Aren't there actions a first responder could take that could be potentially life saving without putting the responder at risk? Something like helping a critically injured person that isn't in a burning building? Creating potential escape routes by dousing portions of a house with water? Extracting someone from a collapsed structure?
There's a difference in my mind between doing nothing at all, carrying out actions that have little to no personal risk, and running into a burning and/or smoke filled building.
Standard IANAL disclosure blah blah. It seems to me like there could be some legal responsibility here in the case of loss of life. If you have the means, the opportunity and the training to prevent loss of life without substantial personal risk but willfully do nothing, I'd think, at the very least, you'd be liable for criminal negligence if not manslaughter.
I'm not a big fan of deductions either. My point was that the health care bill is business as usual. I just don't get how it's markedly different than what came before.
How about instead of a $950 fine, we raise taxes for everyone? Then you get to deduct (up to some maximum, say $950) the amount you spend on health care?
Or instead of health care, you get to subtract an amount for each kid you have. Or how much interest you pay on your mortgage. Or... hopefully you get my point? I guess you can argue the health care bill is raising taxes on those that don't buy insurance and is deceptive in the way that tax is being levied. I might even agree. The problem is, I fail to see how that's markedly different from other tax/deduction rules. Or at least different enough to motivate me to join protests or political rallies or tea parties.
People are already taxed more for not paying mortgage interest. That makes less sense to me than paying more to subsidize the sick (even though I benefit from the mortgage interest deduction). Why wasn't the mortgage interest deduction upsetting people as much? It effectively "fines" people for not buying real estate on credit.
It's like a segment of our population suddenly woke up and realized they have to pay income taxes following incomprehensible rules. The strange thing is, that awakening seemed to occur at the same time Obama won the election.
Speaking of python, check out Panda3D. It's a complete game engine written in c++ and has a nice python API that exposes pretty much everything. It's totally open-source as well (very liberal BSD license).
It ships with a large set of examples, some of which are games.
I agree. I guess I still prefer a mouse to a joystick but both the controllers and the games have gotten much better for console FPS'. It doesn't make much difference to me now. I migrated to consoles for similar reasons as you did (mainly cost). I miss trying out community generated mods and maps but that's my biggest gripe.
Joystick movement of character movement is better than wasd. It's much harder to do a mix of tip-toeing, walking and running on a keyboard. You usually have a sprint button and you might move slower when you're crouching or laying prone but that's about it. You pointed out the biggest console deficiency - quick turns, although some games have a quick turn-around button (LFD2 has one on 360 for example). The quick-turn around button isn't as good but it's a serviceable work-around.
It's not really precision that's missing in joystick controls, you can be just as accurate with a joystick. Rather, the difference is the rate at which you can accurately hit a target. What I've found is that the joystick accuracy lag actually feels more realistic than being able to move your reticule nearly instantly with a mouse. In real life, even the pros can't move a rifle to a new target 40 yards away as fast as you can flick the mouse the same distance in a game. The result is that console guns "feel" like they have weight. It could be argued whether that bit of realism is good or bad but the weighted movement is starting to grow on me.
I'm in the same boat. I paid $5 for the browser. It'd be nice if Nintendo, Opera and Adobe could hammer something out.
Regardless, there may be a solution around the corner if you're willing to pay $30 bucks and run a windows machine. Media Mall claims their PlayOn! software will be Wii compatible by the end of 2008: http://www.themediamall.com/playon
Does he have to do it by himself? Or will he have access to a couple of people well versed in Japanese? It makes a big difference.
I understand not wanting to replace your only COBOL programmer with someone with no COBOL experience. On the other hand, I don't see a problem hiring someone who has never programmed COBOL into a COBOL shop. As long as someone can program well in more than one language it shouldn't be a problem. If the new guy is still struggling after about a month or two, you let him go. Hire him as a contract-to-hire if you're really worried. Even if you burn through a few guys this way, it's still going to be vastly cheaper than hiring a COBOL guru with 20+ years experience. Especially if you just need someone for maintenance/bug fixing/small enhancements.
Part of the blame certainly lies with the media organizations who didn't do a good job vetting conflicts of interest when it came to the various officer's business and active DoD ties.
What concerns me more though is that this was part of a planned and deliberate effort to mislead Americans and shape public opinion.
I believe the various departments under the executive branch can and should inform the public. They should explain what their actions are and the consequences of those actions are in a fact based and transparent manner. What they should not do is use propaganda and subversive tactics to build public support for whatever programs or actions the government is involved in. It taints public discourse and undermines democracy. Those tactics are appropriate for use on our enemies, not our own citizens.
I've played around with that setting. If I'm on the couch, I can set the sensitivity to jitter or fail-to-detect-sensor at all (anything on the left half of the sensitivity bar). Maybe some lights in the room are throwing it off.
The wiimote is twitchy as all get out. I've noticed the distance from the wiimote to the sensor bar makes a HUGE difference. If I try playing from my couch, the cursor or reticle is constantly jittering. If I move a mere foot closer (where our love seat sits) the jitter disappears completely.
Low inflation (between 1 and 3% annually) actually has positive results for everyone except hoarders. As you noted, if you're in debt, your principal gets eaten away by inflation. If you have money, you have two choices, invest your money or hoard it. If you hoard it, inflation will eat away at it. So, (smart) people and companies with money will try to invest it somewhere and get returns that beat or at least meet parity with inflation. Many of those investments, at some point, translate into more jobs and goods (including cheaper loans) for everyone.
The only argument I buy against government controlled inflation is that it implicitly takes away one's freedom to hoard money. You can still hoard cash, but it's going to cost you. The question for me then becomes is that freedom to hoard worth the toll it would take on the overall economy? Not to mention the instability and unpredictability that would result if we went back to a gold standard.
Massive bonus points for any developers who add TiVo-style controls to their cutscenes. Sometimes I just want to jump back and rehear a line I missed. Absolutely, in addition to having rewind, pause and fast forward I really like games that let me play cutscenes I've already seen whenever I want. It's crucial when 5 minutes after watching a cut scene, I realize there was some info mentioned that I'd like to revisit. There's also times where it's been a couple weeks between play sessions and I'd like to watch the last cutscene or two to refresh my memory as to whats going on.
It is degrading to women and it severely cripples the feminist movement. Even porn that has no women in it?
Pornography is not an art form. Why not? What's the difference?
It is indecent and vile. I'd consider hate speech indecent and vile, but it's still protected speech. If the 1st Amendment was only for agreeable speech, it wouldn't have been necessary.
I wouldn't be so sure. While blood work can probably detect the levels of serotonin in your system, I don't know of any common tests that would uncover a deficiency in your serotonin transmitters or receptors.
Regardless, I used to be borderline clinically depressed. So, I went on zoloft. The very first morning after I took just one 150mg pill, I woke up feeling refreshed for the first time I could remember. Before that, I was like you, it didn't matter how much or how regular my sleep was, I woke up feeling tired.
I think the biggest part of the problem is the way executives are hired. Instead of looking for anyone who might be qualified for the position (including people within the company that are just below executive level) the Board of Directors (who are often executives elsewhere) will direct the company to look for someone outside the company who is either currently an executive or was an executive. The pool of people that fit this definition will probably always be pretty small, so, given the law of supply and demand, the CEO that gets hired is going to be able to ask for a lot of money.
It doesn't make any sense to actually limit yourself to a candidate pool that small when there are plenty more people who'd probably be qualified for the position, they just never held the rank of an executive before. The top of the ladder where I work is in a vice president spot. We have some incredibly smart, hard working and well connected VPs who know our business inside and out. They will never be an executive here though because the board always wants someone who held that golden executive title before. It's ridiculous.
It's really not that absurd. If you've demonstrated that you keep yourself out of debt, how can a lender make money off of you? That's the biggest issue. Lenders aren't charities (in general), and they don't make money if you don't go into debt.
Another issue is verifying that if I lend you a bunch of cash, you will give me the money back at some point. If you've never handled a bunch of cash someone else gave you, how can I trust you'll be good with mine?
What's more perplexing to me is that I've only had two lines of credit where I couldn't pay off the principle before any interest was due (a school loan which was still paid off quickly and a mortgage). Every thing else I've paid off before a penny of interest was due. In my eyes, this makes me a really lousy credit customer. The only way they make money off of me is from the transaction fees they charge stores when I use my credit. Yet, any time I've decided to open a new line of credit, I've never had a problem. Despite the fact that in all probability, they're barely going to make any money off of me (if any).
It should feature GI Joe's using math to kill each other, aliens, and anything gross or violent. For the older boys lets throw in some soft core porn to get their eyes on the page (males are after all more visual, right?). Sir, I'd like to buy this book.
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks for the in-depth response. I appreciate it.
Aren't there actions a first responder could take that could be potentially life saving without putting the responder at risk? Something like helping a critically injured person that isn't in a burning building? Creating potential escape routes by dousing portions of a house with water? Extracting someone from a collapsed structure?
There's a difference in my mind between doing nothing at all, carrying out actions that have little to no personal risk, and running into a burning and/or smoke filled building.
Standard IANAL disclosure blah blah. It seems to me like there could be some legal responsibility here in the case of loss of life. If you have the means, the opportunity and the training to prevent loss of life without substantial personal risk but willfully do nothing, I'd think, at the very least, you'd be liable for criminal negligence if not manslaughter.
I'm not a big fan of deductions either. My point was that the health care bill is business as usual. I just don't get how it's markedly different than what came before.
How about instead of a $950 fine, we raise taxes for everyone? Then you get to deduct (up to some maximum, say $950) the amount you spend on health care?
Or instead of health care, you get to subtract an amount for each kid you have. Or how much interest you pay on your mortgage. Or... hopefully you get my point? I guess you can argue the health care bill is raising taxes on those that don't buy insurance and is deceptive in the way that tax is being levied. I might even agree. The problem is, I fail to see how that's markedly different from other tax/deduction rules. Or at least different enough to motivate me to join protests or political rallies or tea parties.
People are already taxed more for not paying mortgage interest. That makes less sense to me than paying more to subsidize the sick (even though I benefit from the mortgage interest deduction). Why wasn't the mortgage interest deduction upsetting people as much? It effectively "fines" people for not buying real estate on credit.
It's like a segment of our population suddenly woke up and realized they have to pay income taxes following incomprehensible rules. The strange thing is, that awakening seemed to occur at the same time Obama won the election.
Speaking of python, check out Panda3D. It's a complete game engine written in c++ and has a nice python API that exposes pretty much everything. It's totally open-source as well (very liberal BSD license).
It ships with a large set of examples, some of which are games.
http://www.panda3d.org/
I agree. I guess I still prefer a mouse to a joystick but both the controllers and the games have gotten much better for console FPS'. It doesn't make much difference to me now. I migrated to consoles for similar reasons as you did (mainly cost). I miss trying out community generated mods and maps but that's my biggest gripe.
Joystick movement of character movement is better than wasd. It's much harder to do a mix of tip-toeing, walking and running on a keyboard. You usually have a sprint button and you might move slower when you're crouching or laying prone but that's about it. You pointed out the biggest console deficiency - quick turns, although some games have a quick turn-around button (LFD2 has one on 360 for example). The quick-turn around button isn't as good but it's a serviceable work-around.
It's not really precision that's missing in joystick controls, you can be just as accurate with a joystick. Rather, the difference is the rate at which you can accurately hit a target. What I've found is that the joystick accuracy lag actually feels more realistic than being able to move your reticule nearly instantly with a mouse. In real life, even the pros can't move a rifle to a new target 40 yards away as fast as you can flick the mouse the same distance in a game. The result is that console guns "feel" like they have weight. It could be argued whether that bit of realism is good or bad but the weighted movement is starting to grow on me.
I'm in the same boat. I paid $5 for the browser. It'd be nice if Nintendo, Opera and Adobe could hammer something out.
Regardless, there may be a solution around the corner if you're willing to pay $30 bucks and run a windows machine. Media Mall claims their PlayOn! software will be Wii compatible by the end of 2008:
http://www.themediamall.com/playon
Does he have to do it by himself? Or will he have access to a couple of people well versed in Japanese? It makes a big difference.
I understand not wanting to replace your only COBOL programmer with someone with no COBOL experience. On the other hand, I don't see a problem hiring someone who has never programmed COBOL into a COBOL shop. As long as someone can program well in more than one language it shouldn't be a problem. If the new guy is still struggling after about a month or two, you let him go. Hire him as a contract-to-hire if you're really worried. Even if you burn through a few guys this way, it's still going to be vastly cheaper than hiring a COBOL guru with 20+ years experience. Especially if you just need someone for maintenance/bug fixing/small enhancements.
As with most things, The Onion has already tapped this comedy vein: .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle Is Pretty Cool
Peace Activist Has To Admit Barrett
Part of the blame certainly lies with the media organizations who didn't do a good job vetting conflicts of interest when it came to the various officer's business and active DoD ties.
What concerns me more though is that this was part of a planned and deliberate effort to mislead Americans and shape public opinion.
I believe the various departments under the executive branch can and should inform the public. They should explain what their actions are and the consequences of those actions are in a fact based and transparent manner. What they should not do is use propaganda and subversive tactics to build public support for whatever programs or actions the government is involved in. It taints public discourse and undermines democracy. Those tactics are appropriate for use on our enemies, not our own citizens.
I'm confused, what's the problem? The following works.
for x in xrange(0,2000000000): print x
Thanks for the advice. The coffee table is a possibility since it has a shiny finish (it's not glass or mirrored though).
I've played around with that setting. If I'm on the couch, I can set the sensitivity to jitter or fail-to-detect-sensor at all (anything on the left half of the sensitivity bar). Maybe some lights in the room are throwing it off.
Low inflation (between 1 and 3% annually) actually has positive results for everyone except hoarders. As you noted, if you're in debt, your principal gets eaten away by inflation. If you have money, you have two choices, invest your money or hoard it. If you hoard it, inflation will eat away at it. So, (smart) people and companies with money will try to invest it somewhere and get returns that beat or at least meet parity with inflation. Many of those investments, at some point, translate into more jobs and goods (including cheaper loans) for everyone.
The only argument I buy against government controlled inflation is that it implicitly takes away one's freedom to hoard money. You can still hoard cash, but it's going to cost you. The question for me then becomes is that freedom to hoard worth the toll it would take on the overall economy? Not to mention the instability and unpredictability that would result if we went back to a gold standard.
I wouldn't be so sure. While blood work can probably detect the levels of serotonin in your system, I don't know of any common tests that would uncover a deficiency in your serotonin transmitters or receptors.
Regardless, I used to be borderline clinically depressed. So, I went on zoloft. The very first morning after I took just one 150mg pill, I woke up feeling refreshed for the first time I could remember. Before that, I was like you, it didn't matter how much or how regular my sleep was, I woke up feeling tired.
Here's a handy chart explaining this statement in more detail.
I think the biggest part of the problem is the way executives are hired. Instead of looking for anyone who might be qualified for the position (including people within the company that are just below executive level) the Board of Directors (who are often executives elsewhere) will direct the company to look for someone outside the company who is either currently an executive or was an executive. The pool of people that fit this definition will probably always be pretty small, so, given the law of supply and demand, the CEO that gets hired is going to be able to ask for a lot of money.
It doesn't make any sense to actually limit yourself to a candidate pool that small when there are plenty more people who'd probably be qualified for the position, they just never held the rank of an executive before. The top of the ladder where I work is in a vice president spot. We have some incredibly smart, hard working and well connected VPs who know our business inside and out. They will never be an executive here though because the board always wants someone who held that golden executive title before. It's ridiculous.
It's really not that absurd. If you've demonstrated that you keep yourself out of debt, how can a lender make money off of you? That's the biggest issue. Lenders aren't charities (in general), and they don't make money if you don't go into debt.
Another issue is verifying that if I lend you a bunch of cash, you will give me the money back at some point. If you've never handled a bunch of cash someone else gave you, how can I trust you'll be good with mine?
What's more perplexing to me is that I've only had two lines of credit where I couldn't pay off the principle before any interest was due (a school loan which was still paid off quickly and a mortgage). Every thing else I've paid off before a penny of interest was due. In my eyes, this makes me a really lousy credit customer. The only way they make money off of me is from the transaction fees they charge stores when I use my credit. Yet, any time I've decided to open a new line of credit, I've never had a problem. Despite the fact that in all probability, they're barely going to make any money off of me (if any).
The Angry Video Game Nerd agrees with you. Here's his look back at Silver Surfer for the NES.