Actually the country does always have a certain percentage of unemployment. No politician except for maybe Stalin or Mao would say 100% employment is good. I forget the rate but I think it's in the 4% range. This represents people who are between jobs, or who are laid off and expecting to go back to their job as business picks up(which is very common in some industries).
My brother and I got the idea to have a big rig and up to two escort vehicles drive from one town to another and back( oddly enough the distance between the towns is the exact length of my dining room table). I get as many trikes and cycles as I can afford with the same money($130k), to try to destroy the cargo in the rig. So far we have had two 8 hours days playing, and still have about 8 more to go. We started with 14 vehicles, and about 10 are still moving.:-)
My patented ramplate-wielding, gas powered reverse trikes are taking their toll, but his turreted anti-tank guns are vaporizing my cycles one at a time. And it's fun as hell!
Go to UALR. I know it sounds crazy but seriously consider it, they have a good CS department. Take classes with Dr. Minsker and Dr. Ford. The higher level classes are GREAT and will give you a lot of opportunity for creativity, while still teaching you how to solve the problem. Most of the programs for Dr. Minsker you can write in any language you want, from COBOL to C to LISP. I can't recommend their department highly enough, especially the junior and higher courses.
Hopefully these people are programmers with two-year programming degrees, and NOT B.S. in CS. CS majors from every college I have ever heard of take a good deal of math. Remember though, programmers do not do complex math every day like engineers do so it may be that they have simply forgotten some things. Maybe just spending an hour or so giving them a refresher course would solve your problem?
If you hired people with two year programming degrees and they don't know math I would say that is your companies fault. Not that there is anything wrong with two-year degrees but you can only squeeze so much into two years.
LOL. You beat me to this comment! I don't remember using it in school, but I sure remember drawing countless castles and underground dungeons on it. I actually used it for an old-school game of Car Wars less than 3 weeks ago.
Isn't the 305hp rating at the wheels? I was under the impression that the auto industry has been using hp at the wheels for over 30 years as the standard, rather than the flywheel horsepower used during the muscle car era.
I don't really care about mod points at all actually. I just post whatever comes to mind.
I can read quite well and you said, "If you look at Cowboys and Indians as children - you'd see children hating Indians for no other reason than hating Indians."
To which I still reply, as children we didn't hate Indians or Cowboys, and we played C&I regulary. I guess I grew up in a tolerant household it never even occured to us to hate Indians. Blaming any part racism on childhood games is just forgiving bad parenting.
>Well, it's not as though any of the 'bad guys' in the Tom Clancy games I've played are ever given a chance to put their message across
Well Tom Clancy makes games that are biased to one side, like I said. The 'bad guys' can put their message into any other game they want and sell it too. Or you are welcome to make a video game where you fight terrorists by understanding them, and buying them ice cream if their feelings are hurt. No one is stopping you. And you can advertise it on TV til your heart is content. You can make a game with any message you want and sell it. THAT is free speech. If you disagree with what is being shown then USE your right to free speech. We didn't amend the frick'n Constitution for no reason. Free speech does not mean that every person has to show every viewpoint, it means that everyone's viewpoint may be heard.
Or if you want, if you don't like the message, turn off the TV. There, problem solved, no brainwashing.
I would agree that it is a pro military bias, and is clearly promoting active defense of "Freedom".
However, I think "brainwashing" may be too strong of a word. Brainwashing, to me, means forcibly removing ALL other messages other than they one you are promoting, and then hammering away hour after hour, day after day until the person starts seeing things your way. Since children watching TV is a choice their parents make I just can't see it as brainwashing.
Although, since the original thread questioned if games have a politcal message, I would agree that Splinter Cell definately does.
You must have gotten into the political aspects of Cowboys and Indians way more that we did. Ours were pretty much just two sides with costumes. We didn't have any idea what a real cowboy or indian was, and wouldn't have hated either if we did.
Yeah, being able to swap disks is invaluable. Even good quality disks have a tendency to die after a few years.
I was referring specifically to RAM and CPUs. RAM does occasionally go bad, but my point was that someone could simply have a backup system, or use a more distributed model. So if one machine's RAM starts going you pull it out of service for a few minutes, change the RAM and put it back in.
It might be better to just plan for the worst and make "mini-attack robot" attacking mini-robots(to seek and destroy these microscopic assassins). We all know that people who would build such a thing aren't going to follow global laws and policies. We should still make the laws of course, but let's not assume that will stop anyone.
Java is great, but it is free. Not much of a business model there. The can always make related products, such as App Servers, etc, but that isn't directly making money off of Java. At that point they are a software company, like BEA and others.
There are advantages and disadvantages to controlling the code base of Java while writing apps using Java. Advantage one is that they can adopt new Java technologies first and have it on the market first. Disadvantage one is that they need to pay salaries of Java programmers(the ones working on the language itself) using money from their App Servers, etc.
I have been using computers personally and professionally for 15+ years and I can count a total of zero times when a processor failed while in use. In fact I have only ever seen one "bad" processor, and some dumbass had probably overclocked the shit out of it. Memory I have probably seen 10 bad sticks in the same amount of time.
Hot swapping hardware whose failure rate is almost non-existant, is an unnecessary, expensive feature which Sun and other "high-end" companies sell to executives who want to be able to tell their boss, "The new blah-blah server has 99.9% uptime due to being able to hot swap X part. Give me my bonus now." Anyone whose business relies on uptime will have redundant systems within redundant systems and still be saving money over Sun. They just pull one machine out, and replace it with another identical unit.
>I wonder if Japanese (or Asians) are in any way pre-disposed to not orienting with FPS for some reason.
I'm not Asian so I can't say from personal experience, however the majority of my Asian friends who play video games can play FPS just fine. They are mostly from China, not Japan so there might be a difference there.
One possible explanation is our exposure to American TV. Our television shows switch camera views all the time, zoom in and out for no reason, rotate, flash, and spin all the time. So maybe we have built up a tolerance to it? The Chinese TV(from Hong Kong, etc) that I watch on occasion has a slower pace, similar to American TV from the seventies.
Just one possible explanation, however I haven't really watched Japanese TV so I don't know how it compares to ours.
This is perhaps one of the most intelligent and most logical posts I have seen on slashdot in ages, and no one is modding this up?!?!?! My kingdom for some mod points.
Anyway, good post! It is funny how everyone calls corporations "evil", etc, as you were saying, and then puts money in their 401K expecting that money to magically grow.
I think this is more likely the reason than anything else.
You can only make a tray so big unless you want to hook a paper mill up to each machine to recycle the "chads" as they fall out. Expecting someone to empty a little tray once or twice isn't that tall of an order.
We have probably ALL tried to use the hole-punch at work to find it jammed up with two years worth of little paper holes because some people are too lazy to take the cover off and shake the thing over the trash.
U.S. Citizens are required to be able to speak/read/write basic Engish anyway. The only people we should be worrying about are the ones with disabilities.
I had ver flexible hours when I was doing sys. admin work. As long as I came in earlier than everyone else and left later than everyone else I could pretty much make up my own hours. See, very flexible.:-)
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Actually the country does always have a certain percentage of unemployment. No politician except for maybe Stalin or Mao would say 100% employment is good. I forget the rate but I think it's in the 4% range. This represents people who are between jobs, or who are laid off and expecting to go back to their job as business picks up(which is very common in some industries).
My brother and I got the idea to have a big rig and up to two escort vehicles drive from one town to another and back( oddly enough the distance between the towns is the exact length of my dining room table). I get as many trikes and cycles as I can afford with the same money($130k), to try to destroy the cargo in the rig. So far we have had two 8 hours days playing, and still have about 8 more to go. We started with 14 vehicles, and about 10 are still moving. :-)
My patented ramplate-wielding, gas powered reverse trikes are taking their toll, but his turreted anti-tank guns are vaporizing my cycles one at a time. And it's fun as hell!
Go to UALR. I know it sounds crazy but seriously consider it, they have a good CS department. Take classes with Dr. Minsker and Dr. Ford. The higher level classes are GREAT and will give you a lot of opportunity for creativity, while still teaching you how to solve the problem. Most of the programs for Dr. Minsker you can write in any language you want, from COBOL to C to LISP. I can't recommend their department highly enough, especially the junior and higher courses.
Hopefully these people are programmers with two-year programming degrees, and NOT B.S. in CS. CS majors from every college I have ever heard of take a good deal of math. Remember though, programmers do not do complex math every day like engineers do so it may be that they have simply forgotten some things. Maybe just spending an hour or so giving them a refresher course would solve your problem?
If you hired people with two year programming degrees and they don't know math I would say that is your companies fault. Not that there is anything wrong with two-year degrees but you can only squeeze so much into two years.
LOL. You beat me to this comment! I don't remember using it in school, but I sure remember drawing countless castles and underground dungeons on it. I actually used it for an old-school game of Car Wars less than 3 weeks ago.
Isn't the 305hp rating at the wheels? I was under the impression that the auto industry has been using hp at the wheels for over 30 years as the standard, rather than the flywheel horsepower used during the muscle car era.
What hp do they claim at the flywheel?
I don't really care about mod points at all actually. I just post whatever comes to mind.
I can read quite well and you said, "If you look at Cowboys and Indians as children - you'd see children hating Indians for no other reason than hating Indians."
To which I still reply, as children we didn't hate Indians or Cowboys, and we played C&I regulary. I guess I grew up in a tolerant household it never even occured to us to hate Indians. Blaming any part racism on childhood games is just forgiving bad parenting.
>Well, it's not as though any of the 'bad guys' in the Tom Clancy games I've played are ever given a chance to put their message across
Well Tom Clancy makes games that are biased to one side, like I said. The 'bad guys' can put their message into any other game they want and sell it too. Or you are welcome to make a video game where you fight terrorists by understanding them, and buying them ice cream if their feelings are hurt. No one is stopping you. And you can advertise it on TV til your heart is content. You can make a game with any message you want and sell it. THAT is free speech. If you disagree with what is being shown then USE your right to free speech. We didn't amend the frick'n Constitution for no reason. Free speech does not mean that every person has to show every viewpoint, it means that everyone's viewpoint may be heard.
Or if you want, if you don't like the message, turn off the TV. There, problem solved, no brainwashing.
I would agree that it is a pro military bias, and is clearly promoting active defense of "Freedom".
However, I think "brainwashing" may be too strong of a word. Brainwashing, to me, means forcibly removing ALL other messages other than they one you are promoting, and then hammering away hour after hour, day after day until the person starts seeing things your way. Since children watching TV is a choice their parents make I just can't see it as brainwashing.
Although, since the original thread questioned if games have a politcal message, I would agree that Splinter Cell definately does.
You must have gotten into the political aspects of Cowboys and Indians way more that we did. Ours were pretty much just two sides with costumes. We didn't have any idea what a real cowboy or indian was, and wouldn't have hated either if we did.
Where did you grow up, Little Big Horn?
>But to be fair, they do let you randomly drop nukes on people.
:-)
And thank you Sid Meier for that! Playing on low difficulty and then nuking their knights and catapults is always good for a quick power trip.
I'm not sure I understand how this is any more "brainwashing" than any other conflict based game, where you play as a military person?
Can you elaborate?
Yeah, being able to swap disks is invaluable. Even good quality disks have a tendency to die after a few years.
I was referring specifically to RAM and CPUs. RAM does occasionally go bad, but my point was that someone could simply have a backup system, or use a more distributed model. So if one machine's RAM starts going you pull it out of service for a few minutes, change the RAM and put it back in.
It might be better to just plan for the worst and make "mini-attack robot" attacking mini-robots(to seek and destroy these microscopic assassins). We all know that people who would build such a thing aren't going to follow global laws and policies. We should still make the laws of course, but let's not assume that will stop anyone.
Java is great, but it is free. Not much of a business model there. The can always make related products, such as App Servers, etc, but that isn't directly making money off of Java. At that point they are a software company, like BEA and others.
There are advantages and disadvantages to controlling the code base of Java while writing apps using Java. Advantage one is that they can adopt new Java technologies first and have it on the market first. Disadvantage one is that they need to pay salaries of Java programmers(the ones working on the language itself) using money from their App Servers, etc.
I have been using computers personally and professionally for 15+ years and I can count a total of zero times when a processor failed while in use. In fact I have only ever seen one "bad" processor, and some dumbass had probably overclocked the shit out of it. Memory I have probably seen 10 bad sticks in the same amount of time.
Hot swapping hardware whose failure rate is almost non-existant, is an unnecessary, expensive feature which Sun and other "high-end" companies sell to executives who want to be able to tell their boss, "The new blah-blah server has 99.9% uptime due to being able to hot swap X part. Give me my bonus now." Anyone whose business relies on uptime will have redundant systems within redundant systems and still be saving money over Sun. They just pull one machine out, and replace it with another identical unit.
>I wonder if Japanese (or Asians) are in any way pre-disposed to not orienting with FPS for some reason.
I'm not Asian so I can't say from personal experience, however the majority of my Asian friends who play video games can play FPS just fine. They are mostly from China, not Japan so there might be a difference there.
One possible explanation is our exposure to American TV. Our television shows switch camera views all the time, zoom in and out for no reason, rotate, flash, and spin all the time. So maybe we have built up a tolerance to it? The Chinese TV(from Hong Kong, etc) that I watch on occasion has a slower pace, similar to American TV from the seventies.
Just one possible explanation, however I haven't really watched Japanese TV so I don't know how it compares to ours.
This is perhaps one of the most intelligent and most logical posts I have seen on slashdot in ages, and no one is modding this up?!?!?! My kingdom for some mod points.
Anyway, good post! It is funny how everyone calls corporations "evil", etc, as you were saying, and then puts money in their 401K expecting that money to magically grow.
Damn you for bringing up UT2004. I just bought it today and still have an hour before I can go home and play it. AAARRGGHHHH!!!!
>They were lazy
I think this is more likely the reason than anything else.
You can only make a tray so big unless you want to hook a paper mill up to each machine to recycle the "chads" as they fall out. Expecting someone to empty a little tray once or twice isn't that tall of an order.
We have probably ALL tried to use the hole-punch at work to find it jammed up with two years worth of little paper holes because some people are too lazy to take the cover off and shake the thing over the trash.
Any links? Facts? Did you work on the recount? Anything whatsoever to back your statements would be great.
I see. Sounds like a waste of time and effort to me, but oh well. I would rather write myself in than leave it blank.
U.S. Citizens are required to be able to speak/read/write basic Engish anyway. The only people we should be worrying about are the ones with disabilities.
Do people really intentionally f up their ballot as a form of protest? I have never heard of that before.
I had ver flexible hours when I was doing sys. admin work. As long as I came in earlier than everyone else and left later than everyone else I could pretty much make up my own hours. See, very flexible. :-)