You're right on that point, if you assume the IQ test is accurate. When we're talking about 5 IQ points (the supposed bonus in the article), motivation/discipline can make a huge difference.
I must reiterate though, I'm not sure the IQ is worth anything. Intellect is a complicated stastic (if it can be called that) to measure, and I doubt it can be done accurately. Do you believe the SAT to be an aptitude test that measures intellect? You can prepare for the IQ test in exactly the same way.
Besides, it is not necessarily the success that is in question, but rather the pursuit of success that is important.
You're on the right track: the IQ test is test, and like all tests you can improve your score dramatically by studying for it. The IQ test is simply a way of poorly quantifying something that can be highly subjective. It is no better than the SAT (which Mensa used to grant entry, once-upon-a-time).
Besides, I'm unconvinced that high intellect = high level of success. Ability is a factor, but drive and ambition are far more important. "99% perspiration 1% inspiration".
The best system I've experienced is here in the UK.
Games are treated as an artistic medium and tied to the same ratings board as movies. Games with 18+ labels require a proof of age to be sold if you look under 21.
Today, video games are just what PnP RPGs were twenty years ago. A significant portion of society thought that it led to otherwise normal teenagers committing suicide. Lectures were given, with enlightened defenders arguing against ignorant moral activists looking for the next product of societal change to oppose. Not unlike the 'debate' that is going on right now. The worst it got was when the 'activists released a biased TV movie called Mazes and Monsters (starring a young Tom Hanks).
Of course, all this ended when a few "inspired" reporters tried sitting down to actual D&D session. It must have pretty disappointing to only find a bunch of nerdy teenagers sitting around a table rolling dice and drinking Mountain Dew.
Inevitably, a significant lack of knowledge leads to disingenuous accusations of moral decay. Just like every generation believes that they invented sex, they believe that their progeny is iniquitous.
Online petitions mean absolutely nothing. The real problem you can't determine actual identity. That aside, it's a very poorily worded petition. I wouldn't sign anything that contained hearsay like:
Finally, a story goes that DeLay lit up a stogie in a restaurant, and a waiter told him it was a government building, where smoking was not permitted. DeLay reportedly retorted, "I am the government."
Unfortunately, if you want to actually do something, go to Texas and start collecting signatures. Door-to-door, if necessary.
However, it is important to note that EA got the deal fair and square. They bought the liscense to get exclusive right to make NFL games, for a presumably large lump of cash. Both companies were certainly in their rights to do so. It does suck, but that's business. If you don't like it, vote with your dollars.
Don't blame this on patents, blame it on casual consumer ignorance and aggressive marketing.
And as much as we love to hate the large companies, lets not forget that EA did publish the incredibley fun Battlefield 1942.
This flys in the face of all the Expaned Universe stuff as well as the "the Sith have been extinct for a milinea" stuff in the Phantom Menace.
However, I'm all for it if he writes the storyline, but leaves the actual implementation to other sources.
What I'm really hoping for, though, is a cinematic adaption of Zahn's Thrawn series, which had interesting developments, tension, and character development, space battles, etc.
Windows isn't really something to get excited about: it is about as unique and defining as having two ears. It doesn't have legions of CS wierdos, or pretentious anti-conformists. It has gamers, and uh, people who occasionally work at home. It isn't horrible, despite the what the Slashdot dogma will say to the contrary. It works in the majority of cases for the majority of tasks. If you're reasonably informed you don't have trouble with viruses or spam.
I can see the ad campaign now:
"I use it to play games, because - um - there is no other choice."
"I use it because I thought it was slightly cheaper than buying an Apple. Plus it can play games."
"All my friends use it to play games and exchange pr0n."
You're forgetting May Day, Easter, Europe Day, It's Raining Day, and Friday. (The last 3 are not real). And also the fact that it is illegal on the continent to work more than 48 hours in a week (which the UK has opted out of).
If you're interested in how Americans tend to view their holidays, I suggest you read the following from a 1999 article of The Economist. You can really tell how dated it is (especially with declaration of good oil prices).
Holidays
A great time to work Jul 22nd 1999 | CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA From The Economist print edition
AMERICA'S holiday season is off to a strong start. With petrol prices blissfully low, airline companies fighting over fares and a general sense of economic well-being, everything looks rosy. So why do Americans still seem to have such difficulty enjoying their vacations?
According to Cindy Aron, a history professor at the University of Virginia, the answer lies in the past. Despite a dramatic increase in leisure time since the mid-19th century, Americans are simply hooked on their jobs. After all, neither they, nor their country, got ahead by being idle.
"Americans engaged in a love-hate battle with their vacations--both wanting to take them and fearing the consequences," writes Ms Aron in "Working at Play: A History of Vacations in the United States" (Oxford University Press). "Relaxing did not come easily to American men and women who continued to use their leisure in the performance of various sorts of work--religious work, intellectual work, therapeutic work. Leisure and labour remained complicated and troubling categories, in some ways polar opposites, in other ways closely connected."
On the eve of the 21st century this friction continues, regardless of station or income. Media moguls hunt for deals at Herbert Allen's invitation-only investment conference in the Rocky Mountain resort of Sun Valley, Idaho. Companies of firemen from the Washington suburbs crowd into rented accommodation on the Atlantic beaches of Delaware, where the talk is of the station house rather than the surf. Not even Ms Aron is immune. While working on her book, she took along her portable computer to her family's annual retreat, a waterfront house in New London, Connecticut. As she herself laments, "Technology has made it too easy to carry our work with us."
Except to the very wealthy, who visited fashionable mountain spas to escape the heat and disease of the cities, rest and relaxation were mysteries to most Americans in the 1800s. A pause from one's labours seemed to betray the Protestant ethic on which the United States was founded. But by the 1850s, as the word "vacation" first wormed its way into the American lexicon, even spiritual leaders began to suggest that leisure and relaxation could lead to God.
From this, in short order, sprang the camp meetings: inexpensive family getaways with a religious flavour, popular with blacks and whites alike, in tiny communities that would become resorts in their own right. Just over a century ago, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, was best known as the site of an annual Methodist meeting. Now it is nicknamed "the Nation's Summer Capitol" because of its popularity with Washington power-brokers.
One other vacation spot with roots in the 19th century clings to its origins as a place of intellectual refreshment. At Chautauqua, in upstate New York, members of the burgeoning middle class used to attend concerts and talks on the social ills of the day; sometimes they would study Greek, Latin and Hebrew. More than 120 years later, Chautauqua still blends the educational and recreational.
It was at vacation spots that society's norms were tested and changed. In the 19th century's posh resorts of the South and New England, mixed-sex amusements included more than nightly fancy-dress balls. Spotting a "Venus Libitina" emerging from the brine at Virginia's Old Point Comfort, J.R.V. Daniels, a lawyer from Richmond, huffed that "society must throw her out." But before long newspaper
Slashdot tends to follow the following:
US: Old and busted.
China: New hotness.
You can blame media conglomerates that report only the worst, because, as we all know, "everything is great!" doesn't sell nearly as well as "you're all going to die... unless you keep watching beyond the next commercial break."
I get tired of these endless doom and gloom speeches.
Ever heard the phrase "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing"?
You have made numerous errors.
The industrial economy lost out when you could teach a Filipino how to press the red button, then the blue button, then fly the product the West for less money than paying a domestic worker. The only thing preventing this for a long time were protective tariffs. The last time nations practised protective tariffs was in the 1930s. Remember how that turned out?
Phone support doesn't count as a service. If you expect to live better than a third-world peasant, make sure you're a little more skilled. As it is right now, America is the best place in the world to go from nothing to everything. The access to quality education opportunities is unparrelled.
America is still the best place to get funding for any good idea. By far. Anyone who is serious about getting investment has their investor relations site done in English. Always.
Real estate is in a global bubble right now. Check housing prices in Europe, etc. When the bubble pops (we're getting close to the 7 years it usually takes to go from pop to pop), the global economy will go into a recession.
Slashdot Mirror
I must reiterate though, I'm not sure the IQ is worth anything. Intellect is a complicated stastic (if it can be called that) to measure, and I doubt it can be done accurately. Do you believe the SAT to be an aptitude test that measures intellect? You can prepare for the IQ test in exactly the same way.
Besides, it is not necessarily the success that is in question, but rather the pursuit of success that is important.
Besides, I'm unconvinced that high intellect = high level of success. Ability is a factor, but drive and ambition are far more important. "99% perspiration 1% inspiration".
Regardless of who wins in the battle of open-closed ideologies, the ultimate winner shall be the consumer. Which is exactly how it should be.
Its not that big of a deal: the article talks about maybe 5 IQ points.
Nothing to be really excited about.
Games are treated as an artistic medium and tied to the same ratings board as movies. Games with 18+ labels require a proof of age to be sold if you look under 21.
Today, video games are just what PnP RPGs were twenty years ago. A significant portion of society thought that it led to otherwise normal teenagers committing suicide. Lectures were given, with enlightened defenders arguing against ignorant moral activists looking for the next product of societal change to oppose. Not unlike the 'debate' that is going on right now. The worst it got was when the 'activists released a biased TV movie called Mazes and Monsters (starring a young Tom Hanks).
Of course, all this ended when a few "inspired" reporters tried sitting down to actual D&D session. It must have pretty disappointing to only find a bunch of nerdy teenagers sitting around a table rolling dice and drinking Mountain Dew.
Inevitably, a significant lack of knowledge leads to disingenuous accusations of moral decay. Just like every generation believes that they invented sex, they believe that their progeny is iniquitous.
It probably won't matter for an internship position, because resumes aren't that important for that kind of position.
Finally, a story goes that DeLay lit up a stogie in a restaurant, and a waiter told him it was a government building, where smoking was not permitted. DeLay reportedly retorted, "I am the government."
Unfortunately, if you want to actually do something, go to Texas and start collecting signatures. Door-to-door, if necessary.
You see, that's they want people to think. It really says: "Hands off, bitches."
However, it is important to note that EA got the deal fair and square. They bought the liscense to get exclusive right to make NFL games, for a presumably large lump of cash. Both companies were certainly in their rights to do so. It does suck, but that's business. If you don't like it, vote with your dollars.
Don't blame this on patents, blame it on casual consumer ignorance and aggressive marketing.
And as much as we love to hate the large companies, lets not forget that EA did publish the incredibley fun Battlefield 1942.
However, I'm all for it if he writes the storyline, but leaves the actual implementation to other sources.
What I'm really hoping for, though, is a cinematic adaption of Zahn's Thrawn series, which had interesting developments, tension, and character development, space battles, etc.
I can see the ad campaign now:
"I use it to play games, because - um - there is no other choice."
"I use it because I thought it was slightly cheaper than buying an Apple. Plus it can play games."
"All my friends use it to play games and exchange pr0n."
"It would take too much effort to switch."
You're forgetting May Day, Easter, Europe Day, It's Raining Day, and Friday. (The last 3 are not real). And also the fact that it is illegal on the continent to work more than 48 hours in a week (which the UK has opted out of).
If you're interested in how Americans tend to view their holidays, I suggest you read the following from a 1999 article of The Economist. You can really tell how dated it is (especially with declaration of good oil prices).
Holidays
A great time to work
Jul 22nd 1999 | CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA
From The Economist print edition
AMERICA'S holiday season is off to a strong start. With petrol prices blissfully low, airline companies fighting over fares and a general sense of economic well-being, everything looks rosy. So why do Americans still seem to have such difficulty enjoying their vacations?
According to Cindy Aron, a history professor at the University of Virginia, the answer lies in the past. Despite a dramatic increase in leisure time since the mid-19th century, Americans are simply hooked on their jobs. After all, neither they, nor their country, got ahead by being idle.
"Americans engaged in a love-hate battle with their vacations--both wanting to take them and fearing the consequences," writes Ms Aron in "Working at Play: A History of Vacations in the United States" (Oxford University Press). "Relaxing did not come easily to American men and women who continued to use their leisure in the performance of various sorts of work--religious work, intellectual work, therapeutic work. Leisure and labour remained complicated and troubling categories, in some ways polar opposites, in other ways closely connected."
On the eve of the 21st century this friction continues, regardless of station or income. Media moguls hunt for deals at Herbert Allen's invitation-only investment conference in the Rocky Mountain resort of Sun Valley, Idaho. Companies of firemen from the Washington suburbs crowd into rented accommodation on the Atlantic beaches of Delaware, where the talk is of the station house rather than the surf. Not even Ms Aron is immune. While working on her book, she took along her portable computer to her family's annual retreat, a waterfront house in New London, Connecticut. As she herself laments, "Technology has made it too easy to carry our work with us."
Except to the very wealthy, who visited fashionable mountain spas to escape the heat and disease of the cities, rest and relaxation were mysteries to most Americans in the 1800s. A pause from one's labours seemed to betray the Protestant ethic on which the United States was founded. But by the 1850s, as the word "vacation" first wormed its way into the American lexicon, even spiritual leaders began to suggest that leisure and relaxation could lead to God.
From this, in short order, sprang the camp meetings: inexpensive family getaways with a religious flavour, popular with blacks and whites alike, in tiny communities that would become resorts in their own right. Just over a century ago, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, was best known as the site of an annual Methodist meeting. Now it is nicknamed "the Nation's Summer Capitol" because of its popularity with Washington power-brokers.
One other vacation spot with roots in the 19th century clings to its origins as a place of intellectual refreshment. At Chautauqua, in upstate New York, members of the burgeoning middle class used to attend concerts and talks on the social ills of the day; sometimes they would study Greek, Latin and Hebrew. More than 120 years later, Chautauqua still blends the educational and recreational.
It was at vacation spots that society's norms were tested and changed. In the 19th century's posh resorts of the South and New England, mixed-sex amusements included more than nightly fancy-dress balls. Spotting a "Venus Libitina" emerging from the brine at Virginia's Old Point Comfort, J.R.V. Daniels, a lawyer from Richmond, huffed that "society must throw her out." But before long newspaper
Slashdot tends to follow the following: US: Old and busted. China: New hotness. You can blame media conglomerates that report only the worst, because, as we all know, "everything is great!" doesn't sell nearly as well as "you're all going to die... unless you keep watching beyond the next commercial break."
I get tired of these endless doom and gloom speeches. Ever heard the phrase "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing"? You have made numerous errors. The industrial economy lost out when you could teach a Filipino how to press the red button, then the blue button, then fly the product the West for less money than paying a domestic worker. The only thing preventing this for a long time were protective tariffs. The last time nations practised protective tariffs was in the 1930s. Remember how that turned out? Phone support doesn't count as a service. If you expect to live better than a third-world peasant, make sure you're a little more skilled. As it is right now, America is the best place in the world to go from nothing to everything. The access to quality education opportunities is unparrelled. America is still the best place to get funding for any good idea. By far. Anyone who is serious about getting investment has their investor relations site done in English. Always. Real estate is in a global bubble right now. Check housing prices in Europe, etc. When the bubble pops (we're getting close to the 7 years it usually takes to go from pop to pop), the global economy will go into a recession.