This is a great idea, but only if the United States were the only country in the world with e-mail. Couldn't the spammers move their operations into other nations (or into international waters) to dodge the tax? I see this as a distinct possiblity, as spammers already regularly bounce their mail off of servers overseas.
I think it's got to be the game that's pulled the most quotes from classic books, ever. The game makes you think, not just about the game, but about life, the nature of reality, the structure of the "ideal" government, and what the future of humanity is. It's a good thinking man's game.
First, bear in mind that I've not been following the Hawash case. I don't think that "Geek Criminals Are More Important". However, people are more likely to right an injustice against someone they can identify with than otherwise, all other things being equal. Hawash is being discussed on "geek sites" not because it's something that geeks enjoy, it's because it's about injustice that affects a fellow geek.
I'm right in the middle of the "Internet Generation", so I would expect this software that's targeted at me to appeal to me.
It doesn't.
Again, Microsoft shows its thorough incapacity to innovate (and I type this on my WinXP machine). Pretty much, they're saying that this threedegrees has three features: Chat, Winks, and Musicmix.
The chat thing has already been done by n-1 different programs, (Trillian, AIM, MSIM, Yahoo!IM, etc.). All of these I find to be imperfect (tho' functional; I'm using AIM right now). I'd really like a messenger service that's tuned to fuse instant messaging and e-mail; that is, if I'm at my computer, I can communicate syncronously with a friend, but if I'm away, my friend can always leave a message. I don't see that happening with threedegrees.
Winks? Winks? Are these animations supposed to excite me? Or insult me? 'nuff said.
Musicmix? I don't really get that. From the looks of things, it's not well implemented. I could see a lot of fights breaking out over which song gets played when (at least, with folk like my friends). Will music actually get played, or will one person turn off another's music and play his own?
So what would be a good product for the "Internet Generation?" I like messaging my friends. I can type a lot faster and more accurately than I can speak, and IMing allows me to carry on coherant conversations with half a dozen people simultaneously. Still, the messaging ought to be able to flex; good messaging should be able to allow for clear, effective communcation both synchronously and asynchronously.
The Musicmix thing might be pretty neat, but it looks to be horribly implemented at the moment. I'd like to see some functions that allow moderation, and perhaps hosting privilges.
I'd like to see something that can play games. Even board games like Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, or card games like Hearts, Rummy, Spades, and Spoons would be pretty cool. (Of course, original games would be welcome!) When I'm with my friends in real life, we normally wind up playing something; I'd like to do the same online.
Do any 13-24 year olds think the threedegrees is cool? If so, speak up. I might just be odd.
This reminds me of the classic fractal question, "How long is the coastline of Britain?" Basically, the coastline of Britain, though quasi-linear, can't really be described with a linear measurement, because (assuming infinite detail on the shoreline, which there isn't) the perimeter is infinite.
Kind of the opposite is happening here. How do you define if a given spot of ground is used? Matter is mostly empty space, so is the space that I occupy defined in terms of the amount of (say) water that I can displace, or is my volume the sum of the volumes of the electrons and protons and neutrons that comprise my body? You run into similar problems when you talk about the area that I take up; is it the size of my footprints, or the projection of my body (standing) upon the ground?
The way that the WCS defines the measurement is ludicrous. If there's one person per square kilometer, then that area is "occupied". Yeah, right. I'm in a dorm room, the area of which is occupied by 8 people (2 people per room * 4 floors). It's not like we're stifled, or anything. The population density of my room is far above 1 person/square km, yet I'm quite comfortable.
Things get worse. Any point "within 15 km of a road or major river" or "within 2 km of a settlement or a railway" is counted. Given a loose definition of "major river", a fairly hefty chunk of the Earth's surface could be counted as part of the "human footprint", even without any people here!
What we're looking at is a "statistic" that is poorly defined, simply due to the difficulty of measuring anything like this. It's not just that it's a difficult problem to define, but the WCS did a really horrible job with what they had. Their assumptions are clearly biased, and they obviously aren't counting the oceans, and evidently not counting Antartica.
Bah! The bogosity of this is stunning.
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This is a great idea, but only if the United States were the only country in the world with e-mail. Couldn't the spammers move their operations into other nations (or into international waters) to dodge the tax? I see this as a distinct possiblity, as spammers already regularly bounce their mail off of servers overseas.
I think it's got to be the game that's pulled the most quotes from classic books, ever. The game makes you think, not just about the game, but about life, the nature of reality, the structure of the "ideal" government, and what the future of humanity is. It's a good thinking man's game.
First, bear in mind that I've not been following the Hawash case. I don't think that "Geek Criminals Are More Important". However, people are more likely to right an injustice against someone they can identify with than otherwise, all other things being equal. Hawash is being discussed on "geek sites" not because it's something that geeks enjoy, it's because it's about injustice that affects a fellow geek.
Or clones!
In Soviet Union, Matlab solve problem with YOU!
I'm right in the middle of the "Internet Generation", so I would expect this software that's targeted at me to appeal to me. It doesn't. Again, Microsoft shows its thorough incapacity to innovate (and I type this on my WinXP machine). Pretty much, they're saying that this threedegrees has three features: Chat, Winks, and Musicmix. The chat thing has already been done by n-1 different programs, (Trillian, AIM, MSIM, Yahoo!IM, etc.). All of these I find to be imperfect (tho' functional; I'm using AIM right now). I'd really like a messenger service that's tuned to fuse instant messaging and e-mail; that is, if I'm at my computer, I can communicate syncronously with a friend, but if I'm away, my friend can always leave a message. I don't see that happening with threedegrees. Winks? Winks? Are these animations supposed to excite me? Or insult me? 'nuff said. Musicmix? I don't really get that. From the looks of things, it's not well implemented. I could see a lot of fights breaking out over which song gets played when (at least, with folk like my friends). Will music actually get played, or will one person turn off another's music and play his own? So what would be a good product for the "Internet Generation?" I like messaging my friends. I can type a lot faster and more accurately than I can speak, and IMing allows me to carry on coherant conversations with half a dozen people simultaneously. Still, the messaging ought to be able to flex; good messaging should be able to allow for clear, effective communcation both synchronously and asynchronously. The Musicmix thing might be pretty neat, but it looks to be horribly implemented at the moment. I'd like to see some functions that allow moderation, and perhaps hosting privilges. I'd like to see something that can play games. Even board games like Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, or card games like Hearts, Rummy, Spades, and Spoons would be pretty cool. (Of course, original games would be welcome!) When I'm with my friends in real life, we normally wind up playing something; I'd like to do the same online. Do any 13-24 year olds think the threedegrees is cool? If so, speak up. I might just be odd.
Why'd the squirrel fall out of the tree?... 'Cuz is was stapled to the MONKEY!
This reminds me of the classic fractal question, "How long is the coastline of Britain?" Basically, the coastline of Britain, though quasi-linear, can't really be described with a linear measurement, because (assuming infinite detail on the shoreline, which there isn't) the perimeter is infinite. Kind of the opposite is happening here. How do you define if a given spot of ground is used? Matter is mostly empty space, so is the space that I occupy defined in terms of the amount of (say) water that I can displace, or is my volume the sum of the volumes of the electrons and protons and neutrons that comprise my body? You run into similar problems when you talk about the area that I take up; is it the size of my footprints, or the projection of my body (standing) upon the ground? The way that the WCS defines the measurement is ludicrous. If there's one person per square kilometer, then that area is "occupied". Yeah, right. I'm in a dorm room, the area of which is occupied by 8 people (2 people per room * 4 floors). It's not like we're stifled, or anything. The population density of my room is far above 1 person/square km, yet I'm quite comfortable. Things get worse. Any point "within 15 km of a road or major river" or "within 2 km of a settlement or a railway" is counted. Given a loose definition of "major river", a fairly hefty chunk of the Earth's surface could be counted as part of the "human footprint", even without any people here! What we're looking at is a "statistic" that is poorly defined, simply due to the difficulty of measuring anything like this. It's not just that it's a difficult problem to define, but the WCS did a really horrible job with what they had. Their assumptions are clearly biased, and they obviously aren't counting the oceans, and evidently not counting Antartica. Bah! The bogosity of this is stunning.