Slashdot Mirror


User: quintesse

quintesse's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
363
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 363

  1. Re:Why isn't there a mod option for "patronizing"? on 1001 Islamic Inventions · · Score: 1

    Really telling when we equate developing weapons and conquering other countries as "progress".

    There have been several advanced civilizations in history that never tried to conquer anything and seem to want to be left alone and they might still have existed if not for their more war-loving neighbours, who knows.

    Egypt with it thousands year old history and succession of faraos might be a good example. Had they stagnated in the time of Cleopatra or were they just in one of their dips? (egypician history is know for large periods of ups followed by periods of down) We don't know, what we do know is that the Romans put an end to it.

    Of course the Romans themselves were an advanced civiliation so we don't always have a "net loss", but for sure there are examples where the war only destroyed a civilization without constructing anything (better) in return.

    So while for some war means "progress" (in one way or another) for others it's the end of progress (and the rest of course).

  2. Re:Not necessarily "marketing" on Game Previews Just Game Marketing? · · Score: 1

    Why? The game publisher _wants_ people to write reviews so they can hopefully build up some momentum for the day that they will release their game. The more positive attention the better for them.

    So if that's the case and the publisher wants to make a good impression they should wait giving out information until what they can show is at least is at least close to final quality.

    If things aren't finished yet they should say so and the reviewer can take them into account (either by explaining what is left to do or just leaving out that particular bit of info).

    Personally I've given up hope of ever seeing good gaming previews (or reviews for that matter!) in gamings mags again.

    I'll wait for it to come out and start googling around or ask friends who've bought it or download a demo (or less legal means if it comes to that), but I'm not going to buy anything anymore based on a (p)review in a mag.

  3. Re:one long post deserves another on George Lucas Predicts Death of Big Budget Movies · · Score: 1

    I'd say it's time for the people to start complaining about the price the have to play for their tickets :-)

    In any other industry the prices would go down and they would have to come up with ever bigeer and better things to be able to compete. In the movie business they mostly just feed you the same shit over and over again and prices just seem to go up.

  4. Re:Why does the EU even care? on Microsoft Accuses European Union of Collusion · · Score: 1

    So you think the EU should not care when an US company does something wrong in Europe and when it does it should only try to find help from European companies to find out what it did wrong?

    So how about people? Shouldn't we care if an American kills another American on European soil?

    Personally I'm glad they care.

  5. Re:glboal warming on A Conversation with Alan Lightman · · Score: 1

    Are you trying to treat this as the US legal system would a potential criminal? Do you want to establish "beyond a reasonable doubt" they we DIDN'T do it?

    Just look around you at the things we managed to fuck up and all the others we are busy trying to fuck up in this world and tell me that you think it's wise to just wait until it's too late.

    I, for one, think we a perfectly capable of damaging the environment on a global scale and would rather that we do something about it.

    If we find in 20-30 years time that we have been mistaken all along and this was just an inevitable natural change, okay, no problem. Maybe the economy suffered a little but I'm sure will manage.

    It's the other outcome that I don't want to think about: what if they're right?

  6. Re:I hope so on Moore Calls Game Discs Ridiculous · · Score: 1

    It one of the reasons why I like Steam so much. The moment I bought Half Life 2 it started downloading and when it was released (simultaneously all over the world) I could play it.

    The nice thing was that they asked if I had the keys for any of their older games (strangely enough I still had them, I tend to throw them away after a while, or lose them) and they added all those games to the list as well.

    Now if I go to a different computer, I can download any of those games and play them. No limitations there.

    Of course if I just want a quick game with a friend I can't because they won't let me log in twice with the same account.

    And somehow on my system the off-line mode doesn't work, so no internet? No games! That btw is the reason I hate Steam so much ;-)

    They big question with this kind of system is: what will happen when the company goes bankrupt?

    Because I had no internet for a while and all of the games I love right now are on-line only I went through my collection of old games and played Messiah again (love that game). Will I be able to do the same with Half-Life 2 in 10 years?

  7. Re:The Linux kernel won't go GPL3 on Could Linux Still Go GPL3? · · Score: 1
    All the contributions are GPL2

    No they're not. There are several other licenses used within the kernel.

    There might not be many of them but they're there. In the same way it might be possible that more and more contributers start sending in their code using the v3 license maybe making the kernel mostly v3 in a couple of years (although I think that unlikely).
  8. Re:Stupid on NASA Public-Affairs Appointee Resigns in Disgrace · · Score: 1

    Well, not competely, The Big Bang is just a theory afterall and could be revised in the future to include the-time-before-the-bang if for some reason that turned out to be more logical.

    But that you can't divide by zero is just a fact, it's the way we made mathematics so we get to decide the rules.

    Intelligent Designer, I just love nit-picking :-D

  9. Re:Forget "expectations of a ten year wait" on Duke Nukem Forever in Production · · Score: 1

    I miss Dukes particular brand of humor in modern games tho. Corny? Hell yeah!

  10. Re:we already have clean nuclear power technology on China to Build World's First "Artificial Sun" · · Score: 1

    I also think it's more than what feels good and I agree it's about politics and the power to change things. I do think your view of the "eco-freaks" is too harsh, because those are exactly the people that have at least been clamoring for the politicians to something while the rest of us sat on our collective asses not thinking about anything or sure in our knowledge that the world would not come to an end in _our_ livetime. And who thinks farther ahead than the next football match anyway? The problem with politics is that when you have a group of people who are absolutely unwilling to see a problem you have to present an extremely opposing view for them to notice anything. If you just push at them slightly they won't budge, you really have to shove. So that's why I think well-reasened voices that try to see everything from both sides and tries to be as complete and correct as possible in all their statements are unloved in both sides of this "conflict", they muddy the waters and simple decisions become really hard. And when that happens you can forget about getting support from the people in the street because most of them don't want to have to study the problem first for a couple of weeks before they decide which way to cast heir "vote". In the end both the politician and the "eco-freak" have to be able to explain their side of the story in the 5 minutes that you give them when they stop you on the street. You can only do that by making things more black and white than they really are.

  11. Re:Starting from a flawed premise on What Should People Understand About Computers? · · Score: 1

    I'm currently living in Spain and being able to pronounce a rrrrolling R is pretty important to be able to make yourself understood in Spanish but I'm just able to do it. So I always meet these helpful people who will spend ages trying to teach me: showing where to put your tongue, how to breath, how to put your lips etc. Thing is I still can't do it and you're saying it's somehow their fault? On the other hand I've seen some very smart and eloquent geek friends of mine stumble trying to explain some very basic things like a CPU or memory to a layman. Knowing them for a long time already I just know it's not because they can't communicate. The thing is they just can't get down to that layman's level anymore! Somehow they can't imagine anymore what it means to know absolutely nothing about a certain subject. And if they do realise what it takes they will also realise it is next to impossible to explain to most laymen exactly how certain things work: you either give enough information and see them fall asleep or you give the short version and get this glass-eyed stare of incomprehension. Of course if you tell them that it would take too long or that they would not understand you're an asshole and if you try your best anyway you're a hopeless nerd for not being able to talk sense. So whatever you do you're fucked :-) Now if only somebody would write a book explaining these things...

  12. Re:Advantage? on Galileo Sends Its First Signals · · Score: 1

    You're right! We should wait until they do so... and then wait 5 years to make the satellites and put them up there... just in time to see the US occupational force taking over Holland and the International Courts for putting an American on the stand for example. ;-)

  13. Re:USA Leads, Rest of World Follows on Galileo Sends Its First Signals · · Score: 1

    Hey, only 1 administration ago (well 1.5 more like it ;-) I as a European thought we were best friends, or at least close friends. Then some of you voted for this Bush guy and he started saying some nasty things about us and our neighbours. So yeah, we're a bit miffed right now. And then it became re-election time and we thought "oh they will throw out that nast man for sure!" but you didn't! So what are we to think? ;-)

  14. Re:Pfft! Why do Bees fly? on Scientists Figure Out How Bees Fly · · Score: 1

    Well actually, WE are limited by our nature, science and reasoning are as far as I know not limited by anything. But science and reasoning are at least trying to explain _some_ aspects of out life while any belief system is... well basically just a fairy tail, that somehow, a long time ago, because of the mistake of some aging librarian for sure, wound up in the non-fiction section of the library.

  15. Re:Highest Capacity Wins on HD DVD Demo a Disappointment · · Score: 1

    Ever heard of fire? :-) That's why I have backup DVDs stored at my parent's place. And sandpaper them? What a silly thing to do, I just keep them in their cases and they seem to be working fine ;-) ow we only have to see if they deteriorate like CDRs (used to?) do. That's also why I keep making new ones every once in a while. Just to be sure.

  16. Re:DRM on HD DVD Demo a Disappointment · · Score: 1

    Well that's the whole point... it isn't illegal in MY country! In fact it is perfectly legal and we're paying for it in taxes.

  17. Re:Wow. on First Blu-ray Movie Titles Announced · · Score: 1

    Plava = blue? Really? Didn't know that. In what language?

  18. Re:Wow. on First Blu-ray Movie Titles Announced · · Score: 1

    Agreed, I think it positively brilliant, especially the way Bruce seemed to be the only "normal" person in a world full of freaks and caricatures.

  19. Double standard? on The Pointlessness of Current Videogame Journalism · · Score: 1

    Am I the only one who finds it a bit strange that the author of the article wants his ex-colleagues to write better and more useful (p)reviews although he admits that it would probably lose them their jobs... and then refuses to name any names himself so he won't shoot himself in the foot with respect to possible future job offers? I's say this is a case of: put your money where your mouth is, sonny!

  20. Re:Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 on The Pointlessness of Current Videogame Journalism · · Score: 1

    But that's just it, they still didn't dare giving Doom 3 the score it deserved which should have been a lot lower than whatever anybody was giving it. It might look nice but it must have been the worst ID-offering yet.

    And HL2... well yes, it wasn't as good as it might have been but it was pretty darn fun, at least a whole lot more worthy of my money than Doom 3!

    Look at IGN for example, so yes you can see that the valued Doom 3 (8.4) less than HL2 (9.4) but the difference just isn't big enough. I agree that HL2 was too short and maybe too easy (although I prefer too easy instead of too difficult) but in the end I was at least wishing for more, with Doom 3 I was bored out of my skull after the first hour! (don't tell me the same old demons kept scaring you all throughout the game, after a while you just know that the dark corner you see ahead will have one of them waiting for you)

  21. Re:They looked at Java and improved it! on Comparison of Java and .NET security · · Score: 1

    No, they hired the guy who made the Delphi language who had learned a lot from his work there and by looking closely at Java. C# is obviously a mix of the good points of both languages and several things learned in the years after that. Good work C#, still won't touch it until they make me though :-)

  22. Re:Brr... on Comparison of Java and .NET security · · Score: 1

    Slower? What have you been smoking?

  23. Re:Interface on Asa Dotzler on Why Linux Isn't Ready for the Desktop · · Score: 1
    With windows there is one place to go for support. Linux, to most mom and pops is a fragmented world of too many choices.
    I don't know about your mom and pop but mine will come to me because they have no frikkin' idea where else to go for support. Maybe if something was really broken they would return it to the place where they bought it but they sure as hell aren't going to call Microsoft if they can't figure out which button to click! All these moms and pops arguments are silly anyway, most moms and pops wouldn't know the difference between Windows and Linux because the only thing they ever do is click the icons that their Microsoft/neighbour/12 year old kid has placed for them on the desktop. They couldn't care less if that icon fires up IE or Firefox, Outlook Express or Thunderbird etc.
  24. Re:he's being quite modest about it on RMS Weighs in on BitKeeper Debacle · · Score: 1

    Sure you can. If you take the parent's message to mean:

    imagine the time that economic reason could make the peoples of entire nations in the world turn a blind eye to something as abhorrant as slavery imagine what it can do in less moraly laden situations.

  25. Re:What's the fanless obsession anyhow? on VIA Epia SP 13000 Review · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It might be one tiny fan but I assure you that if it sits below your TV if you use it as a media center you _will_ notice the noise it makes (unless you only see action movies of course ;-)