I've lived in New England all my life, and I've never heard that someone from Maine is a 'Yankee'. Heard them called plenty of other things (more than occasionally derogatory), but not 'Yankee'.
'Yankee' is a derogatory term for an American, from the colonial days; or a derogatory term for a northerner, said by a southerner; or a member of the ball club.
3.5 streamlined a few problem areas. For instance, it took a few of the really overabused spells, and fixed the abusable parts. The folks I've heard complaining the loudest, appropriately, are the players that are always looking for a loophole to exploit to guarantee their character is better than yours. There's one at every table.
The closest thing to 2e kits are prestige classes, which were introduced in 3e. Some of the more popular ones from expansion books were stuck into the 3.5 DMG, but other than that nothing really changed.
Two other significant changes: the combat rules in the Player's Handbook got a bit of an overhaul, streamlining some of the more difficult-to-understand options... 3e at large is entirely more tactical than 2e. It doesn't mean that it is focused on combat... it just took something that was kinda rough and freeform before, and makes it easier to visualize. (Beauty of it is, just like any other ruleset, that you can choose not to use the tactical part of the rules in your home campaign, if it doesn't suit you).
Second, the Dungeon Master's Guide got a huge section filled with tips and tricks for DM's, and a lot of common sense guidelines. A real good read for a fledgling DM.
The cost of buying new books? Phhh... 20 bucks to buy a new PH. It costs more to go out for a night of drinking, and you'll get much more value out of it. A gaming group only *needs* a single copy of the DMG and Monster Manual between them... it was easy enough for everyone to chip in for a set and share them, until people felt like getting their own. A few of our folks still only have the PH.
Abductions are a very very minor percentage of the number of kids that go missing. This isn't so much about 'saving kids', as 'saving parents' and 'reducing waste'.
I've worked with the park industry, and I can tell you this much... in a larger park, a good day is when 15-20 kids go missing, and their frantic parents come running for help. A bad day can be double that.
Generally, policy is for a staff peon to grab 4 other peons, and take a quick sweep of the area within 100 feet. Most lost kids are found like that. The idea is to avoid panicking or alarming the guests needlessly... that's not good for anyone.
In the 2 or 3 per day that are not found in a quick sweep, it can take a major mobilization of staff to start hunting around the park. I'm sure I'll get critisized for saying this, but if it's possible to avoid that expense of time and manpower, a park would jump at the chance.
If these RFID tags could solve the problem, or even reduce it, I say it's a win-win. The parents worry less, the parks waste less manpower, everyone is happier.
Nowhere in the article does it mention that every visitor would be tagged.
On occasion I work in data logistics for a company that owns some thirty theme parks. I can say pretty strongly that trying to force something like that on every guest that entered the park would be a waste of time...
You know the photo greeters that meet you by the gates, to take your picture? Average number of people per group, 4.5 or so. One of the company's largest parks pulled in 3.5 million visitors last season (according to their own press releases, at least), and was open about 160 days. Some quick math tells us that on any given day of operation, there are about 4900 of those groups in the park... assume that most of those groups are harassed and photographed. On average, 200 of those groups return to at least see their photos later in the day. More than 90% blow it off... why? Because they don't like being hassled. (I don't blame them... I hate the photo gimps, personally)
Issue something to every guest as they enter, and I'll bet you that 90% are going to just discard them. A good number of folks will question what you are giving them... let's imagine that it takes 20 seconds for a staff person to explain the tags (and they aren't the brightest, themselves). That's a serious slowdown at the gates, regardless of the benefit... and especially when you consider that most guests will just discard them, if possible.
A park would be braindead to try that.
As well, there is no way that you could 'group' people together as they come through the gates, without incurring a big slowdown. "Ok, so how many people in your group? Oh, some of your group split up, to go through different gates? Arghh..."
It be easier to spot kids, and point them (and their guardians) over towards kiosks just inside the gates. There, the tags could be linked, and the system explained. Other groups could be led there by signs... and if they choose not to use it, their loss. In time, if the system is valuable, they'll learn of it on their own.
Hmm... reading that, I see the point.
The FCC has said that noone but them can restrict usage of the unregulated bands. Yes, very good point, backed up with case law.
But, just like the aforementioned hotplates, the university has the right, as the lessor, to say "No, you cannot have those devices in our building."
They can't stop you from using the band. But they can stop you from keeping the equipment for using the band in there premises.
Tricksy hobbitses...
I'd say that the average machine I maintain for corporate cluebies takes about an hour a week to run through scandisk, and another hour to defrag. Add on an hour to run through an Ad-Aware sweep (how the hell do they get some of this stuff on their machines... it's about time to just say 'screw it', and disable any and all forms of ActiveX, program downloading, or scripting) and you're up to three. Add an hour for the weekly full system virus scan. Add fifteen minutes to add any new Windows Updates, and another five for associated reboots (a minute here and there add up).
That gives me a total of 4:20 a week in regular maintainance. (insert pot reference, here) Over the course of the year, that comes out to just over 9 days.
Keep in mind, though, that normally this maintainance would be done during off hours. The business I have in mind, though, is open 24-7. Any maintainance has to be done while the machines are potentially in use.
My point, though, is that I can have 9 days of downtime on a machine, even without the user screwing it up.
Last time I went to buy something at Best Buy, the sales guy I had to deal with was ringing it up on the little terminal. And he goes "And of course, you'll want the service plan with that" and automatically added it to the reciept.
Right. So, I reply "Erm, that costs extra, right? I don't want that."
He said no. I pointed at the charge on the receipt. He proceeded to feed me a line about how without the plan, the item would break, and I'd have to pay to replace it... which would cost more than the service plan.
Suffice to say, I cancelled the purchase, and left. Bunch of cons, I swear...
No, the irony would be if, after your rant about Americans-this and Americans-that, and 'your something PROVES America is blah blah blah...', has gone on for several hours...
if someone whispered 'Ummm, he's not American' in your ear. That'd be funny, huh? What would that say about you?
Yeah, I know... I'm such a clutz. The two cell phone issues, for instance (bad signal coverage, and the full circuit problem), are SOOO my fault.
I'm not saying that any one of these issues is going to deter me from using technology. What I'm saying is that I prefer my tech like DNS... something I can generally take for granted.
Just as well, I'm technologically savvy, and I still hit the occassional irritation. What about for my less savvy friends? Should I cut them loose, because they can't keep up with the newest stuff?
You can't except the outside world to come up with a perfect solution for you. It will never happen.
I'm not expecting a perfect solution to arise. What I'm saying is that we settle for some really imperfect crap.
If anyone is waiting for big business to come up with an end-all solution like this, don't hold your breath.
What will happen is this: some large, well-funded organization (let's say a large university, as it'd be fairly likely) will say "Screw it, we're going to try something new..."
They'll come up with a completely new system, free of dependancy on existing infrastructure. Fast ethernet, secure email, multiple-medium instant messaging, land-line and roaming telephony.
Sure, they'd need some sort of gateway to communicate with people outside the system... but if it's enough of a hassle, and communicating within the system is easy, it just 'proves' the point, all the more.
I'll also bet that the attempt won't work. It'll fail miserably. Costs will be too high, students will be loathe to adopt unfamiliar technologies, or someone will demand some sort of backwards compatibility that will kill the idea.
But someone else will sit back and watch, and learn from the mistakes. They will then impliment such a system, stealing the pros from the first experiment, and losing the cons. This second system will be really nice, and will win people over.
No matter what happens there will always be the "first to adopt" and those that hang on to their set ways forever.
True, but there is a difference between first to adopt, and first to do it well. Don't worry so much about the sheep... pay attention to the shepherds. They are the ones that will matter, and they will guide the sheep as best they can.
When I was a student, I don't think I picked up a phone more than a handful of times.
But consider the environment... Most of my friends lived in the same dorm floor. If not, I'd see them in class or at whatever extracurricular activity we had in common. My girlfriend lived less than five minutes away, in another dorm. All of our classes and activities were five minutes away, at most. Thee was at least a small computer lab in almost every building. I had an ethernet connection to a great backbone pipe in my room. A two-minute walk in any direction would take you past two dining halls, a sandwich truck, a few fast food stops, a convienence store, two liquor shops, and four bars.
Hell, the only reason to use a phone was to call home for money, or to order a pizza (and a couple of the local places since started offering order-by-web and order-by-email).
Fast-forward five years, to a more 'real-life' setting. I spend a lot of time on the road, travelling to clients homes... the majority of them don't have good internet or any connection at all, and usually when I'm there I'm too busy to use it. Without a cell phone, noone would ever be able to find me when I'm in the field.
Half the time, though, I work at home, and that gives me access to high speed internet, instant messaging, and all the other trappings of a geek's house. Nifty. But it doesn't really matter...
My wife and several of my friends have email at work, but are generally too busy to send more than a short message, once every few hours. They'd never be able to get away with instant messaging.
A few more of my friends either don't have internet access (even at home) or check their email only once a week. If you are trying to hear from them, you HAVE to call them, or you never will.
In 'real life', most folks have started to rely on the cell phone in their pocket, or at least religiously check their voice mail / the answering machine when they come home.
You know, after reading this something is pretty clear to me. I hate technology, in its current state.
When I'm in a face to face conversation, and one of my buddies 'Jim' says "just drop me an email", I cringe. Let's see... I've got only one email address listed under 'Jim' in my handheld's address book. Was that his home email, or his work email, or his personal-but-I-can-read-this-at-work email? Damn, I don't remember, and my handheld's software didn't provide space to make such a note.
Okay, I'll give him a call and ask... no, that's his home number.. where is his cell phone number? Crap, doesn't matter... no cell phone signal. Fine, I'll just wait until I get home...
Okay, my home address book has what I need... I send off that email. Now I wait two days for him to reply. With three email addresses, you can't expect 'Jim' to check them all constantly, right?
So two days later, 'Jim' replies... but I didn't see the message. I accidentally deleted it, instead of an advertisement for Cia.lis that was one line down.
I'll call 'Jim', and see why he hasn't written me back. Hmm, his phone service tells me that 'all circuits are currently occupied'. I'm sorry, but what the hell is that supposed to mean?
Oh, ok now his phone is ringing... hmm, poor connection, I can barely understand him. Jim says he replied to me... hmmm...
Oh, there it is, in my deleted messages folder. Ahh, but my email server stripped off the attachment, fearing that zip file of fake Olsen twin porn he sent me was a virus.
I give up. ...
As self-serving as it might seem (the creator of DNS, who works for a DNS company, is pitching DNS as a cure-all solution), maybe he has the right idea. Let's face it, the DNS system works. And it works well enough that there is just one of them in use. You don't hear "oh, you can't get to my website, because you are using the wrong DNS system."
A single, elegant system for uniquely identifying a human being, and then routing all communications to them (phone calls, emails, instant messages), independant of the devices being used to communicate, would be great. I, for one, would welcome that.
Obviously, though, the physical and socal infrastructure is not there yet (spotty cell phone coverage, unsolicited calls and emails, unproductive business competition). We've got a long way to go.
Gosh if the world was perfect, the RIAA would be charged criminally for trying to push explicit lyrics on children.
No, in a perfect world, the RIAA would say "Oh, gee... we were found to be at fault. We will honor the judgement in the spirit in which it was handed down."
Nah, that'd be too adult-like. What they've said here is the equivalent of "THBBBBBBB!" with a few obscene gestures thrown in for good measure.
... which is the availability of easy to create email accounts, like Hotmail or Yahoo. They create an account, mass mail from it once, and abandon it. I'd say that 90% of the crap in my filtered mail folder is from those two providers.
Slashdot Mirror
I've lived in New England all my life, and I've never heard that someone from Maine is a 'Yankee'. Heard them called plenty of other things (more than occasionally derogatory), but not 'Yankee'. 'Yankee' is a derogatory term for an American, from the colonial days; or a derogatory term for a northerner, said by a southerner; or a member of the ball club.
3.5 streamlined a few problem areas. For instance, it took a few of the really overabused spells, and fixed the abusable parts. The folks I've heard complaining the loudest, appropriately, are the players that are always looking for a loophole to exploit to guarantee their character is better than yours. There's one at every table.
The closest thing to 2e kits are prestige classes, which were introduced in 3e. Some of the more popular ones from expansion books were stuck into the 3.5 DMG, but other than that nothing really changed.
Two other significant changes: the combat rules in the Player's Handbook got a bit of an overhaul, streamlining some of the more difficult-to-understand options... 3e at large is entirely more tactical than 2e. It doesn't mean that it is focused on combat... it just took something that was kinda rough and freeform before, and makes it easier to visualize. (Beauty of it is, just like any other ruleset, that you can choose not to use the tactical part of the rules in your home campaign, if it doesn't suit you).
Second, the Dungeon Master's Guide got a huge section filled with tips and tricks for DM's, and a lot of common sense guidelines. A real good read for a fledgling DM.
The cost of buying new books? Phhh... 20 bucks to buy a new PH. It costs more to go out for a night of drinking, and you'll get much more value out of it. A gaming group only *needs* a single copy of the DMG and Monster Manual between them... it was easy enough for everyone to chip in for a set and share them, until people felt like getting their own. A few of our folks still only have the PH.
Abductions are a very very minor percentage of the number of kids that go missing. This isn't so much about 'saving kids', as 'saving parents' and 'reducing waste'.
I've worked with the park industry, and I can tell you this much... in a larger park, a good day is when 15-20 kids go missing, and their frantic parents come running for help. A bad day can be double that.
Generally, policy is for a staff peon to grab 4 other peons, and take a quick sweep of the area within 100 feet. Most lost kids are found like that. The idea is to avoid panicking or alarming the guests needlessly... that's not good for anyone.
In the 2 or 3 per day that are not found in a quick sweep, it can take a major mobilization of staff to start hunting around the park. I'm sure I'll get critisized for saying this, but if it's possible to avoid that expense of time and manpower, a park would jump at the chance.
If these RFID tags could solve the problem, or even reduce it, I say it's a win-win. The parents worry less, the parks waste less manpower, everyone is happier.
Nowhere in the article does it mention that every visitor would be tagged.
On occasion I work in data logistics for a company that owns some thirty theme parks. I can say pretty strongly that trying to force something like that on every guest that entered the park would be a waste of time...
You know the photo greeters that meet you by the gates, to take your picture? Average number of people per group, 4.5 or so. One of the company's largest parks pulled in 3.5 million visitors last season (according to their own press releases, at least), and was open about 160 days. Some quick math tells us that on any given day of operation, there are about 4900 of those groups in the park... assume that most of those groups are harassed and photographed. On average, 200 of those groups return to at least see their photos later in the day. More than 90% blow it off... why? Because they don't like being hassled. (I don't blame them... I hate the photo gimps, personally)
Issue something to every guest as they enter, and I'll bet you that 90% are going to just discard them. A good number of folks will question what you are giving them... let's imagine that it takes 20 seconds for a staff person to explain the tags (and they aren't the brightest, themselves). That's a serious slowdown at the gates, regardless of the benefit... and especially when you consider that most guests will just discard them, if possible.
A park would be braindead to try that.
As well, there is no way that you could 'group' people together as they come through the gates, without incurring a big slowdown. "Ok, so how many people in your group? Oh, some of your group split up, to go through different gates? Arghh..."
It be easier to spot kids, and point them (and their guardians) over towards kiosks just inside the gates. There, the tags could be linked, and the system explained. Other groups could be led there by signs... and if they choose not to use it, their loss. In time, if the system is valuable, they'll learn of it on their own.
Hmm... reading that, I see the point. The FCC has said that noone but them can restrict usage of the unregulated bands. Yes, very good point, backed up with case law. But, just like the aforementioned hotplates, the university has the right, as the lessor, to say "No, you cannot have those devices in our building." They can't stop you from using the band. But they can stop you from keeping the equipment for using the band in there premises. Tricksy hobbitses...
I'd say that the average machine I maintain for corporate cluebies takes about an hour a week to run through scandisk, and another hour to defrag. Add on an hour to run through an Ad-Aware sweep (how the hell do they get some of this stuff on their machines... it's about time to just say 'screw it', and disable any and all forms of ActiveX, program downloading, or scripting) and you're up to three. Add an hour for the weekly full system virus scan. Add fifteen minutes to add any new Windows Updates, and another five for associated reboots (a minute here and there add up).
That gives me a total of 4:20 a week in regular maintainance. (insert pot reference, here) Over the course of the year, that comes out to just over 9 days.
Keep in mind, though, that normally this maintainance would be done during off hours. The business I have in mind, though, is open 24-7. Any maintainance has to be done while the machines are potentially in use.
My point, though, is that I can have 9 days of downtime on a machine, even without the user screwing it up.
So true...
Last time I went to buy something at Best Buy, the sales guy I had to deal with was ringing it up on the little terminal. And he goes "And of course, you'll want the service plan with that" and automatically added it to the reciept.
Right. So, I reply "Erm, that costs extra, right? I don't want that."
He said no. I pointed at the charge on the receipt. He proceeded to feed me a line about how without the plan, the item would break, and I'd have to pay to replace it... which would cost more than the service plan.
Suffice to say, I cancelled the purchase, and left. Bunch of cons, I swear...
No, the irony would be if, after your rant about Americans-this and Americans-that, and 'your something PROVES America is blah blah blah...', has gone on for several hours...
if someone whispered 'Ummm, he's not American' in your ear. That'd be funny, huh? What would that say about you?
You're not a technophobe. You are a technoclutz.
Yeah, I know... I'm such a clutz. The two cell phone issues, for instance (bad signal coverage, and the full circuit problem), are SOOO my fault.
I'm not saying that any one of these issues is going to deter me from using technology. What I'm saying is that I prefer my tech like DNS... something I can generally take for granted.
Just as well, I'm technologically savvy, and I still hit the occassional irritation. What about for my less savvy friends? Should I cut them loose, because they can't keep up with the newest stuff?
You can't except the outside world to come up with a perfect solution for you. It will never happen.
I'm not expecting a perfect solution to arise. What I'm saying is that we settle for some really imperfect crap.
No, I meant "freaking". If I meant "fucking", I would have said "fucking".
Am I not allowed to think the original poster sucks for posting drivel like that, without the balls to back it up?
You are an idiot.
If anyone is waiting for big business to come up with an end-all solution like this, don't hold your breath.
What will happen is this: some large, well-funded organization (let's say a large university, as it'd be fairly likely) will say "Screw it, we're going to try something new..."
They'll come up with a completely new system, free of dependancy on existing infrastructure. Fast ethernet, secure email, multiple-medium instant messaging, land-line and roaming telephony.
Sure, they'd need some sort of gateway to communicate with people outside the system... but if it's enough of a hassle, and communicating within the system is easy, it just 'proves' the point, all the more.
I'll also bet that the attempt won't work. It'll fail miserably. Costs will be too high, students will be loathe to adopt unfamiliar technologies, or someone will demand some sort of backwards compatibility that will kill the idea.
But someone else will sit back and watch, and learn from the mistakes. They will then impliment such a system, stealing the pros from the first experiment, and losing the cons. This second system will be really nice, and will win people over.
Just wait... it'll happen...
I'll bet the first users of telephones said something like that, the first time the switchboard stopped working.
As greater dependance on the system arises, the incentives to strengthen the system grow as well.
Just don't (power grid) pay attention (phone system) to our track record.
No matter what happens there will always be the "first to adopt" and those that hang on to their set ways forever.
True, but there is a difference between first to adopt, and first to do it well. Don't worry so much about the sheep... pay attention to the shepherds. They are the ones that will matter, and they will guide the sheep as best they can.
Oh, cool. Congrats to you and yours, then...
*cough* Denial *cough*
It's so freaking annoying to see America bashers on here, and all the worse when they present 'facts' with no basis.
/. needs more level-headed people like the parent's poster, who go on fact and evidence, rather than stupidity.
It's all about the benjamens.
The RIAA is complaining about a loss of income, when one of us downloads a song for free, instead of paying for it.
The crap they handed out to the schools does NOT fall into that catagory. Who the hell would pay for any of that?
As someone else pointed out, getting rid of dead inventory like that was profitable (they no longer have to store it, and they get a tax write off).
So, once more, it's all about the benjamens.
It's because you are a student.
When I was a student, I don't think I picked up a phone more than a handful of times.
But consider the environment... Most of my friends lived in the same dorm floor. If not, I'd see them in class or at whatever extracurricular activity we had in common. My girlfriend lived less than five minutes away, in another dorm. All of our classes and activities were five minutes away, at most. Thee was at least a small computer lab in almost every building. I had an ethernet connection to a great backbone pipe in my room. A two-minute walk in any direction would take you past two dining halls, a sandwich truck, a few fast food stops, a convienence store, two liquor shops, and four bars.
Hell, the only reason to use a phone was to call home for money, or to order a pizza (and a couple of the local places since started offering order-by-web and order-by-email).
Fast-forward five years, to a more 'real-life' setting. I spend a lot of time on the road, travelling to clients homes... the majority of them don't have good internet or any connection at all, and usually when I'm there I'm too busy to use it. Without a cell phone, noone would ever be able to find me when I'm in the field.
Half the time, though, I work at home, and that gives me access to high speed internet, instant messaging, and all the other trappings of a geek's house. Nifty. But it doesn't really matter...
My wife and several of my friends have email at work, but are generally too busy to send more than a short message, once every few hours. They'd never be able to get away with instant messaging.
A few more of my friends either don't have internet access (even at home) or check their email only once a week. If you are trying to hear from them, you HAVE to call them, or you never will.
In 'real life', most folks have started to rely on the cell phone in their pocket, or at least religiously check their voice mail / the answering machine when they come home.
You know, after reading this something is pretty clear to me. I hate technology, in its current state.
...
When I'm in a face to face conversation, and one of my buddies 'Jim' says "just drop me an email", I cringe. Let's see... I've got only one email address listed under 'Jim' in my handheld's address book. Was that his home email, or his work email, or his personal-but-I-can-read-this-at-work email? Damn, I don't remember, and my handheld's software didn't provide space to make such a note.
Okay, I'll give him a call and ask... no, that's his home number.. where is his cell phone number? Crap, doesn't matter... no cell phone signal. Fine, I'll just wait until I get home...
Okay, my home address book has what I need... I send off that email. Now I wait two days for him to reply. With three email addresses, you can't expect 'Jim' to check them all constantly, right?
So two days later, 'Jim' replies... but I didn't see the message. I accidentally deleted it, instead of an advertisement for Cia.lis that was one line down.
I'll call 'Jim', and see why he hasn't written me back. Hmm, his phone service tells me that 'all circuits are currently occupied'. I'm sorry, but what the hell is that supposed to mean?
Oh, ok now his phone is ringing... hmm, poor connection, I can barely understand him. Jim says he replied to me... hmmm...
Oh, there it is, in my deleted messages folder. Ahh, but my email server stripped off the attachment, fearing that zip file of fake Olsen twin porn he sent me was a virus.
I give up.
As self-serving as it might seem (the creator of DNS, who works for a DNS company, is pitching DNS as a cure-all solution), maybe he has the right idea. Let's face it, the DNS system works. And it works well enough that there is just one of them in use. You don't hear "oh, you can't get to my website, because you are using the wrong DNS system."
A single, elegant system for uniquely identifying a human being, and then routing all communications to them (phone calls, emails, instant messages), independant of the devices being used to communicate, would be great. I, for one, would welcome that.
Obviously, though, the physical and socal infrastructure is not there yet (spotty cell phone coverage, unsolicited calls and emails, unproductive business competition). We've got a long way to go.
Gosh if the world was perfect, the RIAA would be charged criminally for trying to push explicit lyrics on children.
No, in a perfect world, the RIAA would say "Oh, gee... we were found to be at fault. We will honor the judgement in the spirit in which it was handed down."
Nah, that'd be too adult-like. What they've said here is the equivalent of "THBBBBBBB!" with a few obscene gestures thrown in for good measure.
... which is the availability of easy to create email accounts, like Hotmail or Yahoo. They create an account, mass mail from it once, and abandon it. I'd say that 90% of the crap in my filtered mail folder is from those two providers.