it's pretty hard to get a gun in countries other than the United States, especially so if you have a terminal illness (it's easy to guess what you would do with it).
I have found that in regards to experimentation on animals/genetic alteration, the general opinion on slashdot is that it's ok. Another tendencies I have notedare a leftist inclination in regards to politics (which I like) and a preference por PC gaming instead of consoles.
Personally, I think experimentation on animals is an evil thing.
If you want to argue about it, you should investigate about what really goes on in those labs and for what purposes before writing a knee-jerk answer such as "you don't know how many lives would be lost", "would you prefer to get smallpox", etc.
I don't think M$ would think twice about imposing this to their users if asked by the government, industry consortiums, etc. I think this is the number 1 reason not to use Windows, at least for people who think their privacy and constitutional rights are important.
An example is the request from UK's gov to have their own backdoor to the system:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/15/13 1222
...they are trying to dominate a market in which creativity should prevail with nothing more than an astronomic marketing budget and bribe money to developers. Microsoft is a corporation that has as its only objective to make money, not good games, and this means pandering to the lowest common denominator.
The Xbox has nothing special (well *maybe* Xbox live, but if I wanted to play FPS's on the internet I would use a computer instead) and the 360 is just another boring computer too (only distinguishing feature is that it has 3 processors). All of its games are either rehashed pieces of garbage or ports.
Just think about it, when was the last time a field was improved by Microsoft's presence? They are the kind of corporation that shouldn't be made, one that cares nothing about what it does or how it does it as long as it makes money.
I would like the Nintendo Revolution and PS3 to bury the Xbox 360 and end M$'s unwelcome foray into the videogame console world.
(Note: Sony may be a bad corporation too, but I think the effects of its competition are good. I have greatly enjoyed the PS1 and 2. Third party support is what makes them good and they actually deserved it during the PS1 era.)
"A major flaw at the heart of the open source movement is the misconception that most individuals actually have the legal right to contribute their intellectual efforts to OSS projects. In most industrialized nations, intellectual property (IP) generated by an employee through the course of his or her employment legally belongs to the employer....irrespective of whether it is during or outside normal working hours"
How do we allow corporations to treat us like this ?
I am eager for the Revolution now more than before, but I wonder if this is the best implementation for this new controller. Will have to try it to know, though.
Could it be possible to control a game using one remote in each hand? that may be very cool. Or linking one behind another to simulate a fishing rod or rifle for example?
It seems to me it may have too few buttons. The d-pad plus the back button. Not sure what to think.
How are super nintendo or even n64 games going to be played? it seems it's only fitting to play nes games, even with the add-ons.
By the way, has anyone seen the anime Serial Experiments Lain? during the opening/intro there is a scene in which a kid is playing a videogame in a very similar manner (though it looks a lot cooler I think).
This is only true when attempting to make software using the old plan-then-build approach and does not work with evolutionary-type programming (the style oftenly associated with Lisp, visit www.paulgraham.com and check his OnLisp book for more info).
The assumption is that you have a clear idea of the program you want, then design it perfectly and finally code it. In reality, rarely ever will you know everything the program should do and even if you do, you may need to experiment with several algorithmical/arquitectural approaches. In such cases it's better to work fast building prototypes and tests to understand what is it you need than to comment code or attempting to arrive at a perfect solution.
according to the article, this thing requires to be plugged in to a power source constantly or else the data will disappear 16 hours, unless recharged.
As a desktop user, why would I want this kind of storage? I don't want to have my data deleted just because I forgot to turn on the PC one day.
Furthermore, if this is the case, then what can this memory do that RAM can not do much better if we assume the computer is left on? this seems only as a much slower RAM with a 16 hour battery, it does not qualify as a storage unit.
well, at least they had some debate about it, it seeems, unlike the first time in which only 1 rep stood against it...
too bad it has been extended though.
First of all, I have to say I was prosecuted and singled out because of my love for videogames and other geeky things since I was 6 years old so I think I have been in similar situations to those described above. But hearing the arguments of those who defend GTA and Doom as if they were life-changing pieces of art make me feel sick.
I think the people attacking videogames as the source of all teenage related evil are despicable, and I certainly don't want restrictions on how games should be made, but most gamers are also wrong.
Why don't you admit it's the violence that draws you? without it, it wouldn't be "fun". Why aren't you reading good books or playing games with actual depth if you are really interested in story? why do you feel so obsessed with FPSs and repetitive third-person shooters if you are really interested in gameplay?. The truth is that you don't. The first and foremost thing you seek in a game is how the killing takes place. You probably don't even realize it anymore.
They may claim that's not the only kind of game they like, but if that's so, why do those games have the most sales in the United States while so many good games have only moderate sales at best?
I wanted to sympathize with the american geeks when hearing about their plight but the fact that you adore these kind of games as if they were some sort of revolution and defend them with such hypocrital claims is just too sickening.
Instead of romanticizing Linux, let's not forget it's first and foremost, a software project. Because it is a project it should have well-defined objectives. Because it is software it must avoid failings such as redundancy and unnecesary complexity.
I try to be a linux user and grieve that I still have to use Windows for several uses, including desktop because linux (insert distro name here) just can't compete in such areas.
Instead of getting better support for regular user's needs, we get GNOME vs KDE flamewars. Instead of getting better app-OS organization, we get package management systems that only work with their own packages. Instead of getting features and functionality, we get distros.
This is why Linux has no chance against Windows. Blame hardware manufacturers, OEMs and the media, but Windows works for regular users while linux only does so partially and after lots of patchwork. At this rate, Windows will still plague computers as it does for another 20 years or so while the linux community wonders why they are still only 1% of the computer users.
And regular users are we when we are not using the computer for setting-up web servers, programming in obscure languages or setting the box as a router.
Linux is free software, but freedom should be accompanied by responsibility. It should be a priority of the community to act as such, instead of breaking into isolated islands everytime they disagree.
I hate Windows and I'm actively trying to get my Linux desktop working. To achieve this, I need it to run all my current programs or equivalent (audio, video, file sharing and programming languages).
My current experience has shown that this task may require the following:
* search for obscure drivers hosted on sites shut-down years ago.
* delve into myriads of configuration files (and or GUIs) each with its own (sometimes arbitrary) syntax, even for the most trivial app.
* risk messing your OS with a recompile.
* read dozens of pages worth of howto webpages that may or may not apply to your machine, man pages and non-sensical error logs among other things, none of which are sure to be worth your time (either because you are looking in the wrong place or because it's something completely arbitrary).
In other words, stuff no normal user is going to bother with (or be able to achieve).
So far it's been 2 weeks and have only been succesful in the audio and programming language categories and it has not been easy. I have run into all sorts of problems since the installation process that have forced me to look into stuff no regular user would bother dealing with. And some things don't even have a solution or workaround such as not being able to write to NTFS partitions due to the current state of the NTFS driver.
To some point I enjoyed working with those problems, but it got ridiculous at times. Part of this is not Linux's fault, for example, many 3rd parties are only interested in Windows, forcing Linux developers to reverse engineer stuff on their own, the results sometimes being stuff that works, but only as a complete hack (in the ugly sense of the word).
Meanwhile, Windows (for the desktop, most of the time) just works. Sorry but it's true. Perhaps I have run into so many problems because I'm not yet a good hacker, but I got the impression that there is a lot of ugly patchwork in Linux, maintained by a few people who stop working on the project when "it's no longer the best use of their time". Sorry, but Linux has a LONG way to go.
Maybe once it becomes more popular with events such as the one described in this article there will be a greater development effort into it.
If Padme hadn't died, Vader may have been able to feel her presence through the force or something.
The real plot hole is that the emperor tells Vader he killed Padme in his rage. When he learns in ep4 that his sons are alive he should have realized that the emperor lied to him, since Padme wouldn't have delivered if he had killed her in Moustafar.
And agreed, all the characters included for no reason such as Chewbacca, Jabba and the droids is lame and cause plot holes.
Something I found really odd was when Anakin says "if you're not with me, you're my enemy" and Obi-Wan replies "only a Sith deals in absolutes".
This is obviously an anti-Bush remark, but it doesn't fit at all in the movie. First of all, it's quite clear that by that point they are already mortal enemies, even Obi-Wan had already said they had no path left but to try to kill each other. Second, the "only a Sith deals in absolutes" is nonsense, especially considering lines such as these:
OB1: The emperor is evil! DV: From my point of view the Jedis are evil! OB1: then you are lost!
I liked the subtle (and unintended, since the plot was written in the 70s) critcism of ep2 and 3 to the current political madness in America, but that line was lousy.
agreed, but it's sad that, when you are thinking the forces of freedom and culture are advancing suddenly the Pentagon decides to take advantage of your *free* software as well (previous slashdot story).
*Not sure whether communism is bad, but american military certainly is*
yes, I have never quite understood the american war cry of "communists!!!".
I mean, it's just a *different* economical/political system and you people consider it as if it was the ultimate evil.
Furthermore, what happened to that UN law that said something like "all nations are free to govern themselves however they want, as long as it doesn't go against the human rights charter".
Note: I think communism doesn't work in the real world, but it's up to each nation to try for itself, right?
I'm a nintendo fan (M$ hater too) but I'm a bit worried that the Revolution may not so revolutionary after all. The only thing we have been let know about it are features already present in other consoles (wireless controllers, internet) or pointless stuff such as the size of the console.
Why should I care what size the console is? It's not like I need to carry it around or something.
I hope there are some great and unique features on the Nintendo Revolution, because so far this system seems pretty run-of-the-mill.
Also, about the DS, this is a good system, but I'm worried we haven't seen games that use the dual screens creatively. Mainly, the bottom screen is just used as a touch-pad and that's it. What happened to the innovation?
I applaus Nintendo's statements about how the game industry must find new ways of gaming and reinvent itself, and while Nintendo has made some interesting advancements, so far they have left a lot to be desired.
Anyone knows the state of the OSS/FS movement in Japan? is there a significant number of developers working for this movement in Japan? what are they working on?
Only think I know is that the Ruby language was made in Japan and that cell-phone tech is quite open over there.
I think the problem is one of publicity. For the regular user, firefox is freeware and a few clicks away. They would want to switch if they knew of it:
1-The regular user is becoming slightly more aware of the need for computer security. (why is my computer so slow!! why do 10 popups appear whenever I turn on my PC!!)
2-The regular user is starting to find out this is caused by programs called spyware/viri
3-They are also starting to realize part of this is due to browsing the internet (with Internet Explorer). Even without reading about it from somewhere else, just the fact that whenever they visit sites (with IE) they run into obviously illegal popups and slowodown starts imprinting in their minds that browsing is inherently dangerous to their PCs.
A new program (browser) appears that promises to do their browsing (for free) without any of those problems and no technical knowledge required for installation, even joe sixpack would switch.
All that's needed now is publicity and a large percentage of regular users will switch. However we all know M$ is a master of marketing so it may not happen.
He overworked himself yes, but now he's wealthy and respected enough to live without the burden of money over him, forcing him to work on stuff he doesn't want.
As he said, it's like cramming 40 years of work life into 4 so you can do whatever you want in the other 36.
Besides, you learn much more from the experience than from just working for someone else's company.
More importantly, he is a great hacker, so it's in his nature to take challenges.
Slashdot Mirror
it's pretty hard to get a gun in countries other than the United States, especially so if you have a terminal illness (it's easy to guess what you would do with it).
I have found that in regards to experimentation on animals/genetic alteration, the general opinion on slashdot is that it's ok. Another tendencies I have notedare a leftist inclination in regards to politics (which I like) and a preference por PC gaming instead of consoles.
Personally, I think experimentation on animals is an evil thing.
If you want to argue about it, you should investigate about what really goes on in those labs and for what purposes before writing a knee-jerk answer such as "you don't know how many lives would be lost", "would you prefer to get smallpox", etc.
http://www.paulgraham.com/opensource.html
The focus is different though.
I don't think M$ would think twice about imposing this to their users if asked by the government, industry consortiums, etc. I think this is the number 1 reason not to use Windows, at least for people who think their privacy and constitutional rights are important. An example is the request from UK's gov to have their own backdoor to the system: http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/15/13 1222
...they are trying to dominate a market in which creativity should prevail with nothing more than an astronomic marketing budget and bribe money to developers. Microsoft is a corporation that has as its only objective to make money, not good games, and this means pandering to the lowest common denominator.
The Xbox has nothing special (well *maybe* Xbox live, but if I wanted to play FPS's on the internet I would use a computer instead) and the 360 is just another boring computer too (only distinguishing feature is that it has 3 processors). All of its games are either rehashed pieces of garbage or ports.
Just think about it, when was the last time a field was improved by Microsoft's presence? They are the kind of corporation that shouldn't be made, one that cares nothing about what it does or how it does it as long as it makes money.
I would like the Nintendo Revolution and PS3 to bury the Xbox 360 and end M$'s unwelcome foray into the videogame console world.
(Note: Sony may be a bad corporation too, but I think the effects of its competition are good. I have greatly enjoyed the PS1 and 2. Third party support is what makes them good and they actually deserved it during the PS1 era.)
"A major flaw at the heart of the open source movement is the misconception that most individuals actually have the legal right to contribute their intellectual efforts to OSS projects. In most industrialized nations, intellectual property (IP) generated by an employee through the course of his or her employment legally belongs to the employer....irrespective of whether it is during or outside normal working hours"
How do we allow corporations to treat us like this ?
I am eager for the Revolution now more than before, but I wonder if this is the best implementation for this new controller. Will have to try it to know, though. Could it be possible to control a game using one remote in each hand? that may be very cool. Or linking one behind another to simulate a fishing rod or rifle for example? It seems to me it may have too few buttons. The d-pad plus the back button. Not sure what to think. How are super nintendo or even n64 games going to be played? it seems it's only fitting to play nes games, even with the add-ons. By the way, has anyone seen the anime Serial Experiments Lain? during the opening/intro there is a scene in which a kid is playing a videogame in a very similar manner (though it looks a lot cooler I think).
This is only true when attempting to make software using the old plan-then-build approach and does not work with evolutionary-type programming (the style oftenly associated with Lisp, visit www.paulgraham.com and check his OnLisp book for more info).
The assumption is that you have a clear idea of the program you want, then design it perfectly and finally code it. In reality, rarely ever will you know everything the program should do and even if you do, you may need to experiment with several algorithmical/arquitectural approaches. In such cases it's better to work fast building prototypes and tests to understand what is it you need than to comment code or attempting to arrive at a perfect solution.
according to the article, this thing requires to be plugged in to a power source constantly or else the data will disappear 16 hours, unless recharged.
As a desktop user, why would I want this kind of storage? I don't want to have my data deleted just because I forgot to turn on the PC one day.
Furthermore, if this is the case, then what can this memory do that RAM can not do much better if we assume the computer is left on? this seems only as a much slower RAM with a 16 hour battery, it does not qualify as a storage unit.
well, at least they had some debate about it, it seeems, unlike the first time in which only 1 rep stood against it... too bad it has been extended though.
Oh come on, this is hypocrisy.
First of all, I have to say I was prosecuted and singled out because of my love for videogames and other geeky things since I was 6 years old so I think I have been in similar situations to those described above. But hearing the arguments of those who defend GTA and Doom as if they were life-changing pieces of art make me feel sick.
I think the people attacking videogames as the source of all teenage related evil are despicable, and I certainly don't want restrictions on how games should be made, but most gamers are also wrong. Why don't you admit it's the violence that draws you? without it, it wouldn't be "fun". Why aren't you reading good books or playing games with actual depth if you are really interested in story? why do you feel so obsessed with FPSs and repetitive third-person shooters if you are really interested in gameplay?. The truth is that you don't. The first and foremost thing you seek in a game is how the killing takes place. You probably don't even realize it anymore.
They may claim that's not the only kind of game they like, but if that's so, why do those games have the most sales in the United States while so many good games have only moderate sales at best?
I wanted to sympathize with the american geeks when hearing about their plight but the fact that you adore these kind of games as if they were some sort of revolution and defend them with such hypocrital claims is just too sickening.
Instead of romanticizing Linux, let's not forget it's first and foremost, a software project. Because it is a project it should have well-defined objectives. Because it is software it must avoid failings such as redundancy and unnecesary complexity.
I try to be a linux user and grieve that I still have to use Windows for several uses, including desktop because linux (insert distro name here) just can't compete in such areas.
Instead of getting better support for regular user's needs, we get GNOME vs KDE flamewars. Instead of getting better app-OS organization, we get package management systems that only work with their own packages. Instead of getting features and functionality, we get distros.
This is why Linux has no chance against Windows. Blame hardware manufacturers, OEMs and the media, but Windows works for regular users while linux only does so partially and after lots of patchwork. At this rate, Windows will still plague computers as it does for another 20 years or so while the linux community wonders why they are still only 1% of the computer users.
And regular users are we when we are not using the computer for setting-up web servers, programming in obscure languages or setting the box as a router.
Linux is free software, but freedom should be accompanied by responsibility. It should be a priority of the community to act as such, instead of breaking into isolated islands everytime they disagree.
I hate Windows and I'm actively trying to get my Linux desktop working. To achieve this, I need it to run all my current programs or equivalent (audio, video, file sharing and programming languages).
My current experience has shown that this task may require the following:
* search for obscure drivers hosted on sites shut-down years ago. * delve into myriads of configuration files (and or GUIs) each with its own (sometimes arbitrary) syntax, even for the most trivial app. * risk messing your OS with a recompile. * read dozens of pages worth of howto webpages that may or may not apply to your machine, man pages and non-sensical error logs among other things, none of which are sure to be worth your time (either because you are looking in the wrong place or because it's something completely arbitrary).
In other words, stuff no normal user is going to bother with (or be able to achieve).
So far it's been 2 weeks and have only been succesful in the audio and programming language categories and it has not been easy. I have run into all sorts of problems since the installation process that have forced me to look into stuff no regular user would bother dealing with. And some things don't even have a solution or workaround such as not being able to write to NTFS partitions due to the current state of the NTFS driver.
To some point I enjoyed working with those problems, but it got ridiculous at times. Part of this is not Linux's fault, for example, many 3rd parties are only interested in Windows, forcing Linux developers to reverse engineer stuff on their own, the results sometimes being stuff that works, but only as a complete hack (in the ugly sense of the word).
Meanwhile, Windows (for the desktop, most of the time) just works. Sorry but it's true. Perhaps I have run into so many problems because I'm not yet a good hacker, but I got the impression that there is a lot of ugly patchwork in Linux, maintained by a few people who stop working on the project when "it's no longer the best use of their time". Sorry, but Linux has a LONG way to go.
Maybe once it becomes more popular with events such as the one described in this article there will be a greater development effort into it.
that would hamper their control of the lightsaber, would look stupid and besides, they can just use the force to bring the lightsaber to their hands
Lucas says so in interviews, you can do a google search
If Padme hadn't died, Vader may have been able to feel her presence through the force or something. The real plot hole is that the emperor tells Vader he killed Padme in his rage. When he learns in ep4 that his sons are alive he should have realized that the emperor lied to him, since Padme wouldn't have delivered if he had killed her in Moustafar. And agreed, all the characters included for no reason such as Chewbacca, Jabba and the droids is lame and cause plot holes.
Something I found really odd was when Anakin says "if you're not with me, you're my enemy" and Obi-Wan replies "only a Sith deals in absolutes".
This is obviously an anti-Bush remark, but it doesn't fit at all in the movie. First of all, it's quite clear that by that point they are already mortal enemies, even Obi-Wan had already said they had no path left but to try to kill each other. Second, the "only a Sith deals in absolutes" is nonsense, especially considering lines such as these:
OB1: The emperor is evil!
DV: From my point of view the Jedis are evil!
OB1: then you are lost!
I liked the subtle (and unintended, since the plot was written in the 70s) critcism of ep2 and 3 to the current political madness in America, but that line was lousy.
agreed, but it's sad that, when you are thinking the forces of freedom and culture are advancing suddenly the Pentagon decides to take advantage of your *free* software as well (previous slashdot story).
*Not sure whether communism is bad, but american military certainly is*
yes, I have never quite understood the american war cry of "communists!!!".
I mean, it's just a *different* economical/political system and you people consider it as if it was the ultimate evil.
Furthermore, what happened to that UN law that said something like "all nations are free to govern themselves however they want, as long as it doesn't go against the human rights charter".
Note: I think communism doesn't work in the real world, but it's up to each nation to try for itself, right?
I'm a nintendo fan (M$ hater too) but I'm a bit worried that the Revolution may not so revolutionary after all. The only thing we have been let know about it are features already present in other consoles (wireless controllers, internet) or pointless stuff such as the size of the console. Why should I care what size the console is? It's not like I need to carry it around or something. I hope there are some great and unique features on the Nintendo Revolution, because so far this system seems pretty run-of-the-mill. Also, about the DS, this is a good system, but I'm worried we haven't seen games that use the dual screens creatively. Mainly, the bottom screen is just used as a touch-pad and that's it. What happened to the innovation? I applaus Nintendo's statements about how the game industry must find new ways of gaming and reinvent itself, and while Nintendo has made some interesting advancements, so far they have left a lot to be desired.
how is the small size of the console going to contribute to the revolutionary aspects of the console? maybe it will be a detriment actually.
The french decide Google's perceived hegemony in electronic document archiving is a problem.
"What company could stand against Google? I know, I will for Microsoft's help!!"
The french now have 2 problems.
Anyone knows the state of the OSS/FS movement in Japan? is there a significant number of developers working for this movement in Japan? what are they working on? Only think I know is that the Ruby language was made in Japan and that cell-phone tech is quite open over there.
I think the problem is one of publicity. For the regular user, firefox is freeware and a few clicks away. They would want to switch if they knew of it: 1-The regular user is becoming slightly more aware of the need for computer security. (why is my computer so slow!! why do 10 popups appear whenever I turn on my PC!!) 2-The regular user is starting to find out this is caused by programs called spyware/viri 3-They are also starting to realize part of this is due to browsing the internet (with Internet Explorer). Even without reading about it from somewhere else, just the fact that whenever they visit sites (with IE) they run into obviously illegal popups and slowodown starts imprinting in their minds that browsing is inherently dangerous to their PCs. A new program (browser) appears that promises to do their browsing (for free) without any of those problems and no technical knowledge required for installation, even joe sixpack would switch. All that's needed now is publicity and a large percentage of regular users will switch. However we all know M$ is a master of marketing so it may not happen.
He overworked himself yes, but now he's wealthy and respected enough to live without the burden of money over him, forcing him to work on stuff he doesn't want. As he said, it's like cramming 40 years of work life into 4 so you can do whatever you want in the other 36. Besides, you learn much more from the experience than from just working for someone else's company. More importantly, he is a great hacker, so it's in his nature to take challenges.