Ummmm, assuming you replied to the right parent, the post Empowering by prell was dated Tuesday October 26, @05:37PM. Even the original thread wasn't posted by Zonk until Tuesday October 26, @04:22PM. Both are well after the official R* U.S. launch time.
The game was officially, publicly launched in the U.S. on 10/26. R* had approved arrangements with certain retailers (like EB) to begin selling the game on 10/25 at 7:00pm. Progressing to the crack addict mission occurs VERY early in the game.
That every year I hear the rankings of Top 10 party schools in Time, Newsweek, and other mainstream media outlets. I never hear a thing about campus rankings on issues that actually matter unless I turn to (relatively) obscure news sources like/.
Not sixth sense, rather...
on
Good Bad Attitude
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· Score: 3, Insightful
"(Hackers) can sense totalitarianism approaching from a distance, as animals can sense an approaching thunderstorm.""
I think it's less sixth sense and more the fact that some people just pay attention instead of shuffling around in a fog all day looking at their feet while they stroll (or follow other lemmings) right off the proverbial cliff.
Growing up, my parents had a huge Chevy Caprice Classic two-door. Family trips were a blast with the runaway cruise control! Get on the interstate and set the cruise to 60-whatever MPH, then sit back and relax. Before long, you'd be doing 70, then 75, 80, and so on.
My dad was great. He'd look at me in the rear view mirror, wink, and quietly point to the speedometer. After a while, mom would say something like: "It seems like we're going kind-of fast. How fast are... [glances to dash] OH MY GOD! SLOW DOWN!!!" I love family vacations.
...and she used it years ago to veto skydiving! Mwha ha ha ha haaaaa! I'm allowed to fly in space! Yipee!
I can hear her now: "We agreed on one expreme sport veto, but I still have an extreme travel veto that hasn't been used. And oh yea, I have an endless supply of sex vetos. Choose wisely."
...It's not usually a DIY job. Same with designing a microwave.
Exactly!!! Certified experts have already designed those products for use by Joe-average. He can cook all kinds of meals without needing to install new gas fittings, adjust microwave frequencies, or fiddle with particle beams.:-)
I have argued for years that the general, home-user PC device should have matured into appliance-level sophistication (ie: easy to use) YEARS ago. The "complexity" of the modern PC operating systems are total overkill.
Now, depending on which programs I elect to use, I would agree that an increased level of knowledge is necessary. For example, if I load Quicken for Small Business, I better understand something about accounting, finance, banking, etc...
But if all I want to do is read e-mail, surf the web, and play a game, I should ONLY be required to understand the complexities of entering URLs, knowing the difference between Reply and Reply-to-all, and that I want to play the Recruit level -not the Frag-Master level.
...As soon as you increase the complexity of the system, you run into problems.
That's my point! PC's are waaay too complex for their most common uses. That we (the tech industry) have delivered machines that require so much care-and-feeding just for the O/S is a complete embarassment. And to add insult to injury, we (the tech industry) often maintain the arrogant attitude of "well, if they're too stupid to use it, they don't deserve to read e-mail..." instead of saying to ourselves "you know, Joe-average shouldn't have to deal with all this crap just to access some basic communication services."
Damn straight skippy! I've been dreaming of this for years
...They probably seriously believe that malicious code means that they bring home a disk and put it in their drive and run a program that will be an old-sk00l virus.
Sure, maybe. Or perhaps they have no idea what "malicious code" is in the first place. BTW: They shouldn't have to care about malicious code! It's like asking Joe-on-the-street what the US strategic and tactical strategies should be in the Middle East. What kind of background/training does Joe have? Why in the world would I give a crap about his answers on any polls.
...Plus these same people probably do think that their chances of hitting the lottery are good as they are dumb enough to ignore real news for their own realm of importance (Reality TV).
Ahhh yes, IT snobiness strikes again. The average person shouldn't have to "give two flying fucks". The PC industry should get its act togeather and deliver "dumb" terminals that do exactly what people expect them to do. Chances are, you don't know anything about natural gas fittings, but you still use a stove. I don't know anything about generating and containing microwaves, but I still eat frozen burritos. Why the hell should we burden Joe-average with patches, virus updates, malicious code,.dll's, conflicting IRQs, etc...? Especially when all they want to do is read e-mail, download pr0n, and play games. It's not like the average PC user is trying to develop a new OS kernel.
...we were concerned that the flyers we created and the postings we had on certain websites were not reaching enough local gamers.
What if you turned the LAN party into a fundraiser for a certain charity? You open up a lot of free advertising for an event when it's for charity. You can get local businesses to donate free dinner awards, gift certificates, etc... and allow you to post ads in their stores. You could definately get the local paper(s) to do a local-interest story a few days before the event. And you can probably get a local radio station to do a remote from the site on the day of the event. Depending on other news events, you might also get a local TV station to do a local-interest bit.
"Well that's nice, but what if we want to make money?" I re-read the original "ask/." in addition to this follow-up and I didn't get the impression the group had formed a for-profit entity or had a goal of making lots of money. But if you did want to make money, it may require a delayed-gratification approach. Setup your for-profit entity as a sponsor of the non-profit fundraising event. Donate all proceeds from the event as advertised, but use the venue and crowds to get the word out about your LAN-party company.
Add some other distractions to keep gamers' non-gaming [spouses|friends|SOs] occupied. Have a raffle for prizes donated by local businesses, have a giant moonwalk for the kids, invite Joe's Tech Shack to setup a small demo booth of his new whiteboxes. Come up with cool ad slogans...
Blast AIDs with flash-grenades! Strafe the legs off of breast cancer! Come frag-ass for charity!
Well, maybe some of this is getting out of hand, but you get the idea.
"In other news, Bush and Kerry will be squaring off this Thursday in the first of three debates. Kerry is expected to criticize Bush's war tecord, while Bush will emphasize the teraflops of position changes by Kerry..."
Without "Star Wars", would "Star Trek: TMP" have been possible? By the way, "Star Wars" is not really about science fiction...
Is the parent suggesting that Star Trek is science fiction? Since I am a fan of both, I don't want to invite a flame war, but...
I agree that Star Wars is "a knights' and princess' tale shrowded with buzz words from science fiction". But I would also go on to say that Star Trek is "an ongoing soap opera shrowded with buzz words from science fiction".
Both are a lot of fun, but I don't consider either Science Fiction. [Quick! Raise shields and angle the deflector arrays!!!]
Also related to GTA:SA is a teaser site called Burgershot.com. It's an in-game resturaunt parody site. Pretty funny stuff. Has a few tid-bits about the upcoming title.
...start attacking NASA for terrorizing the natural environment of Mars. NASA will be blamed for wrecking fragile former wetlands and destroying possible cures for AIDs and cancer. All so a bunch of adreneline-pumped off-roaders can go joy-riding with some fancy-schmancy camera truck.
Oh wait, haven't they heard: Us evil humans ARE A PART OF nature.
Speaking of never-used ports... My excellent 8-bit NES had a knock-out panel on the bottom. I remember opening the unit to find a wide (parallel?) port inside the machine. "Wow!" I was thinking as a 13 y/o "I found a top secret upgrade port! I wonder how Nintendo plans to use this hidden feature!? Ohhh I can't wait..."
Needless to say, I'm still waiting. That (along with the repeated cancellations of bringing back a REAL Knight Rider TV series) is why I don't give a damn about ANY add-on product vapor-ware announcements. Not that I'm bitter about such things...
That's right! Everyone's favorite: "The Last Starfighter" is scheduled to be re-re-released on DVD special edition. In addition to polished visuals and THX sound re-engineering, TLS:DVD:SE will include 5 minutes of digitally re-created footage!
Oh wait... I'm thinking of that "other" DVD... uhhh, what about SW:epIII Springtime for Sithboys. [cue music] Springtime... for Sithboys... in Mos Eisley
If you used one of those really cheap digital cameras or a webcam, you could now do it without so much weight penalty.
Heh heh... That's JUST what my wife needs: Another excuse for me to get back into ANOTHER time and resource wasting hobby!
Hmmmm, I bet I could eliminate the mechanical abstraction layer of a servo pressing a button. If I could hack into the camera similar to the original article, I could create some sort of electrically activated relay. The relay could be activated by the receiver's third channel. Instead of actuating a servo, it would activate a relay that would "snap" the picture. That would be so cool! Gotta google! See ya later!
Back when I flew Radio-Controlled Gliders ( Gentle Lady in particular), I used a third channel servo to click the button on a Kodak 110 Instamatic. This was waaaaay before small digital cameras.
The contraption was very simple: I duct-taped the servo on top of the camera and rubber-banded the camera to the plane. I made sure the center of balance remained exactly the same.
Although the plane was relatively MUCH heavier, it was flyable. Certainly, I was not able to catch thermals or stay up long, but I was still able to take some cool shots of the surrounding area. Since the picture taking was servo activated, I could point the plane at an area I wanted to photograph and snap the picture.
My number one concern for "futuristic cars"? I'd like to be able to take my vehicle in for a tune-up (or any task requiring they disconnect the battery) and not have my radio's clock and station settings wiped out. Come on! It's a $0.05 wafer battery!
And a cup-holder deeper than 1 inch and strong enough to hold more than an empty Coke can. Yes, I know this is an American thing. No, I don't necessarily need to have a QT Giant Gulp survive a 70 mph hairpin turn at 2 lateral G's, but I can't even get a medium drink from McD's to stay up. BTW: I will never buy a car with those wimpy pop-out pincers designed to hold a dixie-cup with one shot of water. I don't need 18 billion places for coins, PDA's, phones, cigs, eyeliners, and gloves. I need ONE place to but a damn drink.
The third thing? Oh yea, an electrical system that turns off after X minutes to protect against dead-battery-after-I've-been-at-the-game-all-day syndrome. Come on! It's a $0.30 current monitor!
CONSPIRICY THEORIES:
One: So my kids are the only ones setting stations.
Slashdot Mirror
Finally? Have you never played Pac-Man?
Ummmm, assuming you replied to the right parent, the post Empowering by prell was dated Tuesday October 26, @05:37PM. Even the original thread wasn't posted by Zonk until Tuesday October 26, @04:22PM. Both are well after the official R* U.S. launch time.
The game was officially, publicly launched in the U.S. on 10/26. R* had approved arrangements with certain retailers (like EB) to begin selling the game on 10/25 at 7:00pm. Progressing to the crack addict mission occurs VERY early in the game.
That every year I hear the rankings of Top 10 party schools in Time, Newsweek, and other mainstream media outlets. I never hear a thing about campus rankings on issues that actually matter unless I turn to (relatively) obscure news sources like /.
"(Hackers) can sense totalitarianism approaching from a distance, as animals can sense an approaching thunderstorm.""
I think it's less sixth sense and more the fact that some people just pay attention instead of shuffling around in a fog all day looking at their feet while they stroll (or follow other lemmings) right off the proverbial cliff.
I can't wait to pull into the grocery ...
Shhhheeeeewwwoooooooooossshhhhheeeeeeeeeeee
Growing up, my parents had a huge Chevy Caprice Classic two-door. Family trips were a blast with the runaway cruise control! Get on the interstate and set the cruise to 60-whatever MPH, then sit back and relax. Before long, you'd be doing 70, then 75, 80, and so on.
My dad was great. He'd look at me in the rear view mirror, wink, and quietly point to the speedometer. After a while, mom would say something like: "It seems like we're going kind-of fast. How fast are... [glances to dash] OH MY GOD! SLOW DOWN!!!" I love family vacations.
Will 'fluid programmers' give new meaning to "flowchart"?"
Well, it'll certainly give new meaning to piss poor code.
And instead of bugs in our code, will we have proterozoins? "Gee, that's some pretty proterozoiny code ya got there."
...and she used it years ago to veto skydiving! Mwha ha ha ha haaaaa! I'm allowed to fly in space! Yipee!
I can hear her now: "We agreed on one expreme sport veto, but I still have an extreme travel veto that hasn't been used. And oh yea, I have an endless supply of sex vetos. Choose wisely."
Exactly!!! Certified experts have already designed those products for use by Joe-average. He can cook all kinds of meals without needing to install new gas fittings, adjust microwave frequencies, or fiddle with particle beams. :-)
I have argued for years that the general, home-user PC device should have matured into appliance-level sophistication (ie: easy to use) YEARS ago. The "complexity" of the modern PC operating systems are total overkill.
Now, depending on which programs I elect to use, I would agree that an increased level of knowledge is necessary. For example, if I load Quicken for Small Business, I better understand something about accounting, finance, banking, etc...
But if all I want to do is read e-mail, surf the web, and play a game, I should ONLY be required to understand the complexities of entering URLs, knowing the difference between Reply and Reply-to-all, and that I want to play the Recruit level -not the Frag-Master level.
That's my point! PC's are waaay too complex for their most common uses. That we (the tech industry) have delivered machines that require so much care-and-feeding just for the O/S is a complete embarassment. And to add insult to injury, we (the tech industry) often maintain the arrogant attitude of "well, if they're too stupid to use it, they don't deserve to read e-mail..." instead of saying to ourselves "you know, Joe-average shouldn't have to deal with all this crap just to access some basic communication services."
Damn straight skippy! I've been dreaming of this for years
Sure, maybe. Or perhaps they have no idea what "malicious code" is in the first place. BTW: They shouldn't have to care about malicious code! It's like asking Joe-on-the-street what the US strategic and tactical strategies should be in the Middle East. What kind of background/training does Joe have? Why in the world would I give a crap about his answers on any polls.
Ahhh yes, IT snobiness strikes again. The average person shouldn't have to "give two flying fucks" . The PC industry should get its act togeather and deliver "dumb" terminals that do exactly what people expect them to do. Chances are, you don't know anything about natural gas fittings, but you still use a stove. I don't know anything about generating and containing microwaves, but I still eat frozen burritos. Why the hell should we burden Joe-average with patches, virus updates, malicious code, .dll's, conflicting IRQs, etc...? Especially when all they want to do is read e-mail, download pr0n, and play games. It's not like the average PC user is trying to develop a new OS kernel.
Let's just hope the VolcanoCam has been /.ed. Else... :-(
What if you turned the LAN party into a fundraiser for a certain charity? You open up a lot of free advertising for an event when it's for charity. You can get local businesses to donate free dinner awards, gift certificates, etc... and allow you to post ads in their stores. You could definately get the local paper(s) to do a local-interest story a few days before the event. And you can probably get a local radio station to do a remote from the site on the day of the event. Depending on other news events, you might also get a local TV station to do a local-interest bit.
"Well that's nice, but what if we want to make money?" I re-read the original "ask /." in addition to this follow-up and I didn't get the impression the group had formed a for-profit entity or had a goal of making lots of money. But if you did want to make money, it may require a delayed-gratification approach. Setup your for-profit entity as a sponsor of the non-profit fundraising event. Donate all proceeds from the event as advertised, but use the venue and crowds to get the word out about your LAN-party company.
Add some other distractions to keep gamers' non-gaming [spouses|friends|SOs] occupied. Have a raffle for prizes donated by local businesses, have a giant moonwalk for the kids, invite Joe's Tech Shack to setup a small demo booth of his new whiteboxes. Come up with cool ad slogans...
Blast AIDs with flash-grenades!
Strafe the legs off of breast cancer!
Come frag-ass for charity!
Well, maybe some of this is getting out of hand, but you get the idea.
"In other news, Bush and Kerry will be squaring off this Thursday in the first of three debates. Kerry is expected to criticize Bush's war tecord, while Bush will emphasize the teraflops of position changes by Kerry..."
Without "Star Wars", would "Star Trek: TMP" have been possible? By the way, "Star Wars" is not really about science fiction...
Is the parent suggesting that Star Trek is science fiction? Since I am a fan of both, I don't want to invite a flame war, but...
I agree that Star Wars is "a knights' and princess' tale shrowded with buzz words from science fiction". But I would also go on to say that Star Trek is "an ongoing soap opera shrowded with buzz words from science fiction".
Both are a lot of fun, but I don't consider either Science Fiction. [Quick! Raise shields and angle the deflector arrays!!!]
"...and as one of the contributors, I think that's a good thing."
"Hey I know, I'll submit a story to /. ..." *KABOOOOOOM*
That server went down faster than a barge gaurd in a sarlac pit.
Also related to GTA:SA is a teaser site called Burgershot.com. It's an in-game resturaunt parody site. Pretty funny stuff. Has a few tid-bits about the upcoming title.
What is this "outdoors" of which you speak? Does it look like my screensaver?
...start attacking NASA for terrorizing the natural environment of Mars. NASA will be blamed for wrecking fragile former wetlands and destroying possible cures for AIDs and cancer. All so a bunch of adreneline-pumped off-roaders can go joy-riding with some fancy-schmancy camera truck.
Oh wait, haven't they heard: Us evil humans ARE A PART OF nature.
Speaking of never-used ports... My excellent 8-bit NES had a knock-out panel on the bottom. I remember opening the unit to find a wide (parallel?) port inside the machine. "Wow!" I was thinking as a 13 y/o "I found a top secret upgrade port! I wonder how Nintendo plans to use this hidden feature!? Ohhh I can't wait..."
Needless to say, I'm still waiting. That (along with the repeated cancellations of bringing back a REAL Knight Rider TV series) is why I don't give a damn about ANY add-on product vapor-ware announcements. Not that I'm bitter about such things...
That's right! Everyone's favorite: "The Last Starfighter" is scheduled to be re-re-released on DVD special edition. In addition to polished visuals and THX sound re-engineering, TLS:DVD:SE will include 5 minutes of digitally re-created footage!
Oh wait... I'm thinking of that "other" DVD... uhhh, what about SW:epIII Springtime for Sithboys. [cue music] Springtime... for Sithboys... in Mos Eisley
If you used one of those really cheap digital cameras or a webcam, you could now do it without so much weight penalty.
Heh heh... That's JUST what my wife needs: Another excuse for me to get back into ANOTHER time and resource wasting hobby!
Hmmmm, I bet I could eliminate the mechanical abstraction layer of a servo pressing a button. If I could hack into the camera similar to the original article, I could create some sort of electrically activated relay. The relay could be activated by the receiver's third channel. Instead of actuating a servo, it would activate a relay that would "snap" the picture. That would be so cool! Gotta google! See ya later!
Back when I flew Radio-Controlled Gliders ( Gentle Lady in particular), I used a third channel servo to click the button on a Kodak 110 Instamatic. This was waaaaay before small digital cameras.
The contraption was very simple: I duct-taped the servo on top of the camera and rubber-banded the camera to the plane. I made sure the center of balance remained exactly the same.
Although the plane was relatively MUCH heavier, it was flyable. Certainly, I was not able to catch thermals or stay up long, but I was still able to take some cool shots of the surrounding area. Since the picture taking was servo activated, I could point the plane at an area I wanted to photograph and snap the picture.
My number one concern for "futuristic cars"? I'd like to be able to take my vehicle in for a tune-up (or any task requiring they disconnect the battery) and not have my radio's clock and station settings wiped out. Come on! It's a $0.05 wafer battery!
And a cup-holder deeper than 1 inch and strong enough to hold more than an empty Coke can. Yes, I know this is an American thing. No, I don't necessarily need to have a QT Giant Gulp survive a 70 mph hairpin turn at 2 lateral G's, but I can't even get a medium drink from McD's to stay up. BTW: I will never buy a car with those wimpy pop-out pincers designed to hold a dixie-cup with one shot of water. I don't need 18 billion places for coins, PDA's, phones, cigs, eyeliners, and gloves. I need ONE place to but a damn drink.
The third thing? Oh yea, an electrical system that turns off after X minutes to protect against dead-battery-after-I've-been-at-the-game-all-day syndrome. Come on! It's a $0.30 current monitor!
CONSPIRICY THEORIES:
[waving hand] "You don't need to see their source code. That's not the article you're looking for..."