What you people are unaware of is that this is all part of a cunning plan. A deal stroke between Saddam and Kim. You see, Saddam had to hide all those weapons SOMEWHERE, didn't he? Of course he had weapons in there, he just sent them by snail mail to Kim to hide. But then they caught Saddam in a hole and... you know the rest of the story, and there was no bunny with a clock yelling "it's late, it's late".
I guess it's too late to say thay while Bush was busy lying everyone and diverting attentions, Kim and its regime were developing? Hmmm... apparently it's too late indeed. Wonder what follows...
I probably shouldn't be replying to anonymous cowards, but it's stronger then me.
You see, I'm not bitching. I'm not even complaining, I'm merely reporting my experience.
It's funny how developers of open source projects will usually listen to complaints and requests, whereas some users, as if attempting to defend "something", will embark in (and bark about) speech of "if you don't like it don't use it". That's stupid and immature. The only way OSS progresses is by people actually getting to use it, and I'll serve the process best by stating my troubles with the software, instead of just showing everyone how I'm not the regular user and am able to recompile it or patch. Most people around here are, like me, capable of altering a piece of software for their own needs. But would you spend that much time learning to know all those programs you use but that don't quite cut it? It only makes sense actually reporting problems (even as minor as gui ones), so that people with more knowledge can address it. That's cooperation, through constructive criticism.
I could go on talking about how posts like this are annoying and trollish, but hei, this is slashdot, and it's unlikely that anyone will even read this other than to flame.:) At least it serves the purpose of allowing me to let it out.
As for not having tried the latest GIMP releases, I did recently, and yes, there is a menu on top - I was merely stating the reasons that lead me to having found a solution elsewhere. I still find annoying the pletora of windows it launches instead of a MDI, but that is MY opinion, my feelings, just that. If you can't adapt to those, `then don't* read.:p
Actually, I'm one of those who'll swear by PaintShop Pro. I find Photoshop to be slow, bulky, and I can never find my way around it. Probably because I've been using PsP since version... 3?
It all depends on what exactly you do. My needs for a photo-editing program are mostly due to a devianthobby for photography, other than doing some small graphics for prototype applications (when I'm coding and there's noone else to do it, that is). For that, I find PsP more than enough. I've convinced our graphics designer to make the switch from PhotoShop too. As for GIMP, maybe one day.:)
As for 3D, there'd be those who'd swear by 3D-Studio for years, and for a long time, the rest were just alternatives. Nowadays, Maya is the new star in town, but at least that's a change.:)
CMYK support is of uptmost importance to desktop publishing, that's true, most prints are sent in that format. But I sincerely can't force myself to work adapt to the right-button interface. I like having the menu always on the same spot, if you know what I mean. I'm sure others will find it appropriate though - so that's not in question.
As for Scribus, I've tried it before, but for most of my work VI and xslproc seem to do the trick, so I don't count.:) I've used Pagemaker extensively before though (a couple years ago), and I think we have a real winenr here!:)
Seems like the US should stop, ponder a bit, swallow their pride, and then maybe learn from the Chinese?
Portable? C'mon!! How about efficient, safe and non-pollutent?
Fair enough, I see your point. But maybe we could learn something there. Let's just build pyramids or other constructions of sorte - in the deserts - to put our wastes into.:)
But to be honest, I don't see why those wastes can't be re-used. If they are so radioactive, there's got to be a way to take advantage of that energy. The Canadian MOX (mentioned elsewhere in this thread) seems like a good start. But of course, others prefer just to hide it. Geez, don't we learn? Noone thought smoke would become such a problem 50 years ago. How can we even dare pondering the idea of ignoring toxic wastes by burying them?
Oh, I almost forgot that you people have a strong mentality of "once republican/democrat, always republican/democrat".
In my opinion, it's not even about Kerry being this or that. It's about Bush being untrostworthy, and not pursuing what's in the best interest of the country, let alone civilization.
I can't say I was all that excited with Kerry, but he's trying. And you know as well as I do that the president is just a face - it's the underlying machine that rules the country. And I for one wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that the machine that ran the US with Bush these last couple years is getting ready to do it again. It's sick, any half-informed american is able to see that. I hope you guys open your eyes before it's too late.
And btw, I know what you're going through... each time a new president comes up the overall "level" seems to drop, and it isn't risen again.
And nice choice on Clinton. It's sad how puritanism lead to his demise, its just a display of how hypocrite the whole of society turns out. I for one would prefer a president that is unloyal to its wife (apparently that's common over there) than one that continues reading children stories while the towers are being bombarded. Oh please, wake up!!!
So? Human-built structures have been around for longer than any form of government has been in existence for. The Egyptian pyramids...
Hmmm, what makes you think Egypt had no government? Much on the contrary. Actually, having a governing body was already a part of those primitive human tribes that inhabited... you guessed: caves. Therefore, government - has been around longer than human-built structures.:) Not much has changed here, some countries *cough* still seem to elect cavemen for government positions, like presidency.
I sincerily hope you're just playing devil's advocate. I've seen a lot on slashdot, but I rarely get to see such a byproduct of both naiveness and brain-washing. Wow.
You're free to turn your computer when Google displays ads. You're free not to look at the monitor. You're free to surf their website with something that hides their ads. But if the contract of "Terms of Serive" that you agree with when you press "I Agree", says you're not free to access the service using 3rd party programs, nomatter how much you want, it isn't right going around it - that's why it's called "terms of service" - it's a legal and moral agreement. You can't accept it? You can go elsewhere, so your freedom is preserved.:)
It's not just about them being supports of Linux. They have no duty of offering a service in return for nothing. Our way of "repaying" them is allowing them to show ads - it's the least one can do to support their service, don't you think? Maybe they could however offer "interoperability" via some small fee. But that doesn't look good marketing-wise, as it taints a free product with the idea of incompleteness from the paid version. But that's how it works for other systems too: pay and don't have to see ads.:)
>> and steer their kids in the right direction instead of simply saying "you're not allowed", or they'll utterly fail.
Precisely. But there is also a problem with parents that live their lives like children and couldn't care less about educating their prole. They just sit 'em in front of the TV or the XBox. No wonder they're so freaked at what shows up in there, including violence and gore. Kids go completly unprepared.:)
I agree with Hogwash McFly in finding a relation between facing problems with information and good-sense, rather than attempting to supress them.
Maybe it's just that puritanism doesn't work.:) Do you recall seeing how the Administration recommends abstinence as means of stopping AIDS in African countries? Well, it's not just about that being hypocrite, that's a fine example of puritanism at the higher levels. Don't you find it at least a bit odd?! I mean... c'mon, abstinence? They don't have TVs or computers to spend their times in...;) And the worst part is that I can imagine many people in most states in the US, in their homes watching TV and nodding in consent at those declarations of abstinence. Then they'll quietly change channel to the pr0n cable network.
Topless sunbathing is allowed in every beach in Portugal. Yet, it's a very conservative country, and quite religious (at least middle-age up). The thing is, it's a matter of personal choice and context. Respect for the other people and facing issues with information rather than attempting to hide'em, that plays a large role in the lack of sex-related crimes and a population with a healthier mind. Drinking is allowed to people above 16 that don't show signs of mental disorder, and although we have our share of people who exceed their account, most people are raised in the notion that there is a limit. It's a matter of teaching good-sense instead of forcing people to obey rules.
Another fine example - I've been to Marrocos, and that's a country where the majority follows the islamic religion. I felt ashamed at how easily they meet foreigners and accept the difference in cultures. They'll make jokes about Allah showing us the way while we're there and will usually meet you with curiosity as opposed to the arrogance you'd find for being a foreigner in a more developed country. In comparison, in the US and in other more developed places, pre-conceptions and the belief that "we know best"... well... you know where this is going, and I don't want to be moderated as a troll.:)
The constructor IS always the name of the object class you're creating - that's how you declare constructors. It's the variable you're assigning to that might be of a different class.
I can understand that. But maybe readability varies from person to person. I suppose that even if the constructor was optional many would still use it as a matter of programming style.
Maybe this was a bad example - let's try associative arrays for instance. Most modern languages have some means for specifying an associative array with minimum fuss. How does Java make it any clear by making you use a series of function calls to build an associative array?
This was never about understanding. OOP isn't new with Java either and has little to do with syntax (althouth the dot notation is king). So your itsy bit of sarcasm is lost and could have been better applied elsewhere.
This is about an example of how Java forces the programmer to type stuff that it is able to perceive. Seeing as the constructor is always the name of the object you're creating and you already specified it on the leftside, it could very well be optional after the new operator. It's syntactic sugar. It's an example.
Sorry, but either I didn't explain myself right or you're missing the point. What would be wrong with:
X509CertificateSimpleChainVerifier x = new();
It's not as if the compiler can't tell it should create a X509CertificateSimpleChainVerifier object. I can't stress this enough, but this is just an example of how verbosity could sometimes be avoided. Check that link for the D language and you'll see what I mean (I could mention how miss associative arrays, as another example). But then, this is slashdot!:)
Well, probably like lots of other folks here, I develop projects and program for a living. Although I've programmed in Java and recognize the tremendous ease with which one develops some complex stuff, I can't help feeling some resistence in applying it to new projects. A few considerations and reflection about it is probably in order.
The argument that it's portable fails to meet the fact that many of the times you do NOT want to care about installing the latest JRE on the destination computers. I'd be happier with compilation to native format. I know GJC and the likes, but they don't work 100%, although they're progressing a lot.
On clients, I find some resistence to Java due to the way it's marketed. "Isn't that for cellphones" - they ask. Stupid? Not really... that's the message the media hands out for Java nowadays (at least around here). We've had clients that knew where PHP, C and even Delphi fit in in their solutions, but failed to recognize Java. Maybe this is just something local to this country though.:)
At times, the verbosity of Java really gets on my nerves. I'm a lot more productive using a combination of VI and Screen than in most IDEs, so regardless of auto-completion, I resent having to type stuff like:
X509CertificateSimpleChainVerifier x = new X509CertificateSimpleChainVerifier();
I mean, wouldn't it be possible to ommit the type again from the new operator? I'm sure the parser could infer the default type from the variable it's being assigned to.:p
Please, this is just an example. When you develop for a long time in something like Perl, PHP or Python you end up resenting writing too much. Sure those are typeless or just have yupe hints but still... I'm sure others will have different complains. What I sometimes feel is that compared to a pet language like D http://www.digitalmars.com/d/ it feels a tad old!
Very interesting. I've read about larp and freeforming, but to be honest, we usually find that a lot of work. *grin* What we do is closer to what you mention last, in small groups of 4-6, just that we're lazy and don't walk around.
A large event of that kind would probably be a great experience. Unfortunatly, Australia is diametrically distante from Portugal, and RPGs are a relatively new concept around here (10 years ago they were unheard of), so we do what we can.:)
Really an interesting read this post of yours, I had no idea such a large number of people could participate in such a game.:)
Hehe!:) There's nothing wrong with playing diceless - I tried that. You can play mostly diceless if you have players that are good with their words.:) But to be honest, using the dice a bit adds a bit of mood showing that you can't control a few things. Lately, in 1 hour of gameplay, each player gets to roll about 4-5 times (just to get the general idea) - unless we enter combat in which case there are a lot more rolls. Basically we roll mostly for physical actions and sort the rest with roleplay.:)
Because face it, you don't want to role-play swinging your sword.*grin*
Changing to another game does help a lot in that, as it breaks away with habits.:)
Try to take it right from character creation: don't give them weapons or means to fight with. Even if it takes one or two introductory sessions, give them the chance to actually experience the world and let them feel the taste for non-physical action. It helps if you prepare the world in your head, not just random encounters, but also NPCs and useful/interesting information they might have to share with the players. Preparing dialogs that the NPCs might have with them is a great deal of help, as it draws people's attention. Always rememmber you can stock a few interesting dialogs and attach them randomly to the NPCs they meet.;)
If you don't mind me sparing further comments, try and build a small plotline. Then make sure the background events that the players can't control develop the way they should, regardless of what players do. That'll make them feel like they are in a world that evolves, where they aren't automatically the stars but should strive to make a difference.
I hope it works for you and your crew. I used to play MERP (hack&slash) before we changed DM and running as DM myself. Having another DM to talk about things is also a great help - it adds depth to your world and characters.
Slashdot Mirror
What you people are unaware of is that this is all part of a cunning plan. A deal stroke between Saddam and Kim. You see, Saddam had to hide all those weapons SOMEWHERE, didn't he? Of course he had weapons in there, he just sent them by snail mail to Kim to hide. But then they caught Saddam in a hole and... you know the rest of the story, and there was no bunny with a clock yelling "it's late, it's late".
I guess it's too late to say thay while Bush was busy lying everyone and diverting attentions, Kim and its regime were developing? Hmmm... apparently it's too late indeed. Wonder what follows...
I probably shouldn't be replying to anonymous cowards, but it's stronger then me.
:) At least it serves the purpose of allowing me to let it out.
:p
You see, I'm not bitching. I'm not even complaining, I'm merely reporting my experience.
It's funny how developers of open source projects will usually listen to complaints and requests, whereas some users, as if attempting to defend "something", will embark in (and bark about) speech of "if you don't like it don't use it". That's stupid and immature. The only way OSS progresses is by people actually getting to use it, and I'll serve the process best by stating my troubles with the software, instead of just showing everyone how I'm not the regular user and am able to recompile it or patch. Most people around here are, like me, capable of altering a piece of software for their own needs. But would you spend that much time learning to know all those programs you use but that don't quite cut it? It only makes sense actually reporting problems (even as minor as gui ones), so that people with more knowledge can address it. That's cooperation, through constructive criticism.
I could go on talking about how posts like this are annoying and trollish, but hei, this is slashdot, and it's unlikely that anyone will even read this other than to flame.
As for not having tried the latest GIMP releases, I did recently, and yes, there is a menu on top - I was merely stating the reasons that lead me to having found a solution elsewhere. I still find annoying the pletora of windows it launches instead of a MDI, but that is MY opinion, my feelings, just that. If you can't adapt to those, `then don't* read.
they put in to placate whiners like you
;)
No, they put it in, to achieve some consistency with host user interfaces. The fact that it placates whiners like me is only a sideeffect.
Actually, I'm one of those who'll swear by PaintShop Pro. I find Photoshop to be slow, bulky, and I can never find my way around it. Probably because I've been using PsP since version... 3? :)
:)
It all depends on what exactly you do. My needs for a photo-editing program are mostly due to a devianthobby for photography, other than doing some small graphics for prototype applications (when I'm coding and there's noone else to do it, that is). For that, I find PsP more than enough. I've convinced our graphics designer to make the switch from PhotoShop too. As for GIMP, maybe one day.
As for 3D, there'd be those who'd swear by 3D-Studio for years, and for a long time, the rest were just alternatives. Nowadays, Maya is the new star in town, but at least that's a change.
CMYK support is of uptmost importance to desktop publishing, that's true, most prints are sent in that format. But I sincerely can't force myself to work adapt to the right-button interface. I like having the menu always on the same spot, if you know what I mean. I'm sure others will find it appropriate though - so that's not in question. :) I've used Pagemaker extensively before though (a couple years ago), and I think we have a real winenr here! :)
As for Scribus, I've tried it before, but for most of my work VI and xslproc seem to do the trick, so I don't count.
Scribus is taking desktop publishing asunder. Now all there's left is GIMP getting a usable interface and we have ourselves the tools! :)
Seems like the US should stop, ponder a bit, swallow their pride, and then maybe learn from the Chinese?
Portable? C'mon!! How about efficient, safe and non-pollutent?
Fair enough, I see your point. But maybe we could learn something there. Let's just build pyramids or other constructions of sorte - in the deserts - to put our wastes into. :)
But to be honest, I don't see why those wastes can't be re-used. If they are so radioactive, there's got to be a way to take advantage of that energy. The Canadian MOX (mentioned elsewhere in this thread) seems like a good start. But of course, others prefer just to hide it. Geez, don't we learn? Noone thought smoke would become such a problem 50 years ago. How can we even dare pondering the idea of ignoring toxic wastes by burying them?
Oh, I almost forgot that you people have a strong mentality of "once republican/democrat, always republican/democrat".
In my opinion, it's not even about Kerry being this or that. It's about Bush being untrostworthy, and not pursuing what's in the best interest of the country, let alone civilization.
I can't say I was all that excited with Kerry, but he's trying. And you know as well as I do that the president is just a face - it's the underlying machine that rules the country. And I for one wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that the machine that ran the US with Bush these last couple years is getting ready to do it again. It's sick, any half-informed american is able to see that. I hope you guys open your eyes before it's too late.
And btw, I know what you're going through... each time a new president comes up the overall "level" seems to drop, and it isn't risen again.
And nice choice on Clinton. It's sad how puritanism lead to his demise, its just a display of how hypocrite the whole of society turns out. I for one would prefer a president that is unloyal to its wife (apparently that's common over there) than one that continues reading children stories while the towers are being bombarded. Oh please, wake up!!!
So? Human-built structures have been around for longer than any form of government has been in existence for. The Egyptian pyramids...
:) Not much has changed here, some countries *cough* still seem to elect cavemen for government positions, like presidency.
Hmmm, what makes you think Egypt had no government? Much on the contrary. Actually, having a governing body was already a part of those primitive human tribes that inhabited... you guessed: caves.
Therefore, government - has been around longer than human-built structures.
I sincerily hope you're just playing devil's advocate. I've seen a lot on slashdot, but I rarely get to see such a byproduct of both naiveness and brain-washing. Wow.
You're free to turn your computer when Google displays ads. You're free not to look at the monitor. You're free to surf their website with something that hides their ads. But if the contract of "Terms of Serive" that you agree with when you press "I Agree", says you're not free to access the service using 3rd party programs, nomatter how much you want, it isn't right going around it - that's why it's called "terms of service" - it's a legal and moral agreement. :)
You can't accept it? You can go elsewhere, so your freedom is preserved.
It's not just about them being supports of Linux. They have no duty of offering a service in return for nothing. Our way of "repaying" them is allowing them to show ads - it's the least one can do to support their service, don't you think? Maybe they could however offer "interoperability" via some small fee. But that doesn't look good marketing-wise, as it taints a free product with the idea of incompleteness from the paid version. But that's how it works for other systems too: pay and don't have to see ads. :)
And for $219 it's a credible alternative to a laptop.
:)
Maybe because it's not a laptop.
I was merely addressing the hint in the newspost that it could prove an alternative to a laptop. It certainly looks good otherwise though.
>> and steer their kids in the right direction instead of simply saying "you're not allowed", or they'll utterly fail. Precisely. But there is also a problem with parents that live their lives like children and couldn't care less about educating their prole. They just sit 'em in front of the TV or the XBox. No wonder they're so freaked at what shows up in there, including violence and gore. Kids go completly unprepared. :)
It's not really an alternative to a laptop imho - check its weight. Always recall that transportable doesn't make it portable. ;)
I agree with Hogwash McFly in finding a relation between facing problems with information and good-sense, rather than attempting to supress them. :) Do you recall seeing how the Administration recommends abstinence as means of stopping AIDS in African countries? Well, it's not just about that being hypocrite, that's a fine example of puritanism at the higher levels. Don't you find it at least a bit odd?! I mean... c'mon, abstinence? They don't have TVs or computers to spend their times in... ;) And the worst part is that I can imagine many people in most states in the US, in their homes watching TV and nodding in consent at those declarations of abstinence. Then they'll quietly change channel to the pr0n cable network.
:)
Maybe it's just that puritanism doesn't work.
Topless sunbathing is allowed in every beach in Portugal. Yet, it's a very conservative country, and quite religious (at least middle-age up). The thing is, it's a matter of personal choice and context. Respect for the other people and facing issues with information rather than attempting to hide'em, that plays a large role in the lack of sex-related crimes and a population with a healthier mind. Drinking is allowed to people above 16 that don't show signs of mental disorder, and although we have our share of people who exceed their account, most people are raised in the notion that there is a limit. It's a matter of teaching good-sense instead of forcing people to obey rules.
Another fine example - I've been to Marrocos, and that's a country where the majority follows the islamic religion. I felt ashamed at how easily they meet foreigners and accept the difference in cultures. They'll make jokes about Allah showing us the way while we're there and will usually meet you with curiosity as opposed to the arrogance you'd find for being a foreigner in a more developed country. In comparison, in the US and in other more developed places, pre-conceptions and the belief that "we know best"... well... you know where this is going, and I don't want to be moderated as a troll.
Cheers.
The constructor IS always the name of the object class you're creating - that's how you declare constructors. It's the variable you're assigning to that might be of a different class.
I can understand that. But maybe readability varies from person to person. I suppose that even if the constructor was optional many would still use it as a matter of programming style.
Maybe this was a bad example - let's try associative arrays for instance. Most modern languages have some means for specifying an associative array with minimum fuss. How does Java make it any clear by making you use a series of function calls to build an associative array?
This was never about understanding. OOP isn't new with Java either and has little to do with syntax (althouth the dot notation is king). So your itsy bit of sarcasm is lost and could have been better applied elsewhere.
This is about an example of how Java forces the programmer to type stuff that it is able to perceive. Seeing as the constructor is always the name of the object you're creating and you already specified it on the leftside, it could very well be optional after the new operator. It's syntactic sugar. It's an example.
It's not as if the compiler can't tell it should create a X509CertificateSimpleChainVerifier object. I can't stress this enough, but this is just an example of how verbosity could sometimes be avoided. Check that link for the D language and you'll see what I mean (I could mention how miss associative arrays, as another example). But then, this is slashdot!
The argument that it's portable fails to meet the fact that many of the times you do NOT want to care about installing the latest JRE on the destination computers. I'd be happier with compilation to native format. I know GJC and the likes, but they don't work 100%, although they're progressing a lot.
On clients, I find some resistence to Java due to the way it's marketed. "Isn't that for cellphones" - they ask. Stupid? Not really... that's the message the media hands out for Java nowadays (at least around here). We've had clients that knew where PHP, C and even Delphi fit in in their solutions, but failed to recognize Java. Maybe this is just something local to this country though.
At times, the verbosity of Java really gets on my nerves. I'm a lot more productive using a combination of VI and Screen than in most IDEs, so regardless of auto-completion, I resent having to type stuff like:
I mean, wouldn't it be possible to ommit the type again from the new operator? I'm sure the parser could infer the default type from the variable it's being assigned to.
Please, this is just an example. When you develop for a long time in something like Perl, PHP or Python you end up resenting writing too much. Sure those are typeless or just have yupe hints but still... I'm sure others will have different complains. What I sometimes feel is that compared to a pet language like D http://www.digitalmars.com/d/ it feels a tad old!
*ducks at the flames*
Very interesting. I've read about larp and freeforming, but to be honest, we usually find that a lot of work. *grin* What we do is closer to what you mention last, in small groups of 4-6, just that we're lazy and don't walk around.
:)
:)
A large event of that kind would probably be a great experience. Unfortunatly, Australia is diametrically distante from Portugal, and RPGs are a relatively new concept around here (10 years ago they were unheard of), so we do what we can.
Really an interesting read this post of yours, I had no idea such a large number of people could participate in such a game.
Hehe! :) There's nothing wrong with playing diceless - I tried that. You can play mostly diceless if you have players that are good with their words. :) But to be honest, using the dice a bit adds a bit of mood showing that you can't control a few things. Lately, in 1 hour of gameplay, each player gets to roll about 4-5 times (just to get the general idea) - unless we enter combat in which case there are a lot more rolls. Basically we roll mostly for physical actions and sort the rest with roleplay. :)
Because face it, you don't want to role-play swinging your sword.*grin*
Changing to another game does help a lot in that, as it breaks away with habits. :) ;)
:)
Try to take it right from character creation: don't give them weapons or means to fight with. Even if it takes one or two introductory sessions, give them the chance to actually experience the world and let them feel the taste for non-physical action. It helps if you prepare the world in your head, not just random encounters, but also NPCs and useful/interesting information they might have to share with the players. Preparing dialogs that the NPCs might have with them is a great deal of help, as it draws people's attention. Always rememmber you can stock a few interesting dialogs and attach them randomly to the NPCs they meet.
If you don't mind me sparing further comments, try and build a small plotline. Then make sure the background events that the players can't control develop the way they should, regardless of what players do. That'll make them feel like they are in a world that evolves, where they aren't automatically the stars but should strive to make a difference.
I hope it works for you and your crew. I used to play MERP (hack&slash) before we changed DM and running as DM myself. Having another DM to talk about things is also a great help - it adds depth to your world and characters.
Cheers, and good luck!