While we're talking about Square RPGs, why not bring back Super Mario RPG? One of the best damn games for the SNES, and I still play it on emulators from time to time. (It's reportedly making an appearance on the VC, too.)
Don't get me wrong, Paper Mario is a fun game (and Superstar Saga is supposed to be good, from what I've read), but it just didn't have the same charm that SMRPG did.
It looks like Square(/Enix) and Nintendo are making up, so the possibility exists. Hell, combine the two and have Square develop the next Mario RPG and include Paper mario characters.
Skies of Arcadia (and Legends) is one of the best RPGs I've ever played, as well as one of the best games. While it had its faults (blocky graphics, even on the 'Cube, bad voice acting, high encounter rate), it was a very fun RPG with a pretty good story that focused mainly on pirates. One of the best things, though, was the Airship battles.
I'd love to see a sequel to this game; however, it should be set in the same world but involve different characters (referencing the past characters or having them show up once or twice is alright). It might also be a good basis for an MMO.
You think it's bad to get a credit card before you were born?
For one of the free credit reports, one of the authentication questions is to enter your birth year. I did.
I was informed that I wasn't born that year.
Whoops. And I have no idea who I would talk to to get it changed. Thankfully, you only had to answer a certain portion of the questions right, and I got enough of the others.
(Ironically, the word I have to type in the box is "annoyed")
Rather than this, I'd rather see a standard of truth applied to non-opinion mass media...Make them cite their numbers, and post the credentials of their "experts", and make them admit to errors of fact that appear on their broadcasts.
This is a very good idea. I propose we call it the "Truthiness Doctrine".
I knew that CFCs were banned long ago, but I didn't know what reaction the ozone layer had to that (mainly because I didn't think of it until today). Nor did I know if global warming had an impact on it.
Since this will devolve into a debate about global warming in general, I'd like to jump the gun a bit.
I'm not entirely certain if global warming is entirely the cause of humans. The limited research and reading I've done makes me learn towards the side that says it is, but my degree-in-earning is Computer Science, not Environmental Science, so I won't rule without doing far more research.
However, I think there are two facts that can't be denied by anyone: 1) The Earth is, in general, becoming warmer. 2) Polution and trash from humans is affecting the environment in some negative manner.
I know of no person who will deny that CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons- say that three times fast) affected the ozone layer (oddly, I haven't heard much about that in the Global Warming blurbs I see on Slashdot daily), though I'm sure a few exist, mainly in the industry that made their money off such things. No one thinks smog is a good thing.
So, whether we like it or not, humans are contributing in some form to the degredation of the environment, which can include global warming- I'll let the scientists hash out just how much. So, with that in mind, something should be done. Perhaps not the far-reaching suggestions some of the more "hardcore" environmentalists suggest, but a gradual process to decrease trash and pollutants would be useful.
As the saying goes, "A pinch of prevention is worth a pound of cure". Or something like that.
Isn't the government mandated to provide access to their internet sites to everyone, regardless of disability? Not saying that using non-Windows products is a disability, but it could affect those who do have them. I'm not knowledgeable of text-to-speech or other input systems, but I bet there are a few systems out there that run on Linux or some other non-Windows system so as to cater to their owner (such as a parapalegic, or someone with muscular problems).
If this is the case, then this means that grants.gov is not in compliance, and must be revamped, right?
Yes, but you don't always have a PC handy when you have time to read about such things.
Assuming you even have a laptop, do you know how risky, akward, and annoying it is to bring into the bathroom?
Would you bring your laptop on the bus or in a cab with you just so you can read about it on the way to work?
While the internet gives you a greater number of sources, real-time information, and counter-opinions, magazines give you an easily portable, disposable, and concise form for whatever topic you're interested in. I have a few magazines that I subscribe to, and read a bit each day before bed. That's not as easy to do on the PC.
I agree that print media is dying, though. I blame it in part to advertising- as annoying as banner ads on the web are, print ads are much the same. Just about every other page in GameInformer is some ad, more often than not for something that interests me little. And this is after I'm already paying for the magazine. It turns off customers. I wonder how much the magazine industry relies on advertising now- if a magazine when ad-free (or even cut the number of ads in half), would it still be able to survive on subscriptions?
And, to quash some arguments I'm sure will arise: -not everyone has a crackberry -printing off an online magazine will cost me about as much as getting a real magazine myself, between the cost of time, paper, and ink -no, I can't use my work's printer
So, as I understand it, you're saying that Google should not have any of these "tips", and just show the results themselves?
I can see how Google showing these "tips" can be seen as an unfair advantage in their favor, but it's unfair only as far as Staple's having their own brand of office supplies and having them in stand alone displays near the door is also unfair. In both cases, as other commentors have stated, it's their "playground"- I'm not really paying for the service of their searches or going into Staple's, so I can't really demand a whole lot in how it's set up (aside from voting with the almighty dollar).
Now, at least in Firefox, the text for the tip is smaller than the searches themselves, so it isn't glaring or in your face. However, as you note in your blog post, they accompany it with a graphic icon, so the eye is drawn to it more.
In short, I can see how competitors to Google's services would be antsy about their home base advantage. However, it's not a new thing, just being done by a large company, and I don't see it as being monopolistic. It would be nice if Google removed the tips to give the smaller companies some help, but I don't think that's going to happen, nor do I think they should have to do it.
So Blake Ross is going to suggest to people that they try Internet Explorer for a bit every time they open up FireFox? Or put IE plugins on the Mozilla page? Because right now all Mozilla does is push Mozilla products...
I have to agree. Having a very common name can be helpful if HR tries to google it. I have this "blessing" myself. A very common first name and last name, as well as a very common combination.
However, it's amazing what people can find if they have a little more than your name. I maintain a LiveJournal for my personal benefit (it's a good anger outlet) as well as to keep in touch with some of my friends, both online and off. In one post a year or two ago, I commented on my disgust with some of the professors at my college. In the same post, I also mentioned one of the professors I greatly respect and admire, as well as the name of my college. With those last two pieces of information, the respected professor found my LiveJournal, read through some of the entries, and was able to figure out who I was. (My name isn't as common at my college, and I talked about a grade I got in his class later on.)
Receiving a comment from him on my grade in my own LJ was quite jarring, to say the least. I've since been more careful about who and what I mention; I'm not worried about someone finding it (I'm passed that), it's more out of fear of retribution for criticizing some professors.
In short, the more information a person has about you to begin with, the more they can track down. Perhaps you share the same name with lots of other people, but how many of those like to drink at a certain bar? Or drive a blue sedan? Or was born in Washington but now live in New York?
Good point. The synopsis makes it sound like the Safety Council will be following the Wiimote strap very closely, as if it's some big concern. This quote, though, still make me wonder:
Vallese added that that means that if remotes were, for instance, smashing into a television hard enough to cause the tube to explode or somehow stop working in a dangerous way, it could also be deemed a safety issue.
Going back to my OP, how is that any different than someone throwing a TV remote at the screen in frusturation? That's probably not any more uncommon than these incidents with the Wiimote. The tube explosion is unintended in either case, though the reasons for throwing the device are quite different. I don't see the Safety Council leaning on remote manufacturers about this.
People get whacked in the head with golf clubs, tennis clubs, all sorts of stuff all the time. Safety Commision pays no heed.
People have thrown cellphones and remotes across the room in frusturation before. Safety Commision pays no heed.
Nintendo implements tool to keep device from being thrown across room. Nintendo then upgrades tool and offers replacement of 'inferior' version to try and keep accidents down. And now the Safety Commision is a bit concerned? For. Fucks. Sake.
Why be content with just using one device to control another? Why not use one device to control another through a proxy?
Since the Wiimote can be used with OSX to some extent, perhaps someone could connect the two so that you control the Roomba by waving your hand around.
I keep hearing people complain about the people who work at Circuit City, or Best Buy, or even the freaking Wal-mart electronic department. They keep yammering about how these employees don't know what you're talking about, and you hit the reason on the head- those who do know what they're talking about have gone on to higher paying jobs. Maybe it's just an upscale electronics place, or maybe they're a sales rep to corporations or actually designing the units themselves.
The only people who work at places like Best Buy who do know of which they speak are probably retired and just have some side job to keep busy, are in a really hard job market, have worked their way up the chain to make a reasonable amount of money, or are college students.
If more companies in a set area went to a flexible schedule, I wonder how much that would fix traffic jams. Perhaps the amount of accidents would actually decrease as less cars are on the road at the same time.
Who needs the laser pointer? Somehow integrate this software with the software being used to present the document, and suddenly your mouse turns into a pointing finger and moves with the Wiimote.
Set it up so that - and + changes slides, and use the D-pad to control what type of pointer is being used- a hand, a grabber to draw a circle or square around an area, an underlining tool, or nothing. The A or B button controls turning that on and off.
I beat Twilight Princess for myself this past Monday. The game is completely awesome, but not without it's gripes. I pretty much agree with the positives that Zonk listed, so I won't bother listing those again. Instead, I'll touch on some negatives I found that I didn't see listed.
First, the battle camera- it's like it actually got worse from Wind Waker. When using Z-targeting, the camera tends to slowly circle Link and his locked-on foe. As it does so, the directions changes in relation to the analog stick, so if I'm trying to do a forward slash I might wind up doing a side jump. This is annoying, especially when I need to be able to look straight on.
Second was movements with the Nunchuck. Perhaps I just need more practice, but actually doing a Shield-Knock (or whatever it is called) was rather annoying. More often than not I wound up doing a Spin Slash instead. And, speaking of the Spin Slash, the movements I had to make with the Nunchuck never seemed completely constant- sometimes a little shake was enough, sometimes I'd have to flail my arms to get it to work.
Finally, I am saddened that a lot of the additions in Wind Waker weren't included in Twilight Princess. First, the ability to use the weapons of enemies. Even if they'd been less effective, it would have been fun to pick up one of the ginormous swords of the new (and much bad-ass) Iron Knuckles. Second, I kind of liked the whole picture collection thing, though there are lots of other collecting to do in TP to make up for that. Finally, the ending.
-----(SPOILERS AHEAD! SCROLL FAST!)-----
After finally defeating Ganondorf (following one fun as hell horseback fight), you kind of stand there with Zelda, and the Light Spirits bring back Midna in her true form. She says a witty line, and then credits. To me, this seems like the least cohesive of all Zelda endings, even worse than Ocarina of Time. Yes, in the middle of the credits we have a scene where she goes back to Twili and destorys the mirror on her way out, but still- what happened to Ganondorf? Did he completely die? Was he just defeated enough to be sent back into the Light/Dark World? These are really only necessary if you're trying to fit into continuity, but still... I feel like the ending was severly lacking.
------------(END SPOILERS!)-------------
And then they don't even give us some sort of New Story+. Granted, I still have 30 hours of content to go through for this initial game, but you don't even get to save at the end and unlock some nifty little things. WW allowed you the use of your normal clothes, an extra heart, being able to understand the Guardian beasts (which was well worth it) and the Photo box early on after initially beating the game.
For all that though, it was still a great game. A lot of the new items were great, too. The Ball & Chain is fun as hell, the Spinner adds new gameplay elements, and the double hookshot is also nifty keen. My $50 was definately not wasted.
Like many others on Slashdot, I bought my system on release day. I find it to be a blast, but the most surprising thing is that my parents found it to be a blast, too.
I took mine home for Thanksgiving because my little brother had been quite interested in it for a while. I was unable to procure a second Nunchuck (still can't), but I did have two Wiimotes so we could have some multiplayer fun on Wii Sports. Both the brother, one of my sisters, and my other brother loved the system. I decided to call my mom down to at least look at it, just to see what her reaction was.
Now, before I go on, it helps to speak of my parents a bit: They are both very, very conservative, and don't appreciate video games. Even as the main gamer in the house, I was lucky to get any sort of video game as a gift. My parents never had any interest in playing any of my games, even the simpler multi-player ones.
So imagine my surprise when I had my mom play Doubles Tennis with me- and she adored it. Not even one match was over and she said (ad-libbing) "This is so much fun! And it's better than your other systems, because I'm not just sitting around." In fact, she liked it so much that she called my dad (who was at his office next door) to come over and play it- and he did, despite being even more disproving of video games than my mom. In fact, they played three rounds of golf, and then two sets of doubles Tennis. And even he commented on the fun.
The final topping of this delicious cake? The next day, while I was out shopping, my mom called to ask where she might buy a Wii. For the family.
So we have a 12 year old boy, a 15 year old girl (who, by the way, is not a gamer in the least), a 17 year old teenager, a mother and father over the age of 40, and me. Not a single unhappy person in the bunch.
More now than ever, I think Nintendo is going to take this round.
What you just read was what just about every kid hears in most high school classes. It's simple- lectures. In too many classes we still rely on lecturing as a teaching tool.
Frankly, lecturing is outdated. It was great back when books were scarce and we didn't have the book press, so knowledge almost had to be passed in a spoken form, but these days with information available in many different (and often expensive) text books and on the web, there's no need for the oral dissertation of fact in many cases.
So what happens is that kids lose interest in the class, their grade suffers, and then go ahead and give up because they think it's "too hard", but really haven't been paying attention.
What needs to change is that classroom activities need to become more interactive, or at least visual. Don't just tell me that atoms bond together, show me. Maybe find some neat video on the web showing molecule structures and formation thereof.
Here's another example: a video I found through StumbleUpon (can't find the link right now) is of a science professor demonstrating sound waves. The part that holds the interest of the students? He uses fire. I can't remember the entire set up, but he had a speaker attached to a PVC pipe, filled that with some sort of gas, and ran holes for the gas to escape from along the top of the unit. He played continuous notes at different frequencies, and you could see the sine waves with the fire! Then he put on some other kind of music to give an idea of how the sound changes. It was, in my opinion, a really cool demonstration, and a student would be more likely to remember things about sound waves that s/he learned from that.
Yet another example: When I took Computing & Algorithms II, I had the best damn professor ever. We learned about Linked Lists in the class, and he had what some might consider an "odd" way to teach them: a Barrel of Monkeys. He used these cheap plastic toys to simulate a list linking together, and then to show what happens when doing stuff to the list, like adding a "monkey" in the middle and not connecting it to the rest. (Unfortunatly, far too many college classes fall under the Lecture Syndrome as well.)
Sure, there's only so much you can do with it- after all, I doubt bouncing digital numbers would make derivatives much more interesting. But that doesn't mean teachers should do nothing.
Sadly, part of the problem is that schools lack the funding necessary to facilitate such things, and the teachers aren't paid enough to try and do it themselves.
Furthermore (and I'm probably just ranting, now) testing needs a major overhaul. Going back again to changes from what was done in the past, too great a portion of tests relies on memorization. Formulas, dates, function calls, the lot.
Think about it- what good is memorizing all of that? It fills your head with what would amount to useless information. After all, you can memorize every function involved in integrations, but if you can't recognize when to use them or in what order, then what good are they? Okay, so you can spout when we landed on the moon, who was the first astronaut, and the famous first words, but would you be able to tell me why we went to the moon, or explain how we crossed some of the hurdles and why they were a problem? Teaching should, whenever applicable, be about analyzing, problem solving, and resource use. Not about memorizing the ratios of Pi that relate to degrees through sin/cos/tan functions.
ONE OF Einstein's colleagues asked him for his telephone number one day. Einstein reached for a telephone directory and looked it up. "You don't remember your own number?" the man asked, startled.
"No," Einstein answered. "Why should I memorize something I can so easily get from a book?"
In fact, Einstein claimed never to memorize anything which could be looked up in less than two minutes.
I see a lot of comments like this, and I have to say that it has to be one of those "easier to say than to do" situations.
First, these "police officers" are already using excessive force on someone who is not a threat to anyone. If someone suddenly becomes an actual threat, how do you think the cops will react? Tell them to go away, or have a bullet say the words instead?
Some others have suggested creating a "wall" around the student, but in this case the policemen would probably just taser people until they get through to their target or their batteries run out, and collect whoever was in their path to take to the station as well.
Even before that, there are issues. With 60 people in the library, there's a chance that someone there knows someone else, but it isn't that great. So what do you do? Do you advance and hope that others catch on and do the same? Do you wait for someone else to advance? Do you shout out "LETS PROTECT HIM", only to have a cop turn around and taser you to preempt anything?
If they had gotten more violent, the crowd probably would have gone into a frenzy, but as it was most people probably thought tasers to be non-harmful in the long run and didn't want to step into the middle of it all, uncertain if anyone would then back them up.
Perhaps someone should have done something, but I can't blame anyone for doing nothing. And, really, isn't video taping the act doing something? These guys will probably get what's coming because of the damning evidence, and no one else got hurt.
I took a class for just this my previous term, so I can speak from experience on what the course is like and how I found it helpful as a senior CS major.
Is there any need for such a course?
I'd say yes. A lot of the classes focus on actual programming (and the theory thereof), but in none of those classes do you learn how to interact with a customer, be them someone contracting your skills or your own boss.
If you're lucky, you get out of college and are put as a junior member of a design team, and learn interaction by observing what works and doesn't work with the others. However, you can sometimes learn the wrong thing, or not get insight into something by just analyzing what others do. As well, if you try to go your own way after college, you won't know how to interact with the customer. Anyone who's worked long in IT knows that what a customer asks for insn't necessarily what they want.
If so, what lessons would you place an emphasis on?
Well, others may have a different idea, but I can at least tell you what I did in mine.
First, programming was the last thing that was on our minds. CS majors have loads of other courses involving programming. The course focused almost entirely on setting up requirements and delivering reports on specs to the customer.
Initially, we learned about the various development models (waterfall, fountain, etc.) in use. We then had a "meeting" with our professor, with him acting as a potential customer. Over an hour we hashed out various aspects of the program he wanted at one point in the term. An important change I would make is to have more of these meetings, each building on the last, because just that one hour was not enough for what was expected of us.
With what we had from that hour, we created and turned in an enumerated list specifying the detais of the program, and actions taken in response to other actions. (Our program was basically an eBay clone.) This involved a lot of extrapolation on what to do in certain situations, which normally would be brought back to the customer for approval.
After that, we set out to create a Class Diagram, with your usual assortment of methods, variables, and how they all interacted.
We then split up the workload and actually made the program after one or two other smaller assignments (including Scenario Cases, where we did a short step-by-step process of what happened for certain situations), which was actually only for 2 of the 11 weeks we had for the class.
The class was important for three reasons: 1) Learning how to expand a basic list of requirements given by the user, and creating a set of deadlines from it, as well as the main deadline (which we did miss, heh).
2) Being able to understand what the user truly wants, which can't always be explained by the user.
3) Dealing with a team of varying strengths. This is very important once you get out in life, because HR and managers will hire people who can somehow present themselves in a good light but have absolutely no place coding. In our case, we had a student from another university taking the class. It was an hour drive for him, and he had never done an OOP in his life (we were to write the program in Java). That was quite a pain, and he was given some of the easier tasks because of it.
I'd say that this kind of class has a true purpose in both a Computer Science and a Software Engineering degree. I disliked it (for various reasons), but the knowledge I gained from it is quite useful.
Slashdot Mirror
While we're talking about Square RPGs, why not bring back Super Mario RPG? One of the best damn games for the SNES, and I still play it on emulators from time to time. (It's reportedly making an appearance on the VC, too.)
Don't get me wrong, Paper Mario is a fun game (and Superstar Saga is supposed to be good, from what I've read), but it just didn't have the same charm that SMRPG did.
It looks like Square(/Enix) and Nintendo are making up, so the possibility exists. Hell, combine the two and have Square develop the next Mario RPG and include Paper mario characters.
Mainly, I demand more Geno.
Skies of Arcadia (and Legends) is one of the best RPGs I've ever played, as well as one of the best games. While it had its faults (blocky graphics, even on the 'Cube, bad voice acting, high encounter rate), it was a very fun RPG with a pretty good story that focused mainly on pirates. One of the best things, though, was the Airship battles.
I'd love to see a sequel to this game; however, it should be set in the same world but involve different characters (referencing the past characters or having them show up once or twice is alright). It might also be a good basis for an MMO.
You think it's bad to get a credit card before you were born?
For one of the free credit reports, one of the authentication questions is to enter your birth year. I did.
I was informed that I wasn't born that year.
Whoops. And I have no idea who I would talk to to get it changed. Thankfully, you only had to answer a certain portion of the questions right, and I got enough of the others.
(Ironically, the word I have to type in the box is "annoyed")
This is a very good idea. I propose we call it the "Truthiness Doctrine".
(Seriously, it's a good idea.)
I knew that CFCs were banned long ago, but I didn't know what reaction the ozone layer had to that (mainly because I didn't think of it until today). Nor did I know if global warming had an impact on it.
Thanks for the info.
Since this will devolve into a debate about global warming in general, I'd like to jump the gun a bit.
I'm not entirely certain if global warming is entirely the cause of humans. The limited research and reading I've done makes me learn towards the side that says it is, but my degree-in-earning is Computer Science, not Environmental Science, so I won't rule without doing far more research.
However, I think there are two facts that can't be denied by anyone:
1) The Earth is, in general, becoming warmer.
2) Polution and trash from humans is affecting the environment in some negative manner.
I know of no person who will deny that CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons- say that three times fast) affected the ozone layer (oddly, I haven't heard much about that in the Global Warming blurbs I see on Slashdot daily), though I'm sure a few exist, mainly in the industry that made their money off such things. No one thinks smog is a good thing.
So, whether we like it or not, humans are contributing in some form to the degredation of the environment, which can include global warming- I'll let the scientists hash out just how much. So, with that in mind, something should be done. Perhaps not the far-reaching suggestions some of the more "hardcore" environmentalists suggest, but a gradual process to decrease trash and pollutants would be useful.
As the saying goes, "A pinch of prevention is worth a pound of cure". Or something like that.
Isn't the government mandated to provide access to their internet sites to everyone, regardless of disability? Not saying that using non-Windows products is a disability, but it could affect those who do have them. I'm not knowledgeable of text-to-speech or other input systems, but I bet there are a few systems out there that run on Linux or some other non-Windows system so as to cater to their owner (such as a parapalegic, or someone with muscular problems).
If this is the case, then this means that grants.gov is not in compliance, and must be revamped, right?
Yes, but you don't always have a PC handy when you have time to read about such things.
Assuming you even have a laptop, do you know how risky, akward, and annoying it is to bring into the bathroom?
Would you bring your laptop on the bus or in a cab with you just so you can read about it on the way to work?
While the internet gives you a greater number of sources, real-time information, and counter-opinions, magazines give you an easily portable, disposable, and concise form for whatever topic you're interested in. I have a few magazines that I subscribe to, and read a bit each day before bed. That's not as easy to do on the PC.
I agree that print media is dying, though. I blame it in part to advertising- as annoying as banner ads on the web are, print ads are much the same. Just about every other page in GameInformer is some ad, more often than not for something that interests me little. And this is after I'm already paying for the magazine. It turns off customers. I wonder how much the magazine industry relies on advertising now- if a magazine when ad-free (or even cut the number of ads in half), would it still be able to survive on subscriptions?
And, to quash some arguments I'm sure will arise:
-not everyone has a crackberry
-printing off an online magazine will cost me about as much as getting a real magazine myself, between the cost of time, paper, and ink
-no, I can't use my work's printer
So, as I understand it, you're saying that Google should not have any of these "tips", and just show the results themselves?
I can see how Google showing these "tips" can be seen as an unfair advantage in their favor, but it's unfair only as far as Staple's having their own brand of office supplies and having them in stand alone displays near the door is also unfair. In both cases, as other commentors have stated, it's their "playground"- I'm not really paying for the service of their searches or going into Staple's, so I can't really demand a whole lot in how it's set up (aside from voting with the almighty dollar).
Now, at least in Firefox, the text for the tip is smaller than the searches themselves, so it isn't glaring or in your face. However, as you note in your blog post, they accompany it with a graphic icon, so the eye is drawn to it more.
In short, I can see how competitors to Google's services would be antsy about their home base advantage. However, it's not a new thing, just being done by a large company, and I don't see it as being monopolistic. It would be nice if Google removed the tips to give the smaller companies some help, but I don't think that's going to happen, nor do I think they should have to do it.
So Blake Ross is going to suggest to people that they try Internet Explorer for a bit every time they open up FireFox? Or put IE plugins on the Mozilla page? Because right now all Mozilla does is push Mozilla products...
I suggested this very thing two weeks ago.
I have to agree. Having a very common name can be helpful if HR tries to google it. I have this "blessing" myself. A very common first name and last name, as well as a very common combination.
However, it's amazing what people can find if they have a little more than your name. I maintain a LiveJournal for my personal benefit (it's a good anger outlet) as well as to keep in touch with some of my friends, both online and off. In one post a year or two ago, I commented on my disgust with some of the professors at my college. In the same post, I also mentioned one of the professors I greatly respect and admire, as well as the name of my college. With those last two pieces of information, the respected professor found my LiveJournal, read through some of the entries, and was able to figure out who I was. (My name isn't as common at my college, and I talked about a grade I got in his class later on.)
Receiving a comment from him on my grade in my own LJ was quite jarring, to say the least. I've since been more careful about who and what I mention; I'm not worried about someone finding it (I'm passed that), it's more out of fear of retribution for criticizing some professors.
In short, the more information a person has about you to begin with, the more they can track down. Perhaps you share the same name with lots of other people, but how many of those like to drink at a certain bar? Or drive a blue sedan? Or was born in Washington but now live in New York?
Going back to my OP, how is that any different than someone throwing a TV remote at the screen in frusturation? That's probably not any more uncommon than these incidents with the Wiimote. The tube explosion is unintended in either case, though the reasons for throwing the device are quite different. I don't see the Safety Council leaning on remote manufacturers about this.
People get whacked in the head with golf clubs, tennis clubs, all sorts of stuff all the time. Safety Commision pays no heed.
People have thrown cellphones and remotes across the room in frusturation before. Safety Commision pays no heed.
Nintendo implements tool to keep device from being thrown across room. Nintendo then upgrades tool and offers replacement of 'inferior' version to try and keep accidents down. And now the Safety Commision is a bit concerned? For. Fucks. Sake.
Why be content with just using one device to control another? Why not use one device to control another through a proxy?
Since the Wiimote can be used with OSX to some extent, perhaps someone could connect the two so that you control the Roomba by waving your hand around.
THANK YOU.
I keep hearing people complain about the people who work at Circuit City, or Best Buy, or even the freaking Wal-mart electronic department. They keep yammering about how these employees don't know what you're talking about, and you hit the reason on the head- those who do know what they're talking about have gone on to higher paying jobs. Maybe it's just an upscale electronics place, or maybe they're a sales rep to corporations or actually designing the units themselves.
The only people who work at places like Best Buy who do know of which they speak are probably retired and just have some side job to keep busy, are in a really hard job market, have worked their way up the chain to make a reasonable amount of money, or are college students.
Interesting notion.
If more companies in a set area went to a flexible schedule, I wonder how much that would fix traffic jams. Perhaps the amount of accidents would actually decrease as less cars are on the road at the same time.
Yes, but they'd only make money if they mail in the rebate with a photocopy of the original stabbing impliment and the original bloody suit.
Who needs the laser pointer? Somehow integrate this software with the software being used to present the document, and suddenly your mouse turns into a pointing finger and moves with the Wiimote.
Set it up so that - and + changes slides, and use the D-pad to control what type of pointer is being used- a hand, a grabber to draw a circle or square around an area, an underlining tool, or nothing. The A or B button controls turning that on and off.
I beat Twilight Princess for myself this past Monday. The game is completely awesome, but not without it's gripes. I pretty much agree with the positives that Zonk listed, so I won't bother listing those again. Instead, I'll touch on some negatives I found that I didn't see listed.
First, the battle camera- it's like it actually got worse from Wind Waker. When using Z-targeting, the camera tends to slowly circle Link and his locked-on foe. As it does so, the directions changes in relation to the analog stick, so if I'm trying to do a forward slash I might wind up doing a side jump. This is annoying, especially when I need to be able to look straight on.
Second was movements with the Nunchuck. Perhaps I just need more practice, but actually doing a Shield-Knock (or whatever it is called) was rather annoying. More often than not I wound up doing a Spin Slash instead. And, speaking of the Spin Slash, the movements I had to make with the Nunchuck never seemed completely constant- sometimes a little shake was enough, sometimes I'd have to flail my arms to get it to work.
Finally, I am saddened that a lot of the additions in Wind Waker weren't included in Twilight Princess. First, the ability to use the weapons of enemies. Even if they'd been less effective, it would have been fun to pick up one of the ginormous swords of the new (and much bad-ass) Iron Knuckles. Second, I kind of liked the whole picture collection thing, though there are lots of other collecting to do in TP to make up for that. Finally, the ending.
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After finally defeating Ganondorf (following one fun as hell horseback fight), you kind of stand there with Zelda, and the Light Spirits bring back Midna in her true form. She says a witty line, and then credits. To me, this seems like the least cohesive of all Zelda endings, even worse than Ocarina of Time. Yes, in the middle of the credits we have a scene where she goes back to Twili and destorys the mirror on her way out, but still- what happened to Ganondorf? Did he completely die? Was he just defeated enough to be sent back into the Light/Dark World? These are really only necessary if you're trying to fit into continuity, but still... I feel like the ending was severly lacking.
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And then they don't even give us some sort of New Story+. Granted, I still have 30 hours of content to go through for this initial game, but you don't even get to save at the end and unlock some nifty little things. WW allowed you the use of your normal clothes, an extra heart, being able to understand the Guardian beasts (which was well worth it) and the Photo box early on after initially beating the game.
For all that though, it was still a great game. A lot of the new items were great, too. The Ball & Chain is fun as hell, the Spinner adds new gameplay elements, and the double hookshot is also nifty keen. My $50 was definately not wasted.
Like many others on Slashdot, I bought my system on release day. I find it to be a blast, but the most surprising thing is that my parents found it to be a blast, too.
I took mine home for Thanksgiving because my little brother had been quite interested in it for a while. I was unable to procure a second Nunchuck (still can't), but I did have two Wiimotes so we could have some multiplayer fun on Wii Sports. Both the brother, one of my sisters, and my other brother loved the system. I decided to call my mom down to at least look at it, just to see what her reaction was.
Now, before I go on, it helps to speak of my parents a bit: They are both very, very conservative, and don't appreciate video games. Even as the main gamer in the house, I was lucky to get any sort of video game as a gift. My parents never had any interest in playing any of my games, even the simpler multi-player ones.
So imagine my surprise when I had my mom play Doubles Tennis with me- and she adored it. Not even one match was over and she said (ad-libbing) "This is so much fun! And it's better than your other systems, because I'm not just sitting around." In fact, she liked it so much that she called my dad (who was at his office next door) to come over and play it- and he did, despite being even more disproving of video games than my mom. In fact, they played three rounds of golf, and then two sets of doubles Tennis. And even he commented on the fun.
The final topping of this delicious cake? The next day, while I was out shopping, my mom called to ask where she might buy a Wii. For the family.
So we have a 12 year old boy, a 15 year old girl (who, by the way, is not a gamer in the least), a 17 year old teenager, a mother and father over the age of 40, and me. Not a single unhappy person in the bunch.
More now than ever, I think Nintendo is going to take this round.
What you just read was what just about every kid hears in most high school classes. It's simple- lectures. In too many classes we still rely on lecturing as a teaching tool.
Frankly, lecturing is outdated. It was great back when books were scarce and we didn't have the book press, so knowledge almost had to be passed in a spoken form, but these days with information available in many different (and often expensive) text books and on the web, there's no need for the oral dissertation of fact in many cases.
So what happens is that kids lose interest in the class, their grade suffers, and then go ahead and give up because they think it's "too hard", but really haven't been paying attention.
What needs to change is that classroom activities need to become more interactive, or at least visual. Don't just tell me that atoms bond together, show me. Maybe find some neat video on the web showing molecule structures and formation thereof.
Here's another example: a video I found through StumbleUpon (can't find the link right now) is of a science professor demonstrating sound waves. The part that holds the interest of the students? He uses fire. I can't remember the entire set up, but he had a speaker attached to a PVC pipe, filled that with some sort of gas, and ran holes for the gas to escape from along the top of the unit. He played continuous notes at different frequencies, and you could see the sine waves with the fire! Then he put on some other kind of music to give an idea of how the sound changes. It was, in my opinion, a really cool demonstration, and a student would be more likely to remember things about sound waves that s/he learned from that.
Yet another example: When I took Computing & Algorithms II, I had the best damn professor ever. We learned about Linked Lists in the class, and he had what some might consider an "odd" way to teach them: a Barrel of Monkeys. He used these cheap plastic toys to simulate a list linking together, and then to show what happens when doing stuff to the list, like adding a "monkey" in the middle and not connecting it to the rest. (Unfortunatly, far too many college classes fall under the Lecture Syndrome as well.)
Sure, there's only so much you can do with it- after all, I doubt bouncing digital numbers would make derivatives much more interesting. But that doesn't mean teachers should do nothing.
Sadly, part of the problem is that schools lack the funding necessary to facilitate such things, and the teachers aren't paid enough to try and do it themselves.
Furthermore (and I'm probably just ranting, now) testing needs a major overhaul. Going back again to changes from what was done in the past, too great a portion of tests relies on memorization. Formulas, dates, function calls, the lot.
Think about it- what good is memorizing all of that? It fills your head with what would amount to useless information. After all, you can memorize every function involved in integrations, but if you can't recognize when to use them or in what order, then what good are they? Okay, so you can spout when we landed on the moon, who was the first astronaut, and the famous first words, but would you be able to tell me why we went to the moon, or explain how we crossed some of the hurdles and why they were a problem? Teaching should, whenever applicable, be about analyzing, problem solving, and resource use. Not about memorizing the ratios of Pi that relate to degrees through sin/cos/tan functions.
A story, attributed to Einstein, probably sums it up best:
I see a lot of comments like this, and I have to say that it has to be one of those "easier to say than to do" situations.
First, these "police officers" are already using excessive force on someone who is not a threat to anyone. If someone suddenly becomes an actual threat, how do you think the cops will react? Tell them to go away, or have a bullet say the words instead?
Some others have suggested creating a "wall" around the student, but in this case the policemen would probably just taser people until they get through to their target or their batteries run out, and collect whoever was in their path to take to the station as well.
Even before that, there are issues. With 60 people in the library, there's a chance that someone there knows someone else, but it isn't that great. So what do you do? Do you advance and hope that others catch on and do the same? Do you wait for someone else to advance? Do you shout out "LETS PROTECT HIM", only to have a cop turn around and taser you to preempt anything?
If they had gotten more violent, the crowd probably would have gone into a frenzy, but as it was most people probably thought tasers to be non-harmful in the long run and didn't want to step into the middle of it all, uncertain if anyone would then back them up.
Perhaps someone should have done something, but I can't blame anyone for doing nothing. And, really, isn't video taping the act doing something? These guys will probably get what's coming because of the damning evidence, and no one else got hurt.
So when does it start hunting for Sarah Conner?
I'd say yes. A lot of the classes focus on actual programming (and the theory thereof), but in none of those classes do you learn how to interact with a customer, be them someone contracting your skills or your own boss.
If you're lucky, you get out of college and are put as a junior member of a design team, and learn interaction by observing what works and doesn't work with the others. However, you can sometimes learn the wrong thing, or not get insight into something by just analyzing what others do. As well, if you try to go your own way after college, you won't know how to interact with the customer. Anyone who's worked long in IT knows that what a customer asks for insn't necessarily what they want.
Well, others may have a different idea, but I can at least tell you what I did in mine.
First, programming was the last thing that was on our minds. CS majors have loads of other courses involving programming. The course focused almost entirely on setting up requirements and delivering reports on specs to the customer.
Initially, we learned about the various development models (waterfall, fountain, etc.) in use. We then had a "meeting" with our professor, with him acting as a potential customer. Over an hour we hashed out various aspects of the program he wanted at one point in the term. An important change I would make is to have more of these meetings, each building on the last, because just that one hour was not enough for what was expected of us.
With what we had from that hour, we created and turned in an enumerated list specifying the detais of the program, and actions taken in response to other actions. (Our program was basically an eBay clone.) This involved a lot of extrapolation on what to do in certain situations, which normally would be brought back to the customer for approval.
After that, we set out to create a Class Diagram, with your usual assortment of methods, variables, and how they all interacted.
We then split up the workload and actually made the program after one or two other smaller assignments (including Scenario Cases, where we did a short step-by-step process of what happened for certain situations), which was actually only for 2 of the 11 weeks we had for the class.
The class was important for three reasons:
1) Learning how to expand a basic list of requirements given by the user, and creating a set of deadlines from it, as well as the main deadline (which we did miss, heh).
2) Being able to understand what the user truly wants, which can't always be explained by the user.
3) Dealing with a team of varying strengths. This is very important once you get out in life, because HR and managers will hire people who can somehow present themselves in a good light but have absolutely no place coding. In our case, we had a student from another university taking the class. It was an hour drive for him, and he had never done an OOP in his life (we were to write the program in Java). That was quite a pain, and he was given some of the easier tasks because of it.
I'd say that this kind of class has a true purpose in both a Computer Science and a Software Engineering degree. I disliked it (for various reasons), but the knowledge I gained from it is quite useful.