I wholeheartedly agree. Two occuriences in the recent past confirmed this.: after downloading game demos of: "Bet on soldier" and the recent "Starship troopers" game, I was appalled to find that no online magazine or game portal had felt a need to express the lack of quality in both products; granted; demos are not final releases.. but they are supposed to hit at the quality of the final product. These two product demos were inexcusably poor, and yet noone noted that, spare a few users in game portal forums. It is time to waver the stinkers high early, to stop encouraging this evil cycle.
Thats a lot of anger right there. Ive sorry to hear about your grievous experiences in Denmark. All countries have their share of idiots, and it would seem that you have made an acquaintance with some of ours.
It does however seem a bit harsh to generalize the Danish population like that. It would be a shame to base your sole perception of a people on an ignorant landlord and a couple of jerks you may run into.
Did you even bother to read the article that went with the cartoons, or did you just see the pictures and frown?
The 24 year rule does seem problematic. Its main purpose is to prevent "forced marriages", and thus it can be said to be restrictive of such cultures that practice "arranged marriages" - but it is "none discriminative", in the sense that it affects all marriages involving foreign people (be you Swedish, French or Iraqi).
Recently, modifications have been made so that foreign spouses that study or work within certain fields are accepted. Part of the rational is that people who have a certain level of literacy / education are less likely to be victims of forced marriages.
Critics hereof would probably state that the purpose of the rule is solely to restrict immigration to such that would benefit the Danish market, and prevent a "brain drain" where transnational relationships would cause educated people to leave Denmark.
"My sister lived in Denmark for a while and even she, who is a blond and blue eyed Swede with an even blonder and blue eyed Norwegian husband, felt that the Danes did not welcome them."
Xenophobia is a terrible thing, in all its shapes and forms. Would the discrimination that your sister and her spouse felt have been fairer, had they had "non-arian" traits?
Im no fan of "Dansk folkeparti" - and it is a sad fact that they will benefit from this whole ordeal.
As for Sweden - I spent 6 years living there and attended a Swedish public school. I enjoyed my stay, and made many good friends there. As for Swedish politics - my insight is too limited to assess them. Was in my teens when I lived there.
After having lived in 4 different countries, I can say that some ignorance flourish in all nations, but once you spend a few years in a neighboring country, you'll find it not too different from your own.
I don't have any mod points, but I found your post insightful. Furthermore, I am glad that you have seen all the cartoons, and not just the one with the bomb.
Satire is a fundamental part of Danish culture. A large part of our recent entertainment is provocative - but lighthearted. No one is spared jokes - and at the risk of sounding offensive, the mentality can be summarized as:
"Nothing to us is holy".
Religions, Politicians (be they local, or world leaders), nations, languages, and first and foremost the Danes themselves are mocked in Danish media.
Some, I think, may frown upon such an attitude - the fact that there, to some people, now no longer exists something which is beyond scrutiny or playful jest. This mentality may be perceived as generally disrespectful or sacrilegious, bereft of principle or ethics - but to me, therein lies one of our chief principles: that northing is beyond jest or scrutiny.
It is my impression that many Danes now think less lightly about the cartoons, and many would rather not have had the (private) newspaper print the article and cartoons. Most are shocked by the reactions and lasting consequences. Many would agree with the news papers apology - but near to none would have our government apologize: they are separate bodies, and most Danes would never have the government intervene with the free press.
I stand by the article and the cartoons today; and I hope that most Muslims are not too offended. Equally, I would think it a sadder world, if comics or jokes involving Jesus or other religious characters were banned.
As an amateur cartoonist and professional graphics designer, visual expression is very important to me - and as a citizen of a democracy, so is the free press.
The new "mark" runs poorly on my 3800+ venice core, 1gbram, 7800GTX (only 256mb) rig. Sure.. its not top of the line; but I did expect to see something more fluent. I get 15 frames at the most - but some sequences are truely slideshowy. It looks as if the settings are maxed out in the demo (reswise, filtering etc), and you cant get too see tests in any other setting - unless you buy it. Props to the animators (some of the sequences are really cool), but i cant even enjoy them on my fairly new machine.
Ive been using the Abit Fatal1ty AN8 for a while now. Had a few quirks at first, but after a bios update its been working like it should. Im quite happy about it - and despite some reluntance to utilize the guru panel at first, I must admit that I get a kick out of the LED and front jacks.
Setup: Athlon 3800+ Venice Core, 1 GB ram (Too little), Asus Geforce N7800 GTX (yup; I am a gamer. Neither pro nor clan player through)
Here is an extract from the conclusion of that toms hardware article:
At the end of day, two motherboards receive our recommendation: both the Abit Fatal1ty AN8 and MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Edition offer well-appointed and flexible boards based on top-grade components. These units shine above all through their range of functions and overclocking abilities - the wealth of experience of both manufacturers in the enthusiast market is obvious.
Recently I have tried two game demos that were praised by web gamemags; despite the fact that the demos were awful. I am speaking of "Bet on soldier" and "Starship troopers". I wish previews would have actually been critical about these releases. Granted; were dealing with demos where - but its unlikely that the final releases will rock, if the demos are this poor. As earlier posts point out: previews seem like nothing more than hype and marketing.
I used to read a lot of game mags back in the c64 / amiga days, but i find that current online mags are too afraid to put any clout in their reviews - except the occasional stomp on a small software house release - or things that are blatantly bad. I think mediocracy should be pointed out - even though the mediocre release happens to be that of microsoft.
Has anyone here played the lost-coast tech demo? Not too long ago i buildt a highend rig sporting a Geforce 7800 gtx. Ive played hl2 and doom 3 on it, and while beautiful, theyve pale in comparison to the lost coast tech demo. If you have buildt / purchased a high end pc recently, you ought do download lost coast and behold its glorius eyecandy-rendition ability.
Playing lostcoast made me want to revisit hl2.
Before you whine that i am all about the graphics and dont care for gameplay; Im currently replaying Deus Ex (1). Someone needs to made something similar with the source engine:P~~~|
Played the original Serious Sam. Yep - we need more coop gaming:D
The weight issue is a good point, and I suppose thats important if you use it while working out. I couldnt imagine myself go running with a regular ipod (or any hd-based device), fearing that dropping it would destroy it and I suppose the weight would be annoying as well.
I wouldnt mind owning one as a supplemental player, but I still have my little obsession with displays - often I find myself wanting to hear a specific song, in a given situation.
As it is, I have to live with my aged cd based mp3 player a bit longer. Its buffering is awful.
Ive been having this discussion with a few friends for a while. It is my belief that the Ishuffle proves that a products features do not directly translate into sales: Marketing goes a long way. These days everyone knows what an ipod is; and most also know the Ishuffle. It has less features than cheaper players: no radio, no display.
Dont give me that "you dont need a display to navigate through 128 songs" - I dont buy it..
Granted, 512 mb its a less space than that which is available in harddisk based players, but 128 songs are a lot.
The funny bit is that apple actually markets its limitation as a feature: random is good. Correct me if Im wrong but hasnt randomize been around since the first portable cd-players?.
With Ishuffle you purchase a trendy merchandise that everyone knows and yes; it is easy to operate. You can put it on display, and make a fashion statement - but to me, thats what youre buying for the price of proper navigation and radio - and often, youll be paying more.
Truth be told; I havent held or tested an ishuffle - but i see people in the streets with them on a near daily basis. If I had the cash to could choose my mp3 players like ties or shoes, I might also have an Ishuffle.. but if I have to settle for one mp3 player, that wont be it.
A couple of years ago Joseph Weizenbaum (Author of Eliza) held a guest lecture at IMV (Information & Media Science). I was thrilled and during a break I went up and asked him for a autograph. He gave me a sad look as he wrote down his autograph and email.
It struck me how materialistically obsessed that enquiry seemed - and I regretted asking.
I guess he had never forseen that his critic of the "strong AI" movement would one day be used for IM based pron-ads.
speaking of amd.. I'm just about to build an Athlon 64 3800 (venice core) based system. I figure the new lines are a bit to pricy. Do any of you have some experiences with that cpu worth mentioning?
In soviet russia, girlfriend takes nekkid shot of..
Joke aside: I actually found that sometimes work the otherway around. An X of mine took a photo of me in bed on the evening we've met or the evening after (can't recall which). It was only showing my chest - and I couldnt decide whether to feel flattered or uncomfortable about the situation. I was both, I guess. Anyone else try that? What were your reactions?
I never considered taking nude / semi nude pics of my girlfriends. I guess I had enough of them "in the flesh". Even so, the nice thing about regular pictures is you get to show off the person of your fancies to your friends (if you're unable to introduce them in person)..
True - it was a mindless blaster with pretty graphics. The one cool feature besides the song and sprites was the alien merchant inbetween levels. Never that I got any far.
The thing about bitmap brother games was that while only a few were a big hit in the gameplay department, they were all stylishly executed.
I was never that big a sportsgame fan, but I had fair share of speedball II games in my time. Xenon I actually featured a brief video sequence (and was one of the earliest game to do so, as far as I recall. It was only a face moving slightly.. but nevertheless). Magic pockets was also alright with its catchy tune but it was pretty difficult for a platformer. Z is supposed to have been good, but I never got into that. Gods got rave reviews.. sure it was beautiful.. but entertaining?
It ties up the up episodes nicely and is actually quite entertaining. Sure you can whine about the acting and the effects orgie.. but it's still got a lot going for it.
As several reviewers have noted, I also found that it does play a bit like a greek tragedy. The movie gains a lot by us know what's about to happen.. it's just exciting to get all the details.
If you want the big picture - beyond a sense of: I can tell who's evil or about to become evil and would like to see the series as a whole - read this:
Slashdot Mirror
What about my new Sony Ericsson W900i?
Granted its a bit bulky, but its pretty much an ipod, phone and organizer in one.
I wholeheartedly agree. Two occuriences in the recent past confirmed this.: after downloading game demos of: "Bet on soldier" and the recent "Starship troopers" game, I was appalled to find that no online magazine or game portal had felt a need to express the lack of quality in both products; granted; demos are not final releases.. but they are supposed to hit at the quality of the final product. These two product demos were inexcusably poor, and yet noone noted that, spare a few users in game portal forums. It is time to waver the stinkers high early, to stop encouraging this evil cycle.
Thats a lot of anger right there. Ive sorry to hear about your grievous experiences in Denmark. All countries have their share of idiots, and it would seem that you have made an acquaintance with some of ours.
It does however seem a bit harsh to generalize the Danish population like that. It would be a shame to base your sole perception of a people on an ignorant landlord and a couple of jerks you may run into.
Did you even bother to read the article that went with the cartoons, or did you just see the pictures and frown?
The 24 year rule does seem problematic. Its main purpose is to prevent "forced marriages", and thus it can be said to be restrictive of such cultures that practice "arranged marriages" - but it is "none discriminative", in the sense that it affects all marriages involving foreign people (be you Swedish, French or Iraqi).
Recently, modifications have been made so that foreign spouses that study or work within certain fields are accepted. Part of the rational is that people who have a certain level of literacy / education are less likely to be victims of forced marriages.
Critics hereof would probably state that the purpose of the rule is solely to restrict immigration to such that would benefit the Danish market, and prevent a "brain drain" where transnational relationships would cause educated people to leave Denmark.
"My sister lived in Denmark for a while and even she, who is a blond and blue eyed Swede with an even blonder and blue eyed Norwegian husband, felt that the Danes did not welcome them."
Xenophobia is a terrible thing, in all its shapes and forms. Would the discrimination that your sister and her spouse felt have been fairer, had they had "non-arian" traits?
Im no fan of "Dansk folkeparti" - and it is a sad fact that they will benefit from this whole ordeal.
As for Sweden - I spent 6 years living there and attended a Swedish public school. I enjoyed my stay, and made many good friends there. As for Swedish politics - my insight is too limited to assess them. Was in my teens when I lived there.
After having lived in 4 different countries, I can say that some ignorance flourish in all nations, but once you spend a few years in a neighboring country, you'll find it not too different from your own.
I don't have any mod points, but I found your post insightful. Furthermore, I am glad that you have seen all the cartoons, and not just the one with the bomb.
Satire is a fundamental part of Danish culture. A large part of our recent entertainment is provocative - but lighthearted. No one is spared jokes - and at the risk of sounding offensive, the mentality can be summarized as:
"Nothing to us is holy".
Religions, Politicians (be they local, or world leaders), nations, languages, and first and foremost the Danes themselves are mocked in Danish media.
Some, I think, may frown upon such an attitude - the fact that there, to some people, now no longer exists something which is beyond scrutiny or playful jest. This mentality may be perceived as generally disrespectful or sacrilegious, bereft of principle or ethics - but to me, therein lies one of our chief principles: that northing is beyond jest or scrutiny.
It is my impression that many Danes now think less lightly about the cartoons, and many would rather not have had the (private) newspaper print the article and cartoons. Most are shocked by the reactions and lasting consequences. Many would agree with the news papers apology - but near to none would have our government apologize: they are separate bodies, and most Danes would never have the government intervene with the free press.
I stand by the article and the cartoons today; and I hope that most Muslims are not too offended. Equally, I would think it a sadder world, if comics or jokes involving Jesus or other religious characters were banned.
As an amateur cartoonist and professional graphics designer, visual expression is very important to me - and as a citizen of a democracy, so is the free press.
While i cannot mod this post, I will say that on this loneliest of days - it brought a smile to my lips.
For those with older hardware:
The new "mark" runs poorly on my 3800+ venice core, 1gbram, 7800GTX (only 256mb) rig. Sure.. its not top of the line; but I did expect to see something more fluent. I get 15 frames at the most - but some sequences are truely slideshowy. It looks as if the settings are maxed out in the demo (reswise, filtering etc), and you cant get too see tests in any other setting - unless you buy it. Props to the animators (some of the sequences are really cool), but i cant even enjoy them on my fairly new machine.
Ive been using the Abit Fatal1ty AN8 for a while now. Had a few quirks at first, but after a bios update its been working like it should. Im quite happy about it - and despite some reluntance to utilize the guru panel at first, I must admit that I get a kick out of the LED and front jacks.
e _fast_lane/page3.html
Setup: Athlon 3800+ Venice Core, 1 GB ram (Too little), Asus Geforce N7800 GTX (yup; I am a gamer. Neither pro nor clan player through)
I based my purchase on this: http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/05/13/life_in_th
Here is an extract from the conclusion of that toms hardware article: At the end of day, two motherboards receive our recommendation: both the Abit Fatal1ty AN8 and MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Edition offer well-appointed and flexible boards based on top-grade components. These units shine above all through their range of functions and overclocking abilities - the wealth of experience of both manufacturers in the enthusiast market is obvious.
Recently I have tried two game demos that were praised by web gamemags; despite the fact that the demos were awful. I am speaking of "Bet on soldier" and "Starship troopers". I wish previews would have actually been critical about these releases. Granted; were dealing with demos where - but its unlikely that the final releases will rock, if the demos are this poor. As earlier posts point out: previews seem like nothing more than hype and marketing. I used to read a lot of game mags back in the c64 / amiga days, but i find that current online mags are too afraid to put any clout in their reviews - except the occasional stomp on a small software house release - or things that are blatantly bad. I think mediocracy should be pointed out - even though the mediocre release happens to be that of microsoft.
The zombies were mentioned because theyre the worst kind - just ask Forescore Jones:
http://www.spacetree.com/spacetree20.html
Speaking of FPS:
:P~~~|
:D
Has anyone here played the lost-coast tech demo? Not too long ago i buildt a highend rig sporting a Geforce 7800 gtx. Ive played hl2 and doom 3 on it, and while beautiful, theyve pale in comparison to the lost coast tech demo. If you have buildt / purchased a high end pc recently, you ought do download lost coast and behold its glorius eyecandy-rendition ability.
Playing lostcoast made me want to revisit hl2.
Before you whine that i am all about the graphics and dont care for gameplay; Im currently replaying Deus Ex (1). Someone needs to made something similar with the source engine
Played the original Serious Sam. Yep - we need more coop gaming
.. sure, dismiss it as a yet another boring technological appliance thatll probably never see the light of day..
But when the time comes for Ripley to fight the queen, we had better have invented those.. or else its game over - game over man!.
The weight issue is a good point, and I suppose thats important if you use it while working out. I couldnt imagine myself go running with a regular ipod (or any hd-based device), fearing that dropping it would destroy it and I suppose the weight would be annoying as well.
I wouldnt mind owning one as a supplemental player, but I still have my little obsession with displays - often I find myself wanting to hear a specific song, in a given situation.
As it is, I have to live with my aged cd based mp3 player a bit longer. Its buffering is awful.
Ive been having this discussion with a few friends for a while. It is my belief that the Ishuffle proves that a products features do not directly translate into sales: Marketing goes a long way. These days everyone knows what an ipod is; and most also know the Ishuffle. It has less features than cheaper players: no radio, no display.
.
Dont give me that "you dont need a display to navigate through 128 songs" - I dont buy it..
Granted, 512 mb its a less space than that which is available in harddisk based players, but 128 songs are a lot.
The funny bit is that apple actually markets its limitation as a feature: random is good. Correct me if Im wrong but hasnt randomize been around since the first portable cd-players?
With Ishuffle you purchase a trendy merchandise that everyone knows and yes; it is easy to operate. You can put it on display, and make a fashion statement - but to me, thats what youre buying for the price of proper navigation and radio - and often, youll be paying more.
Truth be told; I havent held or tested an ishuffle - but i see people in the streets with them on a near daily basis. If I had the cash to could choose my mp3 players like ties or shoes, I might also have an Ishuffle.. but if I have to settle for one mp3 player, that wont be it.
As spacetree will tell you, it's all about the triangles ;D
A couple of years ago Joseph Weizenbaum (Author of Eliza) held a guest lecture at IMV (Information & Media Science). I was thrilled and during a break I went up and asked him for a autograph. He gave me a sad look as he wrote down his autograph and email.
It struck me how materialistically obsessed that enquiry seemed - and I regretted asking.
I guess he had never forseen that his critic of the "strong AI" movement would one day be used for IM based pron-ads.
speaking of amd.. I'm just about to build an Athlon 64 3800 (venice core) based system. I figure the new lines are a bit to pricy. Do any of you have some experiences with that cpu worth mentioning?
Watch spacetree the spacetree in space (http://www.spacetree.com/ Kurtz linked to at some point on pvponline.com.
A wacky keentoon featuring the escapades of space tree and his buddies.
watch until episode 3 at least - it's pretty funny.
In soviet russia, girlfriend takes nekkid shot of..
Joke aside: I actually found that sometimes work the otherway around. An X of mine took a photo of me in bed on the evening we've met or the evening after (can't recall which).
It was only showing my chest - and I couldnt decide whether to feel flattered or uncomfortable about the situation. I was both, I guess. Anyone else try that? What were your reactions?
I never considered taking nude / semi nude pics of my girlfriends. I guess I had enough of them "in the flesh". Even so, the nice thing about regular pictures is you get to show off the person of your fancies to your friends (if you're unable to introduce them in person)..
If people could only share the food, we could all get along ;)
True - it was a mindless blaster with pretty graphics. The one cool feature besides the song and sprites was the alien merchant inbetween levels. Never that I got any far.
The thing about bitmap brother games was that while only a few were a big hit in the gameplay department, they were all stylishly executed.
I was never that big a sportsgame fan, but I had fair share of speedball II games in my time. Xenon I actually featured a brief video sequence (and was one of the earliest game to do so, as far as I recall. It was only a face moving slightly.. but nevertheless).
Magic pockets was also alright with its catchy tune but it was pretty difficult for a platformer. Z is supposed to have been good, but I never got into that. Gods got rave reviews.. sure it was beautiful.. but entertaining?
ok - so I exaggerate with the 'all' bit :D
It's reference to the old Amiga Shoot'em up: Xenon II: The megablast.
It featured a track by Bomb the bass that contained a sample that went 'It's the megablast!'
Back then, it felt pretty cool to have a computergame featuring a popular song.
Yup.. I know all sorts of useless stuff about games of that era.. if only my memory served me as well with stuff I could actually use *sigh*
Silence! -
We all know that Xenon is the mega blast.
great.. now i cant that old bomb the bass track out of my head.
Mess with the force, and you're bound to get burned.
It ties up the up episodes nicely and is actually quite entertaining. Sure you can whine about the acting and the effects orgie.. but it's still got a lot going for it.
As several reviewers have noted, I also found that it does play a bit like a greek tragedy. The movie gains a lot by us know what's about to happen.. it's just exciting to get all the details.
If you want the big picture - beyond a sense of: I can tell who's evil or about to become evil and would like to see the series as a whole - read this:
[warning: text spoils detailed aspects of Ep.3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palpatine
What's with Obi's noisy reptilian mode of transportation?
You'd think you'd pick something less peculiar, and more silent when stealth matters..
Blaurgh! Blaurgh!