I would agree with this
on
Hooked On The Web
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I recently wrote a paper on the addictions to pornography, my thesis proposing that the availability of pornography on the Internet has amplified the harm typically caused by viewing porn (desentiziations, misrepresentations of sexuality, corrosion of relationships, etc.). Online porn is so widely available (it takes all of five seconds to start looking at it), and the sense of privacy that comes along with it is a selling point. Since porn is so readily available, I read that addiction to pornography may be considered harder to break than an addiction to heroin (reference). This is pretty crazy.
Things have changed since you had to walk into a public store and purchase a mag, and not for the better. Internet porn is really an epidemic on a more quiet level, I believe. I like what J.G. Ballard had to say about pornography: "a widespread taste for pornography means that nature is alerting us to some threat of extinction."
In the spirit of promoting open source, I find it funny that this fellow is trying to profit from a free-spirited movement. And surprising that Slashdot would review this book in light of such an agenda.
I'd wager that Halo 2 is not the source of your fights, but that you probably spend so much time with Halo 2 that it is the source of your fighting. Of all the people I've known that had problems with girls and games (a few), the issue was never the game, it was the amount of time spent gaming.
Sorry, but that post is really lacking insight. Do you really want to be with yourself? Reminds me of that Seinfeld episode...
How can you go out with someone who has interests so different from your own?
You must have little experience in this area, then. Things would get boring pretty quick, because if your not being called out to do something different than your normal, then how much fun will the relationship be?
Six years ago, I was into computer games and such. Six years later, I hardly play at all. But I still have an interest. My girlfriend of all this time has no interest in games. Has it been boring? Not a chance. She absolutely loves fashion, horses, and being social. Do I share her interests? In some ways, yes. Has it made the relationship more interesting? Yes.
To think of it, if she really liked playing games, chances are I'd still be playing as much as I did before, and that is the worst thing that could have happened to me. Mutual interests are good, but mutual interests with everything (hobbies, sports, etc.) would be awful because it would just perpetuate doing the same crap everyday.
In short. Everybody get a life and don't be with incompatible people.
Your confusing compatibility with shared interests. The two are not the same, and the latter does not prescribe a healthy, lasting relationship.
(eBay has entered the popular culture almost as thouroughly as Google, it is in TV, movies, etc.).
Are you kidding? Almost as thoroughly? eBay was a pop culture brand years before Google, and is still one of the most popular. Google is nowhere even close to eBay's status, and to suggest that eBay is nearing Google's affect on pop. culture, well, come on, that's just ludicrous.
Okay, cool idea. Except how many people actually click their ad links (I've never clicked one in my life), let alone would actually call these advertisers?
Seeing how this topic comes up every few months, I'll regurgitate what I write nearly every time -- the market is not bad when a small, average-skilled and highly-paid (for my age, 22) Canadian fellow can establish himself with various U.S. and Canadian development companies.
I jumped into web development quite late, and I only did it because I was interested in the possibilities. Years later, without any degree or institution-based qualifications supporting my name, I'm being paid $40 hourly (about $50CDN) to do web development work. And I don't consider myself lucky, I consider myself average compared to the rest of the field.
By no stretch am I an expert developer in terms of 'knowing it all'. What makes my hourly worth it, at least in my view, is that I provide fast and superb service. I don't mess around. I get the job done faster than my clients expect when I can afford to. And when I make a mistake with estimations, I correct it afterwards and give the client the honest break. And I spent a ridiculous amount of time paying attention to developing standards to ensure what I was writing was not a piece of crap.
To suggest the market is poor for job opportunities (for students or otherwise) suggests to me that people just don't know where to look, how to look, or they are too full of themselves and skip the opportunities. I'll restate it again -- if a young Canadian guy can score repeat, consistent work with companies across U.S. and Canada with no degree to his name (yet... final year!), anyone can.
Except that I was previously sponsored by Diamond Multimedia way back in the days of Quake. We are talking almost 7-8 years ago when the concept of 'pro gaming' was in its infancy. I didn't spend 14 hours a day playing, but I played a considerable amount. I am not suggesting this guy is a bad player, but I am suggesting that almost anyone that already plays competitively can reach that level with enough patience and dedication.
"I'm doing something no one else has ever done before. I'm kind of a pioneer."
Yeah, okay. Whatever happened to Thresh, who preceeded this kid by years? Pioneer? Please.
This fellow is far too full of himself, in part because there's so many fanboys lurking in the online community that just envy everything about him. But realistically, anyone could win these tournaments. He is nothing special -- he just happened to dedicate more time than most to become exceptionally good. So what does it require to win? An insane amount of time spent in front of the computer, and a little bit of insanity for good measure.
For those who couldn't quite remember (like me) why the Unreal 3 Engine got the nod for breakthrough technology, here's some videos I dug up that serves as a good indication. The engine really does look fantastic, despite the poor video quality from E3.
Until AJAX can be implemented with a tried-and-true method with absolutely no breakage in the traditional flow of movement between pages (being able to recycle data and regular page transitions using Back and Forward), there is no possible way that AJAX will become another requirement of web applications. As it stands, its a very popular trend, but it really isn't holding much weight despite what the average web developer may think.
With AJAX, the expectations will rise considerably.
I think I'd call that requirement's creep on the client's part. There is no expectation to use AJAX, because as most developers realize, it's not reliable. And anything employed on that Web that is unreliable tends to buckle pretty fast.
The development effort will go way up...all to do the same things we are doing now.
And you earn more for adding a 'nifty' feature, so if someone wants some AJAX integration, where lies the problem?
Overhead CmdrTaco comment: Argh, they be digging up me naval treasures before I cast me one eye on them buried RSS treasures. I ought to digg themselves their own graves!
"This is Seth from the Mandarin front desk. The following DVDs have been automatically charged to your account: Drunken Hussies, Backdoor Patrol, and Mona Lisa Smile. Thank you."
I'd like to think she is telling the truth, but I've known many types that will complain about anything. However, I've been around enough construction sites to know that the professionalism can be very sloppy and can induce the sort of incidents she described. This happens everyday.
Now, the problem I have is that even if she drops the website and the company continues to pursue the lawsuit, she has so much to lose. She's risking the well-being of her three kids to battle a libel case, one which she (presumably) has no funds to support. I'm not suggesting its wrong to take a stand, but I know first-hand what it is like to battle a corporation when you are being sued. My best friend was sued $150,000 by a company (he had an accidental fire in the house he was renting) and lost everything. The company never got a dime from him, but he was forced into bankruptcy, fell behind on all his bills, and to this day is still being tracked by companies trying to collect for unpaid bills. He lost to the one with financial superiority, and this really threw his life off course -- all over an accidental fire. Now he can't get a mortgage, credit cards, or much else.
If I was in this woman's position, I'd value the well-being of my kids over battling a corporation, because odds are she will not walk away from this in a better position than she was before this lawsuit started.
Here's any easy chance for some karma, because I've got some questions about the Xbox 360. I haven't owned a console since Super Nintendo, so I've really been out of the loop in terms of technology and games. Nevertheless, the questions...
1. Is the Xbox 360 really worth the price tag of $299 + games? Please consider this in terms of someone who hasn't owned/played a console in like 10 years.
2. I read that the Xbox core does not come with a hard drive -- what specifically is the hard drive for, and is it recommended for playing your typical game?
3. How much are games expected to cost? The last time I looked at the price of console games (years ago), they were up around $60 per. Is it still the same?
4. Is it pretty safe to assume that the price for the Xbox will drop off at least $50+ after Christmas?
Here's another article by Lessig from 1998 on Internet regulation/control, which, aside from the poor writing style, is a good article. So if you were questioning the history of Lessig, at least there's some proof he's been active in the field of Internet regulation and governance for several years.
I recall Dank & Scud (for those of you who Quake'd way back then) as a comic based on a video game being made back in 1996, not long after Quake was released. Check it out here, and for a date reference, see this article written in Nov. 96.
So I'd definetely wager that PvP was not the first... good ol' Dank and Scud were veterans by the time the other comics started swinging.
Slashdot Mirror
Things have changed since you had to walk into a public store and purchase a mag, and not for the better. Internet porn is really an epidemic on a more quiet level, I believe. I like what J.G. Ballard had to say about pornography: "a widespread taste for pornography means that nature is alerting us to some threat of extinction."
So next time you grab ass, in your defense just remember your bionic hand has a mind of it's own...
In the spirit of promoting open source, I find it funny that this fellow is trying to profit from a free-spirited movement. And surprising that Slashdot would review this book in light of such an agenda.
Bacon.
I'd wager that Halo 2 is not the source of your fights, but that you probably spend so much time with Halo 2 that it is the source of your fighting. Of all the people I've known that had problems with girls and games (a few), the issue was never the game, it was the amount of time spent gaming.
How can you go out with someone who has interests so different from your own?
You must have little experience in this area, then. Things would get boring pretty quick, because if your not being called out to do something different than your normal, then how much fun will the relationship be?
Six years ago, I was into computer games and such. Six years later, I hardly play at all. But I still have an interest. My girlfriend of all this time has no interest in games. Has it been boring? Not a chance. She absolutely loves fashion, horses, and being social. Do I share her interests? In some ways, yes. Has it made the relationship more interesting? Yes.
To think of it, if she really liked playing games, chances are I'd still be playing as much as I did before, and that is the worst thing that could have happened to me. Mutual interests are good, but mutual interests with everything (hobbies, sports, etc.) would be awful because it would just perpetuate doing the same crap everyday.
In short. Everybody get a life and don't be with incompatible people.
Your confusing compatibility with shared interests. The two are not the same, and the latter does not prescribe a healthy, lasting relationship.
Someone mod these two up. Most interesting thing I've read/learned in a couple weeks!
Are you kidding? Almost as thoroughly? eBay was a pop culture brand years before Google, and is still one of the most popular. Google is nowhere even close to eBay's status, and to suggest that eBay is nearing Google's affect on pop. culture, well, come on, that's just ludicrous.
Yeah, I didn't quite mean it that literally. My focus was more on who would actually call these advertisers...
Okay, cool idea. Except how many people actually click their ad links (I've never clicked one in my life), let alone would actually call these advertisers?
I jumped into web development quite late, and I only did it because I was interested in the possibilities. Years later, without any degree or institution-based qualifications supporting my name, I'm being paid $40 hourly (about $50CDN) to do web development work. And I don't consider myself lucky, I consider myself average compared to the rest of the field.
By no stretch am I an expert developer in terms of 'knowing it all'. What makes my hourly worth it, at least in my view, is that I provide fast and superb service. I don't mess around. I get the job done faster than my clients expect when I can afford to. And when I make a mistake with estimations, I correct it afterwards and give the client the honest break. And I spent a ridiculous amount of time paying attention to developing standards to ensure what I was writing was not a piece of crap.
To suggest the market is poor for job opportunities (for students or otherwise) suggests to me that people just don't know where to look, how to look, or they are too full of themselves and skip the opportunities. I'll restate it again -- if a young Canadian guy can score repeat, consistent work with companies across U.S. and Canada with no degree to his name (yet... final year!), anyone can.
One is a scum-sucking bottom-dweller, and the other is a fish.
Except that I was previously sponsored by Diamond Multimedia way back in the days of Quake. We are talking almost 7-8 years ago when the concept of 'pro gaming' was in its infancy. I didn't spend 14 hours a day playing, but I played a considerable amount. I am not suggesting this guy is a bad player, but I am suggesting that almost anyone that already plays competitively can reach that level with enough patience and dedication.
Yeah, okay. Whatever happened to Thresh, who preceeded this kid by years? Pioneer? Please.
This fellow is far too full of himself, in part because there's so many fanboys lurking in the online community that just envy everything about him. But realistically, anyone could win these tournaments. He is nothing special -- he just happened to dedicate more time than most to become exceptionally good. So what does it require to win? An insane amount of time spent in front of the computer, and a little bit of insanity for good measure.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and finally, Part 4.
With AJAX, the expectations will rise considerably.
I think I'd call that requirement's creep on the client's part. There is no expectation to use AJAX, because as most developers realize, it's not reliable. And anything employed on that Web that is unreliable tends to buckle pretty fast.
The development effort will go way up...all to do the same things we are doing now.
And you earn more for adding a 'nifty' feature, so if someone wants some AJAX integration, where lies the problem?
Overhead CmdrTaco comment: Argh, they be digging up me naval treasures before I cast me one eye on them buried RSS treasures. I ought to digg themselves their own graves!
"This is Seth from the Mandarin front desk. The following DVDs have been automatically charged to your account: Drunken Hussies, Backdoor Patrol, and Mona Lisa Smile. Thank you."
Now, the problem I have is that even if she drops the website and the company continues to pursue the lawsuit, she has so much to lose. She's risking the well-being of her three kids to battle a libel case, one which she (presumably) has no funds to support. I'm not suggesting its wrong to take a stand, but I know first-hand what it is like to battle a corporation when you are being sued. My best friend was sued $150,000 by a company (he had an accidental fire in the house he was renting) and lost everything. The company never got a dime from him, but he was forced into bankruptcy, fell behind on all his bills, and to this day is still being tracked by companies trying to collect for unpaid bills. He lost to the one with financial superiority, and this really threw his life off course -- all over an accidental fire. Now he can't get a mortgage, credit cards, or much else.
If I was in this woman's position, I'd value the well-being of my kids over battling a corporation, because odds are she will not walk away from this in a better position than she was before this lawsuit started.
In the interview, it's mentioned that most games already support 3-D. So its not a matter of making them support it, but actually utilizing it.
1. Is the Xbox 360 really worth the price tag of $299 + games? Please consider this in terms of someone who hasn't owned/played a console in like 10 years.
2. I read that the Xbox core does not come with a hard drive -- what specifically is the hard drive for, and is it recommended for playing your typical game?
3. How much are games expected to cost? The last time I looked at the price of console games (years ago), they were up around $60 per. Is it still the same?
4. Is it pretty safe to assume that the price for the Xbox will drop off at least $50+ after Christmas?
Cheers
Laws of Cyberspace
So I'd definetely wager that PvP was not the first... good ol' Dank and Scud were veterans by the time the other comics started swinging.
Put a woman in front of them: out of frustration of not having a single idea what to do, they'll revert back to their work.
I'm just about ready to submit this to Leno for Headlines... :)