...but then again, I'm probably not considered a typical "gamer."
My collection is pretty much Flight Simulator, Train Simulator, Syberia (I and II), the Myst series, various Chess games, and old-school DOS games such as Stunts and Tetris.
Why does everyone assume that all gamers either want to play a sports-related game or kill something? (OK, so judging from the titles available in the stores and the video games in the arcades, most of them do, but not all.)
Syberia (Sorry, the site seems to be down) and Syberia II, for instance, have a reasonably realistic-looking female lead who is more elegant than bimboesque, and definitely portrayed as a strong, capable woman. Decent plot, graphics, and music, too. Too bad it isn't more popular.
It's a shame that creation of articles can't be (officially) anonymous anymore, but I do see the benefit in requiring registration to start a new article. Most common topics already have an article by now -- and it's easy enough to register to start new ones.
I hope they still allow anonymous edits and posts.
I tutor English (among other subjects) at the local community college. Were this "letter" to be turned in for credit as a first draft, most of our college's English professors (and probably professors in other fields) would be very disappointed in the student who wrote it. As others have pointed out, perhaps some of these errors were due to transcription from the printed version into HTML (or however the text made its way to the Web), but personally, I hope that this letter is a hoax, since it makes me feel even more ashamed of the government that currently represents the United States to the world.
14.8cm across. Giving you 9mm on either side for clearance. Sure, you'd have to redesign media holders, but a drive for these things could fit nicely in a standard 5.25" bay. No problem at all, and no need to angle it.
...someone created a government with ONE fundamental right -- the right to individual privacy / self-determination? That is, if permitting an action would restrict others' rights more than it would increase your rights, it's illegal (smoking in public, drunk driving, murder, rape, etc.) If prohibiting it would affect the individual more than others, it's legal (smoking marijuana in the home, practicing religious beliefs or not, etc). And no "victimless crimes". No victim == no crime == no problem, right?
It seems to me that privacy (/ self determination) should be the one fundamental principle of law. But then again, what do I know? I'm a Blue voter in a Red state...
What I meant was, knowing how readily life and intelligence can each come about would help pin down two of the least-known variables in the equation. The only other major one remaining at that point would really be the life expectancy of the average technological civilization. (Given intelligence, I don't doubt that technology will eventually follow.)
With our increasing knowledge of the mechanics of life, it's a matter of time until somebody succeeds in creating life from scratch. I don't think it's very controversial these days to say that if we don't already have the power to create life in vitro, we someday will.
For my money, a much more interesting question is, can we create *intelligence* from scratch? Humor aside, I think creating something with recognizable intelligence (not just programming) will be much more difficult -- and have much more profound implications -- than "merely" creating life.
Such experiments should help narrow down the various factors in the Drake Equation. Life, I suspect, is fairly commonplace. I have no idea if intelligence is.
Geeks in general, and programming geeks in particular, seem to be very much interested in systems of all sorts. Not just systems in the IT sense, but any group of objects and/or forces with interactions between the elements of the group.
The combination of various skills, languages (another reason a lot of geeks like Tolkien), lands to explore -- and above all, magic -- comprise a field day for the geek intellect.
Either that, or it's the improbably skimpy leather armor those amazons are wearing...
Hey, that's pretty good these days, actually.
CNN has an article about a sea turtle that was returned to a New Orleans aquarium. According to the caption, it's now swimming "with other fish"...
If he really wants to give it a workout, he could always try it on whatever that sluggishly-flowing brown stuff is in the Elizabeth River on the west side of campus...
* Also allow (legalize) any sort of cracking.
* Enforce copyrights, as long as the complainant is the original author/performer. Third-parties (such as the RIAA) would not be legally able to benefit from any judgements.
* Along with this, make Intellectual Property available at a lower cost than much of it is today. For example, to download a song, pay what the recording artist/production team/etc would normally make, plus a small amount to cover the cost of the webserver (which would be less if files were distributed via BitTorrent.) The artists get their compensation (more, with increased volume); the public gets much lower cost content. The only losers would be the middlemen, who would then be free to go and get real jobs.
"Well, we would sue you, but even though we win, your sorry company wouldn't be able to pay, anyway..."
I like it. Not only is SCO looking pretty pitiful these days, but to be basically deemed to not be worth the six cents for the bullet to put it out of its misery is, I think, a fitting punishment.
And IBM as the good guys. Wow. Maybe if they keep this up, I'll forgive them for MicroChannel...
Hopefully we'll figure out what not to say while learning the grammar, style, and syntax of this new language. It's a bit worrying -- but this really has a lot of potential, I think!
Automatically-downloaded RSS, distributed over the Net;
Automatically-initiated Bittorrent downloads;
...Is it just me, or with the addition of a few local scripts, does this sound like a virus-writer's favorite fantasy? They need to make sure there are some very good safeguards on this!
Then again, with Genetic Algorithms, perhaps this is the next missing ingredient for cybersentient life...
Slashdot Mirror
Turn the LCD panel, plus an overhead projector, into a projection TV.
(I did it; it actually works quite well. I'm using it as my TV.)
...but then again, I'm probably not considered a typical "gamer."
My collection is pretty much Flight Simulator, Train Simulator, Syberia (I and II), the Myst series, various Chess games, and old-school DOS games such as Stunts and Tetris.
Why does everyone assume that all gamers either want to play a sports-related game or kill something? (OK, so judging from the titles available in the stores and the video games in the arcades, most of them do, but not all.)
...You will buy only laptops with Intel Inside(tm).
...You do not need low-cost, $200 laptops.
Well -- the Jedi Mind Trick seems to work for Micro$oft; why not Intel, too?
Syberia (Sorry, the site seems to be down) and Syberia II, for instance, have a reasonably realistic-looking female lead who is more elegant than bimboesque, and definitely portrayed as a strong, capable woman. Decent plot, graphics, and music, too. Too bad it isn't more popular.
* Buy bag of chestnuts.
* Submit article to SlashDot including references to both gaming and large-breasted women.
* Include a link to a reasonably low-volume site using database software to serve articles. (Bonus points if attempt to add streaming video.)
* Wait for server to catch fire, then enjoy roasted chestnuts!
It's a shame that creation of articles can't be (officially) anonymous anymore, but I do see the benefit in requiring registration to start a new article. Most common topics already have an article by now -- and it's easy enough to register to start new ones.
I hope they still allow anonymous edits and posts.
I tutor English (among other subjects) at the local community college. Were this "letter" to be turned in for credit as a first draft, most of our college's English professors (and probably professors in other fields) would be very disappointed in the student who wrote it. As others have pointed out, perhaps some of these errors were due to transcription from the printed version into HTML (or however the text made its way to the Web), but personally, I hope that this letter is a hoax, since it makes me feel even more ashamed of the government that currently represents the United States to the world.
...the dictionary writes *YOU*!
**measures a nearby DVD-RW drive**
14.8cm across. Giving you 9mm on either side for clearance. Sure, you'd have to redesign media holders, but a drive for these things could fit nicely in a standard 5.25" bay. No problem at all, and no need to angle it.
...someone created a government with ONE fundamental right -- the right to individual privacy / self-determination? That is, if permitting an action would restrict others' rights more than it would increase your rights, it's illegal (smoking in public, drunk driving, murder, rape, etc.) If prohibiting it would affect the individual more than others, it's legal (smoking marijuana in the home, practicing religious beliefs or not, etc). And no "victimless crimes". No victim == no crime == no problem, right?
It seems to me that privacy (/ self determination) should be the one fundamental principle of law. But then again, what do I know? I'm a Blue voter in a Red state...
What I meant was, knowing how readily life and intelligence can each come about would help pin down two of the least-known variables in the equation. The only other major one remaining at that point would really be the life expectancy of the average technological civilization. (Given intelligence, I don't doubt that technology will eventually follow.)
With our increasing knowledge of the mechanics of life, it's a matter of time until somebody succeeds in creating life from scratch. I don't think it's very controversial these days to say that if we don't already have the power to create life in vitro, we someday will.
For my money, a much more interesting question is, can we create *intelligence* from scratch? Humor aside, I think creating something with recognizable intelligence (not just programming) will be much more difficult -- and have much more profound implications -- than "merely" creating life.
Such experiments should help narrow down the various factors in the Drake Equation. Life, I suspect, is fairly commonplace. I have no idea if intelligence is.
Black holes are where God divided by zero?
Geeks in general, and programming geeks in particular, seem to be very much interested in systems of all sorts. Not just systems in the IT sense, but any group of objects and/or forces with interactions between the elements of the group.
The combination of various skills, languages (another reason a lot of geeks like Tolkien), lands to explore -- and above all, magic -- comprise a field day for the geek intellect.
Either that, or it's the improbably skimpy leather armor those amazons are wearing...
This is *not* what we meant by multi-threading!
sqrt(2) works.
Man, I wish I had some Mod points right about now; one of the best +1 Funny candidates I've seen in a while.
If it weren't so passé to yell "MOD PARENT UP", I would.
Oh, wait...
Hey, that's pretty good these days, actually.
CNN has an article about a sea turtle that was returned to a New Orleans aquarium. According to the caption, it's now swimming "with other fish"...
If he really wants to give it a workout, he could always try it on whatever that sluggishly-flowing brown stuff is in the Elizabeth River on the west side of campus...
* Allow (legalize) any sort of encryption.
* Also allow (legalize) any sort of cracking.
* Enforce copyrights, as long as the complainant is the original author/performer. Third-parties (such as the RIAA) would not be legally able to benefit from any judgements.
* Along with this, make Intellectual Property available at a lower cost than much of it is today. For example, to download a song, pay what the recording artist/production team/etc would normally make, plus a small amount to cover the cost of the webserver (which would be less if files were distributed via BitTorrent.) The artists get their compensation (more, with increased volume); the public gets much lower cost content. The only losers would be the middlemen, who would then be free to go and get real jobs.
Actually, I think a .22LR might do the trick these days, no? 8-)
"Well, we would sue you, but even though we win, your sorry company wouldn't be able to pay, anyway..."
I like it. Not only is SCO looking pretty pitiful these days, but to be basically deemed to not be worth the six cents for the bullet to put it out of its misery is, I think, a fitting punishment.
And IBM as the good guys. Wow. Maybe if they keep this up, I'll forgive them for MicroChannel...
...did they receive prime-number transmissions, encoded with an audio/video sideband signal?
Hopefully we'll figure out what not to say while learning the grammar, style, and syntax of this new language. It's a bit worrying -- but this really has a lot of potential, I think!
Automatically-downloaded RSS, distributed over the Net;
...Is it just me, or with the addition of a few local scripts, does this sound like a virus-writer's favorite fantasy? They need to make sure there are some very good safeguards on this!
Automatically-initiated Bittorrent downloads;
Then again, with Genetic Algorithms, perhaps this is the next missing ingredient for cybersentient life...