" you've now put in place a system for generating super-resistant bacteria."
wanted to add:
I was talking along the lines of cross contamination and forgot to include feeding that meat to other animals, who also get antibiotics (e.g. how mad cow disease got spread).
antibiotics inhibit the growth of bacteria, the only ones that grow are the resistant ones.. those resistant ones multiply and live on.
then the same antibiotics are used against the descendants and inhibit their growth as well but now in those descendants the ones who have superior resistance divide faster than the ones who have inferior resistance, since bacteria generations on average are about every 4 hours (1 divides into 2, 2 into 4/etc).. after a year of this you have a 2000th generation bacteria strain who is all but completely resistant to antibiotics. This is common sense and commonly known to any high school student learns about micro organisms (science/biology).
since antibiotics only help an organism's own defense system by slowing growth so it's immune system overwhelms the bacteria and not vice versa (which usually leads to death) it's not that big of a deal when used in people whose immune systems will completely wipe out the strain of bacteria being subjected to the antibiotics.. BUT when used on animals and then those animals are killed and used for meat, before their immune systems eradicate the bacteria, you've now put in place a system for generating super-resistant bacteria.
this also makes it obvious that you are purposely being obtuse about something that will affect millions if nothing is done.
make it possible to plug your "microsoft" keyboard and mouse into the xbox and allow people to play with those. you already have basic usb support on these boxes and with most games having PC ports the controls would be a snap to import.
if they did this i would gladly play games on the xbox (as one of my thumbs doesn't bend at the knuckle it makes controller games practically unplayable, or at the least hurt very bad) especially FPS games..
"But now Microsoft employees have one thing Google employees don't: strong wrists."
Bunch of highly smart, socially awkward, workoholics? I strongly doubt their wrists are anything but well toned. At least they got out of the basement.
"You'll never make money selling stuff in WoW - typically the materials for making anything are worth more than the items usually sell for."
I've found the opposite to be true, when it comes to the higher levels of professions.. i make a couple of items right now that cost me 3g for materials to make one that I can sell for 7-10g. some of these i sell upwards of 30-40 a day (if i can ever get enough materials:P)
You just have to find what sells, what the price point is, and how much markup you can get away with.. it took me a while to find the high profit margin items but now i have over5k of gold and haven't even hit 70 yet (that's with buying all of the lower level mounts and such).
There are several professions that are easily profitable at the higher end, BUT it also depends on your server, one server i used to play on sold wool cloth at 2-3g a stack, on my current it's as high as 8-10g for the same cloth.
"These kids are Fail. how well will someone preform at their job if every time they have a problem they call mommy? they don't. I know so many of these manchilds. They can't get laid, they can't get promoted, they can't have good conversation. I don't see these people after I got past jr. year and entry level, because they haven't the skills to follow."
I thought we were fond of Natural Selection here?
Doesn't it pertain to the nurturing attitudes of the parents as well.. lion cubs who are not taught to hunt for themselves don't grow up to reproduce?
"That's a complete mischaracterization of Ritalin. The amount that is prescribed is only a small fraction of how much a person using it recreationally uses,"
Yes it would be, i'm not talking about ritalin.. that is one of the first "has amphetamine in it" class of drug for ADD/ADHD, there are 2 others that are just either one straight Amphetamine or a mix of different types of amphetamine salts.
Ritalin is primarily prescribed for the youngest children and mildest cases, when the non-stimulants are shown not to work. The families i have talked to who have a kid/kids who suffer greatly from ADD/ADHD usually won't find relief with Ritalin even at max dosages.
" and it's closely monitored by the Dr. and pharmacist to ensure that it's not being abused. You're definitely not going to get buzzed or addicted on the amount that a doctor is prescribing without taking more than the prescribed dose."
Closely monitored? What are you talking about? I actually have first hand knowledge, and it's not "closely monitored", maybe you mean distribution is tightly controlled, which is true but that's a different set of controls to prevent black market resale, not abuse. I can get a buzz at my current dose, but that's ok because i often have insomnia and when i have had little sleep the night before it balances out.
After having the meds for a period of time you do adjust and build tolerance, but just like anything...
"Comparing it with the recreational use is a completely unfair comparison to make."
I don't think it is.. and speaking from experience let me explain why.. i used to use speed, (meth and/or amphetamine) and as i reflect (having quit all substance use for a number of years and then being treated for ADHD) I see that i was seeking what the drug could do for me, and thank God I can now can get the same thing in an easy pill, automatically measured and pure.
Before i had to deal with cut product, getting ripped off completely or risk going to jail for mutiple years.
So now i am "being treated for a medical condition" and previously i was "using it recreationally", for me it's the end result that motivated the consumption and still does.
Every drug has it's uses, and flat out banning or demonizing the drug is the wrong way to go about it.. let there be punishments for actions and let people use drugs if it helps them live better lives.. i know in my case the difference is night and day.
"taking something that has a 1/100,000 chance of killing you the first time you use it isn't my thing."
Is that even true?!?! I seem to hear this "info" about various drugs via our (US) government ant-drug propaganda, partnership for drug free America, esp when it is in the headlines.. like Ectasy, i knew people who had done it many times 10 years before all the news stories about it being a "problem", then when they realized kids were taking it you started hearing reports of people dying from trying it once.. ONE PILL!!! OMG!
Acid makes you go crazy, pot is worse than cigs and fund terrorism, you can go from starlet to crypt keeper in less than 6 months on speed (before you jump down my throat consider this, 2.5 million kids were given speed in 2003 for ADHD), coke will kill you if you try it... does anyone actually lend any credence to this stuff anymore?
My wife and I just laugh when we see the current spat of anti-drug commercials because they are SOOOO far from reality.
"Don't even get me started on the people claiming you have to grind all possible reputation factions."
You mean to get the BoP enchanting formulas (jc patterns, tailoring, etc...) that everyone wants.. and can only be gotten thru Rep, that makes enchanting profitable after spending so much time and effort to get to 340?
i currently am working on timbermaw hold and scryer for both enchanting AND tailoring formula patterns. I know there are many more (like in silithus) that i would like to do as well.. but ugh.
pcmark had credibility? These are the guys who make 3dmark right? the program that gives you a "score" that in no way reflects how your system will actually perform IRL?
I don't know anyone who takes these as a serious benchmark.. just recently a friend and I ran 3dmark2008 (2007/) against both of our machines.. his won.. but when we ran actual game benchmarks (like the built in ones for crysis and quake4) mine beat his soundly. Go figure.. he had an Intel, i have an AMD.
"Why don't they implement a challenge-response system in-game like a CAPTCHA? Ask the player some specifically worded question about some game event."
Why don't they remove the obvious time wasting aspects of the game that turn a fun challenge into "grinding".
go kill this monster, but you are only done with X drops... wtfh?
I generally enjoy WoW but what really frustrates me are the obvious attempts to get me to play longer and therefore keep shelling out money.. like run over there and kill x monster then come back.. i come back and am given the quest to return to the same exact spot and kill y monster (that i had to kill anyway because he stands right next to X). BOOOORING!
if they spent more time developing quests (and adding to the lower level quest lines) people wouldn't want to automate their grinding (for an e.g. there is a low level crossroads quest that spawns a centaur attack on a village you have to defend against, makes you feel like you are really fighting "for the horde", lots of fun).
I'm just getting tot he high level stuff and it seems to be more along these lines.. why they don't try and improve the older work is beyond me.. that's prolly the number 1 gripe i hear about grinding. UGH WC or SFK again/ "can someone run me thru? i'll pay you gold".
"Because you still need a way to motivate people to get off their lazy asses and do something productive when they would really rather lounge on the beach and sip margaritas every day."
BUT even in our culture there are people who do what they do because they want to.. not because they need to... how many people have you heard of that came back to work because they were bored during retirement.. how many billionaires do you know of that just sit around sipping margaritas?
The main reason for work is sustenance yes, but the driving force behind our technology/science is a constant desire to "know" or learn more.
"One could imagine that they're either more subtle when they try to remain under cover than leaving mutilated cattle and anally probed people lying around after their departure, or that they'd be more choosy when trying to reveal themselves than to show themselves only to some moonshine-swigging hicks. Why not land in the middle of the Superbowl finals, now THAT's revealing!"
Or maybe they could care less what we know now that they have assessed our threat level.. if anything it would be our government hiding the facts not aliens.. they could care less?
I also doubt they would want to establish "trade" or relations with us.. any civilization advanced enough to travel the stars exploring new life forms wouldn't need anything from those forms they encountered.
I find it interesting that a couple of old people who are now about to die have decided it is ok to "come clean" since they will be dead soon and don't want to let it go with them, plus there is nothing that can be done to them punishment wise...
"Unlikely, a company suing an individual will seldom recoup enough from the suit itself to pay for the legal fees involved in suing them"
Actually if you have been following these suits, it is very rare that a person will actually go to trial to dispute the case, about 98% of the lawsuits brought against "individuals" are settled out of court and upfront, thus generating 3-5000 per suit.. this is quite profitable, especially when you have paralegals sending out boilerplate notices to individuals demanding flat fee settlements.
Slashdot Mirror
" you've now put in place a system for generating super-resistant bacteria."
wanted to add:
I was talking along the lines of cross contamination and forgot to include feeding that meat to other animals, who also get antibiotics (e.g. how mad cow disease got spread).
isn't it common sense?
antibiotics inhibit the growth of bacteria, the only ones that grow are the resistant ones.. those resistant ones multiply and live on.
then the same antibiotics are used against the descendants and inhibit their growth as well but now in those descendants the ones who have superior resistance divide faster than the ones who have inferior resistance, since bacteria generations on average are about every 4 hours (1 divides into 2, 2 into 4/etc).. after a year of this you have a 2000th generation bacteria strain who is all but completely resistant to antibiotics. This is common sense and commonly known to any high school student learns about micro organisms (science/biology).
since antibiotics only help an organism's own defense system by slowing growth so it's immune system overwhelms the bacteria and not vice versa (which usually leads to death) it's not that big of a deal when used in people whose immune systems will completely wipe out the strain of bacteria being subjected to the antibiotics.. BUT when used on animals and then those animals are killed and used for meat, before their immune systems eradicate the bacteria, you've now put in place a system for generating super-resistant bacteria.
this also makes it obvious that you are purposely being obtuse about something that will affect millions if nothing is done.
there's always time for dict...
make it possible to plug your "microsoft" keyboard and mouse into the xbox and allow people to play with those. you already have basic usb support on these boxes and with most games having PC ports the controls would be a snap to import.
if they did this i would gladly play games on the xbox (as one of my thumbs doesn't bend at the knuckle it makes controller games practically unplayable, or at the least hurt very bad) especially FPS games..
"But now Microsoft employees have one thing Google employees don't: strong wrists."
Bunch of highly smart, socially awkward, workoholics? I strongly doubt their wrists are anything but well toned. At least they got out of the basement.
"You'll never make money selling stuff in WoW - typically the materials for making anything are worth more than the items usually sell for."
I've found the opposite to be true, when it comes to the higher levels of professions.. i make a couple of items right now that cost me 3g for materials to make one that I can sell for 7-10g. some of these i sell upwards of 30-40 a day (if i can ever get enough materials :P)
You just have to find what sells, what the price point is, and how much markup you can get away with.. it took me a while to find the high profit margin items but now i have over5k of gold and haven't even hit 70 yet (that's with buying all of the lower level mounts and such).
There are several professions that are easily profitable at the higher end, BUT it also depends on your server, one server i used to play on sold wool cloth at 2-3g a stack, on my current it's as high as 8-10g for the same cloth.
"Idiots. I guess they'd rather you and your friends take a car next time you go driving."
As opposed to?
riding bikes when you go driving?
"These kids are Fail. how well will someone preform at their job if every time they have a problem they call mommy? they don't. I know so many of these manchilds. They can't get laid, they can't get promoted, they can't have good conversation. I don't see these people after I got past jr. year and entry level, because they haven't the skills to follow."
I thought we were fond of Natural Selection here?
Doesn't it pertain to the nurturing attitudes of the parents as well.. lion cubs who are not taught to hunt for themselves don't grow up to reproduce?
"L Boom, I don't know where you get the idea that it's only the rich being bailed out."
Or have you missed all your communist cheques from Bush over the past 8 years?"
are you seriously comparing billions in handouts to insanely profitable multinationals, to a 300 dollar check to middle and under class America?
How was that a "bailout" for a family working two jobs making under 30k a year.. 600 bucks?!?!!?
"one as backup for when clouds make the shitty solar power plants useless."
yah solar is so Dependant on absolutely clear skies, that's why they installed one in the roof of London City Hall.
http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/city_hall/solar-power/index.jsp
"That's a complete mischaracterization of Ritalin. The amount that is prescribed is only a small fraction of how much a person using it recreationally uses,"
Yes it would be, i'm not talking about ritalin.. that is one of the first "has amphetamine in it" class of drug for ADD/ADHD, there are 2 others that are just either one straight Amphetamine or a mix of different types of amphetamine salts.
Ritalin is primarily prescribed for the youngest children and mildest cases, when the non-stimulants are shown not to work. The families i have talked to who have a kid/kids who suffer greatly from ADD/ADHD usually won't find relief with Ritalin even at max dosages.
" and it's closely monitored by the Dr. and pharmacist to ensure that it's not being abused. You're definitely not going to get buzzed or addicted on the amount that a doctor is prescribing without taking more than the prescribed dose."
Closely monitored? What are you talking about? I actually have first hand knowledge, and it's not "closely monitored", maybe you mean distribution is tightly controlled, which is true but that's a different set of controls to prevent black market resale, not abuse. I can get a buzz at my current dose, but that's ok because i often have insomnia and when i have had little sleep the night before it balances out.
After having the meds for a period of time you do adjust and build tolerance, but just like anything...
"Comparing it with the recreational use is a completely unfair comparison to make."
I don't think it is.. and speaking from experience let me explain why.. i used to use speed, (meth and/or amphetamine) and as i reflect (having quit all substance use for a number of years and then being treated for ADHD) I see that i was seeking what the drug could do for me, and thank God I can now can get the same thing in an easy pill, automatically measured and pure.
Before i had to deal with cut product, getting ripped off completely or risk going to jail for mutiple years.
So now i am "being treated for a medical condition" and previously i was "using it recreationally", for me it's the end result that motivated the consumption and still does.
Every drug has it's uses, and flat out banning or demonizing the drug is the wrong way to go about it.. let there be punishments for actions and let people use drugs if it helps them live better lives.. i know in my case the difference is night and day.
I can't believe you got +3 informative... sigh.
"taking something that has a 1/100,000 chance of killing you the first time you use it isn't my thing."
Is that even true?!?! I seem to hear this "info" about various drugs via our (US) government ant-drug propaganda, partnership for drug free America, esp when it is in the headlines.. like Ectasy, i knew people who had done it many times 10 years before all the news stories about it being a "problem", then when they realized kids were taking it you started hearing reports of people dying from trying it once.. ONE PILL!!! OMG!
Acid makes you go crazy, pot is worse than cigs and fund terrorism, you can go from starlet to crypt keeper in less than 6 months on speed (before you jump down my throat consider this, 2.5 million kids were given speed in 2003 for ADHD), coke will kill you if you try it... does anyone actually lend any credence to this stuff anymore?
My wife and I just laugh when we see the current spat of anti-drug commercials because they are SOOOO far from reality.
if you explain any part of a joke it seldom remains funny. :(
which one of the submitted fan retouches was yours? just curious.
"By that logic, WarCraft 3 would have been better than StarCraft. And it wasn't."
WC3 was a completely different direction than SC, as can be seen by the soon to be released of SC2. WC3 was better than WC2 IMHO.
You don't have flashblock.. tsk tsk.
"Don't even get me started on the people claiming you have to grind all possible reputation factions."
You mean to get the BoP enchanting formulas (jc patterns, tailoring, etc...) that everyone wants.. and can only be gotten thru Rep, that makes enchanting profitable after spending so much time and effort to get to 340?
i currently am working on timbermaw hold and scryer for both enchanting AND tailoring formula patterns. I know there are many more (like in silithus) that i would like to do as well.. but ugh.
pcmark had credibility? These are the guys who make 3dmark right? the program that gives you a "score" that in no way reflects how your system will actually perform IRL?
I don't know anyone who takes these as a serious benchmark.. just recently a friend and I ran 3dmark2008 (2007/) against both of our machines.. his won.. but when we ran actual game benchmarks (like the built in ones for crysis and quake4) mine beat his soundly. Go figure.. he had an Intel, i have an AMD.
"Why don't they implement a challenge-response system in-game like a CAPTCHA? Ask the player some specifically worded question about some game event."
Why don't they remove the obvious time wasting aspects of the game that turn a fun challenge into "grinding".
go kill this monster, but you are only done with X drops... wtfh?
I generally enjoy WoW but what really frustrates me are the obvious attempts to get me to play longer and therefore keep shelling out money.. like run over there and kill x monster then come back.. i come back and am given the quest to return to the same exact spot and kill y monster (that i had to kill anyway because he stands right next to X). BOOOORING!
if they spent more time developing quests (and adding to the lower level quest lines) people wouldn't want to automate their grinding (for an e.g. there is a low level crossroads quest that spawns a centaur attack on a village you have to defend against, makes you feel like you are really fighting "for the horde", lots of fun).
I'm just getting tot he high level stuff and it seems to be more along these lines.. why they don't try and improve the older work is beyond me.. that's prolly the number 1 gripe i hear about grinding. UGH WC or SFK again/ "can someone run me thru? i'll pay you gold".
only if you plan to nuke it.
no, no, don't you see? In the universe everything has a polar opposite.. Ray is the anti-Roland Piquepaille.
If one posts a story and links to the other Slashdot will implode! (or explode?)
"Because you still need a way to motivate people to get off their lazy asses and do something productive when they would really rather lounge on the beach and sip margaritas every day."
BUT even in our culture there are people who do what they do because they want to.. not because they need to... how many people have you heard of that came back to work because they were bored during retirement.. how many billionaires do you know of that just sit around sipping margaritas?
The main reason for work is sustenance yes, but the driving force behind our technology/science is a constant desire to "know" or learn more.
"So basically the chances of other races with FTL travel is probably even more remote than you think."
I'm thinking better than 2 \ 1 billion x 1 billion
"One could imagine that they're either more subtle when they try to remain under cover than leaving mutilated cattle and anally probed people lying around after their departure, or that they'd be more choosy when trying to reveal themselves than to show themselves only to some moonshine-swigging hicks. Why not land in the middle of the Superbowl finals, now THAT's revealing!"
Or maybe they could care less what we know now that they have assessed our threat level.. if anything it would be our government hiding the facts not aliens.. they could care less?
I also doubt they would want to establish "trade" or relations with us.. any civilization advanced enough to travel the stars exploring new life forms wouldn't need anything from those forms they encountered.
I find it interesting that a couple of old people who are now about to die have decided it is ok to "come clean" since they will be dead soon and don't want to let it go with them, plus there is nothing that can be done to them punishment wise...
"Unlikely, a company suing an individual will seldom recoup enough from the suit itself to pay for the legal fees involved in suing them"
Actually if you have been following these suits, it is very rare that a person will actually go to trial to dispute the case, about 98% of the lawsuits brought against "individuals" are settled out of court and upfront, thus generating 3-5000 per suit.. this is quite profitable, especially when you have paralegals sending out boilerplate notices to individuals demanding flat fee settlements.