They sign a contract with the government when you get your security clearance. The contract basically pledges you to a lifetime of keeping whatever secrets you were given access to. The price if you break it is lengthy imprisonment, which is spelled out in the contract. I forget the form name, someone else probably remembers it.
It would be hard to do any of those things without falling afoul of that.
The only motive force we have reasonably identified yet that allows us to achieve something like.1 of c is a nuclear rocket composed of fission (or fusion) devices against a pusher plate. I imagine that just a few probes of this sort would exhaust the accessible fissile resources of a particular planet. This would seem hugely wasteful for the civilization in question. The general assumption seems to be that the civilization(s) in question would have come up with some motive force unknown or not mastered by us. But why is this always the assumption? Because to assume otherwise is unimaginative?
Actually i'd say their deepest problem is that, since you have to buy every expansion to proceed in level, they are slowly but surely locking out all but the most committed players from sticking around long enough to access their new content. If you look at a given server, you'll find tons of level 80s and a few low levels proceeding along. It is inconvenient/undesirable for the high level types to do much hanging around with the low levels. This means that absent people making twinks, the low level zones are pretty well deserted. The game looks like no one plays it a lot of the time when you are running through low level zones. This doesn't encourage people to want to start playing, which ultimately will kill the game, though the way down will be slow and extended.
I believe in the short term it costs them money. If they wanted to extract more cash from people, they'd be well advised to make all but the latest expansion free. When the number becomes 3 expansions to buy to get to current, it'll be a huge deterrent for a new player or an additional account, even more so than now.
Richard Evans' series on the Third Reich should cure you of the belief that Nazism wasn't incremental. For that matter, a study of the early days of the USSR should also be educational. All totalitarian regimes are incremental in their elimination of personal liberty.
I submit to you that a large portion of the obese in the US, at least, are diabetic or at least have poor sugar control.
Overproduction of insulin causes you to put on and hang onto weight. Almost regardless of diet. I can fast - no food - for a week and not lose much weight at all except for water, and if I hydrate correctly my weight stays nearly identical.
The only way to lose weight for me is hard exercise, which I do - running. Then moderating my insulin dose to match the calories expended and eating sufficiently to replenish enough so I don't pass out. It's much more work than other people have to do, both in the losing and mitigating the sugar deficit from the exercise. Doing 8 minute miles when you weigh 260 (6'7" tall) is not easy. My legs look like a comic book hero's. Oh, and diabetics have this propensity towards heart disease and stroke so I have to keep my heart rate in reasonable limits to avoid a risk of that.
Next time you crap on obese people, remember that they probably are in better muscle tone than you are.
When I was a MUD admin, this was known as the "pile of gold" argument.
Ultimately, most 'player suggestions' are on a slippery slope towards having a single room with a pile of gold and a lever that gives you experience. Take all the gold you want, pull the lever as much as you want, and log out. How much fun was that?
Players don't know what is good for them. They want their time taken up and then bitch about how you take up their time.
I see a parallel here between the supply of Hollerith card machines (punch card sorters, etc) to Nazi Germany by IBM, and the supply of 'great firewalls' to Iran. In neither case was it critical to the country in question to source their IT equipment from a particular supplier - they just wanted something that worked. The refusal to sell to the government in question wouldn't have materially affected the outcome in that nation. So what's the big deal anyway, since their refusal to sell wouldn't have mattered a bit in the real world?
I'm more inclined to say "get the bullshit". Box your ears, more Microsoft lies coming down the pipe from marketing.
I have to admit that they have recognized this: note that they aren't associating Bing with themselves. No one with half a brain trusts Microsoft's words, or the corporation itself.
There is also the "you can't use a null pointer for anything" advantage. It's mostly just to act as a prophylactic over programmer error. Doing your own allocation would be better if you could assure zero mistakes. I can't assure that when the size of the application grows beyond X amount. Your value of X will vary, i'm sure.
Java hides the details of memory allocation from the programmer. Objects, strings, etc use memory. When they are first used, Java makes sure that the appropriate amounts of memory are allocated for the item in question. When these items are no longer in use, the garbage collector finds them and frees the memory so that it can be used for other parts of the application.
VB is another place where a garbage collector would be found. Ditto.NET.
I read your article. I hope you feel good about the work you are doing in this area, because you are rendering a significant service to your fellow countrymen. You are moving the United States closer to justice on this particular issue with your efforts.
The first thing I do for a game is to test-play it on super-easy mode and see if i'm breezing through it. If not, I hunt for cheats or hex edit what I need to, so that I can. I play it through in record time that way. Then I use it as a toy, jacking my values up to ridiculous numbers looking for overflows/rollovers and seeing what kind of fun stuff I can discover about it. Then I throw it in the big CD case of old games and move on.
I am not sure what that makes me. I found WoW ultimately boring because of the time sink quality.
Yeah, various different models. They are the best of the boxed commercial bunch, but are underpowered for the price, and also have poor service solutions available - no such thing as a Panasonic guy coming out to fix your stuff, it's all mail-in support.
I do like their keyboard layout, though. And the keyboard IS usable.
Sure, get a Dell XFRD630. Which is a 630 with a hardened rubber cover and latch doors for the ports. What that does for heat or ruggedizing, I have no idea. It dies if you dump any water on it. It dies if you press too hard on the keyboard even. Total POS.
I've played with most ruggedized systems available on the market in humid, hot, desert, cold, snowy - you name it - climates. They all are pretty much useless. I prefer using just a regular laptop. If it breaks, it breaks. The ruggedization has $$$ cost and inconvenience associated with it, and the first thing that suffers is human interface. Since I brought the computer to DO things, that is not negotiable. If you just want something pretty and expensive that you don't use, get a ruggedized system.
Most useful scientific research doesn't happen from lab technicians in sterile environments doing everything exactly to the scientific method, it comes from people who just wonder "What if....".
Slashdot Mirror
They sign a contract with the government when you get your security clearance. The contract basically pledges you to a lifetime of keeping whatever secrets you were given access to. The price if you break it is lengthy imprisonment, which is spelled out in the contract. I forget the form name, someone else probably remembers it.
It would be hard to do any of those things without falling afoul of that.
Yes, true, but each and every fusion device we've created uses a fission spark plug to set it off.w
The only motive force we have reasonably identified yet that allows us to achieve something like .1 of c is a nuclear rocket composed of fission (or fusion) devices against a pusher plate. I imagine that just a few probes of this sort would exhaust the accessible fissile resources of a particular planet. This would seem hugely wasteful for the civilization in question. The general assumption seems to be that the civilization(s) in question would have come up with some motive force unknown or not mastered by us. But why is this always the assumption? Because to assume otherwise is unimaginative?
A good post by someone familiar with IA the military way. Why does your karma suck?
Firefox:
Tools->Options->Security->Saved Passwords->Show Passwords
This is only a trivial example.
I agree, actually, but I don't think this is necessarily good for the game. Forcing people to be social usually helps player retention.
Actually i'd say their deepest problem is that, since you have to buy every expansion to proceed in level, they are slowly but surely locking out all but the most committed players from sticking around long enough to access their new content. If you look at a given server, you'll find tons of level 80s and a few low levels proceeding along. It is inconvenient/undesirable for the high level types to do much hanging around with the low levels. This means that absent people making twinks, the low level zones are pretty well deserted. The game looks like no one plays it a lot of the time when you are running through low level zones. This doesn't encourage people to want to start playing, which ultimately will kill the game, though the way down will be slow and extended.
I believe in the short term it costs them money. If they wanted to extract more cash from people, they'd be well advised to make all but the latest expansion free. When the number becomes 3 expansions to buy to get to current, it'll be a huge deterrent for a new player or an additional account, even more so than now.
I think they'll milk it for as long as they can.
Richard Evans' series on the Third Reich should cure you of the belief that Nazism wasn't incremental. For that matter, a study of the early days of the USSR should also be educational. All totalitarian regimes are incremental in their elimination of personal liberty.
I do mobile comms for an Army unit. I set up satellite gear and lug around transit cases full of UPSes a lot of the time.
When I deploy, I lose weight, but back here I stay stable.
I submit to you that a large portion of the obese in the US, at least, are diabetic or at least have poor sugar control.
Overproduction of insulin causes you to put on and hang onto weight. Almost regardless of diet. I can fast - no food - for a week and not lose much weight at all except for water, and if I hydrate correctly my weight stays nearly identical.
The only way to lose weight for me is hard exercise, which I do - running. Then moderating my insulin dose to match the calories expended and eating sufficiently to replenish enough so I don't pass out. It's much more work than other people have to do, both in the losing and mitigating the sugar deficit from the exercise. Doing 8 minute miles when you weigh 260 (6'7" tall) is not easy. My legs look like a comic book hero's. Oh, and diabetics have this propensity towards heart disease and stroke so I have to keep my heart rate in reasonable limits to avoid a risk of that.
Next time you crap on obese people, remember that they probably are in better muscle tone than you are.
When I was a MUD admin, this was known as the "pile of gold" argument.
Ultimately, most 'player suggestions' are on a slippery slope towards having a single room with a pile of gold and a lever that gives you experience. Take all the gold you want, pull the lever as much as you want, and log out. How much fun was that?
Players don't know what is good for them. They want their time taken up and then bitch about how you take up their time.
I see a parallel here between the supply of Hollerith card machines (punch card sorters, etc) to Nazi Germany by IBM, and the supply of 'great firewalls' to Iran. In neither case was it critical to the country in question to source their IT equipment from a particular supplier - they just wanted something that worked. The refusal to sell to the government in question wouldn't have materially affected the outcome in that nation. So what's the big deal anyway, since their refusal to sell wouldn't have mattered a bit in the real world?
I'm more inclined to say "get the bullshit". Box your ears, more Microsoft lies coming down the pipe from marketing.
I have to admit that they have recognized this: note that they aren't associating Bing with themselves. No one with half a brain trusts Microsoft's words, or the corporation itself.
There is also the "you can't use a null pointer for anything" advantage. It's mostly just to act as a prophylactic over programmer error. Doing your own allocation would be better if you could assure zero mistakes. I can't assure that when the size of the application grows beyond X amount. Your value of X will vary, i'm sure.
Java hides the details of memory allocation from the programmer. Objects, strings, etc use memory. When they are first used, Java makes sure that the appropriate amounts of memory are allocated for the item in question. When these items are no longer in use, the garbage collector finds them and frees the memory so that it can be used for other parts of the application.
VB is another place where a garbage collector would be found. Ditto .NET.
Ray:
I read your article. I hope you feel good about the work you are doing in this area, because you are rendering a significant service to your fellow countrymen. You are moving the United States closer to justice on this particular issue with your efforts.
Thank you.
Heh.
The first thing I do for a game is to test-play it on super-easy mode and see if i'm breezing through it. If not, I hunt for cheats or hex edit what I need to, so that I can. I play it through in record time that way. Then I use it as a toy, jacking my values up to ridiculous numbers looking for overflows/rollovers and seeing what kind of fun stuff I can discover about it. Then I throw it in the big CD case of old games and move on.
I am not sure what that makes me. I found WoW ultimately boring because of the time sink quality.
Yeah, various different models. They are the best of the boxed commercial bunch, but are underpowered for the price, and also have poor service solutions available - no such thing as a Panasonic guy coming out to fix your stuff, it's all mail-in support.
I do like their keyboard layout, though. And the keyboard IS usable.
Sure, get a Dell XFRD630. Which is a 630 with a hardened rubber cover and latch doors for the ports. What that does for heat or ruggedizing, I have no idea. It dies if you dump any water on it. It dies if you press too hard on the keyboard even. Total POS.
I've played with most ruggedized systems available on the market in humid, hot, desert, cold, snowy - you name it - climates. They all are pretty much useless. I prefer using just a regular laptop. If it breaks, it breaks. The ruggedization has $$$ cost and inconvenience associated with it, and the first thing that suffers is human interface. Since I brought the computer to DO things, that is not negotiable. If you just want something pretty and expensive that you don't use, get a ruggedized system.
Most useful scientific research doesn't happen from lab technicians in sterile environments doing everything exactly to the scientific method, it comes from people who just wonder "What if....".
It's also how most Darwin Awards happen.
If you assume they aren't losing their jobs, also. Do you really think they aren't shrinking headcount at the same time?
That was easy.
FYI the previous respondent is an asshole or a troll. Take your pick. You are being way too nice.
Your original great-great grandparent post was accurate in all particulars.
Turning off UAC is pretty effortless.