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User: ucblockhead

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  1. The past as a guide on The Evolution of Language · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm not sure if the past evolution of languages is a good guide to what will happen in the future. The last hundred years are unique in human history in that we can (and do) go back and hear exactly how people talked twenty, forty, a hundred years ago. I suspect that this will have a retarding effect on the rate of language change.

  2. Re:I couldn't agree with TFA more.... on Gaming Usability 101 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I don't mind if there is only one save. What I do hate is games that don't let you save at any point. Nothing is more irritating than having to go through a tedious 30 minute section of some game over again not because you died, but because you had to quit playing unexpectedly. I want to be able to save at *any* point in the game so that if, say, my wife calls me to bed or my son starts painting the cat, I can immediately stop and take it up where I left off a week later.

  3. Re:Always let players... on Gaming Usability 101 · · Score: 1

    Better: DON'T MAKE CUT SCENES THAT APPEAR IN COMBAT!

    Of all the things wrong with Lair, this is the worst. Why on Earth they think I need a 10-second cut scene to show the thing I just blew up blowing up is beyond me. All it serves to do is make it even more confusing where you actually are in relation to everything else. Cut scenes should only appear in periods where there is no action, like between levels/missions.

    Of course, the ideal is to go the Half-Life route and design the game so you can tell your story without cut scenes.

  4. Re:And we're to feel sorry?! on Ticketmaster Claims Hacking Over Ticket Resale Site · · Score: 1

    It's not Ticketmaster that gets hurt. It is the people (other than scalpers) trying to buy tickets.

  5. Re:Firing someone on Judges Reinstate Charges In Google Age Discrimination Suit · · Score: 1

    California (where Gooogle is) is also an "at will" state.

  6. Re:Brute Force Attacks on Cracked Linux Boxes Used to Wield Windows Botnets · · Score: 1

    The key is that you can't really *only* on Security through Obscurity. If your general security is strong, then throwing in some "security through obscurity" on top of it certainly can't hurt, and might well help.

  7. Re:games' on Jonathan Coulton Track Part of the Orange Box · · Score: 1

    They should take note that he's made a successful career out of producing music that is available free (legally) for download.

  8. Misleading on Rate of Evolution Metrics Observed · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The rate of *evolution* is determined more by how much environmental pressure an animal is under. The more successful an animal is in a particular niche, the slower it will evolve. This is really talking about the mutation rate, and thus the rate of genetic drift. This says that the sort of random changes to proteins that don't effect the animal's phenotype will change faster in smaller animals.

    It *does* mean that smaller animals can evolve faster if under lots of evolutionary pressure. Note that since smaller animals tend to breed faster, this is already the case.

  9. Re:Suppositions on Sony BMG Says Ripping CDs is Stealing · · Score: 1

    The Playstation three will happily rip CDs for you.

  10. Re:Symmetry on Firefox Working to Fix Memory Leaks · · Score: 1

    It was a joke, but it comes from experience. I worked for five years on an embedded application written entirely in C for which the C libraries did not implement malloc. All code had to fit in 128k (some of it bank-switched in and out of RAM) and the stack was obviously fixed size. Everything had to be either a local variable or a static. Real fun.

  11. Re:Symmetry on Firefox Working to Fix Memory Leaks · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, yeah. And you could prevent any memory leaks at all by requiring that malloc never be used and that everything be placed in static memory.

    Kinda hard to code like that, though.

  12. Re:Open source in commercial software? on Gartner Says Open Source "Impossible To Avoid" · · Score: 1

    LGPL libraries. Plus, my suspicion is that that 80% is from a few particular open source projects. Usually, it is not a matter of taking an open source project an modifying it. It's mostly trying to find an open source library that can plug in to your application. (Like, for instance, Sqlite.)

  13. Re:Why don't we have licensed bedsheets anymore? on Halo 'No Longer Just a Game' For Microsoft · · Score: 1

    They have to be very careful in today's political environment. For instance, a "Halo" lunchbox, pillow-case, etc. opens them up to the "marketing to children" charge, not something they want to face for an M rated game.

  14. Re:Here is a list of great open source games... on Status Report From the Open Source Games Community · · Score: 1

    I've been playing the Nethack port on my homebrew-hacked PSP. That platform didn't even exist in 2004. One presumes "porting" counts as active development.

    Not to mention all the extensions, mods etc. still in active development.

    But active development isn't the point. The point is that lots of people still actively *play* nethack.

  15. Re:So what they really mean on TransUnion to Offer Credit Freezes Nationwide · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Very true. But I'd rather have my credit frozen as a prank than have someone get a credit card in my name after unfreezing my account.

  16. Re:So what they really mean on TransUnion to Offer Credit Freezes Nationwide · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The amusing bit is that you need certified mail to place the freeze, but don't need certified mail to remove it. Interesting given that identity thieves would be interested in removing freezes, not adding them.

  17. Re:Here is a list of great open source games... on Status Report From the Open Source Games Community · · Score: 3, Informative

    Nethack.

  18. Re:reprints without permission /w original comment on Walt Mossberg Reviews Ubuntu · · Score: 1

    Your attitude exemplifies one of the main reasons why Linux will remain a niche OS.

  19. Video on Comcast Slightly Clarifies High Speed Extreme Use Policy · · Score: 1

    Very interesting that they don't mention video in their examples.

  20. Re:They still don't give the exact byte downloadli on Comcast Slightly Clarifies High Speed Extreme Use Policy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Plus the last thing they want is people downloading exactly the limit every month. By making it vague, they ensure that people will stay significantly under the limits that would give them trouble.

  21. Re:It is not as bad as you think... on Comcast Slightly Clarifies High Speed Extreme Use Policy · · Score: 1

    No one dies when they lose their connection.

  22. Re:Steve picked the Phone over the PC on Is Apple Doing All It Can to Beat Vista? · · Score: 1

    Look at the sales. Laptop sales are increasing far faster than desktop sales. At my house, we have essentially replaced our desktops with laptops because of transportability and at my office, nearly everyone has a laptop. Desktops won't die entirely, but they are on the decline.

  23. Re:apple doesn't care about beating windows on Is Apple Doing All It Can to Beat Vista? · · Score: 1

    It is true that they don't care about "beating Windows", but I have to point out that their market share in the laptop market has been steadily increasing with respect to Dell. They haven't had to decrease profit margins to increase market share.

  24. Re:"not a game"? on Sony Clarifies Details About PS3 Home · · Score: 1

    It is Sony's answer to "XBox Live", with more interesting avatars.

  25. Re:Never happen on Sony Clarifies Details About PS3 Home · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's not a game and will thus not be rated at all.