So this guy Tim Bray is one of the people we have to thank for replacing compact, binary config files with 'human-readible', resource-intensive XML, that needs specialized libraries to make sense of it?
No.
Unless you're the kind of guy who likes to blame Henry Ford for the drive-by shooting.
I want all games to be 18+ and available on the shelf until such time as the manufacturer gets a lower rating.
The problem with that (from my POV, which is of course biased) is that a divided or unsure ratings board will automatically choose not to act. If by default that means not giving authorization, fewer games will be authorized. If by default that means giving a high-age rating, games will tend not to have high age requirements unless necessary.
It's human nature. People prefer not to have made a good decision (whatever direction the decision may be) to being responsible for a bad decision. If the default is 18+, they'll feel a lot more comfortable giving M-ratings.
I don't want my choise of video games to consist of Mario and Spiro The Dragon, ok?
Right right. But what if I want those games? I probably misread your comment, but it seems that you want to ban Mario and Spyro so that you can get your games. Which is no different...except that it's my games that are banned.
Games are not just for kids.
Thanks for adding the word "just". That wasn't in your original comment. That's all I was basically asking for.;-)
anyone who doesn't care about it won't hold it against you
I've heard horror stories of rabidly anti-MS shops turning away people at stage 1 simply because they listed their MCSE.
Then again, that's not really the kind of place I'd want to work for, anyway...but if I'm desparate for employmend I'd take anything from rabidly anti-MS to rabidly yay-MCSEs.
That'll be about as effective as banning drinking and smoking for kids...except games, being software, can't be as easily controlled as physical objects like booze or cigarettes.
And there are a lot more "underage" gamers than underage smokers or drinkers.
Games are not for kids.
Games, like most things, are for people mature enough to handle it. I can play Halo and enjoy the strategy without going trigger-happy and without looking for a game with more gore. (In fact, much as I enjoy Halo, I find games with gratuitous gore very distasteful.)
Surveys have shown that the vast majority of gamers are over 18 years of age.
Ehheh. Right. Surveys show that the vast majority of people are over 18 years of age. I mean, you're comparing what, a group from roughly 10 or 12 to 18 with a group from 19 to who-knows-where? Of course you'll get more in the latter.
Is there a survey that shows that there is a vastly greater percentage of gaming adults compared to the percentage of gaming teenagers? I'm pretty sure that a randomly-selected teenager is far more likely to play video games than a randomly-selected adult.
The fact that games contain elements which are distasteful in ordinary society is no big surprise when you stop thinking about games as entertainment for kids and start thinking about them as an escape from reality for adults.
Except for one thing: lots of developers treat games as entertainment for kids. And lots of teenagers like this kind of escape from reality, and are mature enough to handle tasteful games....
That said, I believe that certs can HURT you in stage two.
So what do I do? I'm 15 and I'm pretty sure I can pass the MCSE exams if I study a little; it'd be a fun challenge. But would it help me or hurt me to say that I passed the MCSE as a teenager? I'd prefer not to lose a chance for a job in a non-MS area, but I know that a lot of people are pro-MS. What about a phrase like, "For those of you who like the MCSE, I have one. For those of you who hate it, I passed it at 16 just for the challenge."
a test for which one can easily obtain brain-dumps
I've never really understood this. The high school ACT and SAT tests have different questions on the Saturday and Sunday administrations, and often two or three different tests at one testing site. Why can't Microsoft write a new test occasionally? Can they not afford it?
Indeed. One of the W3C's own examples omits the closing TD, TH, TR tags (and of course the TBODY tags).
Re:Google: Fix the top post reply method
on
Gmail Goes Public
·
· Score: 1
First off, since I explicitly stated it was a joke I thought that I wouldn't be rebuffed.
Yes, but the point of that joke (not necessarily by you, but by whoever wrote it originally) was to disparage top-posting by making it look absurd - which it normally isn't.
They're measuring stock value based on Yahoo! searches? It's a good idea, but:
1. Invest in some obscure Foobar Technology. 2. while (true) {socket.open("www.yahoo.com"); socket << "GET/search?p=foobar HTTP/1.0"; socket.close();} 3. ??? (somehow get a lot of computers to run this; your personal bandwidth probably isn't enough to make a dent) 4. Profit!
Re:Google: Fix the top post reply method
on
Gmail Goes Public
·
· Score: 1
That's a straw man, and you know it. Never top-post when there's more than one reply below you (or two in extenuating circumstances, but then you may want to refactor the original). Never top-post when there's multiple people involved.
If you really want to quote all that, I think the best form would be:
YES!!! -- > Is it really that irritating? >>>>> What is the worst faux pas to commit in email? >>>> Top posting; it's absolute email heresy. >>> Why? Outlook and so many other clients default to that. >> It reverses the flow of conversation and makes relating >> reponses to their originating comments difficult.
or: > Is it really that irritating? YES!!! -- >>>>> What is the worst...etc.
Bottom-posting several past e-mails is as stupid as top-posting the same. If you really need that much history, look in archives. For most responses the size of this example, top-post concisely while quoting the most recent message, or interleave if it's can't be done concisely.
Yup and my prof explained lots of reason why such small samples aren't a good idea.
Only if you can't take an SRS.
Now if this survey were voluntary response or convenience-sampled or something crazy, then you might want to take a large sample. But it wouldn't help that much, because you're sampling from a different population.
These guys are over 99.7% confident that the true proportion of the population they surveyed is within 2 percentage points. If their population was off, it's their sampling technique, not their number.
I tried that in chemistry class, and someone (you know how Murphy's Law works) pulled out the sodium hydroxide by mistake....
Re:Google: Fix the top post reply method
on
Gmail Goes Public
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Not universal bottom post...please no!
Public forums, discussions, etc. bottom post and quote the relevant parts, or mix replies with the quotes. You rarely need to quote more than two replies behind.
Lengthy individual replies mix replies conversation-style with the quote: > Can you do this? / No. / > What about this? / Yes.
Normal/short individual replies (read: most e-mail) top post. The person who sent you the e-mail wrote the letter; don't you think he knows what he wrote already? An additional benefit of this style is it allows you to quote the entire original if necessary without forcing your reply to the next screenful.
Most of the people I see supporting bottom posting are people who participate on mailing lists and USENET and assume that everybody does, too.
The greatest possible standard deviation is when the true proportion is 50%, which gives: sqrt(.5*.5/6000) =.00645, or.645%. We are about 99.7% confident that the true value is within +-3*stddev, or 1.9 percentage points, of their answer.
If the survey is reasonably accurate in their 19% number, that makes the standard deviation sqrt(.19*.81/6000) =.5%, which gives a 99.7% confidence interval of +-1.5 percenage points.
This is, of course, assuming they took a truly random sample. A skewed sample would cause this poll to fall in the.3% of rogue results. But a random sample follows very nicely the law of large numbers (flip a coin several times and you'll get really close to 1/2 heads, 1/2 tails).
It's the kind of CYA that inspired them to prohibit people from using AIM "while driving, operating hazardous equipment, or engaging in other forms of hazardous activities."
I agree. They're doing this because it's a lot easier to quote the ToS than to draw out a legal case defending themselves. AOL doesn't want to prepare a defense when someone gets injured IMming from their cell phone; they similarly don't want trouble when IMs get intercepted.
I suspect a large portion of the intent is to defend against *ackers intercepting AIM. AOL can claim they "licensed" the content to whoever stole it.
"We're not evil. We promise. Trust us. Just because we say we can doesn't mean we will."
I personally use AIM but that doesn't mean that I'm going to trust any communications I want private with a giant multi-billion company.
Do you think AOL's behavior, if they were evil, would be any different if they hadn't changed the Terms of Service? You should be using encryption (or speech in a secure location) for semi-private conversations anyway, and encryption with your own client for very private conversations. (Remember that binaries can be hacked, viruses can intercept communications, etc.)
If they were really into abusing convos, I think the last thing they'd do is let anyone have the slightest idea they might be recording something. (This doesn't mean that they're not actually recording, just that the ToS change wouldn't make them more likely to record.)
Contrary to popular belief, companies don't like lawsuits. They'd rather pay themselves than hire lawyers. If a case comes up, it's a lot easier to quote the ToS ("we have the right to record") and get it dismissed early than to prove that they weren't actually recording anything.
Several organizations are collecting old cell phones to reprogram them and send them to soldiers in Iraq and elsewhere, so that they can call home more easily.
If you know basic programming (file access and working with a given API), then you can try writing a plugin for Google Desktop Search. This way, you can add all your old files to the GDS database, and automatically archive the new ones.
Slashdot Mirror
So this guy Tim Bray is one of the people we have to thank for replacing compact, binary config files with 'human-readible', resource-intensive XML, that needs specialized libraries to make sense of it?
No.
Unless you're the kind of guy who likes to blame Henry Ford for the drive-by shooting.
I want all games to be 18+ and available on the shelf until such time as the manufacturer gets a lower rating.
The problem with that (from my POV, which is of course biased) is that a divided or unsure ratings board will automatically choose not to act. If by default that means not giving authorization, fewer games will be authorized. If by default that means giving a high-age rating, games will tend not to have high age requirements unless necessary.
It's human nature. People prefer not to have made a good decision (whatever direction the decision may be) to being responsible for a bad decision. If the default is 18+, they'll feel a lot more comfortable giving M-ratings.
I don't want my choise of video games to consist of Mario and Spiro The Dragon, ok?
;-)
Right right. But what if I want those games? I probably misread your comment, but it seems that you want to ban Mario and Spyro so that you can get your games. Which is no different...except that it's my games that are banned.
Games are not just for kids.
Thanks for adding the word "just". That wasn't in your original comment. That's all I was basically asking for.
anyone who doesn't care about it won't hold it against you
I've heard horror stories of rabidly anti-MS shops turning away people at stage 1 simply because they listed their MCSE.
Then again, that's not really the kind of place I'd want to work for, anyway...but if I'm desparate for employmend I'd take anything from rabidly anti-MS to rabidly yay-MCSEs.
That'll be about as effective as banning drinking and smoking for kids...except games, being software, can't be as easily controlled as physical objects like booze or cigarettes.
And there are a lot more "underage" gamers than underage smokers or drinkers.
Games are not for kids.
Games, like most things, are for people mature enough to handle it. I can play Halo and enjoy the strategy without going trigger-happy and without looking for a game with more gore. (In fact, much as I enjoy Halo, I find games with gratuitous gore very distasteful.)
Surveys have shown that the vast majority of gamers are over 18 years of age.
Ehheh. Right. Surveys show that the vast majority of people are over 18 years of age. I mean, you're comparing what, a group from roughly 10 or 12 to 18 with a group from 19 to who-knows-where? Of course you'll get more in the latter.
Is there a survey that shows that there is a vastly greater percentage of gaming adults compared to the percentage of gaming teenagers? I'm pretty sure that a randomly-selected teenager is far more likely to play video games than a randomly-selected adult.
The fact that games contain elements which are distasteful in ordinary society is no big surprise when you stop thinking about games as entertainment for kids and start thinking about them as an escape from reality for adults.
Except for one thing: lots of developers treat games as entertainment for kids. And lots of teenagers like this kind of escape from reality, and are mature enough to handle tasteful games....
Fear my ability to run the game at 10% the speed of a native implementation!
That's precisely why they're the ones making money off their Java game while you can't even register for a Slashdot account.
Nice try.
That said, I believe that certs can HURT you in stage two.
So what do I do? I'm 15 and I'm pretty sure I can pass the MCSE exams if I study a little; it'd be a fun challenge. But would it help me or hurt me to say that I passed the MCSE as a teenager? I'd prefer not to lose a chance for a job in a non-MS area, but I know that a lot of people are pro-MS. What about a phrase like, "For those of you who like the MCSE, I have one. For those of you who hate it, I passed it at 16 just for the challenge."
a test for which one can easily obtain brain-dumps
I've never really understood this. The high school ACT and SAT tests have different questions on the Saturday and Sunday administrations, and often two or three different tests at one testing site. Why can't Microsoft write a new test occasionally? Can they not afford it?
Indeed. One of the W3C's own examples omits the closing TD, TH, TR tags (and of course the TBODY tags).
First off, since I explicitly stated it was a joke I thought that I wouldn't be rebuffed.
Yes, but the point of that joke (not necessarily by you, but by whoever wrote it originally) was to disparage top-posting by making it look absurd - which it normally isn't.
They're measuring stock value based on Yahoo! searches? It's a good idea, but:
/search?p=foobar HTTP/1.0"; socket.close();}
1. Invest in some obscure Foobar Technology.
2. while (true) {socket.open("www.yahoo.com"); socket << "GET
3. ??? (somehow get a lot of computers to run this; your personal bandwidth probably isn't enough to make a dent)
4. Profit!
That's a straw man, and you know it. Never top-post when there's more than one reply below you (or two in extenuating circumstances, but then you may want to refactor the original). Never top-post when there's multiple people involved.
If you really want to quote all that, I think the best form would be:
YES!!!
--
> Is it really that irritating?
>>>>> What is the worst faux pas to commit in email?
>>>> Top posting; it's absolute email heresy.
>>> Why? Outlook and so many other clients default to that.
>> It reverses the flow of conversation and makes relating
>> reponses to their originating comments difficult.
or:
> Is it really that irritating?
YES!!!
--
>>>>> What is the worst...etc.
Bottom-posting several past e-mails is as stupid as top-posting the same. If you really need that much history, look in archives. For most responses the size of this example, top-post concisely while quoting the most recent message, or interleave if it's can't be done concisely.
6000 is plenty. Have you taken Stat 101?
Yup and my prof explained lots of reason why such small samples aren't a good idea.
Only if you can't take an SRS.
Now if this survey were voluntary response or convenience-sampled or something crazy, then you might want to take a large sample. But it wouldn't help that much, because you're sampling from a different population.
These guys are over 99.7% confident that the true proportion of the population they surveyed is within 2 percentage points. If their population was off, it's their sampling technique, not their number.
Why're you recasting those laws, you Nazi?
That reminds me of my Wife's first experience with a mac laptop. She inserted a floppy disc and we could NOT figure out how to get it out.
In the PC world you simply pushed a button right next to the drive. No such luck there.
You didn't see the Special|Eject menu item?
I tried that in chemistry class, and someone (you know how Murphy's Law works) pulled out the sodium hydroxide by mistake....
Not universal bottom post...please no!
Public forums, discussions, etc. bottom post and quote the relevant parts, or mix replies with the quotes. You rarely need to quote more than two replies behind.
Lengthy individual replies mix replies conversation-style with the quote: > Can you do this? / No. / > What about this? / Yes.
Normal/short individual replies (read: most e-mail) top post. The person who sent you the e-mail wrote the letter; don't you think he knows what he wrote already? An additional benefit of this style is it allows you to quote the entire original if necessary without forcing your reply to the next screenful.
Most of the people I see supporting bottom posting are people who participate on mailing lists and USENET and assume that everybody does, too.
sample size (6,000)
.00645, or .645%. We are about 99.7% confident that the true value is within +-3*stddev, or 1.9 percentage points, of their answer.
.5%, which gives a 99.7% confidence interval of +-1.5 percenage points.
.3% of rogue results. But a random sample follows very nicely the law of large numbers (flip a coin several times and you'll get really close to 1/2 heads, 1/2 tails).
6000 is plenty. Have you taken Stat 101?
The greatest possible standard deviation is when the true proportion is 50%, which gives: sqrt(.5*.5/6000) =
If the survey is reasonably accurate in their 19% number, that makes the standard deviation sqrt(.19*.81/6000) =
This is, of course, assuming they took a truly random sample. A skewed sample would cause this poll to fall in the
I hope they keep Tom Bombadil in this adaptation.
% gcc-4.0 -o helloworld helloworld.c
%
It's the kind of CYA that inspired them to prohibit people from using AIM "while driving, operating hazardous equipment, or engaging in other forms of hazardous activities."
I agree. They're doing this because it's a lot easier to quote the ToS than to draw out a legal case defending themselves. AOL doesn't want to prepare a defense when someone gets injured IMming from their cell phone; they similarly don't want trouble when IMs get intercepted.
I suspect a large portion of the intent is to defend against *ackers intercepting AIM. AOL can claim they "licensed" the content to whoever stole it.
"We're not evil. We promise. Trust us. Just because we say we can doesn't mean we will."
I personally use AIM but that doesn't mean that I'm going to trust any communications I want private with a giant multi-billion company.
Do you think AOL's behavior, if they were evil, would be any different if they hadn't changed the Terms of Service? You should be using encryption (or speech in a secure location) for semi-private conversations anyway, and encryption with your own client for very private conversations. (Remember that binaries can be hacked, viruses can intercept communications, etc.)
If they were really into abusing convos, I think the last thing they'd do is let anyone have the slightest idea they might be recording something. (This doesn't mean that they're not actually recording, just that the ToS change wouldn't make them more likely to record.)
Contrary to popular belief, companies don't like lawsuits. They'd rather pay themselves than hire lawyers. If a case comes up, it's a lot easier to quote the ToS ("we have the right to record") and get it dismissed early than to prove that they weren't actually recording anything.
So... how do you feel about late term abortions?
I'd return my abortions to the library on time. I'm afraid of the overdue fines...
Several organizations are collecting old cell phones to reprogram them and send them to soldiers in Iraq and elsewhere, so that they can call home more easily.
If you know basic programming (file access and working with a given API), then you can try writing a plugin for Google Desktop Search. This way, you can add all your old files to the GDS database, and automatically archive the new ones.