"Hi, my name is Valerie Victim. Somebody stole my laptop. It's serial number is 123-456-789. Can you disable it?" "Certainly." "Thanks!" Monique Malicious chuckles, then walks away, her handiwork complete, her rival's laptop disabled.
I certainly hope they've prepared to prevent such scenarios. Granted, you need to know the serial number, but if it's printed on the back of the thing...
What doesn't make sense though, is given the energy efficiency and easy-to-read high contrast functionality of E Ink, why other than Motorola with its Motofone, has no other cell phone manufacturer incorporated E Ink technology into its handsets?
E-Ink has yet to be tested wide scale on America's consumers, or any consumers, really. Technologically, for a number of cell phone users (at least in the U.S.), it is a step backwards. We already have bright screens with a number of colors. The cell phone is a show piece, and "Hey guys, look how energy efficient my phone is!" doesn't garner praise in most circles. Sure, some people just want a phone with good battery life and don't want a fancy phone that can do a billion different things, but the vibe that I get is that noone knows just how big that market is, or that noone wants to cater to it because of its size, or they figure that with no alternative, consumers will be stuck buying whatever bloated phone is cheapest at the time.
What doesn't make sense though, is why hasn't the Motofone been released in the U.S.? The Motofone got a bit of hype, and a number of people have said it would be great to have a phone that is a phone and is good at it. A number of articles made the rounds on the net, including at Engadget and Gizmodo. Despite this, Motorola is dragging its feet getting it to the U.S., and if you want to import it, you have spend twice what it's worth. Makes me wonder, what's taking so long?
If you have a PS2, you might want to check out Katamari Damacy. The controls are fairly simple, relying only on two joysticks which provide tank-like movement, yet the game is still loads of fun. I don't know if that qualifies as a grown-up game or not, though. Same goes for Lego Star Wars, which is fairly simple but again loads of fun, though I could still see some parts being frustrating (but then again, thats what cheat codes are for!).
So a 2 second gap is 205 feet.
2/5ths of a second then equates to 41 feet.
That leaves 205 - 41 = 164 feet left to stop, which is 6 feet less than the number cited for the average modern vehicle to stop. So the two second rule is deficient by about 3.5% for the average modern vehicle.
On a side note, modern isn't exactly defined, but I don't think my '87 station wagon (with no ABS) qualifies.
No way. I don't want that zombie AIDS shit getting on me...
Hey man, you get bit and you're screwed anyway, whats it matter? Is there a lot of stigma in the zombie community about zombies with AIDs or something?
Large Neodymium magnets are ridiculously dangerous, but don't underestimate the small ones, either. A small one I had (1cm x 1cm x 2mm) flew with such force at a metal surface that it shattered upon impact.
I've also had the misfortune of pinching flesh between 2 8cm cube magnets, and the only way I could get them apart was to anchor one on a metal filing cabinet, the other on a pair of pliers, and then pull the pliers away from the cabinet (Note: Getting skin caught between two neodymium magnets is one of the big No-Nos). I have no desire of ever having a larger one like the inch cube 3770 has, simply because of the safety and responsibility (or injury) that goes along with having one... although it would be pretty nifty to hang a bike from one.
Despite this, they are pretty neat, if not just because they kick the ass of wussy refrigerator magnets. thinkgeek offers a package with assorted small neodymium magnets, as does k&j magnets, who I ordered mine from back before thinkgeek picked them up.
In no particular order (except for maybe the first one):
Katamari Damacy (PS2)
Lego Star Wars (Various)
Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)
Final Fantasy 7 (Various)
If you're partial to older consoles (and in particular, RPGs):
Secret of Mana (SNES)
Chrono Trigger (SNES)
Final Fantasy 6 (SNES)
Contra (NES) [Not an RPG]
You seemed to specify console gaming. If you somehow haven't yet had the opportunity to play first person shooters on a computer, that is also something I would suggest you do. I'd personally suggest Half-Life. Starcraft and Diablo are also notable computer games (not first person shooters, though). "Must play computer games" is really a whole nother can of worms, though.
Duh, of course the computer is safe in the hands of a child, the operating system hasn't even been released yet. I wouldn't bet on that security through obscurity once the OS becomes mainstream.
It's supply and demand? But what would happen if supply and demand were equal? You'd still be able to pull that scam, raising the price of the product and pocketing the difference. When people buy something just to resell it for profit, that creates an artificial scarcity. It would take excessive supply (read: waste) to stop that from working.
There is already an artificial scarcity inherent to the system. When you launch with 500k and 1500k want to buy, theres artificial scaricity right there. I'm just pulling numbers out of my ass, but the point is the same.
What if supply and demand were equal? Well then, it's all about who has the supply and who wants it, and how much they're willing to pay for it. How much that PS3 is worth = how much someone is willing to pay for it, and if 500,000 people are willing to pay $800, then that is how much they will pay. Even if things were such that supply = demand, at least gougers would be competing against each other and might be forced to lower their prices within reason, as gougers at that point would also likely be competing with the outlets. It's hard to charge $800 for something when I have a decent shot at going to an outlet store to get it for $600. Also there starts to be significant risk for the gouger. Noone wants to buy from a gouger, and if supply picks up theres a chance a gouger will be out $3000 or have to sell those 5 PS3's at a loss.
If Sony makes an excessive supply, and they can get everyone to buy one and every gouger to buy 5, those are still sales. You might have to tweak the return policy at the outlet so they don't just end up back on the shelves...
Anyways, what is wrong with waste? Waste is a natural point in the lifecycle of a console. How many ps2, xbox's, gamecubes, whatever are just sitting in a glass case in a Target somewhere?
(Note: I'm not talking tons of Atari E.T. carts sitting in a landfill sort of waste).
I don't agree with the behavior, but I'm not going to blame the gougers because of a shitty system.
You know, I used to think that way, that gouging people on something like this is greedy and wrong. But it really seems like the market supports it. You have the console/toy maker on one side, not producing enough product. You have the media/hype/advertising raising demand for a product that there isn't enough of. And then you have the consumer who is willing to play ball and shell out 6 or 8 or however many hundreds of dollars. Noone forces the consumer to buy. S/he could wait a few months or half a year and buy it then. Consumer wants it now, including bragging rights? Thats a privilege consumer will have to pay for. Consumer's child wants it this Christmas? Maybe consumer's child should be getting what was HOTlast Christmas. It's simply supply and demand. Don't like not being able to buy your console on the release date? Take that up with Sony for not making enough damn consoles. I could see the gouging being wrong if this was a necessity, but cmon, lives don't depend on this. You don't need this to survive. Not even close.
(Note: I'm not disagreeing about "Everyone doing something doesn't make it right." You're right on there)
If I can't get technology education in school, then what would be the best way to teach myself?
If you're that dedicated, and you have the time to spare, you might want to look into a vocational / technical school or taking classes at the local community college. Both generally offer night classes, which you could take after school. Of course, this also depends on how heavy your school workload is and how active your social life is. Still, a community college night class two times a week might be enough for you to get your fill without totally destroying your schedule.
I haven't ever bought regular bulbs so I can't be certain, but I would highly doubt that they are anywhere near the 10x range you imply.
I bought a dimmable CFL for around $15-$20. Assuming dimmable (read: any) incandescent bulbs cost $1 (which is probably on the high side), the dimmable CFL costs at LEAST 15 times the amount the incandescent bulb did. On a side note, dimmable CFLs don't perform very well compared to the incandescents. You have to turn the dimmer up past a threshold (greater than 20%-30%) in order for the CFL to go on, and you can only dim it to around 20% before it cuts off abruptly.
Really, if a 13 year old kid is playing, say, Doom 3, and his parents are aware of it's rating and think that the kid is mature enough to handle it, they usually are. I first played Doom when I was 6, and Half-Life when I was 9.
A 13 year old is fine, and they're at the age where they're going to be exposed to graphic violence from numerous places; from movies, tv, video games they play at their friend's houses, they're going to find gore gallary if that is what they want to find.
However, I think there are a number of parents who are NOT doing their jobs, who let their younger children play whatever games they want without even giving the rating a second thought. I've seen a family where an 8 year old is permitted to play GTA3. He would run around with the flamethrower, igniting pedastrians, and he would laugh maniacially as they screamed and ran around engulfed. I didn't think it was funny, and maybe theres something I just don't get about burning people alive. I digress. My point is that this just doesn't seem like something acceptable for a child to be seeing, and especially playing part in.
Video games have come a long way from their pixelated predecessors, and they're just going to continue to get more and more graphic. Eventually you're going to be able to blow off the enemy's anatomy with well aimed shots to the chin, ear, forehead, back, kneecap, stomach, whatever, and expose the organs, veins, muscles, and brains that lie beneath (I guess an interesting side effect of this would be that children might be better at anatomy). You'll probably even be able to 'saw' through someones arm with a chain gun, at which point they will flail whats left of their bloody stump of an arm and spurt blood all over the room. And it's only a matter of time before you can snort blow off a hooker's ass in whatever iteration of GTA it is going to take for them to incorporate that (Rockstar, you can pay me later).
I don't agree with Thompson's ideals and methods of misinformation. I have no problem with games with graphic violence being available. And I don't think that video games are turning children into serial killers. However, I do have a problem with these games being made available to children. The graphic violence in games will continue to progress. Somewhere down the line, the attitude that "it's ok for my pre-teen child to play the most graphic game on the market" is going to have to be changed. I think we've passed that point. YMMV.
I definitely agree with parent. There certainly are a number of suck movies in the theaters, but then again, there always are, and thats unavoidable because a large number of people go to the movies to not think. Bright colors, shiny special effects, and shitty plots seem to have a way of drawing crowds in.
And of course, these same suck movies are what is going to be fed to you on your video on demand and cable channels, because people want to see them.
However, if somehow you aren't seeing good movies at all, you aren't looking hard enough. V for Vendetta was awesome. Syriana was good. Thank You for Smoking was good. A Scanner Darkly is pretty cool. Brick was great. Brokeback Mountain. Inside Man. Serenity. Narnia. This has all been in the last year or so.
I'll admit that compared to 2004 and the first half of 2005, things are looking a little weak, but there is no certainly no drought.
I don't follow. Selecting one out of two equally deserving candidates is wrong?
You should probably quote the whole message, because you're missing some information there.
All things considered, yes, selecting one of the two candidates is wrong. According to EricZ (parent's parent), it's in the best interest of American companies to have experienced professionals. In order to have experienced professionals, someone needs to give the workers experience. With the outsourcing, this is not occuring. Though the off-shore workers may be adequate for simpler tasks, American companies are unable to elevate them to a position that can only be filled by someone with a college education. By outsourcing, American companies are depriving college graduates of jobs, watering down the value of a college education, and depriving themselves of experienced IT workers, all at the same time.
Who deserves a job more is morally ambiguous. If you ask the graduate and the off-shore worker, both will answer themselves.
Logically, however, it is wrong for American companies to outsource because in the long run they only damage their own economy.
Maybe you can help me with this. I have a friend who is into slashdot, into hacking, into linux. He's even read 1984. He seems like the sort of person that would fit right in with this community.
However, he doesn't seem to understand why privacy is so important. I just don't get it. I tell him I shred my credit card apps, he scoffs at me like identify theft doesn't happen. He doesn't think its a concern when an organization loses a list with a bunch of people's names and contact information on it, because "All those people are in the phone book." It's nobody elses ****ing business whose name is on that list. Seriously, what the fuck? What can I say to this guy to give him a wake up call?
You mean theres a PATCH?!? Like, I can quench my urge to game in class, and not end up with a notebook full of tic-tac-toe games played against myself??? (I always lose)
But at least you're getting five more frames per second than a console, right?
Yeah, because everybody knows computer gaming is about milking every last frame out of your box, and that it has nothing to do with the selection and playability of games.
You don't get a huge selection of RTS games on a console simply because it's so cumbersome to play them without a mouse and keyboard. You don't get Warcraft 3, Dragonshard, or Empire at War. You don't get 15 different flavors of Command & Conquer. Maybe, with the newer consoles that support USB, we'll start seeing RTS console games that use a mouse and keyboard. Until then, the PC has a genre of game almost entirely to itself.
And then, there are FPS games. I used to play Goldeneye and Perfect Dark for hours on N64. They were great. I couldn't imagine how they could be better. Then I played Quake, on my schools crummy computers, with a mouse and a keyboard. It was amazing! I could look around, I could see everything! I could even jump! Goldeneye would have been twice as good if it had had that keyboard and mouse combo. Again, with the newer consoles, mouse and keyboard might become pretty standard. But until it does, can you guess where I'm playing my (rts/fps) games?
I'm skeptical about Art of Sense's claim to not be spam. Their given phone number on their whois info is obviously fake (1234567890). Combine that with the PO box and you may never find out who they are. They do have (what looks like) a valid number for the fax line, however.
Slashdot Mirror
"Hi, my name is Valerie Victim. Somebody stole my laptop. It's serial number is 123-456-789. Can you disable it?"
"Certainly."
"Thanks!"
Monique Malicious chuckles, then walks away, her handiwork complete, her rival's laptop disabled.
I certainly hope they've prepared to prevent such scenarios. Granted, you need to know the serial number, but if it's printed on the back of the thing...
E-Ink has yet to be tested wide scale on America's consumers, or any consumers, really. Technologically, for a number of cell phone users (at least in the U.S.), it is a step backwards. We already have bright screens with a number of colors. The cell phone is a show piece, and "Hey guys, look how energy efficient my phone is!" doesn't garner praise in most circles. Sure, some people just want a phone with good battery life and don't want a fancy phone that can do a billion different things, but the vibe that I get is that noone knows just how big that market is, or that noone wants to cater to it because of its size, or they figure that with no alternative, consumers will be stuck buying whatever bloated phone is cheapest at the time.
What doesn't make sense though, is why hasn't the Motofone been released in the U.S.? The Motofone got a bit of hype, and a number of people have said it would be great to have a phone that is a phone and is good at it. A number of articles made the rounds on the net, including at Engadget and Gizmodo. Despite this, Motorola is dragging its feet getting it to the U.S., and if you want to import it, you have spend twice what it's worth. Makes me wonder, what's taking so long?
If you have a PS2, you might want to check out Katamari Damacy. The controls are fairly simple, relying only on two joysticks which provide tank-like movement, yet the game is still loads of fun. I don't know if that qualifies as a grown-up game or not, though. Same goes for Lego Star Wars, which is fairly simple but again loads of fun, though I could still see some parts being frustrating (but then again, thats what cheat codes are for!).
Nice find.
So a 2 second gap is 205 feet.
2/5ths of a second then equates to 41 feet.
That leaves 205 - 41 = 164 feet left to stop, which is 6 feet less than the number cited for the average modern vehicle to stop. So the two second rule is deficient by about 3.5% for the average modern vehicle.
On a side note, modern isn't exactly defined, but I don't think my '87 station wagon (with no ABS) qualifies.
Hey man, you get bit and you're screwed anyway, whats it matter? Is there a lot of stigma in the zombie community about zombies with AIDs or something?
Large Neodymium magnets are ridiculously dangerous, but don't underestimate the small ones, either. A small one I had (1cm x 1cm x 2mm) flew with such force at a metal surface that it shattered upon impact.
I've also had the misfortune of pinching flesh between 2 8cm cube magnets, and the only way I could get them apart was to anchor one on a metal filing cabinet, the other on a pair of pliers, and then pull the pliers away from the cabinet (Note: Getting skin caught between two neodymium magnets is one of the big No-Nos). I have no desire of ever having a larger one like the inch cube 3770 has, simply because of the safety and responsibility (or injury) that goes along with having one... although it would be pretty nifty to hang a bike from one.
Despite this, they are pretty neat, if not just because they kick the ass of wussy refrigerator magnets. thinkgeek offers a package with assorted small neodymium magnets, as does k&j magnets, who I ordered mine from back before thinkgeek picked them up.
In no particular order (except for maybe the first one):
Katamari Damacy (PS2)
Lego Star Wars (Various)
Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)
Final Fantasy 7 (Various)
If you're partial to older consoles (and in particular, RPGs):
Secret of Mana (SNES)
Chrono Trigger (SNES)
Final Fantasy 6 (SNES)
Contra (NES) [Not an RPG]
You seemed to specify console gaming. If you somehow haven't yet had the opportunity to play first person shooters on a computer, that is also something I would suggest you do. I'd personally suggest Half-Life. Starcraft and Diablo are also notable computer games (not first person shooters, though). "Must play computer games" is really a whole nother can of worms, though.
Duh, of course the computer is safe in the hands of a child, the operating system hasn't even been released yet. I wouldn't bet on that security through obscurity once the OS becomes mainstream.
Sources RE: McDonald's? I can't find anything verifying the claims you are making.
Thats works for a while, but it is only so long before the mothers get mad cow disease.
It's supply and demand? But what would happen if supply and demand were equal? You'd still be able to pull that scam, raising the price of the product and pocketing the difference. When people buy something just to resell it for profit, that creates an artificial scarcity. It would take excessive supply (read: waste) to stop that from working.
There is already an artificial scarcity inherent to the system. When you launch with 500k and 1500k want to buy, theres artificial scaricity right there. I'm just pulling numbers out of my ass, but the point is the same.
What if supply and demand were equal? Well then, it's all about who has the supply and who wants it, and how much they're willing to pay for it. How much that PS3 is worth = how much someone is willing to pay for it, and if 500,000 people are willing to pay $800, then that is how much they will pay. Even if things were such that supply = demand, at least gougers would be competing against each other and might be forced to lower their prices within reason, as gougers at that point would also likely be competing with the outlets. It's hard to charge $800 for something when I have a decent shot at going to an outlet store to get it for $600. Also there starts to be significant risk for the gouger. Noone wants to buy from a gouger, and if supply picks up theres a chance a gouger will be out $3000 or have to sell those 5 PS3's at a loss.
If Sony makes an excessive supply, and they can get everyone to buy one and every gouger to buy 5, those are still sales. You might have to tweak the return policy at the outlet so they don't just end up back on the shelves...
Anyways, what is wrong with waste? Waste is a natural point in the lifecycle of a console. How many ps2, xbox's, gamecubes, whatever are just sitting in a glass case in a Target somewhere? (Note: I'm not talking tons of Atari E.T. carts sitting in a landfill sort of waste).
I don't agree with the behavior, but I'm not going to blame the gougers because of a shitty system.
You know, I used to think that way, that gouging people on something like this is greedy and wrong. But it really seems like the market supports it. You have the console/toy maker on one side, not producing enough product. You have the media/hype/advertising raising demand for a product that there isn't enough of. And then you have the consumer who is willing to play ball and shell out 6 or 8 or however many hundreds of dollars. Noone forces the consumer to buy. S/he could wait a few months or half a year and buy it then. Consumer wants it now, including bragging rights? Thats a privilege consumer will have to pay for. Consumer's child wants it this Christmas? Maybe consumer's child should be getting what was HOT last Christmas. It's simply supply and demand. Don't like not being able to buy your console on the release date? Take that up with Sony for not making enough damn consoles. I could see the gouging being wrong if this was a necessity, but cmon, lives don't depend on this. You don't need this to survive. Not even close.
(Note: I'm not disagreeing about "Everyone doing something doesn't make it right." You're right on there)
Oh, weird like weird al yankovic. i get it now.
for providing the useful links.
Really, if a 13 year old kid is playing, say, Doom 3, and his parents are aware of it's rating and think that the kid is mature enough to handle it, they usually are. I first played Doom when I was 6, and Half-Life when I was 9.
A 13 year old is fine, and they're at the age where they're going to be exposed to graphic violence from numerous places; from movies, tv, video games they play at their friend's houses, they're going to find gore gallary if that is what they want to find.
However, I think there are a number of parents who are NOT doing their jobs, who let their younger children play whatever games they want without even giving the rating a second thought. I've seen a family where an 8 year old is permitted to play GTA3. He would run around with the flamethrower, igniting pedastrians, and he would laugh maniacially as they screamed and ran around engulfed. I didn't think it was funny, and maybe theres something I just don't get about burning people alive. I digress. My point is that this just doesn't seem like something acceptable for a child to be seeing, and especially playing part in.
Video games have come a long way from their pixelated predecessors, and they're just going to continue to get more and more graphic. Eventually you're going to be able to blow off the enemy's anatomy with well aimed shots to the chin, ear, forehead, back, kneecap, stomach, whatever, and expose the organs, veins, muscles, and brains that lie beneath (I guess an interesting side effect of this would be that children might be better at anatomy). You'll probably even be able to 'saw' through someones arm with a chain gun, at which point they will flail whats left of their bloody stump of an arm and spurt blood all over the room. And it's only a matter of time before you can snort blow off a hooker's ass in whatever iteration of GTA it is going to take for them to incorporate that (Rockstar, you can pay me later).
I don't agree with Thompson's ideals and methods of misinformation. I have no problem with games with graphic violence being available. And I don't think that video games are turning children into serial killers. However, I do have a problem with these games being made available to children. The graphic violence in games will continue to progress. Somewhere down the line, the attitude that "it's ok for my pre-teen child to play the most graphic game on the market" is going to have to be changed. I think we've passed that point. YMMV.
Well, it was grey matter before they confirmed its existance.
I definitely agree with parent. There certainly are a number of suck movies in the theaters, but then again, there always are, and thats unavoidable because a large number of people go to the movies to not think. Bright colors, shiny special effects, and shitty plots seem to have a way of drawing crowds in.
And of course, these same suck movies are what is going to be fed to you on your video on demand and cable channels, because people want to see them.
However, if somehow you aren't seeing good movies at all, you aren't looking hard enough. V for Vendetta was awesome. Syriana was good. Thank You for Smoking was good. A Scanner Darkly is pretty cool. Brick was great. Brokeback Mountain. Inside Man. Serenity. Narnia. This has all been in the last year or so.
I'll admit that compared to 2004 and the first half of 2005, things are looking a little weak, but there is no certainly no drought.
I don't follow. Selecting one out of two equally deserving candidates is wrong?
You should probably quote the whole message, because you're missing some information there.
All things considered, yes, selecting one of the two candidates is wrong. According to EricZ (parent's parent), it's in the best interest of American companies to have experienced professionals. In order to have experienced professionals, someone needs to give the workers experience. With the outsourcing, this is not occuring. Though the off-shore workers may be adequate for simpler tasks, American companies are unable to elevate them to a position that can only be filled by someone with a college education. By outsourcing, American companies are depriving college graduates of jobs, watering down the value of a college education, and depriving themselves of experienced IT workers, all at the same time.
Who deserves a job more is morally ambiguous. If you ask the graduate and the off-shore worker, both will answer themselves.
Logically, however, it is wrong for American companies to outsource because in the long run they only damage their own economy.
Maybe you can help me with this. I have a friend who is into slashdot, into hacking, into linux. He's even read 1984. He seems like the sort of person that would fit right in with this community.
However, he doesn't seem to understand why privacy is so important. I just don't get it. I tell him I shred my credit card apps, he scoffs at me like identify theft doesn't happen. He doesn't think its a concern when an organization loses a list with a bunch of people's names and contact information on it, because "All those people are in the phone book." It's nobody elses ****ing business whose name is on that list. Seriously, what the fuck? What can I say to this guy to give him a wake up call?
You mean theres a PATCH?!? Like, I can quench my urge to game in class, and not end up with a notebook full of tic-tac-toe games played against myself??? (I always lose)
You don't get a huge selection of RTS games on a console simply because it's so cumbersome to play them without a mouse and keyboard. You don't get Warcraft 3, Dragonshard, or Empire at War. You don't get 15 different flavors of Command & Conquer. Maybe, with the newer consoles that support USB, we'll start seeing RTS console games that use a mouse and keyboard. Until then, the PC has a genre of game almost entirely to itself.
And then, there are FPS games. I used to play Goldeneye and Perfect Dark for hours on N64. They were great. I couldn't imagine how they could be better. Then I played Quake, on my schools crummy computers, with a mouse and a keyboard. It was amazing! I could look around, I could see everything! I could even jump! Goldeneye would have been twice as good if it had had that keyboard and mouse combo. Again, with the newer consoles, mouse and keyboard might become pretty standard. But until it does, can you guess where I'm playing my (rts/fps) games?
I'm skeptical about Art of Sense's claim to not be spam. Their given phone number on their whois info is obviously fake (1234567890). Combine that with the PO box and you may never find out who they are. They do have (what looks like) a valid number for the fax line, however.