As a WoW player, I know many players who have hanging on "til BC is out." I suspect many of those folks will leave the game until the expansion is released, but I do not think it will be a large enough number to matter in the scheme of things.
It should come as no shock for those who know Blizz that BC is delayed though!
but I'm really not interested in paying their asking price
Or worse. I bought a plextor SATA burner, the PX-755SA, and I didn't bother to look at the chart for what motherboards it was tested against, after all, why would I? I've never had a bad Plextor product . . . but now I question that. Is this a bad drive? I can't say. My motherboard is not on the 'works with' list and, it turns out, this drive does not work with any of the various computers I have around the house.
Should I have read the list of supported hardware? Yes!
Should I have to? I say no.
I think the article should have been clearer on issues such as limited hardware support.
I consider a cornerstone lesson: you can only control what you do, and how you react, not what others do to and around you.
Now you can choose to do what you have outlined above, and it certainly teaches something, but bad parents are bad parents. The example you outlined would be a perfect example for me to teach my children what I said above: you cannot control how others act, only how you act and respond. Being treated by the likes of the above is a perfect primer for dealing with the real world, and allows me to teach why this is a bad way of doing things. Even better, it allows the player to experience the sort of selfish nonsense that I am trying to teach against in a _game_ where there are rarely lasting consequences as in Real Life(tm).
Of course, I could be wrong in my perception of your understanding, and you may be assisting me by making my point intentionally:) If so, thanks!
We use games as family learning time
on
In Defense of Games
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
In our house we use games both as a family activity, and also to strengthen life lessons.
WoW, for example, give me a controlled environment where I have ample examples of various behaviors I want to point out and use as 'life lessons' when playing with kids. Perseverance, treating others fairly, random acts of kindness, and our lack of control over how others act are all easy to teach in this format.
Other games reinforce analytical thinking, demonstrate spatial relationships, and provide catharsis, among other things. It's all in how we choose to use the experience, and really helps me teach what I consider a cornerstone lesson: you can only control what you do, and how you react, not what others do to and around you.
Most games have the potential to enrich us with the proper frame of mind and/or guidance.
I agree with the other responder, I develop java with an IDE (eclipse and NB 5) and my desktop (p4 3ghz) is slow slow slow. When I have to run a local database, it's even slower.
At my last assignment we used the best laptop we could get, with the most memory we could cram, and ran MS SQL2k, IIS5, blah blah almost as quickly as production (with only a one user load) for all development. You could develop from home, vpn your code to test, or fix production emergencies from your hotel.
I think a stout laptop is a good idea for any developer on the go.
No, actually you don't. You don't _need_ a teacher to play violin. I agree that it's optimal, a good teacher of any instrument will provide you with insight as to why you should and shouldn't do specific things, and I always encourage people who come to me for lessons or advice to get a qualified teacher if possible . . . but. . . it is not required.
I have played roughly 30 instruments in different capacities in my life, 8 of them for at least five years in a row. Some of these were with instruction and some without. But I know several people who play violin, in particular, who never had a lesson and could play wonderfully. It really depends on A) your ear, B) your dexterity, C) the style of music you want to learn and D) who you intend to play with.
Violin is no different than any other instrument, it can be learned without a teacher, but you'll likely have fewer complaints from the people who have to listen to you practice if you have a good teacher or teaching method:)
I have to first say that this posting was well presented. That said the theory presented and the facts in practice do not quite mesh.
When I read "Here's another person creating his own art based on the prior art of someone else." I assumed that the post would be against the ebay vendor, because this statement clearly shows how that creator is in the wrong.
This is a derived work, and derived works require permission. It is not a parody, and does not come under the heading of protected speech. If you intend to create art derived from somebody else's art, and you do not secure permission, you are reckless at best, or at worst, a thief.
What? Crazy talk?
Blizz must defend their IP vigorously or risk losing their rights to it. To this end, from a prudent legal perspective, they are doing the right thing. Even with this in mind, however, it is very hard for me to condone theft of IP for personal profit (exactly what is happening) either for a pure profit motive's sake or as a larger 'value' issue as outlined above.
Freedoms do not grant you the 'right' to steal or improperly inhibit another. The previous post calls this competition, but let's be real -- it's wrongfully taking what is not yours. The argument that this does not apply to non-individuals is also, while well intentioned (and I see the point I think -- corporations should not have more rights than individuals -- but neither, I think it's clear, should they have fewer protections), is also incorrect from a legal and philosophical value point of view.
Whether the art was made by 'Fred' or 'Anne' is not a determinant of how it should be protected; whether the art was made by a group is also not a determinant -- after all, if group work was not protected, then nobody would ever work together for fear of having no control or ownership of their creations.
I appreciate the notion that we need to be free to function creatively, but that freedom can never include theft -- to say so puts us firmly in the same boat as groups who would justify oppression and human rights violations in the name of 'society' and 'security.'
I suspect, though I could be wrong, that the author of the parent is not in favor of such tactics in that context. If they are, then there can be no meaningful debate. If not, then I am highly curious to see how they reconcile theft with freedom.
I played at times where I was aware of a queue (from guildies reporting this upon log in) and then I got DC'ed on a zone crash, and was able to log in again right away. It's as if the server sensed the DC at their end and gave me priority in the queue, which is right and proper IMO.
You may be right that we should hold internet related businesses to a higher standard.
Personally, I think the standard at Blizz is just fine. I have spoken with many folks in my guild (and a few in others) who have had dealings with Blizz service and I have run across only one other with a negative customer service story. This unscientific sample tells me that amongst this group, at least, the rate of unhappy customers is very low.
This is not proof, of course, but is a good indicator. It can be pointed out that the ones with bad experiences leave and thus would not be part of the sample. I would suggest, however, that people who are dissatisfied tend to complain far louder than those who are satisfied acclaim. This furthers my contention that the level of service and techniques employed by Blizz are both appropriate.
One other point I'd like to make: the USA seems far too preoccupied with 'service' and the expectation of it. I have lived both on the European continent (more than one country) and the North American continent (more than one country) and see this obsession with 'service' as a bad thing. It seems to me that this obsession with service seems to imply an implied right to not be offended or inconvenienced.
I find this to be unnatural, and very un-lifelike.
Heh, I understand that many persons, including many/.'er comments did felt the way you indicated. I accept your chiding, but understand that 10,000 Romans can and are frequently wrong (with apologies to our friends from Rome). It's safe to say that I assume they have good intentions unless proven otherwise, and that has an effect on my perception of events.
I think they made a good decision to ban him, but I personally would have made the ban one month, with a second 'offense' six months, and a third permanent.
As for the " decision based on what there was a possibility of " I find this right and proper as well.
Crazy talk?
Think of how many of these situations they must have every hour every day. Now think of the sheer size of the subscribers. Next, picture the staff and how large they might be.
At this point you might point out that they (clearly) need more employees to deal with this sort of thing, and I would agree. However, if it walks like a bot, 'talks' (is silent and unresponsive) like a bot, and looks like a bot, it is probably (and very likely most of the time) a bot.
The system works fine, they did talk to him, and he was botting.
When you said, "I don't pay anyone for a service and then let them refuse to provide that service and keep my money whenever the whim hits them.", I would suggest that this was not a whim. And yes I paid my money, and I agreed to live by their rules. They are minding their own business, and that includes what I do in their game world.
Again, they are doing the right thing and I applaud them. Cheating is circumventing the stated rules, and that is exactly what happened.
Yeah, I read it. I consider what he was doing to be botting.
Others will not *shrug*
I also will not accept nor give help to toons more than 10 levels from me because I think that's unethical too, so you can see I'm rather conservative.
If you're automating things because they simplify life in the heat of battle, or as you run around (remember Blizz provides in game macros), I think that's fine. To sit and watch a movie hitting a key from time to time is silly. If you find leveling the weapons to be tedious, that's part of the game. If you find the game tedious, don't play it.
There are all sorts of things in WoW that I do not enjoy, so I just don't do those things. I don't intend to use automation to get around it.
I think the real point here is that you don't see him as botting, and I do. We'll just disagree and not join each other's guilds, ok?;)
Actually they have notproven themselves bigoted, and if you RTA you'll see that the behavior is what they objected to.
I play WoW so I am biased, but bots drive me nuts, and are against ToS. He was botting, it had nothing to do with the fancy keyboard, end of discussion on whether he was breaking the rules.
Are they draconian? In my experience yes. I have had no joy from my contacts from GMs, and I even had a long exchange of whispers with one who was very professional, very polite, and very restricted in what they could say.
Seriously, this points out the fundamental dichotomy that exists between our "violence is bad" cultural notions and our quickness to go to war, whatever the good or bad reasons might be (and I'm not making a stand on that today).
The point about 'America's Army' is a good one, because this explains the 'Sibyl' in our national consciousness . . . we use so many psychological tactics to resolve these little cognitive dissonances, but are we sufficiently aware of it?
I have yet to see a link proven between so called violent video games and real life violence, personally my WoW sessions do nothing to make me want to go out and gank a wandering priest;)
One thing I've noticed from VB programmers, and I'm sure this is true of many of the VBesque GUI builders, no matter what the language, is the lack of 'program sense' which is often seen. Much of the code I've had to debug or repair over the years is really just a bunch of code snippets crammed behind some sort of control, without any cohesive structure or paradigm.
Granted, you can build many useful little programmes (if you will), but these coders, again in my direct experience, all too often cannot write without all the little wizards and pre-gen code.
It's almost the difference between a program and a script; a script can be a wonderously useful thing, and it can be very well written, but they are often poor examples of programming practice, the 'art,' if you will, of programming.
It's certainly not a toy, but it's not written or employed in a way that lends itself to good programming practices. Frankly, if a person had to learn with VB I would point them to VBS employing classes, because you can get somewhere close to standard programming practices.
c, I would argue, is a fine language to learn the 'under the hood' aspects of programming, and c++ or java for moving to the OOP world; not because they are better than Smalltalk, but because they are in wider use. C#, really, is no worse than java, the main thing is to avoid the GUI wizards and such early on so that you have a good foundation.
I am not surprised, yet am somehow disappointed, that there are so many bashers who seem to bash for religious (anti MS or language snobbery) reasons instead of thinking this through. Yes, I know where we are, but please!
As a musician, I think this is very exciting. The 'alternative' conventional wisdom of late has been that marketing your band/music online is the wave of the future, but I'm not aware of a concerted (heh) streaming approach that includes performances. Most articles I've read push distribution and marketing in the traditional mp3 sort of sense.
This reminds me of the time when bands were experimenting with slide shows (pre-automation) run by a 'stealth' band member alla early Human League to give a multimedia edge to their presentation. With current technology, why not have a web presence with streaming concert video 'events' as the center piece to the normal mp3 / wallpaper / avant design elements.
Heck, why not have interative art featuring music and graphics based on the old quaint notion of a 'concept album' . ..
To be fair, every time I have actually msg'd with one, I have felt an undercurrent of frustration from them as if they are mostly powerless, and may even agree with my plea.
I am leaving the game, however, because there isn't a way to 'go up the chain' which is probably due to the scale of the game, but diminishes my enjoyment nevertheless.
I have one character who cannot train first aid with silk bandages, though she meets the requirements, and the GMs will only say that it _must_ be a mod. Funny thing is, with no mods I still have the same problem.
When client side lag issues rear an ugly head around the next corner, and issues abound, it's "unavoidable" -- truth? I think so, but it diminishes the fun factor.
I have had a character who lost 20g due to a glitch, and know others who have had similar problems, and the response from the GM was, "This is due to an installed mod. Disable all mods." No redress, no _possibility_ for redress, nothing.
The fact is that this is a huge game, and probably unmanageable in these terms. Fine. I accept that, but even the appearance of an appeal would help salve the sores of frustration.
Sad to say, much of the fun is gone for the frustration. I might have stayed but for this: every time there has been a GM problem, I have been given the same answer: we do not do X as a matter of policy.
I have to say I was shocked by the lack of professionalism Jack displayed in his communications, and even given the 'selective quote' syndrome, and suprised how poorly he represents himself.
I am thankful that/. has been brought to bear in a responsible way, as have the fans of PA, many of whom hang out here too. I was afraid there would be a bunch of childish hacking attempts that would hit the national media furthering his hyperbole, which may in fact have been his intent -- we'll never know.
I think this shows that PA and/.ers don't 'always get it wrong' and or over-compensate for our passion.
Why in my day we used to use telnet to get to iscabbs.
We didn't have any of this fancy spam or spyware of which you speak. If we wanted spam, we had to log off, go outside, and walk to the 7-11 in three feet of snow, uphill, both ways.
While I see truth in your argument, I would say that your glass is half empty.
The only way we will ever replace the dirty technology is by both having the cleaner technology ready, and by having the philosophical understanding to make the change.
"Perpetually accelerates" is a good definition for technology, lower power consumption on a 'per unit of work' basis also follows. As long as population increases, and the 'per unit of work' ratio increases, the "perpetual acceleration" is inevitable.
Is that such a bad thing?
But the point is well taken, we need to change the way we consume.
Methinks you are misunderstanding. Re-read the post.
I didn't say I did nothing. Seems to me the FBI wouldn't want me to tell you if I, in theory, did go to them. I also didn't say I knew these people -- I don't. I met them in Portland, where I do not reside, and spoke to them long enough to understand that they were proud of some very peculiar things, and that the core of their fervor was Greenpeace.
If I could 'torpedo' Greenpeace supporters who were breaking the law I would. I would gladly turn in protesters of any sort who broke the law, and gladly say, "I'm pleased you feel strongly enough to do something, even if I don't agree with you." to those who do not break the law. I smoothed over some difficulties for some Nader supporters recently, even though I'd sooner vote for the Olsen twins.
The issue here is that these people broke in to an energy plant, climbed the smoke stack, and put a giant banner on it. Sounds pretty illegal to me. If the state is too stupid to see these people as a threat, then the Feds should step in. If they had erected a giant pole to suspend their banner from outside the facility, I'd think they were just peaceful protesters, not criminals.
In the end it all boils down to this: A Greenpeace ship was given WiFi equipment, and set up with access. This is interesting in a technology sort of way, in that I had never thought about how the ship would have/maintain connectivity. This is also interesting enough to provoke pageviews on the Greenpeace website. Pageviews mean more people will go see what they are about, or in my case up to, and form/solidify their own opinions.
Free speech in action.
<disclaimer> No terrorists here helped by this post:P </disclaimer>
I met Greenpeace folks in Portland that were proud to 'know' people who disabled brakes on logging trucks to scare/injure/kill the drivers.
I met Greenpeace folks who told me what they do is not breaking the law because, "We're right and the government is wrong, so the law shouldn't apply to us."
Greenpeace, on their site, has a story about "peaceful protestors" who are being denied (according to Greenpeace) the right to protest peacefully because they are being charged with trumped up charges. Never mind that they broke in to an energy plant (coal), climed a smokestack, and affixed a banner to it. Seems to me they broke several laws there . . . oh, my bad -- laws don't apply to them.
I hope the pub from this WiFi helps others to go to their website (as I did upon reading it) so they can see how Greenpeace really is.
Some may agree, some may reach my conclusion -- that they are terrorists . . . But that's the beauty of the web . . . and a little thing called free speech.
Slashdot Mirror
As a WoW player, I know many players who have hanging on "til BC is out." I suspect many of those folks will leave the game until the expansion is released, but I do not think it will be a large enough number to matter in the scheme of things.
It should come as no shock for those who know Blizz that BC is delayed though!
but I'm really not interested in paying their asking price
Or worse. I bought a plextor SATA burner, the PX-755SA, and I didn't bother to look at the chart for what motherboards it was tested against, after all, why would I? I've never had a bad Plextor product . . . but now I question that. Is this a bad drive? I can't say. My motherboard is not on the 'works with' list and, it turns out, this drive does not work with any of the various computers I have around the house.
Should I have read the list of supported hardware? Yes!
Should I have to? I say no.
I think the article should have been clearer on issues such as limited hardware support.
Perhaps you should read the whole post:
:) If so, thanks!
I consider a cornerstone lesson: you can only control what you do, and how you react, not what others do to and around you.
Now you can choose to do what you have outlined above, and it certainly teaches something, but bad parents are bad parents. The example you outlined would be a perfect example for me to teach my children what I said above: you cannot control how others act, only how you act and respond. Being treated by the likes of the above is a perfect primer for dealing with the real world, and allows me to teach why this is a bad way of doing things. Even better, it allows the player to experience the sort of selfish nonsense that I am trying to teach against in a _game_ where there are rarely lasting consequences as in Real Life(tm).
Of course, I could be wrong in my perception of your understanding, and you may be assisting me by making my point intentionally
In our house we use games both as a family activity, and also to strengthen life lessons.
WoW, for example, give me a controlled environment where I have ample examples of various behaviors I want to point out and use as 'life lessons' when playing with kids. Perseverance, treating others fairly, random acts of kindness, and our lack of control over how others act are all easy to teach in this format.
Other games reinforce analytical thinking, demonstrate spatial relationships, and provide catharsis, among other things. It's all in how we choose to use the experience, and really helps me teach what I consider a cornerstone lesson: you can only control what you do, and how you react, not what others do to and around you.
Most games have the potential to enrich us with the proper frame of mind and/or guidance.
I agree with the other responder, I develop java with an IDE (eclipse and NB 5) and my desktop (p4 3ghz) is slow slow slow. When I have to run a local database, it's even slower.
At my last assignment we used the best laptop we could get, with the most memory we could cram, and ran MS SQL2k, IIS5, blah blah almost as quickly as production (with only a one user load) for all development. You could develop from home, vpn your code to test, or fix production emergencies from your hotel.
I think a stout laptop is a good idea for any developer on the go.
That's no moon, that's a space station.
No, actually you don't. You don't _need_ a teacher to play violin. I agree that it's optimal, a good teacher of any instrument will provide you with insight as to why you should and shouldn't do specific things, and I always encourage people who come to me for lessons or advice to get a qualified teacher if possible . . . but. . . it is not required.
I have played roughly 30 instruments in different capacities in my life, 8 of them for at least five years in a row. Some of these were with instruction and some without. But I know several people who play violin, in particular, who never had a lesson and could play wonderfully. It really depends on A) your ear, B) your dexterity, C) the style of music you want to learn and D) who you intend to play with.
Violin is no different than any other instrument, it can be learned without a teacher, but you'll likely have fewer complaints from the people who have to listen to you practice if you have a good teacher or teaching method:)
To say otherwise is really just musical snobbery.
*braces for random flames*
I have to first say that this posting was well presented. That said the theory presented and the facts in practice do not quite mesh.
When I read "Here's another person creating his own art based on the prior art of someone else." I assumed that the post would be against the ebay vendor, because this statement clearly shows how that creator is in the wrong.
This is a derived work, and derived works require permission. It is not a parody, and does not come under the heading of protected speech. If you intend to create art derived from somebody else's art, and you do not secure permission, you are reckless at best, or at worst, a thief.
What? Crazy talk?
Blizz must defend their IP vigorously or risk losing their rights to it. To this end, from a prudent legal perspective, they are doing the right thing. Even with this in mind, however, it is very hard for me to condone theft of IP for personal profit (exactly what is happening) either for a pure profit motive's sake or as a larger 'value' issue as outlined above.
Freedoms do not grant you the 'right' to steal or improperly inhibit another. The previous post calls this competition, but let's be real -- it's wrongfully taking what is not yours. The argument that this does not apply to non-individuals is also, while well intentioned (and I see the point I think -- corporations should not have more rights than individuals -- but neither, I think it's clear, should they have fewer protections), is also incorrect from a legal and philosophical value point of view.
Whether the art was made by 'Fred' or 'Anne' is not a determinant of how it should be protected; whether the art was made by a group is also not a determinant -- after all, if group work was not protected, then nobody would ever work together for fear of having no control or ownership of their creations.
I appreciate the notion that we need to be free to function creatively, but that freedom can never include theft -- to say so puts us firmly in the same boat as groups who would justify oppression and human rights violations in the name of 'society' and 'security.'
I suspect, though I could be wrong, that the author of the parent is not in favor of such tactics in that context. If they are, then there can be no meaningful debate. If not, then I am highly curious to see how they reconcile theft with freedom.
I have a theory.
I played at times where I was aware of a queue (from guildies reporting this upon log in) and then I got DC'ed on a zone crash, and was able to log in again right away. It's as if the server sensed the DC at their end and gave me priority in the queue, which is right and proper IMO.
But that's just a theory.
You may be right that we should hold internet related businesses to a higher standard.
Personally, I think the standard at Blizz is just fine. I have spoken with many folks in my guild (and a few in others) who have had dealings with Blizz service and I have run across only one other with a negative customer service story. This unscientific sample tells me that amongst this group, at least, the rate of unhappy customers is very low.
This is not proof, of course, but is a good indicator. It can be pointed out that the ones with bad experiences leave and thus would not be part of the sample. I would suggest, however, that people who are dissatisfied tend to complain far louder than those who are satisfied acclaim. This furthers my contention that the level of service and techniques employed by Blizz are both appropriate.
One other point I'd like to make: the USA seems far too preoccupied with 'service' and the expectation of it. I have lived both on the European continent (more than one country) and the North American continent (more than one country) and see this obsession with 'service' as a bad thing. It seems to me that this obsession with service seems to imply an implied right to not be offended or inconvenienced.
I find this to be unnatural, and very un-lifelike.
Of course, ymmv.
Heh, I understand that many persons, including many /.'er comments did felt the way you indicated. I accept your chiding, but understand that 10,000 Romans can and are frequently wrong (with apologies to our friends from Rome). It's safe to say that I assume they have good intentions unless proven otherwise, and that has an effect on my perception of events.
I think they made a good decision to ban him, but I personally would have made the ban one month, with a second 'offense' six months, and a third permanent.
As for the " decision based on what there was a possibility of " I find this right and proper as well.
Crazy talk?
Think of how many of these situations they must have every hour every day. Now think of the sheer size of the subscribers. Next, picture the staff and how large they might be.
At this point you might point out that they (clearly) need more employees to deal with this sort of thing, and I would agree. However, if it walks like a bot, 'talks' (is silent and unresponsive) like a bot, and looks like a bot, it is probably (and very likely most of the time) a bot.
The system works fine, they did talk to him, and he was botting.
When you said, "I don't pay anyone for a service and then let them refuse to provide that service and keep my money whenever the whim hits them.", I would suggest that this was not a whim. And yes I paid my money, and I agreed to live by their rules. They are minding their own business, and that includes what I do in their game world.
Again, they are doing the right thing and I applaud them. Cheating is circumventing the stated rules, and that is exactly what happened.
Yeah, I read it. I consider what he was doing to be botting.
;)
Others will not *shrug*
I also will not accept nor give help to toons more than 10 levels from me because I think that's unethical too, so you can see I'm rather conservative.
If you're automating things because they simplify life in the heat of battle, or as you run around (remember Blizz provides in game macros), I think that's fine. To sit and watch a movie hitting a key from time to time is silly. If you find leveling the weapons to be tedious, that's part of the game. If you find the game tedious, don't play it.
There are all sorts of things in WoW that I do not enjoy, so I just don't do those things. I don't intend to use automation to get around it.
I think the real point here is that you don't see him as botting, and I do. We'll just disagree and not join each other's guilds, ok?
Actually they have not proven themselves bigoted, and if you RTA you'll see that the behavior is what they objected to.
I play WoW so I am biased, but bots drive me nuts, and are against ToS. He was botting, it had nothing to do with the fancy keyboard, end of discussion on whether he was breaking the rules.
Are they draconian? In my experience yes. I have had no joy from my contacts from GMs, and I even had a long exchange of whispers with one who was very professional, very polite, and very restricted in what they could say.
Yes . . . Pac man . . . alert Gabe!;)
Seriously, this points out the fundamental dichotomy that exists between our "violence is bad" cultural notions and our quickness to go to war, whatever the good or bad reasons might be (and I'm not making a stand on that today).
The point about 'America's Army' is a good one, because this explains the 'Sibyl' in our national consciousness . . . we use so many psychological tactics to resolve these little cognitive dissonances, but are we sufficiently aware of it?
I have yet to see a link proven between so called violent video games and real life violence, personally my WoW sessions do nothing to make me want to go out and gank a wandering priest;)
One thing I've noticed from VB programmers, and I'm sure this is true of many of the VBesque GUI builders, no matter what the language, is the lack of 'program sense' which is often seen. Much of the code I've had to debug or repair over the years is really just a bunch of code snippets crammed behind some sort of control, without any cohesive structure or paradigm.
:)
Granted, you can build many useful little programmes (if you will), but these coders, again in my direct experience, all too often cannot write without all the little wizards and pre-gen code.
It's almost the difference between a program and a script; a script can be a wonderously useful thing, and it can be very well written, but they are often poor examples of programming practice, the 'art,' if you will, of programming.
Does that make sense, or am I rambling?
It's certainly not a toy, but it's not written or employed in a way that lends itself to good programming practices. Frankly, if a person had to learn with VB I would point them to VBS employing classes, because you can get somewhere close to standard programming practices.
c, I would argue, is a fine language to learn the 'under the hood' aspects of programming, and c++ or java for moving to the OOP world; not because they are better than Smalltalk, but because they are in wider use. C#, really, is no worse than java, the main thing is to avoid the GUI wizards and such early on so that you have a good foundation.
I am not surprised, yet am somehow disappointed, that there are so many bashers who seem to bash for religious (anti MS or language snobbery) reasons instead of thinking this through. Yes, I know where we are, but please!
As a musician, I think this is very exciting. The 'alternative' conventional wisdom of late has been that marketing your band/music online is the wave of the future, but I'm not aware of a concerted (heh) streaming approach that includes performances. Most articles I've read push distribution and marketing in the traditional mp3 sort of sense.
.
This reminds me of the time when bands were experimenting with slide shows (pre-automation) run by a 'stealth' band member alla early Human League to give a multimedia edge to their presentation. With current technology, why not have a web presence with streaming concert video 'events' as the center piece to the normal mp3 / wallpaper / avant design elements.
Heck, why not have interative art featuring music and graphics based on the old quaint notion of a 'concept album' . .
I too have had several poor experiences with GMs.
To be fair, every time I have actually msg'd with one, I have felt an undercurrent of frustration from them as if they are mostly powerless, and may even agree with my plea.
I am leaving the game, however, because there isn't a way to 'go up the chain' which is probably due to the scale of the game, but diminishes my enjoyment nevertheless.
I have one character who cannot train first aid with silk bandages, though she meets the requirements, and the GMs will only say that it _must_ be a mod. Funny thing is, with no mods I still have the same problem.
When client side lag issues rear an ugly head around the next corner, and issues abound, it's "unavoidable" -- truth? I think so, but it diminishes the fun factor.
I have had a character who lost 20g due to a glitch, and know others who have had similar problems, and the response from the GM was, "This is due to an installed mod. Disable all mods." No redress, no _possibility_ for redress, nothing.
The fact is that this is a huge game, and probably unmanageable in these terms. Fine. I accept that, but even the appearance of an appeal would help salve the sores of frustration.
Sad to say, much of the fun is gone for the frustration. I might have stayed but for this: every time there has been a GM problem, I have been given the same answer: we do not do X as a matter of policy.
Goodbye Stormwind.
I have to say I was shocked by the lack of professionalism Jack displayed in his communications, and even given the 'selective quote' syndrome, and suprised how poorly he represents himself.
/. has been brought to bear in a responsible way, as have the fans of PA, many of whom hang out here too. I was afraid there would be a bunch of childish hacking attempts that would hit the national media furthering his hyperbole, which may in fact have been his intent -- we'll never know.
/.ers don't 'always get it wrong' and or over-compensate for our passion.
I am thankful that
I think this shows that PA and
It's good to be a nerd today;)
Nor did I:)
ISCABBS = Iowa Student Computer Association Bulletin Board System
I _still_ know folks I met on that board.
Why in my day we used to use telnet to get to iscabbs.
We didn't have any of this fancy spam or spyware of which you speak. If we wanted spam, we had to log off, go outside, and walk to the 7-11 in three feet of snow, uphill, both ways.
*grumbles*
While I see truth in your argument, I would say that your glass is half empty.
The only way we will ever replace the dirty technology is by both having the cleaner technology ready, and by having the philosophical understanding to make the change.
"Perpetually accelerates" is a good definition for technology, lower power consumption on a 'per unit of work' basis also follows. As long as population increases, and the 'per unit of work' ratio increases, the "perpetual acceleration" is inevitable.
Is that such a bad thing?
But the point is well taken, we need to change the way we consume.
I will reply with this: believe what you want.
Ranting will not convince others:)
Methinks you are misunderstanding. Re-read the post.
:P </disclaimer>
I didn't say I did nothing. Seems to me the FBI wouldn't want me to tell you if I, in theory, did go to them. I also didn't say I knew these people -- I don't. I met them in Portland, where I do not reside, and spoke to them long enough to understand that they were proud of some very peculiar things, and that the core of their fervor was Greenpeace.
If I could 'torpedo' Greenpeace supporters who were breaking the law I would. I would gladly turn in protesters of any sort who broke the law, and gladly say, "I'm pleased you feel strongly enough to do something, even if I don't agree with you." to those who do not break the law. I smoothed over some difficulties for some Nader supporters recently, even though I'd sooner vote for the Olsen twins.
The issue here is that these people broke in to an energy plant, climbed the smoke stack, and put a giant banner on it. Sounds pretty illegal to me. If the state is too stupid to see these people as a threat, then the Feds should step in. If they had erected a giant pole to suspend their banner from outside the facility, I'd think they were just peaceful protesters, not criminals.
In the end it all boils down to this: A Greenpeace ship was given WiFi equipment, and set up with access. This is interesting in a technology sort of way, in that I had never thought about how the ship would have/maintain connectivity. This is also interesting enough to provoke pageviews on the Greenpeace website. Pageviews mean more people will go see what they are about, or in my case up to, and form/solidify their own opinions.
Free speech in action.
<disclaimer> No terrorists here helped by this post
Yes terrorists.
I met Greenpeace folks in Portland that were proud to 'know' people who disabled brakes on logging trucks to scare/injure/kill the drivers.
I met Greenpeace folks who told me what they do is not breaking the law because, "We're right and the government is wrong, so the law shouldn't apply to us."
Greenpeace, on their site, has a story about "peaceful protestors" who are being denied (according to Greenpeace) the right to protest peacefully because they are being charged with trumped up charges. Never mind that they broke in to an energy plant (coal), climed a smokestack, and affixed a banner to it. Seems to me they broke several laws there . . . oh, my bad -- laws don't apply to them.
I hope the pub from this WiFi helps others to go to their website (as I did upon reading it) so they can see how Greenpeace really is. Some may agree, some may reach my conclusion -- that they are terrorists . . . But that's the beauty of the web . . . and a little thing called free speech.