Yes, I realize this is all fiction. Just making that clear)
Pretty much in agreement with you on most points (Well, don't know much about the anti-blackout pants), but I don't think you can apply the need for IDFs to jump gates.
Keep in mind that jump gates weren't actually accelerating you to a new realm of fastness (Yes, I'm making up words) or anything... They were knocking you into hyperspace, which was presumably a different dimension of sorts. So when they hit the jump drive and zip into a gate, they're not really zooming into the distance, but just turning in a new direction. You make a right turn at the traffic light, they make an turn into a jump gate... The stretchy stuff and zooming effect would be a visual distortion, since they never really speed up. Since there's not really a sudden change in velocity (Just a normal turn), IDFs aren't needed.
Of course, this is just my take on it, from watching the entire series several times (Yay for DVD box sets)... If you want a definitive answer, gotta ask JMS.
Oh, and even the Minbari IDFs weren't perfect. There were a few bridge scenes on the White Stars where they had to grab a hold of something for sharp turns, or did the old Kirk-style shaking dance when something hit them.
+1 Funny + True
(And posting because I missed funny and hit overrated, and this cancels it)
Isn't it three ningies to one pew? But since a ningy is a triangular coin _______ miles to a side (Hey, I don't have the number memorized), no one has ever collected enough ningies to own one pew. Ningies are not negotiable currency, because the intergalactic banks refuse to deal in piddling small change.
Haha, I LOVE the Fel Reavers. That was my favorite part about Hellfire Penninsula! Every time I was with a group, and I glanced behind to see one about to get us, I had a Firefly/Serenity moment...
"REAVER!!!"
*party runs away*
And the devilsaurs back in the crater... Gotta love those Jurassic Park moments, when you run for your life from a giant T-rex, only to soon find half of the prehistoric jungle on your tail as you run away screaming (Well, not ACTUALLY screaming)...
The point I'm trying to make is that we're already stuck with animated banners. Google can't change that, at least in the short term.
Your argument is that we're choosing between text ads and banner ads. That's just not the case. I agree that banner ads suck, plain and simple. They are a problem, and Google is trying to reduce and control the problem because they know they can't eliminate it...
Current situation: Banner ads all over the place, stealing XX% of your bandwidth and annoying you with popups.
Ideal situation (Realistically): Text ads only
(Not bloody likely to happen)
Google's idea: Banner adds stealing (XX-YY)% of your bandwidth, not blasting sounds in your face ("Congratulations! You've just won a free-- SHUT UP!"), not popping up giant ads over the article you're trying to view.
So, let's go with your cold analogy, since it applies better than the tapeworm analogy (Tapeworms can be removed. You try removing every banner ad on the web)... We can't cure it, but some magical company has figured out a way to reduce the time a cold affects you from 7 days to 2 days. Are they "Good" for helping, or "Evil" for not curing it completely?
I just read over the guidelines that an above poster linked ( http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=66136 ), and I don't think this will be as bad as everyone is saying...
First off, it looks like these will be ads on other peoples' sites, not on your search results. It can be used in addition to that "AdWords" thing, or "AdSense", whichever one it is... You decide to advertise on YOUR site, and you get banners from Google, the same way you would get embedded keyword links.
In addition, they're making some nice, strict rules. Here are some of their restrictions:
* No more than 50k in size unless the user interacts with it (Then it can load more)
* No more than 15 seconds of animation
* No popups or javascript alerts
* No cookie usage (Not even Flash's version of local storage)
* Must clearly show the company/product being advertised, not just some random crap
* No sound or fancy cursors unless the user interacts with it
(Hopefully that entails clicking on it, and not just accidentally moving your cursor over it on the way to the link you want)
I would hope they're enforcing these rules by requiring the source file instead of just the compiled SWF, or at least have some kind of checks for stuff like this... But I don't see how this is any worse than the banners we have now. Granted, I'd prefer less banners and more text ads, but if the market has determined that animated banners are necessary, then at least Google is keeping a close eye on theirs.
I'm not one to mourn the dead. When a movie star or a musician dies, I usually just shrug and don't care much. Yeah, I'm heartless like that. But writers, well, I have a special respect for them.
Aside from being a programmer, I'm an amateur writer (One day I'll get my first novel published), and from the perspective of an aspiring author, the WoT series is just amazing. From a technical point of view, think of the number of characters and subplots he managed to keep afloat, all interacting and twisting in unexpected ways.
Some of you complain that he was too wordy. I agree somewhat, but what I've found is that there's a sort of balance you need to find when writing a story of this sort. If the action moves too fast, then people start to miss things, and the story might look amateurish because it lacks detail. If it moves too slow, then you get the kind of comments I've spent my lunch hour reading here. In my own novel, I think I'm leaning a bit to the other side, but that's beside the point.
Sorry if this is wordy (Great, now I'm falling into the trap), but I'm trying to figure out how to properly describe it. Here, think of a horror movie... A good one, if you can find one... Would it really be interesting if it was nothing but constant action? The guy walks into the house, and you just cut to two seconds before the monster jumps out at him. We don't really need to see him (Well, more likely "her") creeping through the house, one step at a time, checking a few rooms only to find absolutely nothing... Wait, you DO need that! Because no one wants to see one battle after another after another. You need the slow parts to accent the fast parts...
Ah hell, maybe I'm dead wrong about this. I'm no great author or filmmaker. I just hate to see people bashing one of my favorite writers (Along with Donaldson, Pohl, Asimov, and Anthony)...
So, sad to see him go, and sad to see the series interrupted... Book #11 will have to sit on my shelf, unread, until I see what happens next...
Oh hell yeah... That first super-fast, wall-climbing bastard in Ravenholm practically made me jump out of my seat.
I'd point you to Transformers: The Movie (1986)
Genre: Animation/Action/FAMILY/Sci-Fi
Rating: PG (Not even PG-13)
Quote from Spike (One of two humans in the whole movie):
"It isn't even dented? Oh shit, what are we going to do now?"
Source: http://imdb.com/title/tt0092106/quotes
Just another example, much like the Star Trek one you posted.
(Personally, I'm against censorship in any media that the consumer actively chooses to consume. I don't like censorship in any form, but let the breeders exercise some modicum of control over their spawns if they want to.)
Your proposal is acceptable. From this day forth, anyone found to be downloading or uploading to a P2P network, regardless of the data being transmitted, will be tossed in jail and maybe hung (Depending on whether we're in a bad mood) without a trial. Thank you for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Your supreme overlords
(And we'd like to thank our sponsors, GW Shrub & Co)