I'm all in favor of the iPhones having AT&T's network. I don't have an iPhone and won't be getting one, and my phone has already been bumped off with 'Network Congestion' way too many times in the past few months.
Since AT&T's taken on the iPhone, there has been no network upgrade/expansion in the area I live. My basic phone service is as tempermental and annoying now as it was 5 years ago when I moved into this place. Even the 'upgrade plan' map that the salesperson gave me the last time I changed up phones is identical to the one I was given 5 years ago--just with the years changed to reflect the passing of the years.
After being with AT&T for over 10 years, I'll be changing to a carrier that does provide service to my home when I need to change phones next. Nothing AT&T can say will change that...they've had their chance these past 5 years.
I hate to be a naysayer, but DB Admin work (or even DB maintenance work) does not require that much in the way of an onsite person. I've been doing remote DB work for 7 years, most of it international...only once have I ever been on a customer's site and that only to do a tape backup that hadn't been done in over 3 years.
With the right equipment on site, a person in their underwear and sitting in their home can do all of the necessary work. Believe me...I've been doing it for the last few years as part of the downsizing my company's going through (after all, why pay the extra money for an office after you've already cut all of the technical people's pay?).
Considering the fact that there's such a delay between books, and the fact that some of the recent books appear to have been editted and re-editted and re-re-editted so that the storeline doesn't quite jell out, I'd have to say that the blame for the downhill turn has to rest on the publisher.
The publisher sets the release date, they go through and make changes (pull this chapter here, put it there, etc.) and then of course the author gets blamed for it. Frankly, I sometimes wish the publishers would butt out and let the proven authors proceed at their own pace and publish stories as-is.
But of course that'd make sense...but won't make people as much money, so we all know what really matters to publishers.
Ok, I read both referenced articles...and even looked around for some others. Frankly the AP article and the others that I found were frankly just light on details of the delay and hyping up the Japan site.
While the BBC article was detailed on what they think is really going on (admittedly, it's probably what's going on, but I put that disclaimer in there just in case) with the delay.
And you know what? I think I have a little more faith in the BBC article than I do in the AP article...it's almost a certainty that it's a political issue and not just a 'which site is better' issue.
Frankly, I used to play EQ...it was the first first person game that I found that didn't give me headaches and make me physically ill. I stuck it out from near the beginning until after Luclin and Legends came about.
Then I realized, since this was right as the rate increase kicked in, that there was a serious problem. Shadows of Luclin had a long list of promised features that never saw daylight (and only a few have been added in since). This was their 3rd expansion and yet it seems like they never learned the mistakes of the first two.
I got to thinking about parallels and realized that Sony's marketing tactics were becoming more and more like another big giant company that also puts out new releases of software every year. I know that some people will disagree about the parallel, but it struck a chord with me.
Then add in the Legends 'premium' service. I gave it a try for a month, and I saw none of the new content that had been promised for 'all levels'. Saw some for the high end game...but not for the low levels which is where the characters I had transferred were at. Oh sure, I had access to the websites and all those nifty things...but they provided nothing I couldn't do for myself. So again, it wasn't worth the money.
And the final straw was the high end game. I had, after years of work, finally got a character up to level 52. I spent days doing nothing but eat, sleep, play EQ to get myself up from the mid-30s into the 50's. Then Planes of Power was announced to be in development...with talk of adding more levels. And I looked around and saw a half completed expansion (Luclin), lots of money being soaked up (raise in monthly rates and Legends), and finally a cutback in customer service.
So I left, and never turned back. And unless I hear differently, I am going to assume that any other Sony produced MMORPG is going to be just put out to line their pockets. I was interested in SWG, but I am not convinced they have ever learned their lessons with EQ so I will wait and see how it turns out before buying it.
Until then, I will spend my time on DAOC, which (so far) appears to have a clue on how to properly produce an expansion and add in content.
And I will spend my time on Earth and Beyond as it actually has an experience system that makes sense--where it isn't about how many critters you kill but also about exploring and trading.
Since when does reality ever stop our government from passing silly laws? I have yet to hear that the terrorists had even used the net to coordinate the attack.
Of course, I expect to see the following sometime soon:
Washington (GL)--Today, in a move expected to save us all forever, the President has signed into law a bill that'll make it illegal to steal any commercial airliner. This will prevent the Terrorists from doing what they did on September 9, 2001 again to us.
*shakes his head sadly* Since when does making something a law stop the Bad Guys(tm) from doing what they want anyway?
I rather enjoyed watching Robot Wars (not the 'Robot Wars' that I saw being advertised on TLC--I think someone was capitalizing on the name there, at least I hope so) while I was in Scotland last year.
Heck of alot more hardcore damage than what you see on Battlebots, an arena filled with _real_ hazards (flamethrowers anyone?) instead of ones that only get involved when it'll appeal to the crowds, and of course a better commentator.
Give me the show I saw in Scotland and I'd be a happy man. Give me another Battlebots spinoff, and I'll go back to watching anime for my Bot fix.
So, what are the odds that they'll go back to toggle switches and blinking lights for the sets? Wouldn't be the original Enterprise without all those clicks, beeps, and whistles now, would it?
Personally, my money will be on touch panels ala TNG, DS9, etc.:(
So let me get this straight. We've got so much junk up there that Alpha/Atlantis had to dodge some junk and now there's talk of adding more to it, especially stuff that's borderline for the Air Force Space Command to track?
Within the last year, my (soon to be former) ISP of 9 years was bought out by OneMain who then was bought out by Earthlink. Over the course of the months that followed the OneMain buyout, there was many, many, many assurances that none of the services were going to change, that only the improvement of customer support as they switch to a 24/7 support structure.
Well, many months later, they finally get around to moving the servers from the local systems to the OneMain systems. Now, they're cutting down on services being offered, including the one main service that I had been using for the last 9 years--shell access. Of course they're blaiming it on Earthlink's policies, but when they migrated servers, suddenly mail access via shell (which I was counting on with all the international travel I do) had been cut off, leading me to believe that it was a planned move.
It's my belief that soon it'll just be big companies that provide nothing beyond dialup/DSL connections, email (funny how you can get accounts with 10's of email addresses these days), some webspace, and, like in the case of AOL, a community of sorts in chatrooms and games and such. Seems like we're sliding back to the days before the Internet was big where everyone who was 'connected' were on AOL, Compuserv, etc.
Just my 2 bits (that plus 6 more will get you a byte).
...And thus concludes the latest round in the ongoing Air Force Space Command Deathmatch. In the finals, we'll see the young upstart Private Rocks going up against General Bigname to see who is truely the master of the world in 2017.
I wonder when a copy of this game will hit the shelves...
Still, a light weight reactor would be perfect when tied into an ion drive similar to the one on DS1 or other electrically driven propulsion systems. A combination of the two technologies would provide an effecient propulsion system that wouldn't be dependent on solar power (like DS1), heavy fuels/reactors, or needing to take the long way around to use gravity slingshots like most of our current probes.
Of course a solar sail might be more effective. Not sure about the math.
It's 10:30am and your boss tells you that you have an 11 o'clock with a vendor but you can't show up in t-shirt in jeans.
What do you do?
With Web Wear all you need to do is log into your clothes and with a few simple changes to the underlying HTML code, voila! Instant 3 piece suit with matching tie and matching socks.
Just think of the effect all of this 'clean' anime will have on the adults. In making it safe for our children, our adults will slowly become like the very children it's safe for.:)
In all honesty though, as _long_ as it's as close to the original anime as possible, I don't mind slight edits for the sake of TV. It gives me an idea of whether I want to go and find it on DVD (preferred) or VHS (well, any port in a storm, as they say). I really dislike seeing anime mangled though (can we say Robotech?), in order to make it more 'acceptable' to US audiences.
Who defines 'acceptable' anyway? In most cases, definitely not the original writers and directors.
Slashdot Mirror
Might've been mentioned before and I missed it buried in all of the posts, but I can tell you why CRTs are whining all the time.
It's because LCDs have replaced them. :)
I'm all in favor of the iPhones having AT&T's network. I don't have an iPhone and won't be getting one, and my phone has already been bumped off with 'Network Congestion' way too many times in the past few months.
Since AT&T's taken on the iPhone, there has been no network upgrade/expansion in the area I live. My basic phone service is as tempermental and annoying now as it was 5 years ago when I moved into this place. Even the 'upgrade plan' map that the salesperson gave me the last time I changed up phones is identical to the one I was given 5 years ago--just with the years changed to reflect the passing of the years.
After being with AT&T for over 10 years, I'll be changing to a carrier that does provide service to my home when I need to change phones next. Nothing AT&T can say will change that...they've had their chance these past 5 years.
I hate to be a naysayer, but DB Admin work (or even DB maintenance work) does not require that much in the way of an onsite person. I've been doing remote DB work for 7 years, most of it international...only once have I ever been on a customer's site and that only to do a tape backup that hadn't been done in over 3 years.
With the right equipment on site, a person in their underwear and sitting in their home can do all of the necessary work. Believe me...I've been doing it for the last few years as part of the downsizing my company's going through (after all, why pay the extra money for an office after you've already cut all of the technical people's pay?).
Just my two cents.
If he was going downhill, I can't see them comissioning a prequel to the series. And yet there's talk of a prequel in the works.
Grei
Considering the fact that there's such a delay between books, and the fact that some of the recent books appear to have been editted and re-editted and re-re-editted so that the storeline doesn't quite jell out, I'd have to say that the blame for the downhill turn has to rest on the publisher.
The publisher sets the release date, they go through and make changes (pull this chapter here, put it there, etc.) and then of course the author gets blamed for it. Frankly, I sometimes wish the publishers would butt out and let the proven authors proceed at their own pace and publish stories as-is.
But of course that'd make sense...but won't make people as much money, so we all know what really matters to publishers.
Grei
Ok, I read both referenced articles...and even looked around for some others. Frankly the AP article and the others that I found were frankly just light on details of the delay and hyping up the Japan site.
While the BBC article was detailed on what they think is really going on (admittedly, it's probably what's going on, but I put that disclaimer in there just in case) with the delay.
And you know what? I think I have a little more faith in the BBC article than I do in the AP article...it's almost a certainty that it's a political issue and not just a 'which site is better' issue.
Grei
Frankly, I used to play EQ...it was the first first person game that I found that didn't give me headaches and make me physically ill. I stuck it out from near the beginning until after Luclin and Legends came about.
Then I realized, since this was right as the rate increase kicked in, that there was a serious problem. Shadows of Luclin had a long list of promised features that never saw daylight (and only a few have been added in since). This was their 3rd expansion and yet it seems like they never learned the mistakes of the first two.
I got to thinking about parallels and realized that Sony's marketing tactics were becoming more and more like another big giant company that also puts out new releases of software every year. I know that some people will disagree about the parallel, but it struck a chord with me.
Then add in the Legends 'premium' service. I gave it a try for a month, and I saw none of the new content that had been promised for 'all levels'. Saw some for the high end game...but not for the low levels which is where the characters I had transferred were at. Oh sure, I had access to the websites and all those nifty things...but they provided nothing I couldn't do for myself. So again, it wasn't worth the money.
And the final straw was the high end game. I had, after years of work, finally got a character up to level 52. I spent days doing nothing but eat, sleep, play EQ to get myself up from the mid-30s into the 50's. Then Planes of Power was announced to be in development...with talk of adding more levels. And I looked around and saw a half completed expansion (Luclin), lots of money being soaked up (raise in monthly rates and Legends), and finally a cutback in customer service.
So I left, and never turned back. And unless I hear differently, I am going to assume that any other Sony produced MMORPG is going to be just put out to line their pockets. I was interested in SWG, but I am not convinced they have ever learned their lessons with EQ so I will wait and see how it turns out before buying it.
Until then, I will spend my time on DAOC, which (so far) appears to have a clue on how to properly produce an expansion and add in content.
And I will spend my time on Earth and Beyond as it actually has an experience system that makes sense--where it isn't about how many critters you kill but also about exploring and trading.
Grei
Since when does reality ever stop our government from passing silly laws? I have yet to hear that the terrorists had even used the net to coordinate the attack.
Of course, I expect to see the following sometime soon:
Washington (GL)--Today, in a move expected to save us all forever, the President has signed into law a bill that'll make it illegal to steal any commercial airliner. This will prevent the Terrorists from doing what they did on September 9, 2001 again to us.
*shakes his head sadly* Since when does making something a law stop the Bad Guys(tm) from doing what they want anyway?
Grei
I rather enjoyed watching Robot Wars (not the 'Robot Wars' that I saw being advertised on TLC--I think someone was capitalizing on the name there, at least I hope so) while I was in Scotland last year.
Heck of alot more hardcore damage than what you see on Battlebots, an arena filled with _real_ hazards (flamethrowers anyone?) instead of ones that only get involved when it'll appeal to the crowds, and of course a better commentator.
Give me the show I saw in Scotland and I'd be a happy man. Give me another Battlebots spinoff, and I'll go back to watching anime for my Bot fix.
Grei
So, what are the odds that they'll go back to toggle switches and blinking lights for the sets? Wouldn't be the original Enterprise without all those clicks, beeps, and whistles now, would it?
:(
Personally, my money will be on touch panels ala TNG, DS9, etc.
Grei
So let me get this straight. We've got so much junk up there that Alpha/Atlantis had to dodge some junk and now there's talk of adding more to it, especially stuff that's borderline for the Air Force Space Command to track?
What's wrong with this picture?
Grei
Within the last year, my (soon to be former) ISP of 9 years was bought out by OneMain who then was bought out by Earthlink. Over the course of the months that followed the OneMain buyout, there was many, many, many assurances that none of the services were going to change, that only the improvement of customer support as they switch to a 24/7 support structure.
Well, many months later, they finally get around to moving the servers from the local systems to the OneMain systems. Now, they're cutting down on services being offered, including the one main service that I had been using for the last 9 years--shell access. Of course they're blaiming it on Earthlink's policies, but when they migrated servers, suddenly mail access via shell (which I was counting on with all the international travel I do) had been cut off, leading me to believe that it was a planned move.
It's my belief that soon it'll just be big companies that provide nothing beyond dialup/DSL connections, email (funny how you can get accounts with 10's of email addresses these days), some webspace, and, like in the case of AOL, a community of sorts in chatrooms and games and such. Seems like we're sliding back to the days before the Internet was big where everyone who was 'connected' were on AOL, Compuserv, etc.
Just my 2 bits (that plus 6 more will get you a byte).
Grei
And the part of the article that was left out:
...And thus concludes the latest round in the ongoing Air Force Space Command Deathmatch. In the finals, we'll see the young upstart Private Rocks going up against General Bigname to see who is truely the master of the world in 2017.
I wonder when a copy of this game will hit the shelves...
Grei
Still, a light weight reactor would be perfect when tied into an ion drive similar to the one on DS1 or other electrically driven propulsion systems. A combination of the two technologies would provide an effecient propulsion system that wouldn't be dependent on solar power (like DS1), heavy fuels/reactors, or needing to take the long way around to use gravity slingshots like most of our current probes.
Of course a solar sail might be more effective. Not sure about the math.
G
Web Wear...the thing every geek needs.
It's 10:30am and your boss tells you that you have an 11 o'clock with a vendor but you can't show up in t-shirt in jeans.
What do you do?
With Web Wear all you need to do is log into your clothes and with a few simple changes to the underlying HTML code, voila! Instant 3 piece suit with matching tie and matching socks.
Coming soon to a retailer near you!
Grei
Just think of the effect all of this 'clean' anime will have on the adults. In making it safe for our children, our adults will slowly become like the very children it's safe for. :)
In all honesty though, as _long_ as it's as close to the original anime as possible, I don't mind slight edits for the sake of TV. It gives me an idea of whether I want to go and find it on DVD (preferred) or VHS (well, any port in a storm, as they say). I really dislike seeing anime mangled though (can we say Robotech?), in order to make it more 'acceptable' to US audiences.
Who defines 'acceptable' anyway? In most cases, definitely not the original writers and directors.
Grei