Slashdot Mirror


User: ObsessiveMathsFreak

ObsessiveMathsFreak's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
4,938
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 4,938

  1. Or in Celsius on Trees' Leaves Grow At a Cool 70° All Over the World · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's about 21.11 degrees Celsius.

    Americans really need to start using the metric system. Honestly, it really is worth the effort to switch.

  2. Democracy Isn't Working on New FISA Bill Would Grant Telcoms Immunity; Vote Is Tomorrow · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This vote, the recent one in Sweden, wiretapping, surveillance, censorship; governments across the western world basically totally ignoring long held principles for individual rights and freedoms. They keep doing it, and nothing seems to be able to stop it.

    I'm led more and more to the conclusion that our system of democracy isn't working anymore. I don't know why, and I'm pretty sure it did work before. Governments usen't be able to get away with even proposing this nonsense. Whatever we had that worked before doesn't seem to be there anymore.

    Don't get me wrong now. I still believe in democracy, at least I think I do. Is the kind I believe in the one we actually have, or ever had? I vote. I see others voting. But I still see a disconnect between the actions of government and the will of the people. What has gone wrong? Is it just my vision that's in error here?

    Is the fact that this recent shift occurred contemporaneously with the rise of the internet a coincidence? Is it just fallout from 9/11? Or something more? Is it the media? The corporations? The fall of communism? Globalisation? Or is it just the fact that we have indeed reached true democracy, and the currently evolving system of oppression is in fact what the people truly want?

    I think there's a problem with our democracy. Something is broken, and I don't know what it is. The end result is that democracy is not working the way it once did. Maybe I'm just a fool raised on too many fairy tales about the way things should work. I'd like to think that, but I do perceive the shifts in our society, laws, and governments to be very real. Either the west is collectively shifting into some other system of government, or the very concept of democracy is itself undergoing some kind of phase change.

  3. Re:Adding it to my wishlist... on Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Some tips gathered from experience.

    Cut scenes are there for gamers to take a break. They are best placed directly after a boss fight or some other challenging piece of the game, and are best off done in the in game graphics and being no more than 3-5 minutes in length, with exceptions for perhaps one mid game and one ending sequence. The opening sequence should run between 15 and 90 seconds in length, and the player should be in complete control by that point, for at least the next 10 minutes. This is IMPORTANT. Tutorials are fine, but making me sit through 10-15 minutes of exposition is just lazy writing on your part. Start in media rens.

    Cut scenes are to be used solely for character and plot development that is otherwise completely impossible to put anywhere else. They are not some kind of "reward", nor were they ever, except in some developers heads. Tell me where I'm going and why I need to go there, maybe get a bit of acting going on. Basically, I'm taking this opportunity to engross myself in a little and refill my drink, and generally relieve the tension from whatever it is I just completed. This does not mean I'm not paying attention. Frequently, I will be focused like a laser and if you've left any plot holes, they are going to stand out like gaping chasms. Your plot needs to be rock solid. Oh and less "deus ex machina" please. It physically hurts when you do that. Any plot affecting mechanics needs to have been introduced at least twice before you use it at a critical moment.

    If the player is at any time not in control of the proceedings in some way, then you've basically taken the controller out of their hands for x number of minutes. If you feel too restricted by this, then learn to love in game voice overs/ radio calls and monologues, the kind where control is not taken away from the player. Think of the phone calls in GTA4. I personally can't get enough of these, so feel free to write in liberal dose. I wouldn't advocate a completely Half-life style of storytelling here, but it's not entirely a bad idea.

    Please, do not feel obligated to include a love interest in the story. In fact, you're best off leaving it out. Chances are most people won't go for the girl/guy and if she or he is in fact the damsel/messer in distress, then player respect for this person will drop to zero pretty quickly, and your love interest line will become comical, irritating or probably both. Remember when Sheik turned into Princess Zelda? The exception to this would be if the interests was a "party member" e.g. Aeris/Tifa in FFVII. It works then... sometimes, but you are best off making it interactive a la Star Ocean 2.

    Main characters... should always be a little dark. Players love to grief the NPCs from time to time. Being an Anti-Hero can be huge fun and very engaging if done right, e.g. Blood Omen. Main characters are also often best made silent observers, as in Zelda games, so that the player can best fill in their personality through their own actions, rather than having their actions in conflict with your prescripted ideals for the hero. If a character does have a striking personality, then you are best off making that a part of the gameplay itself, e.g. Devil May Cry 3.

    Don't be afraid to make gameplay elements, and even technical aspects of the game engine, a part of your story, as in Medievil. "Realism" in games was a fad that ended some time ago, so feel free to make your own world as eccentric as you please. Not too eccentric (MGS2), but just eccentric enough (MGS3). Be aware that good gameplay can make up for a bad story, but no manner of story will ever make up for poor gameplay(Primal). Feel free to take inspiration from what may seem unfashionable sources (God of War), or even from some contemporary issues (Army of Two). Just don't get too ludacrious (Blacksite: Area 51).

    Lastly, never, ever, EVER end a game with a "To Be Continued" screen or the equivilent (Digger T. Rock, Soul Reaver 2). Leaving the possibility of a sequel is fine, even encouraged. Bu

  4. Re:War is hell. on Wikileaks Gets Hold of Counterinsurgency Manual · · Score: 1

    You aren't fighting a war to be nice. You are fighting to win and to do so you need to do whatever it takes.
    What qualifies as winning?
  5. MOD UP CLASSIC IRONY on Understanding Privacy · · Score: 1

    The entire post is an immaculate example of classical irony, where the intended meaning is the exact opposite of the literal. If you need me to explain further... then you'll probably never get it.

  6. But They Don't Have Rights to Use It on California Cracks Down On Genetic Testing · · Score: 1

    True, the information in my genetic code is not my personal property, intellectual or otherwise. However, that does not mean that companies, individuals or governments have the right to do what they please with that information.

    If you think otherwise, try getting your hands on, and using to your advantage, the genetic information of some important or influential person. Say a CEO or a politician. How long after they discover your actions to you think you will keep your supposed rights?

  7. Re:Have you seen this? on Porn Found On L.A. Obscenity Case Judge's Website · · Score: 1

    I recognize the description of the animal video as the one where the drunk guy is trying to get away from the donkey that is trying to mount him. I also know the woman wearing the cow body paint circulated in a similar email.
    SO! You admit to your own deviancy, Deviant! No public office for you!

    Now, before we let you go, what other lurid, erotic, kinky, or otherwise titillating sins can you confess to before the morally superior majority? Jesus will forgive you, as long as you let it all out for us.
  8. Re:Car analogy on Porn Found On L.A. Obscenity Case Judge's Website · · Score: 1

    I'd personally be suspect of anyone who doesn't like porn, because you're talking about somebody with a powerful enough prejudice to find issue with millions of years of sexual reproduction.

    Personally, I'm alway slightly suspect of anyone who does. I don't think images of hairless, cosmetically altered Americans; grimacing, baring teeth, and covered in various bodily fluids, has much to do with our natural sexual instincts. At least, I hope it doesn't.
  9. Fear Has Won on Three ISPs Agree To Block Child Porn · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Impressive how a lot of posters opposing this measure start off saying they abolish child porn.
    Absolutely. Nothing so successful neuters an argument as seeing the proponent falling prostrate and begging forgiveness before he even begins his speech. The audience sees where the true power lies, and sides accordingly. No one is going to follow someone marching on their knees.

    People are afraid. That's why they feel the need to profess their innocence. The child porn shriekers have succeeded in fostering a climate of fear that has silenced their opponents. They've changed society, in the anglosphere at least. People know that to be accused of being in any way associated with pedophilia is to lose ones future forever. No one takes risks in such a situation.

    I will profess one thing though. I'm afraid. I'm afraid of the power that we've given to the accusers and their supports. I would never do something as stupid as look after someone's child for any period of time. Working with children, including teenagers, is also completely out of the question. I'm not the only one. People in general become very nervous if a child walks into the room. No one gets friendly or playful unless they're fairly gregarious, and female. People will let a child die rather than stop to help them, and I can't say I blame them. I can personally say that if a child was drowning or dying right in front of me, then I most likely wouldn't move one step towards them, let alone help them. I'm not a monster, I just live in these times.

    Child pornography scandals are put on the front page by editors to titillate readers and sell newspapers. No one stands up to this hysteria fueled by profit mongering and voyeurism. It's eroding our media, our legal system, our social system and ultimately our entire way of life. By itself it won't bring the whole structure crashing down, but it will rot a few more timbers.

    I'm afraid. But every poster who includes the ritual "I abhor child pornography..." disclaimer in their messages is a far greater coward than I.
  10. Re:False positives, misleading true positives on Three ISPs Agree To Block Child Porn · · Score: 4, Informative

    Are all you guys crying "Child porn is so awful!" really saying that if a hot young, busty and curvaceous 15 year old was standing naked in front of you, you wouldn't be aroused?
    No. Ten seconds after any 15 year old begins to speak, most adults develop an acute urge to gouge out their own ears and let out a long, tormented wail.
  11. Re:Block for all? on Three ISPs Agree To Block Child Porn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think it's more about "How can we get this Godless Hippie Crap off the InterTubes. Oh yeah, I know! Let's use a Wedge Strategy!". Then they look for the widest crack in libertarian's armour (which happens to be visible from space), namely their utter unwillingness to stand up for the legal rights of pedophiles.

    If people won't defend the rights of the most wretched and most wicked, then they deserve no rights themselves. And that's what they're getting; at civil protests, at TSA checkpoints and now online.

  12. Parent is Troll, but Should be Modded Up on Boy Scouts Ask Open Source Community For Help · · Score: 1
    The parent is a troll, but their point is very, very valid in the context of this discussion.

    A lot of people here had good experiences in the Boy Scouts, but what they have failed to realize is that with most of these kinds of organisations, bigotry and hate alone will not make people come back to your meeting and listen to more.

    The fun that is had at the scouts by many is in effect, bait. Bait to lure you in and accept their "core values". Take a look at the scout oath:

    Scout Oath
    On my honor I will do my best
    To do my duty to God and my country
    and to obey the Scout Law;
    To help other people at all times;
    To keep myself physically strong,
    mentally awake, and morally straight.

    No doubt many view the whole passage as something innocuous, inspirational or simply cute. Me personally, I take it for what it is; An Oath. I know you had a lot of fun nights of scouting, and would like to dismiss or forget the fact that you swore that you had a duty to "God" and your country. That you swore to obey the "Scout Law", whatever that may be. I know you think my points are invalid because you simply cannot in your own mind associate those fun times with something sinister or subversive.

    That is the whole point of the parent poster.

    The very purpose of those fun wholesome times you had was so that now, you would be disoriented, confused and ultimately dismissive of any argument against the Boy Scouts. Look a the picture on their front page. I know that you see something entirely harmless. A picture of a bunch of swell guys, doing their part for Afghanistan. I know that you'll never see anything else, despite what it actually is.

    It's a military recruitment poster.

    The scout were, are and probably always will be a feeder organization for the military. It was the stated purpose of their creation. It is their unstated purpose to this day. It is a sexually segregated, scaled down military recruitment camp. It works. America is the most militant developed country in the world. Fun times and good memories of boy scout camps have played their part in that.
  13. Re:BSA on Boy Scouts Ask Open Source Community For Help · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A Christian scout who steals, cheats, or fights will be given counseling, and an effort will be made to keep him in the fold provided he poses no imminent threat to others. An atheist scout who lives an exemplary life will be rejected unless he lies about his beliefs. How is this a moral example for young people?

    It shows that a lying psychopath will get a lot farther in life than an honest paragon. And that's one of the most important lessons in morality you can receive nowadays.
  14. Re:Stupid legal system on Record Labels Sue Spanish P2P Pioneer For $20M · · Score: 1

    Not if you're in a loser pays legal system!

  15. Re:Ron Paul wouldn't allow this sort of thing on Full Body Scanners Installed In 10 US Airports · · Score: 3, Interesting

    People bitch and moan about airport security yet they keep voting for people who give them bigger and more intrusive government.

    No one bitches and moans. No one. Americans, at best, grumble and murmur under their breath.

    In a nation infamous for its loud and litigious protesters, the silence, the absolute and utter _silence_ on this issue is screaming. Where are the protestors? Where are the acronymed activists groups? Where are the calls to senators and paid for TV ads against these intrusions? Where are the B-list celebrity messages? Where are the class action lawsuits?

    Jesus. Even the ambulance chasers have been battered into submission. You're not going to be able to fix this for decades.
  16. Re:And this is one of the reasons why... on Full Body Scanners Installed In 10 US Airports · · Score: 1

    Trains are also a great alternative, where available. You even get proper food!

  17. Re:The worst thing was ... on Federal Court Says First-Sale Doctrine Covers Software, Too · · Score: 1

    By the usual analogy, it would be like Ford suing a used car dealer for selling used Ford cars on the grounds that Ford's copyright had been infringed. Huh?

    They would if his advertisements used pictures of the car in question.
  18. Re:Back To Reality on Woman Indicted In MySpace Suicide Case · · Score: 1

    And a 13 year old girl is no adult. She is not fully able to make a concious decision between life and dead. That's something she has to learn first.

    Which event or experience would she have learned from in later life that did not happen in the previous 13 years? Most people have at least had a few pets or relatives pass away by then? Do people need to be in a car accident or something?

    You can even show with frontal lobe scans that people younger than ~20 years are not able to make those decisions conciously. (This is why trying teenager as adults for murder is quite questionable from a medical point of view. Teenagers are no adults, even when they get delinquent. Period.)

    So if someone can show that their brain has "abnormal" patterns, then that justifies/excuses their actions? Maybe we should all go on drugs that make our brains like teenagers so we can get away with anything we want and only have to face juvenile hall.

    My view on this, despite my secular opinions, is fairly close to the "Bar Mitzvah Rules". At 13 you are responsible for your own actions. I don't think this is an unreasonable suggestion to make. People have to grow up sometime, and I don't believe in the infantalisation of people who are effectively grown adults. The only reason I would have for not trying teenagers as adults is because they cannot vote and thus have no representations.
  19. Re:In related news... on Techies Keen to Keep Jobs In the Family · · Score: 1

    My father is a chartered management accountant. From the cradle, I have been urged ad nauseum to be either

    a) Self employed.
    b) A civil servant.

    Naturally, I am neither.

  20. Re:Mormons Still Practice Plural Marriage on Mormon Church Goes After WikiLeaks · · Score: 1

    I respect your sincerity.

  21. Re:odd on UK to Ban Possession of Certain 'Violent' Pornography · · Score: 1

    so basically if you and your girlfriend decided to do something kinky, videotape it and later split, you've now got this to worry about.
    Well then, you probably shouldn't videotape it. In fact, you're probably best off not doing anything "kinky" at all, lest you be lead further into perversion. In fact, you're best off to give up your sinful ways and be quickly married in the Eyes of God and the Queen. ... Heathen.
  22. Re:names on First Superheavy Element Found In Nature · · Score: 4, Funny

    Further research revealed that Governmentium also occurs naturally alongside Capitalium, a lighter, but more numerous element. Capitalium is compromised of a cloud of entreprenions, which are attracted to a core of opportunium, which was made stable by emissions from Governmentium.

    Over time, Capitalium produces emissions of money, some of which is absorbed by nearby Governmentium. Capitaliums will thus try to move as far away from Governmentium as possible. But most of this money is transmitted between other Capitaliums in what is know as the venture band. These oscillations of money produces economyetic radiation, which attracts more entreprenions, and stimulates peons, but also attracts greedions and slackhyons which have the temporary effect of increasing the flow of money in the venture band, while increasing their own energy.

    However, as the flow in the venture band increases, the greedions and slachyons reach critical mass, and the flow of money becomes unstable and suddenly reduces dramatically. Capitaliums spontaneously split from their now depleted opportunium and evolve into Spend 0 particles, refusing to bond to any more opportunium. Any peons in the region become inert and may decay, or be absorbed by greedions and slackhyons, forming anti-entreprenions, which have the effect of destroying any opportunium they contact with.

    The state will remain unstable for a time until the depleted Capitaliums begin to move closer to Governmentium. When this happens Governmentium undergoes a shift and emits bailout radiation, which has the effect of releasing vast amounts of stored money into the venture band and into Capitaliums. This restimulates the Capitaliums and they once again begin to emit economyetic radiation, and also move away from Governmentium.

    Interestingly, Governmentium can be formed by either the fusion of peons, or the fusion of Capitaliums. However these two types of Governmentium have different spins, which manifests itself through their interactions with Medium, a type of Capitalium, which has the ability to pick up Governmentium and Capitalium spin, and then broadcast it to nearby peons.

  23. Re:FBI Wants Authority To Filter Net Backbone on FBI Wants Authority To Filter Net Backbone · · Score: 1

    Hell, walk on into everyone's house looking for evidence of criminal activity! Why not?
    Because they'll see you doing that, obviously.
  24. Expected Level of Public Discourse on Freenet Releases 0.7.0rc2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Pedophiles! Pedophiles, pedophiles, pedophiles!! Obscenity!! Pedophiles! Terrorists!! Filth!! Pedophiles, pedophiles, pedophiles!! Terrorists! Terrorist pedophiles!! Pedophile terrorists? Pedophiles! Terrorists! Criminals!! Islamofacists!! Think of the children!!

    If You Have Nothing To Hide Then You Have Nothing To Fear.

    </newscoverage>

  25. Re:RapidSSL is your friend on Choosing an SSL Provider? · · Score: 1

    If you need the stronger, blood-of-your-first-born cert, Verisign is the place to go.
    Knowing Verisign, they'll probably want that blood eventually.