I, too, have run into this type of problem, although the explanation is usually a compatability issue. "How can I get a copy of this on my computer when all the school supplies is PowerPoint." With so many students it's hard for teachers (especially in subjects outside of technology) to 1) have heard about OpenSource technology 2) have the time install OpenSource projects.
Also, many of my teachers like to distribute the student's presentations later online so that all of the students can view them again, it's also nice for students who were absent. Conflicting formats make this difficult.
You can look at it as indoctrination if you wish, however, I do see a lot of convenience issues that go along with all of this.
True. I do believe that there are reasons behind this trend, though.
Video game companies are feeling the bad economy just the same as everyone else, so they're not going to want to pour money into expensive new projects that may or may not work.
Also, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If people like these games, then they're going to want more of them. And the companies will keep making more until they begin to suck.
No offense to the open source community, but I'm not sure about how feasible an unbiased search engine is. The open source community does not like any bias towards commerical interests and has no problem pointing it out, but by the same token, they do enjoy plugging their own programs, which is completely understandable and normal for any community, however that does not make it unbiased or 'publicly biased'. The merit of the site is very subjective, in my opinion. I am in favor of a project such as this, but I just want to see it for what it is.
Most open source internet based projects (*cough* Slashdot *cough*) have tended to be rather biased towards themselves. It would be very difficult to remove all subjectivity from a project of this nature. How can the ratings be controlled? If it is done entirely by the 'public bias' what's to stop bots from altering the 'public bias'? Just a few questions that still need to be answered.
Jez. I'm so tired of all this 'universe collapsing' stuff. In 2125, we'll just need to thaw out Wil Wheaton and have him reverse the polarity of the tachyon stream. Then everything will be fine...
It is sometimes difficult to distinguish what is exactly a troll and what is not, therefore it is very very bad in my opinion to completely block someone from your site. I have on occassion been given the "Troll" mod on/. I don't agree with it, because my intention was not to troll, things can be taken the wrong way. I'm not trying to justify my previous posts but i do think it is necessary to keep everyone in the system. Just use a point based system and give mod privledges to a few trustworth users. You don't need metamod or anything fancy. Just keep it open and free (linux free).
I have a 2nd generation ipod and now a new 3rd generation ipod, both 10 gigs, (i got the second one as part of an apple store rebate and only paid 70bucks for it). The layout and design is really really worth it. Even if you just get the 10 gig, it's worth it.
The cool factor really throws it in my opinion, unless you are on a super tight budget, but seeing as you are even considering buying one, you probably aren't. It's a great piece of equipment and my only complaint is the battery life blows. If that and the price are significant issues, then you can side with the Nomad, but otherwise, the iPod is your best bet.
I agree to a large extent with what you have to say, however there are a few things that I'd like to add/change.
It is okay to do things that break printing so long as you provide a version that is completely printer friendly as well. It is sometimes difficult to have a document that is 100% printer friendly as the main document, but it is a nice option to have
And for my number one pet peeve of all time, do not ever use animated gifs. It is the most annoying piece of "eye candy" there is.
One problem that I have found is that when you wrap text around a picture, the print compatibility goes way way way down hill.
Oh, One thing that I find really nice, is to include animations (good quality animations) that really help to explain topics. But use them sparingly. It can most certainly help to cover difficult topics, but keep them in portable code and preferably in on a seperate page that is directly linked.
Oh, and give me a back massage while I'm reading the text.
That's about it.
Damn it. My college career is ruined! They could have atleast had the decency to release this in June, so I could have had the summer to play. Damn them...
I always thought that the movie 'Blade Runner' (one of my personal all-time favorites played exactly like a video game. It has some normal movie (typical gameplay) that leads up to a boss. Then it has more typical gameplay, which goes to another boss. I dunno, just a thought. Good movie though.
This is a tough topic, for me at least. I love Role Playing Games. I started with D&D back in the day and I have continued ever since, switching to computer/console based RPGs after my 'friends' ditched me.
I really do enjoy people who Role Play, ya know, assume a role and stick with it. This does not mean the l337 h4x0r posing as a level 5 mage. I want the game to keep the concept of role playing. However, not everyone sits behind their computer with a Jolt Cola in one hand and a direct copy of Sting in the other (the guy even told me it changes color when orcs are around, but I haven't had the chance to try that feature out yet) like I do.
But this poses a problem. There are not many of our kind out there (which is probably for the best), but those of us who are out there are prone to just a tensy wensy bit of elitism. We become less tolerant of people in the community who are not as extreme as we are. We want a different game than they do, but when we subscribe to an MMORPG, we are subscribing to a Mass Multiplayer Online Community. Let me say that again, Mass Multiplayer. That does not mean just those of us who are really really into RPGs, but everyone else too.
So what's the solution? Good question, thanks for asking. Maybe different servers, based on your extremism, ranging from the l337 folk, to the SCA folk. We cannot let our elitism scare others away from our community. Be kind welcoming, don't punish people, give helpful suggestions, they work better and establish a lot more good blood in the community.
I would think that Activision would be under inquiry by the FDA because of the trace amounts of nicotine that they put into SoF2, but hey, what do I know.
This seems like a rather bad idea on the army's part, in my opinion. I would think that since Apple has such a small slice of the market share that they would not even bother with a release, and more importantly, I wouldn't expect as many Mac users would be potential conscripts. I don't have any hard evidence for that, but considering myself (a long time mac user) and most of the other appleholics that i know, the mac user/pacifist overlap is pretty large...
I bet the fed is finally trying to convert us sunflower-loving hippies using a really cool game. So. Tempting. Must. Resist. Cool. FPS.
In terms of utilities, iChat is by far the best for those of us who are colorblind. It has an option that allows you to use shapes to designate the status of a buddy. It is very helpful as the red and green always look the same because it uses very small circles. Most certainly recommended.
And in other news...
on
Weapon-X Mice
·
· Score: 4, Funny
Supplies of adamantium have drop around the globe after two firms began competing for the rare substance. One firm, located in Toyko seems to be using the substance in mice, while the other, located in a frozen tundra in Canada, seems to be using it to create an woman with really pointy claws....
Is this really such a bad thing? It may be from our reference point, but it may not be so much from theirs. It is likely that in a soceity that has recently endured so much that the social services such as education are not as in place as they should be. It may be quite easy for kids to just blow off school and play video games. Therefore they may have to temporarily shut down parlors.
Also, we all that has gone on in recent history, we should give the Afghan society some time to grow. It must be really darn hard for so much to be introduced into a culture in so short a period. They've got to slow down a bit so that the masses can change along with everything else.
I never thought I'd see an article about this. This is really cool. I'm colorblind myself and this is a huge problem for me.
I do essential everything using positioning. I have an excellent memory for where I put things and where things are located on the desktop and on menus, etc. etc.. I use OSX as my primary desktop and I can't tell any of the stinkin' buttons apart. I especially have trouble with iTunes when in its shrunken format.
Another problem is my love of web design. Although not as much of a problem anymore, back in the day, people would use colors that were very similar to one another in terms of darkness, this is very difficult for me to see. Especially in the day of patterned backgrounds and such...I never really found a work around, except back when my monitor had a 16 color option, which made things much more distinct (e.g. red was red, no worries of weird halfshades and such). However, now it is much more difficult to find a graphics card that supports 4-bit graphics. (Why have millions when you can just have 16...). So if something is really difficult (like some games... for example) I'll have a friend or my sister help me out. I'd just like to put in a plug for the only game that has a colorblind option (at least that I've seen, please tell me others if you've seen them, thanks), which is Frozen-Bubble. I'd just like to tell those developers how much I appreciate it.
Whenever I think about MMORPGs, I think about the music industry. There are so many similarities, buggy software, restrictive service for exorbantant monthly fees...
The only company, in my opinion that has gotten online gaming right is Blizzard, you buy the game (right...buy...) they provide Battle.net for FREE. hmm. what a novel concept. I would think that most gamers switch from game to game every few months, yes some games last more than others but it is often too much effort to switch gaming services. When I think about what I want in an MMORPG, i think (nerd alert...) of.hack, an anime show. The technology isn't at that point yet, but it wouldn't hurt if the developers could make a little effort to make things more interesting. The MMORPG community needs a savior like Apple was the online music community. And I am by no means suggesting that you have a pay-per-game system, just a more innovative system that would attract more gamers.
It is silly for us to ignore such a large divide in our community though. It exists, therefore we should look at it in depth so we can improve it and better the community as a whole. We shouldn't set off a battle cry for the entire community to come together if that's not really what's going to happen, at least not in the reality that i see. but then again my personal reality distortion field is out of whack this week.
The distroes are quite divided. How 'bout we look at what is specific to each distro so people can chose which is best for them. That is a better way to garner support from the outside community, doncha think? Don't leave them in the dark, that's what scares people away from Linux.
No one is forcing anyone to upgrade. If you want to buy the darn things do so. I personally still play with 2nd edition books and I haven't upgraded for years. I mean, If I were to still play, I'd use 2nd edition....Not that I play D&D anymore...No. Never.
Just stick with your old books and don't upgrade. It's that simple. Yea, it sucks that they raised the price. Even more reason not to buy it. It may show them that people won't buy at those prices.
A girl...friend? I don't understand, we never talk about those at my LAN parties. Plus, my baby has a much larger backside cache, if you know what I mean...
Just as a quick little not on this topic. If you are ever interested in just how much the top 5 employees and administrators make at a specific non-profit organization, there is a gem of a website called Guidestar
Just search the website for the non profit, then read the IRS Form 990, which is essentially the organization's tax return. Fun stuff (I think the site now requires free registration, but then again, what doesn't today....)
Slashdot Mirror
I, too, have run into this type of problem, although the explanation is usually a compatability issue. "How can I get a copy of this on my computer when all the school supplies is PowerPoint." With so many students it's hard for teachers (especially in subjects outside of technology) to 1) have heard about OpenSource technology 2) have the time install OpenSource projects.
Also, many of my teachers like to distribute the student's presentations later online so that all of the students can view them again, it's also nice for students who were absent. Conflicting formats make this difficult.
You can look at it as indoctrination if you wish, however, I do see a lot of convenience issues that go along with all of this.
True. I do believe that there are reasons behind this trend, though.
Video game companies are feeling the bad economy just the same as everyone else, so they're not going to want to pour money into expensive new projects that may or may not work.
Also, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If people like these games, then they're going to want more of them. And the companies will keep making more until they begin to suck.
Which one runs Linux?
No offense to the open source community, but I'm not sure about how feasible an unbiased search engine is. The open source community does not like any bias towards commerical interests and has no problem pointing it out, but by the same token, they do enjoy plugging their own programs, which is completely understandable and normal for any community, however that does not make it unbiased or 'publicly biased'. The merit of the site is very subjective, in my opinion. I am in favor of a project such as this, but I just want to see it for what it is.
Most open source internet based projects (*cough* Slashdot *cough*) have tended to be rather biased towards themselves. It would be very difficult to remove all subjectivity from a project of this nature. How can the ratings be controlled? If it is done entirely by the 'public bias' what's to stop bots from altering the 'public bias'? Just a few questions that still need to be answered.
Jez. I'm so tired of all this 'universe collapsing' stuff. In 2125, we'll just need to thaw out Wil Wheaton and have him reverse the polarity of the tachyon stream. Then everything will be fine...
It is sometimes difficult to distinguish what is exactly a troll and what is not, therefore it is very very bad in my opinion to completely block someone from your site. I have on occassion been given the "Troll" mod on /. I don't agree with it, because my intention was not to troll, things can be taken the wrong way. I'm not trying to justify my previous posts but i do think it is necessary to keep everyone in the system. Just use a point based system and give mod privledges to a few trustworth users. You don't need metamod or anything fancy. Just keep it open and free (linux free).
I have a 2nd generation ipod and now a new 3rd generation ipod, both 10 gigs, (i got the second one as part of an apple store rebate and only paid 70bucks for it). The layout and design is really really worth it. Even if you just get the 10 gig, it's worth it.
The cool factor really throws it in my opinion, unless you are on a super tight budget, but seeing as you are even considering buying one, you probably aren't. It's a great piece of equipment and my only complaint is the battery life blows. If that and the price are significant issues, then you can side with the Nomad, but otherwise, the iPod is your best bet.
I agree to a large extent with what you have to say, however there are a few things that I'd like to add/change.
It is okay to do things that break printing so long as you provide a version that is completely printer friendly as well. It is sometimes difficult to have a document that is 100% printer friendly as the main document, but it is a nice option to have
And for my number one pet peeve of all time, do not ever use animated gifs. It is the most annoying piece of "eye candy" there is.
One problem that I have found is that when you wrap text around a picture, the print compatibility goes way way way down hill.
Oh, One thing that I find really nice, is to include animations (good quality animations) that really help to explain topics. But use them sparingly. It can most certainly help to cover difficult topics, but keep them in portable code and preferably in on a seperate page that is directly linked.
Oh, and give me a back massage while I'm reading the text. That's about it.
Damn it. My college career is ruined! They could have atleast had the decency to release this in June, so I could have had the summer to play. Damn them...
Ah yes, the illustrious SMB3 saved game glitch that let you access the BIOS and install Linux, how could I forget it...
All it took was a few drops of solder.
I always thought that the movie 'Blade Runner' (one of my personal all-time favorites played exactly like a video game. It has some normal movie (typical gameplay) that leads up to a boss. Then it has more typical gameplay, which goes to another boss. I dunno, just a thought. Good movie though.
This is a tough topic, for me at least. I love Role Playing Games. I started with D&D back in the day and I have continued ever since, switching to computer/console based RPGs after my 'friends' ditched me.
I really do enjoy people who Role Play, ya know, assume a role and stick with it. This does not mean the l337 h4x0r posing as a level 5 mage. I want the game to keep the concept of role playing. However, not everyone sits behind their computer with a Jolt Cola in one hand and a direct copy of Sting in the other (the guy even told me it changes color when orcs are around, but I haven't had the chance to try that feature out yet) like I do.
But this poses a problem. There are not many of our kind out there (which is probably for the best), but those of us who are out there are prone to just a tensy wensy bit of elitism. We become less tolerant of people in the community who are not as extreme as we are. We want a different game than they do, but when we subscribe to an MMORPG, we are subscribing to a Mass Multiplayer Online Community. Let me say that again, Mass Multiplayer. That does not mean just those of us who are really really into RPGs, but everyone else too.
So what's the solution? Good question, thanks for asking. Maybe different servers, based on your extremism, ranging from the l337 folk, to the SCA folk. We cannot let our elitism scare others away from our community. Be kind welcoming, don't punish people, give helpful suggestions, they work better and establish a lot more good blood in the community.
DISCLAIMER: I am a big SCA fan.
Well, that's my two cents
I would think that Activision would be under inquiry by the FDA because of the trace amounts of nicotine that they put into SoF2, but hey, what do I know.
This seems like a rather bad idea on the army's part, in my opinion. I would think that since Apple has such a small slice of the market share that they would not even bother with a release, and more importantly, I wouldn't expect as many Mac users would be potential conscripts. I don't have any hard evidence for that, but considering myself (a long time mac user) and most of the other appleholics that i know, the mac user/pacifist overlap is pretty large...
I bet the fed is finally trying to convert us sunflower-loving hippies using a really cool game. So. Tempting. Must. Resist. Cool. FPS.
In terms of utilities, iChat is by far the best for those of us who are colorblind. It has an option that allows you to use shapes to designate the status of a buddy. It is very helpful as the red and green always look the same because it uses very small circles. Most certainly recommended.
Supplies of adamantium have drop around the globe after two firms began competing for the rare substance. One firm, located in Toyko seems to be using the substance in mice, while the other, located in a frozen tundra in Canada, seems to be using it to create an woman with really pointy claws....
Is this really such a bad thing? It may be from our reference point, but it may not be so much from theirs. It is likely that in a soceity that has recently endured so much that the social services such as education are not as in place as they should be. It may be quite easy for kids to just blow off school and play video games. Therefore they may have to temporarily shut down parlors.
Also, we all that has gone on in recent history, we should give the Afghan society some time to grow. It must be really darn hard for so much to be introduced into a culture in so short a period. They've got to slow down a bit so that the masses can change along with everything else.
I never thought I'd see an article about this. This is really cool. I'm colorblind myself and this is a huge problem for me.
I do essential everything using positioning. I have an excellent memory for where I put things and where things are located on the desktop and on menus, etc. etc.. I use OSX as my primary desktop and I can't tell any of the stinkin' buttons apart. I especially have trouble with iTunes when in its shrunken format.
Another problem is my love of web design. Although not as much of a problem anymore, back in the day, people would use colors that were very similar to one another in terms of darkness, this is very difficult for me to see. Especially in the day of patterned backgrounds and such...I never really found a work around, except back when my monitor had a 16 color option, which made things much more distinct (e.g. red was red, no worries of weird halfshades and such). However, now it is much more difficult to find a graphics card that supports 4-bit graphics. (Why have millions when you can just have 16...). So if something is really difficult (like some games... for example) I'll have a friend or my sister help me out. I'd just like to put in a plug for the only game that has a colorblind option (at least that I've seen, please tell me others if you've seen them, thanks), which is Frozen-Bubble. I'd just like to tell those developers how much I appreciate it.
Whenever I think about MMORPGs, I think about the music industry. There are so many similarities, buggy software, restrictive service for exorbantant monthly fees...
.hack, an anime show. The technology isn't at that point yet, but it wouldn't hurt if the developers could make a little effort to make things more interesting. The MMORPG community needs a savior like Apple was the online music community. And I am by no means suggesting that you have a pay-per-game system, just a more innovative system that would attract more gamers.
The only company, in my opinion that has gotten online gaming right is Blizzard, you buy the game (right...buy...) they provide Battle.net for FREE. hmm. what a novel concept. I would think that most gamers switch from game to game every few months, yes some games last more than others but it is often too much effort to switch gaming services. When I think about what I want in an MMORPG, i think (nerd alert...) of
/.er's have a position with the opposite sex?!?!? That's an article in itself! Jez...This hasn't happened since Kernel v2.5 came out...
It is silly for us to ignore such a large divide in our community though. It exists, therefore we should look at it in depth so we can improve it and better the community as a whole. We shouldn't set off a battle cry for the entire community to come together if that's not really what's going to happen, at least not in the reality that i see. but then again my personal reality distortion field is out of whack this week.
The distroes are quite divided. How 'bout we look at what is specific to each distro so people can chose which is best for them. That is a better way to garner support from the outside community, doncha think? Don't leave them in the dark, that's what scares people away from Linux.
No one is forcing anyone to upgrade. If you want to buy the darn things do so. I personally still play with 2nd edition books and I haven't upgraded for years. I mean, If I were to still play, I'd use 2nd edition....Not that I play D&D anymore...No. Never.
Just stick with your old books and don't upgrade. It's that simple. Yea, it sucks that they raised the price. Even more reason not to buy it. It may show them that people won't buy at those prices.
A girl...friend? I don't understand, we never talk about those at my LAN parties. Plus, my baby has a much larger backside cache, if you know what I mean...
Just as a quick little not on this topic. If you are ever interested in just how much the top 5 employees and administrators make at a specific non-profit organization, there is a gem of a website called Guidestar Just search the website for the non profit, then read the IRS Form 990, which is essentially the organization's tax return. Fun stuff (I think the site now requires free registration, but then again, what doesn't today....)