And that is fine, given that the consoles aren't running nearly as much stuff in the background. Plus, since the hardware is one single well known configuration, a lot of extreme optimization can take place. Consoles look good enough for modern games and they play well enough too. With networking capabilities they can update software, etc. as needed. They're fine, albeit expensive for what they provide.
Personally I game on my PC though; I don't see a need to buy a console for gaming when I have a perfectly good machine already with lots of good stuff. Plus, modding is possible on the PCs and you're not locked into a single vendor like you are on the consoles.
Cool stuff. Reminds me of the Time Traveler video game back from the early 90s. It was fascinating if crude technology back then and I have always been wondering why, with better technology, similar concepts weren't being used today. Well, I guess someone finally stepped up to the plate. Hopefully this will encourage some innovation and creativity in the field of holograms. (o:
Yet one more argument for throwing out the current tax code as a whole and going to either a simple flat income tax or a flat sales tax. Like any system, it is much easier to hide and do nefarious things when the system it massive and complicated.
Percentages are interesting and all, but what about absolute numbers? 95% of a million people is 950k people leaving. 60% of 10 million people is 6 million. Guess which drop in population is going to have a larger effect on resource usage? I don't have the numbers but it would be interesting to see them.
Also, more trees may have pulled more carbon, but with so few people alive and no coal power plants, factories, and automobiles, was there a significant amount to pull out in the first place? Yes, the people in the Americas burned down some forest for farming land, but it isn't as if those were the only forest fires happening at the time. Natural fires happen regularly and they're sometimes massive.
Also, "There’s nothing else happening in the rest of the world at this time, in terms of human land use, that could explain this rapid carbon uptake." Emphasis mine. And just below that:
Natural processes may have also played a role in cooling off Europe: a decrease in solar activity, an increase in volcanic activity or colder oceans capable of absorbing more carbon dioxide. These phenomena better explain regional climate patterns during the Little Ice Age, says Michael Mann, a climate researcher at Pennsylvania State University in State College.
There's so many variables going on here that saying, "Oh, people died, and stuff happened" is a huge stretch. Would there have been an effect? Probably. Technically my breathing affects the environment. But a noticeable one? I highly doubt it.
Which is very true, but all other content previously could be found and produced by players. This new content (such as it is) is limited to converting PLEX to Aurum, which requires that extra real money be spent (by someone) in order to access the content.
Granted, it's vanity only. Nobody really cares. Whatever. What concerns people is the possibility of non-vanity items in the store and a whole host of other issues already covered in the comments here.
with no particularly exciting or different gameplay innovations
This is the one part that is incorrect. Dust 514 and Eve Online are supposed to tie together and have some sort of interaction, based around Eve's Planetary Interaction feature. I don't know of another MMO that interacts directory, or indirectly, with another MMO.
Granted, we don't know the details of the interaction or how closely tied the two games will be at that point, but it still interesting and could lead to some fun interactions between player groups.
You are absolutely correct about the double-dipping, and how MT belongs in a free-to-play game rather than a game with an already lofty monthly subscription. My greatest fear is all of the references that Hilmar (the CEO of CCP) makes towards "where the MMO industry is heading". He seems to be very, very interested in this free-to-play, MT-supported business model and I am certain that he wants to push Eve down this path. It won't work; the playerbase will leave in droves should that happen.
Eve has, historically, always offered expansions and all of the new content contained at no additional cost above and beyond the monthly subscription fee. You are correct that CCP has every right to change their business and pricing model as they see fit, but players also have the right to criticize and reject the new pricing models if they so choose.
[...] those who performed poorly to stand in a separate lunch line and awarded the others with discounts.
Rewritten:
[...] those who performed well stand in a separate lunch line and are awarded with discounts.
It's all in how it is reported. The original version makes it seem like those who do poorly are being singled out, but really, it could just as easily be those who do well that are singled out.
I remember back in my school where some teachers would publicly post the scores of every single test. That motivated people to study and try harder because - guess what - nobody wanted to have an F or a D next to their name. It worked.
This outcry is coming from the same people who think it's a hate crime to use the color red for marking mistakes on tests and papers. Being touchy-feely-everyone-hug doesn't make better students. Providing consequences for poor performance and rewarding good performance WILL make better students.
Besides: Welcome to the real world. If you screw up or are simply lazy then guess what - you're going to get fired. If you do really well then guess what - you're going to get a raise or a promotion.
And for those who complain that certain students just aren't capable of achieving, and that this isn't fair: There is a special education system for people who are unable to learn. It's special education for a reason - these are kids who aren't able to learn normally.
Oh, wait, nevermind, we keepfindingmore - and we keep developing new technology to get to the stuff.
Granted, processed oil isn't the friendliest thing to the world, there is a finite (though huge) supply, and cleaner fuels are a better alternative once they're economically viable without gigantic government subsidies. But for now we're just fine.
My Calculus II instructor was from China. I never could tell if he could speak English or not because his accent was so incredibly thick that it wouldn't have mattered. His students contacted the math department on multiple occasions and, instead of addressing the problem, we were told that we were inconsiderate and intolerant.
No, sorry, we were not being intolerant. We simply couldn't understand anything he said.
Needless to say we all fared quite poorly in his classes.
Just one more reason not to send your kid to Miami U. of Ohio.
With a small turbine you don't need to go outside. You could use a fan to simulate the wind, or simply turn it manually. Or have the kids blow really, really hard.:oD
roman_mir brings up a lot of very good points, especially the one about the USD no longer being backed by anything other than "the full faith and credit" of the US government. Your dollar is only worth X because people decide that it is. There is nothing backing that value at all and that is one of the reasons the government is able to pull all kinds of retarded tricks with your money.
Even if the dollar was still backed by a real asset then the monetization of the debt is still a major issue. It devalues the money that you yourself have right now. Most people don't realize that this is, in a way, yet another form of taxation. The US government magically creates money (and they have done so; all they have to do is update a database row in a bank account these days. It doesn't even have to be printed), devaluing your own. They now have more cash at the expense of the entire economy.
I'm sorry that you cannot understand these concepts and think they're crazy, but they're really not. It's a serious problem.
Has the US government done anything to actively sabotage the USPS?
Well, considering that the USPS is all government employees... Yes. Whomever agreed to this part is the one who really screwed things up:
Labor agreements prohibiting layoffs are preventing one avenue for reducing costs,
So, the USPS doesn't have enough mail volume to keep things going, but they're not allowed to get rid of excess people on the payroll that aren't needed. This isn't the only issue but it is a huge one and a great example of stupid management agreeing to equally stupid demands by the labor unions.
Why on earth would these people throw away free intel?
If anyone can join these social networks and see what is being planned then so can the government. The police forces can arrive early and be more than ready for all of the rioting idiots that show up. If I were in a position of power I would be thrilled to have such a vast amount of free intelligence available to me.
There is no reason to believe that Obama is the cause of our deficits, other than political disposition.
Just as I said that he wasn't clean of any wrong doing, I specifically pointed out that he can not be pinned as the only source of problems. I never said that he was THE cause; just a contributing factor.
I recall one TP candidate after another 'standing their ground' and demanding the debt ceiling not be raised
The federal government takes in money every single day. It isn't a giant lump sum at tax day after which there is no more money coming in. Not raising the debt ceiling would not prevent the US government from paying its debt obligations - there is actually plenty of money to do so. There is just very little left AFTER that to pay for other, very necessary things. Practical? No. But the principle is correct and something everyone should work towards.
Raising the debt ceiling is irresponsible, but not raising it is also irresponsible. Raising the debt ceiling without any cuts to spending (a true spending cut - not the "a cut to the increase of spending" voodoo that Congress loves so much) and only allowing the problem to get worse is the most irresponsible of all.
You blame defense spending for all our woes. Defense spending is still high, but not historically out of line for the past 50 years and it is set to decrease in the next few years. Well, except for interest on debt, which is stupidly high.
You know what else costs a gigantic pile of money? Entitlements. Here's another picture for you that is showing what is happening on that side of things. Note that historically it is only increasing. At least defense spending had had a cut once in a while, but entitlements are not sustainable at their current growth rate. But don't worry. Obama has nothing to do with this. It's just a coincidence that we use the word "Obamacare". Really.
So no, Obama isn't the only one to blame. It is insane to think that he is. But saying that he has nothing to do with the problem at all is similarly pathetic.
To say it in a analogy: If you have ordered something a restaurant, its not an option to say: "oh, i just dot pay this and dont eat it". Thats what they [the Tea Party] suggested.
That is not at all what the TP wanted to do. They wanted to cut spending so that we were still meeting debt obligations but cutting back on everything else. Your analogy is flawed. What the TP wants is to order dinner at a restaurant but then leave off the expensive dessert at the end so that they can afford to pay the entire bill.
I read through the article and all I found was information that it was possible to do so - but we at Slashdot ALL know that all electronic voting systems are heavily flawed. I didn't see any evidence in the article that voter fraud actually did occur, only that it was possible.
What IS mentioned is that an intermediate vote count was transferred to another server, but that just means that early vote totals were made available, not that fraudulent votes were cast.
What is with Slashdot and the craptacular headlines lately?
I think you're missing part of the point, or just trolling, but I'll bite.
These whackos aren't just stopping a few busses or peacefully gathering and protesting. They're releasing private correspondence, and who is to say that they're not adding and/or removing items in the process? It would be trivial to take, say, an MS Outlook mailbox file and add a few tasty mails with kiddie porn attachments. And then, all of a sudden, someone's public reputation is destroyed for something they didn't do.
There is a reason why computer forensics has a lot of process that track and control computer data so that it isn't tampered with. The Anon/Lulz guys are obviously going after people they don't like, and so already have a motive to taint whatever data they procure. Don't think that they won't, or already haven't.
These people aren't the good guys. They cause harm to the innocent, selectively release what furthers their agenda, and cannot be trusted. They have become the very people they hate.
I wonder if there is room in the market for a safe, biodegradable white paint. Something that we can paint on in the early Summer that more or less lasts until the start of the Fall. Yeah, it would make roofs look terrible, but if someone could spend $20 on paint but save $200 on cooling costs, people may be interested. I would be. A few hours of work for (in this theoretical example) $180 less spent? That's a good deal.
My house doesn't have air conditioning at all - it's an old Victorian deal with hot water heat and no air ducts at all. Being able to reduce the temperature in the Summer by a few degrees would be excellent.
More like, "This doesn't have any concept of a diety, or an afterlife, or a cosmic supernatural force. It's simply a political organization trying to make a mockery of our legal system."
Banking: For me, not a big deal - I check my statements a few times a month, that's it. I can live without it.
Shopping: This is a HUGE time saver. If I want (or need) X, then I can go to Amazon or whatever. A few minutes spent and it'll be at my door in a few days. This is way, way better than getting in a car, driving to a store, spending the time to walk around, wait in line, and drive all the way back home.
News: Cable news does't cut it. Newspapers are also pretty lame. The Internet provides excellent news resources from all over the place. If this isn't a concern of yours, no loss.
Online Gaming: Obviously can't be done without the Internet, but again, if it isn't high on your priority list then you'll survive.
Keeping up with friends / family: Not high on my list. Some people find it indispensable. But, honestly, if something important happens that I need to know that is what a phone is for.
So, really, if you want to live without the internet... Whatever. That's cool. You'll just be spending more time doing certain things. I've been without the Internet for two and three week stretches before while traveling or camping, and I can't say that I really miss it. It's just a tool like anything else.
Slashdot Mirror
And that is fine, given that the consoles aren't running nearly as much stuff in the background. Plus, since the hardware is one single well known configuration, a lot of extreme optimization can take place. Consoles look good enough for modern games and they play well enough too. With networking capabilities they can update software, etc. as needed. They're fine, albeit expensive for what they provide.
Personally I game on my PC though; I don't see a need to buy a console for gaming when I have a perfectly good machine already with lots of good stuff. Plus, modding is possible on the PCs and you're not locked into a single vendor like you are on the consoles.
Cool stuff. Reminds me of the Time Traveler video game back from the early 90s. It was fascinating if crude technology back then and I have always been wondering why, with better technology, similar concepts weren't being used today. Well, I guess someone finally stepped up to the plate. Hopefully this will encourage some innovation and creativity in the field of holograms. (o:
Yet one more argument for throwing out the current tax code as a whole and going to either a simple flat income tax or a flat sales tax. Like any system, it is much easier to hide and do nefarious things when the system it massive and complicated.
Percentages are interesting and all, but what about absolute numbers? 95% of a million people is 950k people leaving. 60% of 10 million people is 6 million. Guess which drop in population is going to have a larger effect on resource usage? I don't have the numbers but it would be interesting to see them.
Also, more trees may have pulled more carbon, but with so few people alive and no coal power plants, factories, and automobiles, was there a significant amount to pull out in the first place? Yes, the people in the Americas burned down some forest for farming land, but it isn't as if those were the only forest fires happening at the time. Natural fires happen regularly and they're sometimes massive.
Also, "There’s nothing else happening in the rest of the world at this time, in terms of human land use, that could explain this rapid carbon uptake." Emphasis mine. And just below that:
There's so many variables going on here that saying, "Oh, people died, and stuff happened" is a huge stretch. Would there have been an effect? Probably. Technically my breathing affects the environment. But a noticeable one? I highly doubt it.
Which is very true, but all other content previously could be found and produced by players. This new content (such as it is) is limited to converting PLEX to Aurum, which requires that extra real money be spent (by someone) in order to access the content.
Granted, it's vanity only. Nobody really cares. Whatever. What concerns people is the possibility of non-vanity items in the store and a whole host of other issues already covered in the comments here.
This is the one part that is incorrect. Dust 514 and Eve Online are supposed to tie together and have some sort of interaction, based around Eve's Planetary Interaction feature. I don't know of another MMO that interacts directory, or indirectly, with another MMO.
Granted, we don't know the details of the interaction or how closely tied the two games will be at that point, but it still interesting and could lead to some fun interactions between player groups.
You are absolutely correct about the double-dipping, and how MT belongs in a free-to-play game rather than a game with an already lofty monthly subscription. My greatest fear is all of the references that Hilmar (the CEO of CCP) makes towards "where the MMO industry is heading". He seems to be very, very interested in this free-to-play, MT-supported business model and I am certain that he wants to push Eve down this path. It won't work; the playerbase will leave in droves should that happen.
Eve has, historically, always offered expansions and all of the new content contained at no additional cost above and beyond the monthly subscription fee. You are correct that CCP has every right to change their business and pricing model as they see fit, but players also have the right to criticize and reject the new pricing models if they so choose.
Rewritten:
It's all in how it is reported. The original version makes it seem like those who do poorly are being singled out, but really, it could just as easily be those who do well that are singled out.
I remember back in my school where some teachers would publicly post the scores of every single test. That motivated people to study and try harder because - guess what - nobody wanted to have an F or a D next to their name. It worked.
This outcry is coming from the same people who think it's a hate crime to use the color red for marking mistakes on tests and papers. Being touchy-feely-everyone-hug doesn't make better students. Providing consequences for poor performance and rewarding good performance WILL make better students.
Besides: Welcome to the real world. If you screw up or are simply lazy then guess what - you're going to get fired. If you do really well then guess what - you're going to get a raise or a promotion.
And for those who complain that certain students just aren't capable of achieving, and that this isn't fair: There is a special education system for people who are unable to learn. It's special education for a reason - these are kids who aren't able to learn normally.
Everybody panic!
Oh, wait, nevermind, we keep finding more - and we keep developing new technology to get to the stuff.
Granted, processed oil isn't the friendliest thing to the world, there is a finite (though huge) supply, and cleaner fuels are a better alternative once they're economically viable without gigantic government subsidies. But for now we're just fine.
You would do well to send your opinions to the parent company of Bethesda, ZeniMax.
My Calculus II instructor was from China. I never could tell if he could speak English or not because his accent was so incredibly thick that it wouldn't have mattered. His students contacted the math department on multiple occasions and, instead of addressing the problem, we were told that we were inconsiderate and intolerant.
No, sorry, we were not being intolerant. We simply couldn't understand anything he said.
Needless to say we all fared quite poorly in his classes.
Just one more reason not to send your kid to Miami U. of Ohio.
With a small turbine you don't need to go outside. You could use a fan to simulate the wind, or simply turn it manually. Or have the kids blow really, really hard. :oD
Har har, aren't you witty.
roman_mir brings up a lot of very good points, especially the one about the USD no longer being backed by anything other than "the full faith and credit" of the US government. Your dollar is only worth X because people decide that it is. There is nothing backing that value at all and that is one of the reasons the government is able to pull all kinds of retarded tricks with your money.
Even if the dollar was still backed by a real asset then the monetization of the debt is still a major issue. It devalues the money that you yourself have right now. Most people don't realize that this is, in a way, yet another form of taxation. The US government magically creates money (and they have done so; all they have to do is update a database row in a bank account these days. It doesn't even have to be printed), devaluing your own. They now have more cash at the expense of the entire economy.
I'm sorry that you cannot understand these concepts and think they're crazy, but they're really not. It's a serious problem.
Has the US government done anything to actively sabotage the USPS?
Well, considering that the USPS is all government employees... Yes. Whomever agreed to this part is the one who really screwed things up:
Labor agreements prohibiting layoffs are preventing one avenue for reducing costs,
So, the USPS doesn't have enough mail volume to keep things going, but they're not allowed to get rid of excess people on the payroll that aren't needed. This isn't the only issue but it is a huge one and a great example of stupid management agreeing to equally stupid demands by the labor unions.
Why on earth would these people throw away free intel?
If anyone can join these social networks and see what is being planned then so can the government. The police forces can arrive early and be more than ready for all of the rioting idiots that show up. If I were in a position of power I would be thrilled to have such a vast amount of free intelligence available to me.
Just as I said that he wasn't clean of any wrong doing, I specifically pointed out that he can not be pinned as the only source of problems. I never said that he was THE cause; just a contributing factor.
The federal government takes in money every single day. It isn't a giant lump sum at tax day after which there is no more money coming in. Not raising the debt ceiling would not prevent the US government from paying its debt obligations - there is actually plenty of money to do so. There is just very little left AFTER that to pay for other, very necessary things. Practical? No. But the principle is correct and something everyone should work towards.
Raising the debt ceiling is irresponsible, but not raising it is also irresponsible. Raising the debt ceiling without any cuts to spending (a true spending cut - not the "a cut to the increase of spending" voodoo that Congress loves so much) and only allowing the problem to get worse is the most irresponsible of all.
As a European commenting on our domestic policy, you apparently aren't getting the full story or are choosing to ignore it.
Oh, but it does. The president must sign or veto each spending appropriation. And Obama has approved and encouraged plenty. Wikipedia can show you that since Obama has entered office the rate at which the debt is growing has increased substantially.
You blame defense spending for all our woes. Defense spending is still high, but not historically out of line for the past 50 years and it is set to decrease in the next few years. Well, except for interest on debt, which is stupidly high.
You know what else costs a gigantic pile of money? Entitlements. Here's another picture for you that is showing what is happening on that side of things. Note that historically it is only increasing. At least defense spending had had a cut once in a while, but entitlements are not sustainable at their current growth rate. But don't worry. Obama has nothing to do with this. It's just a coincidence that we use the word "Obamacare". Really.
So no, Obama isn't the only one to blame. It is insane to think that he is. But saying that he has nothing to do with the problem at all is similarly pathetic.
That is not at all what the TP wanted to do. They wanted to cut spending so that we were still meeting debt obligations but cutting back on everything else. Your analogy is flawed. What the TP wants is to order dinner at a restaurant but then leave off the expensive dessert at the end so that they can afford to pay the entire bill.
I read through the article and all I found was information that it was possible to do so - but we at Slashdot ALL know that all electronic voting systems are heavily flawed. I didn't see any evidence in the article that voter fraud actually did occur, only that it was possible.
What IS mentioned is that an intermediate vote count was transferred to another server, but that just means that early vote totals were made available, not that fraudulent votes were cast.
What is with Slashdot and the craptacular headlines lately?
I think you're missing part of the point, or just trolling, but I'll bite.
These whackos aren't just stopping a few busses or peacefully gathering and protesting. They're releasing private correspondence, and who is to say that they're not adding and/or removing items in the process? It would be trivial to take, say, an MS Outlook mailbox file and add a few tasty mails with kiddie porn attachments. And then, all of a sudden, someone's public reputation is destroyed for something they didn't do.
There is a reason why computer forensics has a lot of process that track and control computer data so that it isn't tampered with. The Anon/Lulz guys are obviously going after people they don't like, and so already have a motive to taint whatever data they procure. Don't think that they won't, or already haven't.
These people aren't the good guys. They cause harm to the innocent, selectively release what furthers their agenda, and cannot be trusted. They have become the very people they hate.
I wonder if there is room in the market for a safe, biodegradable white paint. Something that we can paint on in the early Summer that more or less lasts until the start of the Fall. Yeah, it would make roofs look terrible, but if someone could spend $20 on paint but save $200 on cooling costs, people may be interested. I would be. A few hours of work for (in this theoretical example) $180 less spent? That's a good deal.
My house doesn't have air conditioning at all - it's an old Victorian deal with hot water heat and no air ducts at all. Being able to reduce the temperature in the Summer by a few degrees would be excellent.
Received my invite. Thank you very much!
kermodebear at gmail, if you would be so kind. Thank you very much!
More like, "This doesn't have any concept of a diety, or an afterlife, or a cosmic supernatural force. It's simply a political organization trying to make a mockery of our legal system."
The Internet is useful for:
Banking: For me, not a big deal - I check my statements a few times a month, that's it. I can live without it.
Shopping: This is a HUGE time saver. If I want (or need) X, then I can go to Amazon or whatever. A few minutes spent and it'll be at my door in a few days. This is way, way better than getting in a car, driving to a store, spending the time to walk around, wait in line, and drive all the way back home.
News: Cable news does't cut it. Newspapers are also pretty lame. The Internet provides excellent news resources from all over the place. If this isn't a concern of yours, no loss.
Online Gaming: Obviously can't be done without the Internet, but again, if it isn't high on your priority list then you'll survive.
Keeping up with friends / family: Not high on my list. Some people find it indispensable. But, honestly, if something important happens that I need to know that is what a phone is for.
So, really, if you want to live without the internet... Whatever. That's cool. You'll just be spending more time doing certain things. I've been without the Internet for two and three week stretches before while traveling or camping, and I can't say that I really miss it. It's just a tool like anything else.