Almost a million a year die from heart faliure - Thanks to the US food industry.
Almost a million a year die from heart failure - Thanks to the people who die not eating healthy diets.
90,000 dies in motor accidents - Thanks to the US auto industry.
90,000 [die] in motor accidents - Thanks to bad drivers.
28,000 people is killed by firearms a year - Thanks to the US gun industry.
28,000 people [are] killed by firearms a year - Thanks to the people who shoot the guns.
Until the day that General Mills executives start injecting cholesterol into the bloodstreams of its consumers, when Ford executives start running people down on the streets, and when Derringer executives start hunting people down and murdering them, then all the blame lies with the person who actually commits the crime.
Want a really dooming perspective? Hitler in control of the entire US military... (it WILL happen in 10 years, if nothing is done)
So wait. You're saying we'll be able to resurrect the dead in ten years?
Or, if you prefer....
That is a pretty bad perspective - Hitler, for all his political and manipulative skill, was a terrible military tactician. I want to see competent commanders in control of the military.
Amazing! A Slashdot poster who's not a knee-jerk pessimist!
Let's not forget the claims about Iraq in particular, like how any day now it's going to degenerate into total anarchy and we're going to wind up with hundreds of thousands of casualties, or how all the representatives will end up being religious extremists.
Yes, because as we all know, when politicians are blood relatives, it means that the government has become autocratic.
I guess it's a good thing Robert Kennedy was shot before he could take office and risk bringing the whole system to its knees by being related to JFK. And Franklin Delano Roosevelt? We sure dodged a bullet with him - I guess he was just too distantly related. And lucky for us GWB seems to have been the exception - so far.
There are extremists on both sides of the American political spectrum; the problem is that the "conservatives" (what a stupid term--I think we should start calling them "nationalists") have this crisis of conscience where the social fanatics support the same sort of governmental power that the "my country, right or wrong" types do. And yet they all vote together. On the other side, most moderates or "liberals" have this problem that the wackjob leftist faction is making them look bad.
"Conservatives" have that sort of problem as well. It's just that the right is more resigned to bipartisanship and voting for the lesser of two evils than the left is. How many voters would vote Libertarian if they were confident in voting their conscience? These voters tend to vote Republican because it's slightly less statist than the Democratic party.
IIRC, the courts need somebody to claim they've been harmed as a result of the law and sue in order for the law to be reviewed. Judicial Review can't just be arbitrary.
The problem is that the Patriot Act does a fairly good job of preventing that sort of thing. I'm sure, however, that a loophole will be found eventually... or the law will be repealed as younger lawmakers, disillusioned with such practices on the part of both parties (this one, in particular, owes its existence to the Republicans, but that hardly means the Democrats haven't made their own fair share of bad laws), come into seniority and enact more libertarian practices.
Oh, and nobody uses the word "revolution" to apply to armed rebellion any more. It's become a sterilized word.
It's not that innovative games don't exist. It's just that they're getting less and less common, and their innovations are not being carried across into more mainstream-type games.
Innovation is only effective as long as there are copycats who can do it better. The problem now is that there are too many copycats, too few of whom can improve upon prior innovations.
You say that as though American players are the only ones who participate in this sort of behavior. Racism cuts both ways.
And that's even assuming that this can be called racism at all. It looks more like team spirit. It's not much prettier, but it involves less actual hate.
Last I checked, though, Nintendo was still making money hand-over-fist.
I can't say I'm particularly enthralled with the idea of games getting shorter. However, it is worth noting that Miyamoto wasn't talking about the total length of the game, but on the amount of time necessary to sit down and play it.
I don't believe I ever said Windows accomplished OS perfection. Merely that the patronizing present in Windows XP is part of Microsoft's attempts to make a more marketable OS.
Only problem is that sometimes, unfortunately, there are users who need that simplicity. For a person without significant prior experience, anything less than a clean, simple, polished, and forgiving interface is extremely intimidating. More experienced users will, of course, find this patronizing. But the mainstream user needs it.
To make a successful operating system, Joe Six-Pack has to be able to sit down at it without feeling lost, must feel as if he knows what he's capable of doing with it. If any sort of error occurs, the computer must present the error message in such a way that Joe Six-Pack is not confused by it. Learning to perform common tasks with it should not require the learning of any more technical vocabulary than does, for example, learning to drive.
It's not pretty, but that's the way it has to be. There is a gulf forming between those who merely want to use the computer as a tool to accomplish simple tasks, and those who enable the computer to perform these tasks. To continue with the automotive metaphor, it's similar to the gulf between those who drive cars and those who design/repair cars. It's not so terribly depressing in light of the fact that it's merely becoming less of an exceptional tool and more like every other product.
but it's similar. Insofar as it is a problem, it is an economic rather than a political one. Unless you think that politicians, charged with administrating governments, ought to spend their time altering the buying habits of citizens.
The demand for electricity is high. You can find more ways of providing electricity, or you can get people to demand less of it. Which do you suppose is more likely, given that the virtually unbroken pattern of human development has tended toward higher technology and appears to be speeding up?
Growth is valuable. It requires energy. Rather than try to halt growth, newer methods of finding energy should be found. And if these new methods happen to be cleaner than older ones? We'll call that an intangible benefit.
No, I don't think so.... Or at least make its distribution over a P2P network be as transparent as possible. Preaching to the choir has little effect in politics - the REAL ID act got passed, even though pretty much every Slashdotter yelled at each other about how bad it was.
Don't extol the virtues of something in a place where the only only people who are likely to see it already believe that it's great.
Everything I read about Spore causes me to lose sleep due to anticipation. Why must you make your games look so appealing so far in advance of their release, Will Wright?
Slashdot Mirror
Almost a million a year die from heart failure - Thanks to the people who die not eating healthy diets.
90,000 dies in motor accidents - Thanks to the US auto industry.
90,000 [die] in motor accidents - Thanks to bad drivers.
28,000 people is killed by firearms a year - Thanks to the US gun industry.
28,000 people [are] killed by firearms a year - Thanks to the people who shoot the guns.
Until the day that General Mills executives start injecting cholesterol into the bloodstreams of its consumers, when Ford executives start running people down on the streets, and when Derringer executives start hunting people down and murdering them, then all the blame lies with the person who actually commits the crime.
The sky is falling!
How many people have died in Gitmo? How many people died in gulags? When those numbers start to look similar, maybe this phrase will make sense.
So wait. You're saying we'll be able to resurrect the dead in ten years?
Or, if you prefer....
That is a pretty bad perspective - Hitler, for all his political and manipulative skill, was a terrible military tactician. I want to see competent commanders in control of the military.
The trick is, in the process of fighting for your rights "while you still have them," people slip too easily into Chicken Little panic mode.
Amazing! A Slashdot poster who's not a knee-jerk pessimist!
Let's not forget the claims about Iraq in particular, like how any day now it's going to degenerate into total anarchy and we're going to wind up with hundreds of thousands of casualties, or how all the representatives will end up being religious extremists.
Yes, because as we all know, when politicians are blood relatives, it means that the government has become autocratic.
I guess it's a good thing Robert Kennedy was shot before he could take office and risk bringing the whole system to its knees by being related to JFK. And Franklin Delano Roosevelt? We sure dodged a bullet with him - I guess he was just too distantly related. And lucky for us GWB seems to have been the exception - so far.
Sure, the US is slipping. Does that make it bad on an objective scale? I say no.
Now, don't get me wrong - it is slipping, and I'm not pleased with it. But we've got a long way to go until we're genuinely repressive.
What, exactly, is a "neo-con?" Is it just a conservative that you don't like?
This is the best comment I've ever read on Slashdot.
"Conservatives" have that sort of problem as well. It's just that the right is more resigned to bipartisanship and voting for the lesser of two evils than the left is. How many voters would vote Libertarian if they were confident in voting their conscience? These voters tend to vote Republican because it's slightly less statist than the Democratic party.
IIRC, the courts need somebody to claim they've been harmed as a result of the law and sue in order for the law to be reviewed. Judicial Review can't just be arbitrary.
The problem is that the Patriot Act does a fairly good job of preventing that sort of thing. I'm sure, however, that a loophole will be found eventually... or the law will be repealed as younger lawmakers, disillusioned with such practices on the part of both parties (this one, in particular, owes its existence to the Republicans, but that hardly means the Democrats haven't made their own fair share of bad laws), come into seniority and enact more libertarian practices.
Oh, and nobody uses the word "revolution" to apply to armed rebellion any more. It's become a sterilized word.
I knew it! I was right all along.
Now if only some actual women would heed this....
It's not that innovative games don't exist. It's just that they're getting less and less common, and their innovations are not being carried across into more mainstream-type games.
Innovation is only effective as long as there are copycats who can do it better. The problem now is that there are too many copycats, too few of whom can improve upon prior innovations.
You say that as though American players are the only ones who participate in this sort of behavior. Racism cuts both ways.
And that's even assuming that this can be called racism at all. It looks more like team spirit. It's not much prettier, but it involves less actual hate.
I can't say I'm particularly enthralled with the idea of games getting shorter. However, it is worth noting that Miyamoto wasn't talking about the total length of the game, but on the amount of time necessary to sit down and play it.
I don't believe I ever said Windows accomplished OS perfection. Merely that the patronizing present in Windows XP is part of Microsoft's attempts to make a more marketable OS.
To make a successful operating system, Joe Six-Pack has to be able to sit down at it without feeling lost, must feel as if he knows what he's capable of doing with it. If any sort of error occurs, the computer must present the error message in such a way that Joe Six-Pack is not confused by it. Learning to perform common tasks with it should not require the learning of any more technical vocabulary than does, for example, learning to drive.
It's not pretty, but that's the way it has to be. There is a gulf forming between those who merely want to use the computer as a tool to accomplish simple tasks, and those who enable the computer to perform these tasks. To continue with the automotive metaphor, it's similar to the gulf between those who drive cars and those who design/repair cars. It's not so terribly depressing in light of the fact that it's merely becoming less of an exceptional tool and more like every other product.
A franchise game that's actually good?
It's weird how developers are doing that more lately. Unsettling.
The demand for electricity is high. You can find more ways of providing electricity, or you can get people to demand less of it. Which do you suppose is more likely, given that the virtually unbroken pattern of human development has tended toward higher technology and appears to be speeding up?
Growth is valuable. It requires energy. Rather than try to halt growth, newer methods of finding energy should be found. And if these new methods happen to be cleaner than older ones? We'll call that an intangible benefit.
Tides are very heavily influenced by lunar gravity and the sun, so you're getting a lot of power that would not otherwise be available.
No, I don't think so.... Or at least make its distribution over a P2P network be as transparent as possible. Preaching to the choir has little effect in politics - the REAL ID act got passed, even though pretty much every Slashdotter yelled at each other about how bad it was.
Don't extol the virtues of something in a place where the only only people who are likely to see it already believe that it's great.
Somehow I don't think that preventing that sort of bullshit is not worth facing the sort of bullshit that would happen, though.
Everything I read about Spore causes me to lose sleep due to anticipation. Why must you make your games look so appealing so far in advance of their release, Will Wright?
Why should that matter, if they offer a variety of good services efficiently?