There are many more applications for a product like this than just plain denying access to a game.
As a parent myself, the first thing I do is talk with my children about exactly what my specific reasons are for a rule that I might have. They may of course disagree with me, and I encourage that kind of free thinking, but if the rule is set, they cannot disregard or change that would consulting me first.
Something like this, for a good parent, is not the only line of defense, it is the second or third.
Amusing - My 2 year old has done the same thing - in LINUX.
That surprised the hell out of me. He knew he had to click the Kids profile in the GDM chooser, and that he had to double click the game icon.
That little bastard is going to prove the undoing of me, I cannot keep him out of ANYTHING. He has learned how to move the damned trash cans and a stool to the back fence gate, reach over the top, and undo the latch. I had to put a LOCK on it!
We monitor his game usage pretty much all the time he is using it, and the computer is set up in such a way that anyone can see what's on the monitor at almost any time, as it is set up in the main living room.
He is only allowed to play games which: 1) I have played. 2) I do not feel is too violent or sexual in nature. 3) Which I feel will not alter his behaviour in an undesirable way.
I feel that #3 can be important. If you do not pay close attention to the way your child acts after they play a video game, the results could surprise you. He was playing what I had at the time thought of as a rather non-violent game - a space conquest game that is basically just a strategy game. There are no characters, no people of any kind in it at all, but it actually seemed to have a detrimental effect on him and he became more violent. Almost as soon as I cut his access off, his attitude and behaviour improved.
At another time, he was playing what I considered to be a graphically violent game, but it did not affect him adversely at all. In fact he ended up identifying with the characters and gaining compassion because of it.
I think that the ESRB ratings are a pretty good system, although they could still use improvement (what couldn't?).
As a parent, I have seriously considered getting the software in TFA, not because of the ratings system that it uses, but because it helps me regulate the amount of time he gets to use it for. It would be very useful to have an objective system by which I can "pay" him for doing his chores by granting him an extra hour a week to play. Trying to monitor his time on the computer is a lot harder without a tool like this.
I have complete control over my home computer, so it's not a matter of access to games, but of access for the TIME to play them. I would much rather punish my son by reducing his weekly allotment of computer play time by 1/2 an hour than standing him in time-out or making him do extra chores.
To me this is a tool to be used to help me parent effectively, not as a substitute for my parenting.
Choice of Operating System is always a personal choice at home, but at work, that can be a different story.
At work, I am forced to use Windows 2000, but frankly, I'm not all that disenchanted with it because at work the software installation is stable and non-changing from month to month.
However, at home, I run a linux distro because when I hose my system screwing around with stuff I don't understand, it takes me 5 minutes to completely reinstall it after wiping out/.
I'm not worried about viruses or spyware, because with a couple of very simple tools it's very easy to avoid them. Regrettably, it's not something that has been pushed to the masses as a simple solution. Oh well.
So my main reason for using linux at home is not because of how great I think the operating system is, it's because for my needs I can screw it up without worrying about it, and can fix it very quickly, compared to a Windows install. Not only that, but I don't lose any of my settings either.
That's true. Don't get me wrong, we will be moving up in OS at some point in the next couple of years, but we'll most likely completely skip XP to 2003 - although that really is XP, just beefed up for servers of course.
By that time, the apps that we're using would also have been upgraded and thus the problem should be avoided at that time. However, as of right now, I know that some of the apps we use would have issues (as we tried them on XP, even before SP2, with SP1).
I had not seen anyone raise this point, so I wanted to bring it up.
With the vast amount of data at physicists fingertips, and many theories to test against this data set, how confident are physicists that the theories on which they base other theories are in fact true?
How can we be sure that the data we receive from galaxies 10 billion light years away has not been diluted or compromised in a way we could not detect? If that happens, would not our theories then also be diluted or compromised and thus destabilize whole sections of theory?
I ask these questions because of my observations about physics and theorizations in general. There are of course some things that locally we can easily prove or disprove, but when you start using data that is so difficult to reliably receive from extremely distant points in the universe, I just worry how much time and effort goes into the wrong idea.
Don't get me wrong, physicists are doing a GREAT job and have benefitted the world tremendously. I hope this work does not stop and indeed increases!
Thanks - that's a good point. I had not thought of that possibility. Either way, I'm not concerned, as I have never had another client attach to my WLAN.
I have found a simple way to keep unwanted visitors off my AP:
1) SSID broadcast is disabled (Yes, I know that doesn't really do all that much) 2) WEP (again, pretty sucky) 3) DHCP filter - it will only assign one IP address, period. When I'm not on that connection, the AP is turned off.
Working at a smaller company ($30m sales), our computer policies don't include browser lockdowns or security restrictions.
In the past 5 years, the only viruses our corporation has had at all were malware downloaded by unwitting users visiting "bad" sites.
It hasn't be a terrible problem, just a little annoying to get them removed.
FireFox would address this problem somewhat better than IE, but the business case for switching browsers corporate wide (or even just a user by user basis) is not compelling enough for us to move on it anytime soon. Some of our own web apps from vendors basically require IE by the use of ActiveX Controls...
I despise VB6. I would like to rip it's stinking, steaming guts out and shit in it's mouth.
However, I have come to appreciate VB.NET. Which is strange as I still hate the wishy-washy syntax. Option Strict On and Option Explicit On tend to help though.
Frankly, if you look at VB.NET and compare it to any previous version, it's almost like it is not the same language. It much more resembles C or Java than anything else, at least to me (with limited C and Java experience).
The point of all this is that the truly good thing about moving to VB.NET isn't the language itself, the IDE or any of that crap. It's the.NET libraries. As my company is effectively locked into Microsoft because of our CRM vendor, writing Web applications in PHP/Apache becomes a moot point. It sucks, but since I do have to live with it, at least they've vastly improved the tools to do it with.
Previously I wrote web apps on IIS/ASP entirely in JavaScript (client and Server) because I wouldn't touch the VB6 toolset for that with a 10 foot pole. I use a shareware XSLT editor and TextPad for that development.
New development is taking place almost entirely in VS.NET now with the team here, as everyone else knows VB, but they have a little trouble interpreting my JavaScript junk.
Now if only it were a little easier to port my psycho ASP tools library to a module....
People hopping on then off the torrent like mad. My client barely has time to connect and send them data before they're gone again, usually I get a single update telling me they're at like 60% after about a second.
Thanks for pointing out the obvious issue with this patent. There is so much prior art on this partcicular patent, I would be amazed if it both was granted as a patent and if it passed any sort of courts muster. I myself have created a few different web site projects prior to this patent application that would qualify!
Man - what a crock of shit. He makes logical leaps and never looks back! There are so many holes in this argument, I am tempted to think it is a joke. However, experience has taught me that more often than not, it's just someone who is in actuality incredibly stupid, but has no idea that they are.
It's tempting to go through the article and just poke holes, but there are so many, I don't feel like spending an hour doing it!
Slashdot Mirror
Dude...
There are many more applications for a product like this than just plain denying access to a game.
As a parent myself, the first thing I do is talk with my children about exactly what my specific reasons are for a rule that I might have. They may of course disagree with me, and I encourage that kind of free thinking, but if the rule is set, they cannot disregard or change that would consulting me first.
Something like this, for a good parent, is not the only line of defense, it is the second or third.
Amusing - My 2 year old has done the same thing - in LINUX.
That surprised the hell out of me. He knew he had to click the Kids profile in the GDM chooser, and that he had to double click the game icon.
That little bastard is going to prove the undoing of me, I cannot keep him out of ANYTHING. He has learned how to move the damned trash cans and a stool to the back fence gate, reach over the top, and undo the latch. I had to put a LOCK on it!
My oldest just turned 9.
We monitor his game usage pretty much all the time he is using it, and the computer is set up in such a way that anyone can see what's on the monitor at almost any time, as it is set up in the main living room.
He is only allowed to play games which:
1) I have played.
2) I do not feel is too violent or sexual in nature.
3) Which I feel will not alter his behaviour in an undesirable way.
I feel that #3 can be important. If you do not pay close attention to the way your child acts after they play a video game, the results could surprise you. He was playing what I had at the time thought of as a rather non-violent game - a space conquest game that is basically just a strategy game. There are no characters, no people of any kind in it at all, but it actually seemed to have a detrimental effect on him and he became more violent. Almost as soon as I cut his access off, his attitude and behaviour improved.
At another time, he was playing what I considered to be a graphically violent game, but it did not affect him adversely at all. In fact he ended up identifying with the characters and gaining compassion because of it.
I think that the ESRB ratings are a pretty good system, although they could still use improvement (what couldn't?).
As a parent, I have seriously considered getting the software in TFA, not because of the ratings system that it uses, but because it helps me regulate the amount of time he gets to use it for. It would be very useful to have an objective system by which I can "pay" him for doing his chores by granting him an extra hour a week to play. Trying to monitor his time on the computer is a lot harder without a tool like this.
I have complete control over my home computer, so it's not a matter of access to games, but of access for the TIME to play them. I would much rather punish my son by reducing his weekly allotment of computer play time by 1/2 an hour than standing him in time-out or making him do extra chores.
To me this is a tool to be used to help me parent effectively, not as a substitute for my parenting.
Wow! I applaud you for that post.
:)
It's impressive, even on Slashdot, to see someone successfully equate our governmental system with computer resource optimization so well.
Now THAT is funny as hell.
What an accent you have, is that French?
I agree with your first point.
/.
Choice of Operating System is always a personal choice at home, but at work, that can be a different story.
At work, I am forced to use Windows 2000, but frankly, I'm not all that disenchanted with it because at work the software installation is stable and non-changing from month to month.
However, at home, I run a linux distro because when I hose my system screwing around with stuff I don't understand, it takes me 5 minutes to completely reinstall it after wiping out
I'm not worried about viruses or spyware, because with a couple of very simple tools it's very easy to avoid them. Regrettably, it's not something that has been pushed to the masses as a simple solution. Oh well.
So my main reason for using linux at home is not because of how great I think the operating system is, it's because for my needs I can screw it up without worrying about it, and can fix it very quickly, compared to a Windows install. Not only that, but I don't lose any of my settings either.
That's true. Don't get me wrong, we will be moving up in OS at some point in the next couple of years, but we'll most likely completely skip XP to 2003 - although that really is XP, just beefed up for servers of course.
By that time, the apps that we're using would also have been upgraded and thus the problem should be avoided at that time. However, as of right now, I know that some of the apps we use would have issues (as we tried them on XP, even before SP2, with SP1).
Or I'd be crapping my pants right now.
I know I'd get pulled into the helpdesk fracas that would ensue if we were all in WinXP.
WTF? Why is this modded as Troll? You may disagree with what he says, but that does not mean it's a Troll. Come on people, read the guidelines!
This is a joke, but man if I didn't know programming I sure would have fallen for it. It's all so... reasonable.
Jesus - optimizing the idle loop - the way he ends up doing it just cracks me up.
Oh come on, someone mod parent up. It's funny in more than 2 ways, that's brilliant! (Copyright Guiness)
while reading the linked page. The part where he's conducting masochistic experiments in server flagellation was F*****G hilarious!
Time to clean up...
I had not seen anyone raise this point, so I wanted to bring it up.
With the vast amount of data at physicists fingertips, and many theories to test against this data set, how confident are physicists that the theories on which they base other theories are in fact true?
How can we be sure that the data we receive from galaxies 10 billion light years away has not been diluted or compromised in a way we could not detect? If that happens, would not our theories then also be diluted or compromised and thus destabilize whole sections of theory?
I ask these questions because of my observations about physics and theorizations in general. There are of course some things that locally we can easily prove or disprove, but when you start using data that is so difficult to reliably receive from extremely distant points in the universe, I just worry how much time and effort goes into the wrong idea.
Don't get me wrong, physicists are doing a GREAT job and have benefitted the world tremendously. I hope this work does not stop and indeed increases!
Thanks - that's a good point. I had not thought of that possibility. Either way, I'm not concerned, as I have never had another client attach to my WLAN.
I have found a simple way to keep unwanted visitors off my AP:
1) SSID broadcast is disabled (Yes, I know that doesn't really do all that much)
2) WEP (again, pretty sucky)
3) DHCP filter - it will only assign one IP address, period. When I'm not on that connection, the AP is turned off.
Working at a smaller company ($30m sales), our computer policies don't include browser lockdowns or security restrictions.
In the past 5 years, the only viruses our corporation has had at all were malware downloaded by unwitting users visiting "bad" sites.
It hasn't be a terrible problem, just a little annoying to get them removed.
FireFox would address this problem somewhat better than IE, but the business case for switching browsers corporate wide (or even just a user by user basis) is not compelling enough for us to move on it anytime soon. Some of our own web apps from vendors basically require IE by the use of ActiveX Controls...
I despise VB6. I would like to rip it's stinking, steaming guts out and shit in it's mouth.
.NET libraries. As my company is effectively locked into Microsoft because of our CRM vendor, writing Web applications in PHP/Apache becomes a moot point. It sucks, but since I do have to live with it, at least they've vastly improved the tools to do it with.
However, I have come to appreciate VB.NET. Which is strange as I still hate the wishy-washy syntax. Option Strict On and Option Explicit On tend to help though.
Frankly, if you look at VB.NET and compare it to any previous version, it's almost like it is not the same language. It much more resembles C or Java than anything else, at least to me (with limited C and Java experience).
The point of all this is that the truly good thing about moving to VB.NET isn't the language itself, the IDE or any of that crap. It's the
Previously I wrote web apps on IIS/ASP entirely in JavaScript (client and Server) because I wouldn't touch the VB6 toolset for that with a 10 foot pole. I use a shareware XSLT editor and TextPad for that development.
New development is taking place almost entirely in VS.NET now with the team here, as everyone else knows VB, but they have a little trouble interpreting my JavaScript junk.
Now if only it were a little easier to port my psycho ASP tools library to a module....
I love this line:
* 217527 - Left column on Slashdot is sometimes too narrow or too wide for its contents.
Nice to know the FireFox folks are regularly reading Slashdot!
(waves to FireFox developers - you guys are doing great work)
I've never seen a BT connection like that!
People hopping on then off the torrent like mad. My client barely has time to connect and send them data before they're gone again, usually I get a single update telling me they're at like 60% after about a second.
Amazing... their server KICKS ass!
That's better than Edgar Friendly...
Then you'd really need to go outside, hose yourself down, and bash your head in.
OMFG!
I never thought someone would bring that old door back to life!
I used to run it on my Maximus BBS back in the day... amazing.
Congratulations on such a successful site, and good luck in the future!
Ok...
I'll bite..
What does "BOPL" stand for?
"Bastard Operators Pay Less"?
"British Ogres Prance Lightly"?
"Bright Officials Party Long"?
Thanks for pointing out the obvious issue with this patent. There is so much prior art on this partcicular patent, I would be amazed if it both was granted as a patent and if it passed any sort of courts muster. I myself have created a few different web site projects prior to this patent application that would qualify!
Wow....
I read that article you linked to.
Man - what a crock of shit. He makes logical leaps and never looks back! There are so many holes in this argument, I am tempted to think it is a joke. However, experience has taught me that more often than not, it's just someone who is in actuality incredibly stupid, but has no idea that they are.
It's tempting to go through the article and just poke holes, but there are so many, I don't feel like spending an hour doing it!
Damn... I so wish I had mod points, I just about stopped breathing when I read your comment.
Nice dry wit you have there.
Brings new meaning to the Texas High Schools with "Go Armadillos" written on banners strung in the halls...