You're right, my logic got lost in my rambling,.. there is no way to reconcile the technology discontinuity. So they should have just plain ignored it, and concentrate on storyline/universe continuity, like the Tribble show. And you are also right, IMO, that they should just not have made the show--I never watched it because the star trek franchise had been driven into the ground by then. There are a whole bunch of other sci fi shows that outshine startrek--farscape, stargate, battlestar galactica, firefly--great stuff can be done with a good idea, good characters and good scripts. It is just laziness to take a good name and try to achieve maximum exploitation with minimum effort.
As groundbreaking as the original series was, it was still based on '60s concepts of how the future would look. Even the later series, which did a great job trying to keep continuity with the original, had a few huge problems to overcome. One of the best episodes ever, DS9's reprise of "Trouble With Tribbles" had to contend with the fact that the original Klingons looked more like Ming the Merciless than they looked like "modern Klingons" with the riged forehead and larger muscles. There was no way to reconcile that, so they just had Warf say "We Klingons do not talk about it." How could Enterprise possibly make technology that looked more advanced than ours, but less advanced than the original? (Maybe they could have it look like current military technology, which already looks pretty high tech--HUD's and virtual controls on a multifunction touch screen--you know, like they used in later star treks, but more "today looking" so it naturally looks less advanced.)
btw, I never watched Enterprise, I was already tired of the Star Trek universe by then (a few episodes of STV did that for me) but I hear that some of the actresses were pretty hot.
I agree that Picard was a better captain than Kirk, but there is a lot about star trek that bugged me, not the least of which was that Capt. Jelicho and Cmdr. Data were better captains than either of them. (Riker complained to Jelicho he was being too hard on the crew. HELLO! You were at war, Riker! It's not Jelicho's fault Picard never ran battle readiness drills.) Data was the victim of starfleet's basic pro-human bias. (Ever wonder why starfleet was topheavy with humans instead of the much longer lived vulcans?) It really galled me when Troi was promoted over Data. I wasn't even aware that she was an officer, I thought she was a civilian contractor (but she donned a uniform in later shows).
And another thing, Troi sure was hot, but God, I hated the way she abused Worf. "A Klingon does NOT [do X]!" "Well, I'm not a Klingon, but I know I would feel [feeling Y] if I were confronted with [situation Z] [and I think you damn well better change your behavior and act more like me by doing X even though I'm not a Klingon, or I will make a recommendation to Capt. Picard to include this "deficiency" in your officer's fitness report]." Which invariably concludes with Worf changing his behaviour to be more like a human-betazoid hybrid than the Klingon he is.
Sorry about that. Thanks for letting me vent my hyper-critical warp core.
Conversely, could this new technology be used as an ultra sensitive sensor for ionizing radiation? And if it could, would there even be a use for it (if it could detect changes in radiation smaller than the natural variance in background radiation, how useful could that be)?
This is not quite that software dilemma. Lifting something quoted in an earlier post:
"the KDE developers should follow Apple's lead and focus more on the needs of users, instead of insisting on software perfection."
This is about writing something that is correct to spec by the design document (i.e. the needs of the user--or maybe it is about getting the design document right?) vs. technically correct (i.e. perfect software--correct to the language spec, elegant, robust, no flaws, easily readable and maintainable, etc.)
Ideally, one's software would be both of these, and thus fit in the third category "correct".
I therefore propose that this old adage be modified thus: "On schedule, on budget, on spec, or few flaws--pick two"
Feel free to change those words to make it flow better. OT: in my limited experience, the scope of the project is always changing, so really none of those apply, therefore one can only really try to achieve #4, as few flaws as possible in what actually does get done.
It looks to me less that she is flaunting a powerbook, than hiding a body she is not comfortable with. I would do the same thing--you know, try to suck in my belly, cover the mustard stain on my shirt, etc.-- if I were being photographed.
Geez, I was expecting an article at the link, I got a download. Luckily it was big enough I could cancel it before it completed. What if it were a 50KB worm? Good thing I run OS X 10.4. Wait, what if it were a widget? Damn!
He also got his wife a new ironing board for her birthday.
Re:Supprized it to MTV this long to jump on
on
MTV Games Launches
·
· Score: 1
D'oh! I admit my stupidity. I installed QT7 earlier this week to watch the serenity trailer, and it usurped swf in the mime settings. My flash blocker is still blocking them apparently, though. "I am so smart! S-M-R-T! S-M-*A*-R-T!"
Re:Supprized it to MTV this long to jump on
on
MTV Games Launches
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
" MTV hasent played videos since the early 90s"
I don't know what the cable channel is doing these days, but the web site certainly isn't playing any videos. I followed the link in the story, and all I got were stacks of frames with broken quicktime elements. Are they using quicktime for serving ads instead of flash? Perhaps to get around flash blockers? If so, my hosts file has nixed that plan.
that would explain why my throwaway hotmail account (for recieving commercial email, and all the spam that ensues) was broken the last few days. I thought they had nerfed it again to break even more functionality in firefox and safari (they did that before) and I was just going to abandon it before I would ever load up msie. I just checked it today and it is working again.
"This article is about that feeling - why we get it when we play games, and how we can design games that give us more of it."
In 1803 Friedrich Sertuerner identified the active ingredient in opium and synthesized morphine. I play video games way too much, and my nephews play even more. Do we really need to make them more addictive?
Of course the average/.'er drives a VW Thing that was hand built by everyone he/she knows, only runs on methanol that he/she makes in the back yard, has the steering wheel on the wrong side, and requires three keys to start.
It was a used postal jeep, I had rebuilt nearly every part on it. Steering wheel on the wrong side, it started with a screwdriver though (not as secure as the linux analogy you make, so I had to hide an ignition cut out switch--security through obscurity, donchano) I finally got a real job, and bought a vw tdi. Now I burn biodiesel, instead of the methanol you mention.
here's another fun thing you can do to reduce the number of passwords. When you buy online, and every site you go to has it's own login/registry whatever... use a random password that has nothing to do with anything. If you never visit the site again, no biggie. If you do return, you've probably forgotten your login anyway, and will need a challenge sent to your email, which effectively makes it a tier 3 site, except they don't get your tier 3 password. Frequently visited sites like Amazon you'll probably remember the password for, or you can just make it a tier 3 site.
that's why the tiers are arranged in that order, from most important to me (and, theoretically most secure) to least. And how is it less secure than writing passwords down somewhere because 15 different strong passwords all change at the same time? Is it less secure than never changing those 15 different passwords because it would be too hard to remember any of them? Or using weak passwords like password69?
I like your analogy, I might have to steal it because I feel exactly the same way. Even booting it up irritates me--so much so that I've purchased mac versions of my games if available, and stopped playing the rest. That's something, because I believe it is the lack of games on mac and linux that prevent the vast majority of windows users from switching to a more useful and/or lower cost alternative. (I know about Cegeda, I bought wineX 3.0)
There is no reason to switch if what you have works for you and you have no problems, as you state. If, furthermore, it costs you little effort to keep it that way, you're golden.
Now consider this scenario: in 1-2 years when it is time to get new hardware, or new design software, you are going to be switching anyway. That is the time to consider will you switch to Mac OS X 10.5, or to Longhorn (if it is out, windows XP second edition if it is not)?
Not to be an Apple fanboy (I don't even own a mac), but OSX's GUI seems to have function as well as slickness
I am an apple fanboy, after a fashion. (I hated macs until OS X came out, now I like it so much I don't even bother handing out Knoppix CDs to people, I just tell them to get a mac)
I recall, however that mac OS 10.0 was panned as far as the GUI "look and feel" goes. Most reviewers had the opinion: "the program dock? WTF?" Now I think most agree with you--slick and functional.
To be fair, windows 3.x interface was horrible (I went through a bunch of replacement desktops to try to find a good one. I think I settled on MoonComet, whoever wrote that one, thanks). Windows 95/98/NT4/2000 was a decent interface, and they screwed it up with the win Me/XP GUI--many people reset it to "classic theme". This sample is even worse than XP.
The win 2000 gui I find reasonably functional and easy to use, since I'm used to it. The start button master menu paradigm might need an overhaul (seeing the "shut do" button in longhorn, I believe the start button began life as the "start here" button). I hope they fix it--this ugly gui, not necessarily the master menu paradigm--before release.
Then again, I don't really care 'cause I'm a mac guy now.
One of my pet peeves is security systems that force an unreasonable UPPER limit on password length. There is one system here at work that requires a 6-8 digit password. Even worse, another system requires a 5 digit "PIN" when really they mean a 5 and only 5 character password.
Why this really is annoying to me is because I use a 4 tier password system. Tier 1 is for my bank accounts, when that is changed the password is reused for tier 2 applications--my passwords on my home computers. Tier 2 password becomes tier 3, my email, and those passwords become tier 4, i.e. all my passwords at work. That way I only have to remember 4 passwords at any one time (and 2 truncated ones) and no sticky note security.
The information will never be *USED*. There will be no point in having it.
Reminds me of an X-Files episode (I watched the first 3 seasons, then I stopped because it was starting to suck). Anyway, Mulder breaks into an abandoned mine, and hidden way in the back of the mine there were file cabinets of (obviously) paper records about UFO abductees (including current ones, like his missing partner). Now, I'm not talking Iron Mountain archives, who actually have employees and tons of archives from clients, these were just a few rows of filing cabinets in an abandoned mine, and no employees around to actually do the filing or look up records. So who uses that information, and why keep it? I know, it's only a show, the writers were writing on a deadline, and there was a lot more wacky stuff to take issue with--it was a show about aliens and the occult (the secret government conspiracies were based on true stories, though).
For example, I was in Felwood last night working on a quest and a couple of Horde were right next to me killing MOBs and we pretty much go into a rhythm were I would kill one, then they would kill one, so on and so forth. At the end, we completed our objective (fill the vial with corrupted water), saluted each other, and went on our merry way.
I play on a carebear server, and that is the way it is supposed to work (but maybe with rude gestures sometimes instead of just salutes). I imagine on a PvP server, if the honor system discourages that behavior, then it will have worked as intended. I wonder if it will significantly increase PvP on the carebear servers too? I hope so. I also applaud the PvP toggle, so that you can turn it on and leave it on, if you were in a PvP mood. I hope it still has the 5 minute cooldown before you can turn it off after combat, though.
I am no economic genius, by any means. I had been selling linen, for example, at a 24 hour auction with no buyout price. For some reason, they sell between 6 and 13 silver consistantly, and I was happy with that. (Like I said, I am no economic genius)
I took your advice, and set a 25 silver buyout on linen, and sure enough, I got 25 silver. This argues that convenience is worth at least 19 silver, (i.e. getting the linen NOW for a higher price rather that waiting 24 hours and maybe someone outbids you between now and then)
I suppose it's obvious, but it just never occured to me to exploit that. Thanks for pointing out the obvious to me.
Slashdot Mirror
You're right, my logic got lost in my rambling,.. there is no way to reconcile the technology discontinuity. So they should have just plain ignored it, and concentrate on storyline/universe continuity, like the Tribble show. And you are also right, IMO, that they should just not have made the show--I never watched it because the star trek franchise had been driven into the ground by then. There are a whole bunch of other sci fi shows that outshine startrek--farscape, stargate, battlestar galactica, firefly--great stuff can be done with a good idea, good characters and good scripts. It is just laziness to take a good name and try to achieve maximum exploitation with minimum effort.
As groundbreaking as the original series was, it was still based on '60s concepts of how the future would look. Even the later series, which did a great job trying to keep continuity with the original, had a few huge problems to overcome. One of the best episodes ever, DS9's reprise of "Trouble With Tribbles" had to contend with the fact that the original Klingons looked more like Ming the Merciless than they looked like "modern Klingons" with the riged forehead and larger muscles. There was no way to reconcile that, so they just had Warf say "We Klingons do not talk about it." How could Enterprise possibly make technology that looked more advanced than ours, but less advanced than the original? (Maybe they could have it look like current military technology, which already looks pretty high tech--HUD's and virtual controls on a multifunction touch screen--you know, like they used in later star treks, but more "today looking" so it naturally looks less advanced.)
btw, I never watched Enterprise, I was already tired of the Star Trek universe by then (a few episodes of STV did that for me) but I hear that some of the actresses were pretty hot.
I agree that Picard was a better captain than Kirk, but there is a lot about star trek that bugged me, not the least of which was that Capt. Jelicho and Cmdr. Data were better captains than either of them. (Riker complained to Jelicho he was being too hard on the crew. HELLO! You were at war, Riker! It's not Jelicho's fault Picard never ran battle readiness drills.) Data was the victim of starfleet's basic pro-human bias. (Ever wonder why starfleet was topheavy with humans instead of the much longer lived vulcans?) It really galled me when Troi was promoted over Data. I wasn't even aware that she was an officer, I thought she was a civilian contractor (but she donned a uniform in later shows).
And another thing, Troi sure was hot, but God, I hated the way she abused Worf. "A Klingon does NOT [do X]!" "Well, I'm not a Klingon, but I know I would feel [feeling Y] if I were confronted with [situation Z] [and I think you damn well better change your behavior and act more like me by doing X even though I'm not a Klingon, or I will make a recommendation to Capt. Picard to include this "deficiency" in your officer's fitness report]." Which invariably concludes with Worf changing his behaviour to be more like a human-betazoid hybrid than the Klingon he is.
Sorry about that. Thanks for letting me vent my hyper-critical warp core.
Conversely, could this new technology be used as an ultra sensitive sensor for ionizing radiation? And if it could, would there even be a use for it (if it could detect changes in radiation smaller than the natural variance in background radiation, how useful could that be)?
"...quickly, cheaply, or correctly..."
This is not quite that software dilemma. Lifting something quoted in an earlier post:
"the KDE developers should follow Apple's lead and focus more on the needs of users, instead of insisting on software perfection."
This is about writing something that is correct to spec by the design document (i.e. the needs of the user--or maybe it is about getting the design document right?) vs. technically correct (i.e. perfect software--correct to the language spec, elegant, robust, no flaws, easily readable and maintainable, etc.)
Ideally, one's software would be both of these, and thus fit in the third category "correct".
I therefore propose that this old adage be modified thus: "On schedule, on budget, on spec, or few flaws--pick two"
Feel free to change those words to make it flow better. OT: in my limited experience, the scope of the project is always changing, so really none of those apply, therefore one can only really try to achieve #4, as few flaws as possible in what actually does get done.
Lucas has much to atone for
It looks to me less that she is flaunting a powerbook, than hiding a body she is not comfortable with. I would do the same thing--you know, try to suck in my belly, cover the mustard stain on my shirt, etc.-- if I were being photographed.
Geez, I was expecting an article at the link, I got a download. Luckily it was big enough I could cancel it before it completed. What if it were a 50KB worm? Good thing I run OS X 10.4. Wait, what if it were a widget? Damn!
He also got his wife a new ironing board for her birthday.
D'oh! I admit my stupidity. I installed QT7 earlier this week to watch the serenity trailer, and it usurped swf in the mime settings. My flash blocker is still blocking them apparently, though. "I am so smart! S-M-R-T! S-M-*A*-R-T!"
" MTV hasent played videos since the early 90s"
I don't know what the cable channel is doing these days, but the web site certainly isn't playing any videos. I followed the link in the story, and all I got were stacks of frames with broken quicktime elements. Are they using quicktime for serving ads instead of flash? Perhaps to get around flash blockers? If so, my hosts file has nixed that plan.
that would explain why my throwaway hotmail account (for recieving commercial email, and all the spam that ensues) was broken the last few days. I thought they had nerfed it again to break even more functionality in firefox and safari (they did that before) and I was just going to abandon it before I would ever load up msie. I just checked it today and it is working again.
"This article is about that feeling - why we get it when we play games, and how we can design games that give us more of it."
In 1803 Friedrich Sertuerner identified the active ingredient in opium and synthesized morphine. I play video games way too much, and my nephews play even more. Do we really need to make them more addictive?
Of course the average /.'er drives a VW Thing that was hand built by everyone he/she knows, only runs on methanol that he/she makes in the back yard, has the steering wheel on the wrong side, and requires three keys to start.
It was a used postal jeep, I had rebuilt nearly every part on it. Steering wheel on the wrong side, it started with a screwdriver though (not as secure as the linux analogy you make, so I had to hide an ignition cut out switch--security through obscurity, donchano) I finally got a real job, and bought a vw tdi. Now I burn biodiesel, instead of the methanol you mention.
here's another fun thing you can do to reduce the number of passwords. When you buy online, and every site you go to has it's own login/registry whatever... use a random password that has nothing to do with anything. If you never visit the site again, no biggie. If you do return, you've probably forgotten your login anyway, and will need a challenge sent to your email, which effectively makes it a tier 3 site, except they don't get your tier 3 password. Frequently visited sites like Amazon you'll probably remember the password for, or you can just make it a tier 3 site.
that's why the tiers are arranged in that order, from most important to me (and, theoretically most secure) to least. And how is it less secure than writing passwords down somewhere because 15 different strong passwords all change at the same time? Is it less secure than never changing those 15 different passwords because it would be too hard to remember any of them? Or using weak passwords like password69?
I like your analogy, I might have to steal it because I feel exactly the same way. Even booting it up irritates me--so much so that I've purchased mac versions of my games if available, and stopped playing the rest. That's something, because I believe it is the lack of games on mac and linux that prevent the vast majority of windows users from switching to a more useful and/or lower cost alternative. (I know about Cegeda, I bought wineX 3.0)
There is no reason to switch if what you have works for you and you have no problems, as you state. If, furthermore, it costs you little effort to keep it that way, you're golden.
Now consider this scenario: in 1-2 years when it is time to get new hardware, or new design software, you are going to be switching anyway. That is the time to consider will you switch to Mac OS X 10.5, or to Longhorn (if it is out, windows XP second edition if it is not)?
Not to be an Apple fanboy (I don't even own a mac), but OSX's GUI seems to have function as well as slickness
I am an apple fanboy, after a fashion. (I hated macs until OS X came out, now I like it so much I don't even bother handing out Knoppix CDs to people, I just tell them to get a mac)
I recall, however that mac OS 10.0 was panned as far as the GUI "look and feel" goes. Most reviewers had the opinion: "the program dock? WTF?" Now I think most agree with you--slick and functional.
To be fair, windows 3.x interface was horrible (I went through a bunch of replacement desktops to try to find a good one. I think I settled on MoonComet, whoever wrote that one, thanks). Windows 95/98/NT4/2000 was a decent interface, and they screwed it up with the win Me/XP GUI--many people reset it to "classic theme". This sample is even worse than XP.
The win 2000 gui I find reasonably functional and easy to use, since I'm used to it. The start button master menu paradigm might need an overhaul (seeing the "shut do" button in longhorn, I believe the start button began life as the "start here" button). I hope they fix it--this ugly gui, not necessarily the master menu paradigm--before release.
Then again, I don't really care 'cause I'm a mac guy now.
One of my pet peeves is security systems that force an unreasonable UPPER limit on password length. There is one system here at work that requires a 6-8 digit password. Even worse, another system requires a 5 digit "PIN" when really they mean a 5 and only 5 character password.
Why this really is annoying to me is because I use a 4 tier password system. Tier 1 is for my bank accounts, when that is changed the password is reused for tier 2 applications--my passwords on my home computers. Tier 2 password becomes tier 3, my email, and those passwords become tier 4, i.e. all my passwords at work. That way I only have to remember 4 passwords at any one time (and 2 truncated ones) and no sticky note security.
That deserves more than a +1 funny. Kudos.
The information will never be *USED*. There will be no point in having it.
Reminds me of an X-Files episode (I watched the first 3 seasons, then I stopped because it was starting to suck). Anyway, Mulder breaks into an abandoned mine, and hidden way in the back of the mine there were file cabinets of (obviously) paper records about UFO abductees (including current ones, like his missing partner). Now, I'm not talking Iron Mountain archives, who actually have employees and tons of archives from clients, these were just a few rows of filing cabinets in an abandoned mine, and no employees around to actually do the filing or look up records. So who uses that information, and why keep it? I know, it's only a show, the writers were writing on a deadline, and there was a lot more wacky stuff to take issue with--it was a show about aliens and the occult (the secret government conspiracies were based on true stories, though).
For example, I was in Felwood last night working on a quest and a couple of Horde were right next to me killing MOBs and we pretty much go into a rhythm were I would kill one, then they would kill one, so on and so forth. At the end, we completed our objective (fill the vial with corrupted water), saluted each other, and went on our merry way.
I play on a carebear server, and that is the way it is supposed to work (but maybe with rude gestures sometimes instead of just salutes). I imagine on a PvP server, if the honor system discourages that behavior, then it will have worked as intended. I wonder if it will significantly increase PvP on the carebear servers too? I hope so. I also applaud the PvP toggle, so that you can turn it on and leave it on, if you were in a PvP mood. I hope it still has the 5 minute cooldown before you can turn it off after combat, though.
You just copied that verbatim from this +5 informative post
Oh, wait... sorry.
I am no economic genius, by any means. I had been selling linen, for example, at a 24 hour auction with no buyout price. For some reason, they sell between 6 and 13 silver consistantly, and I was happy with that. (Like I said, I am no economic genius)
I took your advice, and set a 25 silver buyout on linen, and sure enough, I got 25 silver. This argues that convenience is worth at least 19 silver, (i.e. getting the linen NOW for a higher price rather that waiting 24 hours and maybe someone outbids you between now and then)
I suppose it's obvious, but it just never occured to me to exploit that. Thanks for pointing out the obvious to me.