It's been a while since I've taken math, so I can't remember if symmetry as used above deals with infinite series, which is how I looked at it.
Fry is 1/4 of each of his grandparents. Since one of his grandparents is himself, who is 1/4 of his grandparents, that makes an additional 1/16 contribution from each of his grandparents. Keep substituting Fry's grandparents for Fry, and each non-Fry grandparent's contribution is the sum of the series of (1/4)^n (n starts at 1), and that is 1/3.
Should Super Mario Bros., Tetris on the Gameboy and Super Mario World really be included when discussing the best selling games of all-time? I don't think system pack-ins should count.
I think 1 episode is enough to rule out all the states, when they hit the alligator in Florida. At the end they have a US map with an 'X' in the states where they are banned from, which is all but Arizona and North Dakota. They rule out Arizona ("smells funny"), leaving North Dakota as the last state they have to visit. Wouldn't they be arrested or kicked out if they were banned from the state their Springfield is in?
The episode where they visit the "Five Corners" also implies that their USA is different from ours. Though I don't know if a single gag like that counts much, like the occasional inconsistencies in the layout of Springfield and the Simpsons' house.
Is it cheaper to manufacture plastic so it will wear out within 5 years vs. something that will last? Companies would want that turnover for household items, but in the toy world, aside from video game controllers, Legos (and other building blocks) and Barbie, most plastic toys probably get pushed aside by the next fad before their plastic gets a chance to wear out.
The age and dates in my original post are from Kirk's bio on startrek.com, which is linked to in the story. I would hope the official web site can be considered a canonical source.
But whether they got Kirk's age correct or not, I was pointing to the discrepancy between the dates and age on their page. If they got the age wrong in both cases, and the official site is to be considered canon, then it goes back to the parent of my original post - continuity errors can be the bane of the geek's existence.
How about simple math errors on an official web site?
Full Name: James Tiberius Kirk
Date of birth: March 22, 2233
...
2264 -- Promoted to captain, in command of U.S.S. Enterprise for five-year mission
...
Kirk's renown began by becoming the youngest captain in Starfleet to date at 34.
Do any of these services allow sites to put their own watermarks on media? Games Press's terms say one can't "adapt, alter or create any derivative work from any of the material supplied by the Service," so I guess they don't.
I've often wondered how IGN was able to put their own watermark on the media they host without getting into copyright issues.
I've been curious about that since I first got digital cable, which has recently been upgraded to Comcast's DVR. How do we know that the box isn't sending info back about what we watch?
I also wonder, if the ones that report back get into enough homes, would the Nielsen ratings people sue because their business model of statisical sampling is being threatened by another method with larger sample sizes?
It is a myth that cartridge capacity is smaller than CDs / DVDs, it's a financial matter. There are no physical limitations to cart size, Final Fantasy 7 could have been put on a single N64 cart. It's just that very few people would have been willing / able to pay for it.
The IFPI's web site lists their sources that "proves" piracy was the big factor.
I was curious that the CNN article didn't mention US sales for the year, since they said Europe and Japan were down significantly. The US was down 12% in the first half of the year, but picked up enough in the second half for a 6% drop overall.
I remember a study posted here once that showed another factor to declining music sales was the industry was putting out less product. No mention of total units shipped to retailers in this report.
Gunpei Yokoi made Metroid, Metroid 2 and Super Metroid, not Miyamoto. Miyamoto also didn't create Pokemon, that was Satoshi Tajiri.
I remember reading that there weren't any new Metroid games after Super Metroid because Yokoi didn't want any more to be made. I don't know if he had enough power within Nintendo for that to be the case (could Miyamoto really stop Nintendo from making more Mario and Zelda games?). From what I understand, the Metroid franchise isn't as big in Japan as America, and that might have been a factor as well. He left Nintendo in 1996, possibly because of the failure of the Virtual Boy, and died in a car accident in 1997. A bunch of threads on Usenet lamented that with his death, there'd be no more sequels for Metroid or Kid Icarus.
Metroid 64 news / rumors trickled out, but I can't remember if that was while he was still living. I think Miyamoto was involved in Prime's development, but I don't remember how much. Might not have been too much, since Mario Sunshine and Wind Waker were also in development, along with whatever other long range projects were on his plate (Mario 128, Pikmin 2).
I've heard they've been behind more copyright extensions than just that one, though that may have been read here on Slashdot, so grain of salt.
What's more galling is that I read they held off on releasing the Jungle Book in the late 60's until Kipling's copyrights expired. And their "reimagining" of Treasure Island as Treasure Planet makes me want to use misuse "raping and pillaging" of the public domain the same way they misuse piracy to describe copyright infringement.
The trouble with the books (or anything not actually in the movies) is that they aren't canon, and contradictions are starting to show between the Expanded Universe and the films.
It's been a few years, so I can't remember which book or the details, but Luke was trying to track down information about his mother. He found that she was also Force sensitive, but followed different teachings than the Jedi (though not Sith). We haven't seen anything hinting that Padme has Force powers.
Who designed and built the first Death Star? When we see the plans in Episode II, by "we" the Geonosian leader could have meant that the Geonosians are designing it, or the Separatists as a whole. Some Episode III spoilers hint at further developments in the Death Star's construction. The books point to an Imperial thinktank set up by Tarkin (who we haven't seen in the prequels yet) in the middle of a black hole cluster. And in a flashback in one of the books (Darksaber?), the Emperor kills the Death Star's designer because there was an exploitable weakness (the exhaust port). But he had a clone of the designer made, because a brilliant mind like that shouldn't go completely to waste.
I think Lucas said that the authors can do almost anything they want in the Expanded Universe, but he is the only one that sets the canon, and the movies could end up contradicting the books. That, and no one could write any kind of backstory for Yoda and possibly Kenobi.
He did one of those "know your video game history" commercials for G4. He said Yar's Revenge is one of the best games of all time and E.T. is the worst game of all time. So he probably has a sense of humor about it.
From the few hours I've put into the game so far, the computer seems to cheat more. It doesn't have to catch up to you if it never lets you get ahead.
It's easy enough to win cups at 50cc. It's not too difficult to win at 100cc, but winning all 4 tracks isn't a given. At least not yet. 150cc is another story. The computer seems to pick one of the carts (usually one of the big ones) to come in ahead of the other computer carts for every race in a cup. If you place 3rd in a race, you'll probably have to win the other 3 races to have a shot at winning the cup. It's tough, but I'm sure it will get easier with practice.
Also on 150cc, the larger carts controlled by the computer don't seem to lose much speed when they get hit by something, and get back to full speed too quickly. Wish it worked that way when I tried the bigger carts. I've been using Baby Luigi and Bowser Jr. for the acceleration and their special items. Had more success with that combination, especially with the Bullet Blaster cart that gets unlocked by beating the Special Cup at 50cc. It a light cart with average acceleration and above average speed. YMMV
If you manage to get ahead, you can probably forget about getting decent items. It's mostly green shells, fake item boxes and bananas. I'll rarely get a red shell (which can be fired backwards now, but won't home in) or a special item. Never got a star, mushroom(s) or lightening while in first place, though it's not conclusive evidence.
I haven't been able to tell yet if the computer uses a "cheat" speed to keep up. Too busy worrying about other obstacles and items on the track.
Stunts from MK64 like jumping off Rainbow Road or jumping the wall in Wario Stadium don't seem to work. I fell off the new Rainbow Road and would have landed on the track below, but the screen went black and I was dropped near where I fell off. Same with Wario Colloseum. There are other tracks where you could fall or turn during a jump and land farther back on the track, but the game just puts you back where you fell off. There are shortcuts on some of the tracks, but can be tricky to use without a star or mushroom.
The license is listed as "Other/Proprietary License" on the SourceForge project page. If the owner(s) of a project change the license, does SourceForge track the license that applies to each version?
Wonder how well the maintainers of Warp Pipe understand open source licenses. In the first forum link, he says that their "license acts much like a standard BSD license." If that was the case, wouldn't they have even less reason to complain than if it was under the GPL, depending on the degree of the "much like"?
The phone message for the Senator also said that they take cash only. So hit an ATM before going.
To reply to another post, the Senator's web site has been down most of the day.
Tickets go on sale at the Cineplex Odeon Uptown in DC tomorrow at 1, though the Washington Post web site says 12. Limit of 4 per person, but the price is only $26 and change, at least that's what I was told over the phone. About 4 people were in line about 45 minutes ago.
Slashdot Mirror
It's been a while since I've taken math, so I can't remember if symmetry as used above deals with infinite series, which is how I looked at it.
Fry is 1/4 of each of his grandparents. Since one of his grandparents is himself, who is 1/4 of his grandparents, that makes an additional 1/16 contribution from each of his grandparents. Keep substituting Fry's grandparents for Fry, and each non-Fry grandparent's contribution is the sum of the series of (1/4)^n (n starts at 1), and that is 1/3.
Should Super Mario Bros., Tetris on the Gameboy and Super Mario World really be included when discussing the best selling games of all-time? I don't think system pack-ins should count.
The episode where they visit the "Five Corners" also implies that their USA is different from ours. Though I don't know if a single gag like that counts much, like the occasional inconsistencies in the layout of Springfield and the Simpsons' house.
Is it cheaper to manufacture plastic so it will wear out within 5 years vs. something that will last? Companies would want that turnover for household items, but in the toy world, aside from video game controllers, Legos (and other building blocks) and Barbie, most plastic toys probably get pushed aside by the next fad before their plastic gets a chance to wear out.
But whether they got Kirk's age correct or not, I was pointing to the discrepancy between the dates and age on their page. If they got the age wrong in both cases, and the official site is to be considered canon, then it goes back to the parent of my original post - continuity errors can be the bane of the geek's existence.
Full Name: James Tiberius Kirk
...
...
Date of birth: March 22, 2233
2264 -- Promoted to captain, in command of U.S.S. Enterprise for five-year mission
Kirk's renown began by becoming the youngest captain in Starfleet to date at 34.
Do any of these services allow sites to put their own watermarks on media? Games Press's terms say one can't "adapt, alter or create any derivative work from any of the material supplied by the Service," so I guess they don't.
I've often wondered how IGN was able to put their own watermark on the media they host without getting into copyright issues.
Besides, you can get the golden knife by defeating the Grim Reaper in the basement of Brahm's Mansion.
By my best estimates, about the same time gaming became synonymous with "first-person shooters" (and very similar games).
On the consoles, I think it was around the time Final Fantasy VII was released.
I've been curious about that since I first got digital cable, which has recently been upgraded to Comcast's DVR. How do we know that the box isn't sending info back about what we watch?
I also wonder, if the ones that report back get into enough homes, would the Nielsen ratings people sue because their business model of statisical sampling is being threatened by another method with larger sample sizes?
It is a myth that cartridge capacity is smaller than CDs / DVDs, it's a financial matter. There are no physical limitations to cart size, Final Fantasy 7 could have been put on a single N64 cart. It's just that very few people would have been willing / able to pay for it.
I was curious that the CNN article didn't mention US sales for the year, since they said Europe and Japan were down significantly. The US was down 12% in the first half of the year, but picked up enough in the second half for a 6% drop overall.
I remember a study posted here once that showed another factor to declining music sales was the industry was putting out less product. No mention of total units shipped to retailers in this report.
River City Ransom is slated for a May 31, 2004 release over here.
Gunpei Yokoi made Metroid, Metroid 2 and Super Metroid, not Miyamoto. Miyamoto also didn't create Pokemon, that was Satoshi Tajiri.
I remember reading that there weren't any new Metroid games after Super Metroid because Yokoi didn't want any more to be made. I don't know if he had enough power within Nintendo for that to be the case (could Miyamoto really stop Nintendo from making more Mario and Zelda games?). From what I understand, the Metroid franchise isn't as big in Japan as America, and that might have been a factor as well. He left Nintendo in 1996, possibly because of the failure of the Virtual Boy, and died in a car accident in 1997. A bunch of threads on Usenet lamented that with his death, there'd be no more sequels for Metroid or Kid Icarus.
Metroid 64 news / rumors trickled out, but I can't remember if that was while he was still living. I think Miyamoto was involved in Prime's development, but I don't remember how much. Might not have been too much, since Mario Sunshine and Wind Waker were also in development, along with whatever other long range projects were on his plate (Mario 128, Pikmin 2).
I've heard they've been behind more copyright extensions than just that one, though that may have been read here on Slashdot, so grain of salt.
What's more galling is that I read they held off on releasing the Jungle Book in the late 60's until Kipling's copyrights expired. And their "reimagining" of Treasure Island as Treasure Planet makes me want to use misuse "raping and pillaging" of the public domain the same way they misuse piracy to describe copyright infringement.
The trouble with the books (or anything not actually in the movies) is that they aren't canon, and contradictions are starting to show between the Expanded Universe and the films.
It's been a few years, so I can't remember which book or the details, but Luke was trying to track down information about his mother. He found that she was also Force sensitive, but followed different teachings than the Jedi (though not Sith). We haven't seen anything hinting that Padme has Force powers.
Who designed and built the first Death Star? When we see the plans in Episode II, by "we" the Geonosian leader could have meant that the Geonosians are designing it, or the Separatists as a whole. Some Episode III spoilers hint at further developments in the Death Star's construction. The books point to an Imperial thinktank set up by Tarkin (who we haven't seen in the prequels yet) in the middle of a black hole cluster. And in a flashback in one of the books (Darksaber?), the Emperor kills the Death Star's designer because there was an exploitable weakness (the exhaust port). But he had a clone of the designer made, because a brilliant mind like that shouldn't go completely to waste.
I think Lucas said that the authors can do almost anything they want in the Expanded Universe, but he is the only one that sets the canon, and the movies could end up contradicting the books. That, and no one could write any kind of backstory for Yoda and possibly Kenobi.
Because no one played the game long enough to get to this bonus level.
He did one of those "know your video game history" commercials for G4. He said Yar's Revenge is one of the best games of all time and E.T. is the worst game of all time. So he probably has a sense of humor about it.
It's easy enough to win cups at 50cc. It's not too difficult to win at 100cc, but winning all 4 tracks isn't a given. At least not yet. 150cc is another story. The computer seems to pick one of the carts (usually one of the big ones) to come in ahead of the other computer carts for every race in a cup. If you place 3rd in a race, you'll probably have to win the other 3 races to have a shot at winning the cup. It's tough, but I'm sure it will get easier with practice.
Also on 150cc, the larger carts controlled by the computer don't seem to lose much speed when they get hit by something, and get back to full speed too quickly. Wish it worked that way when I tried the bigger carts. I've been using Baby Luigi and Bowser Jr. for the acceleration and their special items. Had more success with that combination, especially with the Bullet Blaster cart that gets unlocked by beating the Special Cup at 50cc. It a light cart with average acceleration and above average speed. YMMV
If you manage to get ahead, you can probably forget about getting decent items. It's mostly green shells, fake item boxes and bananas. I'll rarely get a red shell (which can be fired backwards now, but won't home in) or a special item. Never got a star, mushroom(s) or lightening while in first place, though it's not conclusive evidence.
I haven't been able to tell yet if the computer uses a "cheat" speed to keep up. Too busy worrying about other obstacles and items on the track.
Stunts from MK64 like jumping off Rainbow Road or jumping the wall in Wario Stadium don't seem to work. I fell off the new Rainbow Road and would have landed on the track below, but the screen went black and I was dropped near where I fell off. Same with Wario Colloseum. There are other tracks where you could fall or turn during a jump and land farther back on the track, but the game just puts you back where you fell off. There are shortcuts on some of the tracks, but can be tricky to use without a star or mushroom.
That was Bono from U2. Happened at the Golden Globes back in January. The FCC didn't announce their decision until October, though.
Wonder how well the maintainers of Warp Pipe understand open source licenses. In the first forum link, he says that their "license acts much like a standard BSD license." If that was the case, wouldn't they have even less reason to complain than if it was under the GPL, depending on the degree of the "much like"?
Do they have room for them next to all the E.T. 2600 cartridges?
The phone message for the Senator also said that they take cash only. So hit an ATM before going.
To reply to another post, the Senator's web site has been down most of the day.
Tickets go on sale at the Cineplex Odeon Uptown in DC tomorrow at 1, though the Washington Post web site says 12. Limit of 4 per person, but the price is only $26 and change, at least that's what I was told over the phone. About 4 people were in line about 45 minutes ago.
The Senator is my backup plan.