That was not an explanation of the joke. It was an explanation to counter the common misconception people have that in the vacuum of space there is no gravity.
Yes I know it's a joke, but for anyone confused: the effects of gravity are quite independent of vacuum/atmosphere. The astronauts on the ISS aren't weightless because there is no air or gravity. At 211 miles up they experience about 88% of the strength of Earth's gravitational field that we do on the surface. They are weightless because they are in free fall - much like you can achieve weightlessness on a carnival ride or a plane moving the right way.
Sorry if that came across as accusatory, I was just incredulous.:) NWN isn't a single-player game, though. hrm, but playing with wife and friends doesn't really gibe with what you said about preferring single-player. Well, anyway, if you do want single-player, I recommend you check out The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Sacrifices have to be made for network playability in multiplayer games like NWN that Oblivion did not have to do and it is gorgeous because of that. Plus true single-player games are much more moddable because they don't need all the anti-cheating limitations of multi-player games - and some truly great mods have been made to the game.
I can understand random folks not knowing about DDO, but you really expect us to believe someone that plays NWN2 and reads/. and has friends that do is not aware of it? Try the/. search feature and you'll bring up a dozen articles on DDO. Both of those games came out in 2006, and there was obviously a lot more media attention and hype about DDO than "yet another sequel", (which some of us did not buy because we played the NWN linux version and NWN2 dropped that.:)
That's not so far-fetched. Remember they came up with a way to snoop on data connections by reading the flickering of a LED on the router from a distance.;)
I don't think so. Nearly all words have several meanings; especially in English. The connections between words would also be different because in addition to relating words semantically we also relate words to each other by their sounds. So, aside from strong cognates, the connected graph of word relations looks quite different in different languages. I think only very basic proto-indo-european-ish words like mother and milk could match across languages.
Is obviously to run a red light during a high-speed car chase through London while holding up an ancient native-american carving then hack into the cctv system to retrieve the images so you can send them to your mom.;)
Good thing this isn't in the USA. Our government would go in and take away the kids because the chief married more than one woman and married one of them when she was 15.;)
Religions only become mythology when their number of adherents drop to 0 and that is not the case with Zoroastrianism in Iran or Parsis (the ones that migrated to India (and again to America; I had a Parsi friend in Miami)), despite its ancient origins surprisingly.
It doesn't seem like a very bright idea to use an existing religion - in the middle east no less - and fantasize a conflict with it and another religion.
Or maybe that's the idea, stir up a slight bit of controversy to attract attention to their product.;)
I played Rock Band at a party a couple weeks ago. The drums were indeed much harder than the guitar or singing. The bass drum foot pedal is what adds to the complexity (and calf-ache:). The drums also require bigger physical actions to hit a specific drum rather than just push a button right next to your finger and strum on the guitar.
Every network I've been on and even some of my current company's ISPs have a policy of blocking all traffic to ports 137 and 139.
Those types of filters prevent anyone following a smb:// link outside their network.
I think this is from way back in the day when remote MS Windows SMB/NMB exploits were a dime a dozen and/or network admins wanted to make sure files weren't being shared to the world.
I don't see what influencing western culture has to do with it. Before Titanic came out, Princess Mononoke was the number 1 highest grossing box office hit ever in Japan. And it won best picture at the Japanese academy awards. So Kate and Leo on the bow of the Titanic or Mickey ensorcelling brooms are just as memorable to Japanese as San charging into battle in her mask or the Kodoma mimicking Ashitaka.:)
But things like The Anarchist's Cookbook - which show how to make drugs and bombs - and 2600 - which shows how to break various other laws - are legal in the usa. (We sold both at Borders when I worked there during college)
I'm sure there are also plenty of websites explaining how to break all sorts of laws. Talking - or writing - about something are entirely different from actually doing something; and our constitution is pretty clear about that. It seems we need to remind our representatives of this; otherwise, they primarily only hear from the corporate lobbyists and feel like they are doing a good job despite trampling our rights. Having laws that everyone is technically violating and the government can enforce at whim is a well trod step on the road towards totalitarianism.
The translation of the Italian article also mentions that the professor is a Japanese nationalist that only speaks Japanese in public. So perhaps he would not publish in the expected major english journals even though most of the world sees those as the places you would publish major scientific breakthroughs. Or maybe it's simply not a major breakthrough, but - like most science - another brick added to the wall.:)
Sidenote: when I was a physics major, my university required us to take a foreign language restricted to only the languages that physics papers were primarily published in; German, Russian, French, and Japanese.:)
The Tachikomas in Ghost in the Shell were all rendered with a software shader that makes them look hand-drawn. That type of specialized shader certainly seems like a great application for this.
I just read a novel by Iain M. Banks called The Algebraist wherein the protagonist is a human with a modified neural system so that he can enter that hyper-slow motion state and communicate with beings living on a different timescale - such as an arguably sentient, enormous creature composed of multiple solar systems masses of dust floating in space in barely-organized fashion. Not many predators or geological events to worry about out there.:)
Even so, how do you make a standard DVD player screen into a touch screen?
Most touchscreens are just normal displays with a transparent overlay added on top of them that provides the touch interpretation. It's as easy as putting a tablecloth on a table and taping it in place. (And quite easy to install them in the wrong orientation which is why we need xorg.conf options like SwapXY.:)
I suspect it had less to do with the amount of money spent - because they didn't redact the total spent - and more to do with exact numbers of equipment running some of the country's infrastructure being disclosed.
p.s. I can't fathom why this story is in the "entertainment" category. Seems like a bug since everything else at entertainment./. are in other categories like games. Ah, yeah, and "entertainment" is not even an option in preferences for sections.
Slashdot Mirror
That was not an explanation of the joke. It was an explanation to counter the common misconception people have that in the vacuum of space there is no gravity.
Yes I know it's a joke, but for anyone confused: the effects of gravity are quite independent of vacuum/atmosphere. The astronauts on the ISS aren't weightless because there is no air or gravity. At 211 miles up they experience about 88% of the strength of Earth's gravitational field that we do on the surface. They are weightless because they are in free fall - much like you can achieve weightlessness on a carnival ride or a plane moving the right way.
Sorry if that came across as accusatory, I was just incredulous. :) NWN isn't a single-player game, though. hrm, but playing with wife and friends doesn't really gibe with what you said about preferring single-player. Well, anyway, if you do want single-player, I recommend you check out The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Sacrifices have to be made for network playability in multiplayer games like NWN that Oblivion did not have to do and it is gorgeous because of that. Plus true single-player games are much more moddable because they don't need all the anti-cheating limitations of multi-player games - and some truly great mods have been made to the game.
I should probably also mention that I only played DDO for about 6 weeks. It was quite a buggy game designed for people that like repetition. :)
I can understand random folks not knowing about DDO, but you really expect us to believe someone that plays NWN2 and reads /. and has friends that do is not aware of it? Try the /. search feature and you'll bring up a dozen articles on DDO. Both of those games came out in 2006, and there was obviously a lot more media attention and hype about DDO than "yet another sequel", (which some of us did not buy because we played the NWN linux version and NWN2 dropped that. :)
That's not so far-fetched. Remember they came up with a way to snoop on data connections by reading the flickering of a LED on the router from a distance. ;)
I don't think so. Nearly all words have several meanings; especially in English. The connections between words would also be different because in addition to relating words semantically we also relate words to each other by their sounds. So, aside from strong cognates, the connected graph of word relations looks quite different in different languages. I think only very basic proto-indo-european-ish words like mother and milk could match across languages.
Is obviously to run a red light during a high-speed car chase through London while holding up an ancient native-american carving then hack into the cctv system to retrieve the images so you can send them to your mom. ;)
heh, I think that's my second Troll mod in 10 years. :) I must be getting ornery in my dotage.
Good thing this isn't in the USA. Our government would go in and take away the kids because the chief married more than one woman and married one of them when she was 15. ;)
Religions only become mythology when their number of adherents drop to 0 and that is not the case with Zoroastrianism in Iran or Parsis (the ones that migrated to India (and again to America; I had a Parsi friend in Miami)), despite its ancient origins surprisingly. It doesn't seem like a very bright idea to use an existing religion - in the middle east no less - and fantasize a conflict with it and another religion.
;)
Or maybe that's the idea, stir up a slight bit of controversy to attract attention to their product.
I played Rock Band at a party a couple weeks ago. The drums were indeed much harder than the guitar or singing. The bass drum foot pedal is what adds to the complexity (and calf-ache :). The drums also require bigger physical actions to hit a specific drum rather than just push a button right next to your finger and strum on the guitar.
Every network I've been on and even some of my current company's ISPs have a policy of blocking all traffic to ports 137 and 139.
Those types of filters prevent anyone following a smb:// link outside their network.
I think this is from way back in the day when remote MS Windows SMB/NMB exploits were a dime a dozen and/or network admins wanted to make sure files weren't being shared to the world.
I don't see what influencing western culture has to do with it. :)
Before Titanic came out, Princess Mononoke was the number 1 highest grossing box office hit ever in Japan. And it won best picture at the Japanese academy awards. So Kate and Leo on the bow of the Titanic or Mickey ensorcelling brooms are just as memorable to Japanese as San charging into battle in her mask or the Kodoma mimicking Ashitaka.
They also bore those symbols while they were slaughtering each other and various heathens/pagans/papists/infidels/kafirs.
"central theme" of charity? Sure; if the central theme of totalitarian regimes is freedom.
In that case, though, their definition of altruism entails tithing - giving money to the religion. ;)
... to us!
You will be punished unless you are generous
But things like The Anarchist's Cookbook - which show how to make drugs and bombs - and 2600 - which shows how to break various other laws - are legal in the usa. (We sold both at Borders when I worked there during college)
I'm sure there are also plenty of websites explaining how to break all sorts of laws. Talking - or writing - about something are entirely different from actually doing something; and our constitution is pretty clear about that. It seems we need to remind our representatives of this; otherwise, they primarily only hear from the corporate lobbyists and feel like they are doing a good job despite trampling our rights. Having laws that everyone is technically violating and the government can enforce at whim is a well trod step on the road towards totalitarianism.
The translation of the Italian article also mentions that the professor is a Japanese nationalist that only speaks Japanese in public. So perhaps he would not publish in the expected major english journals even though most of the world sees those as the places you would publish major scientific breakthroughs. Or maybe it's simply not a major breakthrough, but - like most science - another brick added to the wall. :)
:)
Sidenote: when I was a physics major, my university required us to take a foreign language restricted to only the languages that physics papers were primarily published in; German, Russian, French, and Japanese.
The Tachikomas in Ghost in the Shell were all rendered with a software shader that makes them look hand-drawn. That type of specialized shader certainly seems like a great application for this.
- religion. >= x believers
- cult. < x and >= 2 believers
- nutcase. 1 believer
- mythology. 0 believers (but was >x at some point)
- fantasy or science fiction. 0 believers (if rises above 0, see above)
x is obviously subjective.I just read a novel by Iain M. Banks called The Algebraist wherein the protagonist is a human with a modified neural system so that he can enter that hyper-slow motion state and communicate with beings living on a different timescale - such as an arguably sentient, enormous creature composed of multiple solar systems masses of dust floating in space in barely-organized fashion. Not many predators or geological events to worry about out there. :)
Even so, how do you make a standard DVD player screen into a touch screen?
:)
Most touchscreens are just normal displays with a transparent overlay added on top of them that provides the touch interpretation. It's as easy as putting a tablecloth on a table and taping it in place. (And quite easy to install them in the wrong orientation which is why we need xorg.conf options like SwapXY.
I suspect it had less to do with the amount of money spent - because they didn't redact the total spent - and more to do with exact numbers of equipment running some of the country's infrastructure being disclosed.
p.s. I can't fathom why this story is in the "entertainment" category. Seems like a bug since everything else at entertainment./. are in other categories like games. Ah, yeah, and "entertainment" is not even an option in preferences for sections.
It's "more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules." :)