"Finally, with today's fervor over terrorism it's best for you to not write anything down, record nothing and deny, deny, deny."
If you don't use the information you have, then the anti-terrorist fascists win.
Not writing anything down and not recording anything mean that you are effectively silent to everyone that you don't have personal physical contact with. Thanks for volunteering to have your voice taken away, you are a good little dissenting citizen.
I'm not sure where you see a conspiracy in my OP. I was speaking of Ebert's personal motivation, not any group. But it is true that he has a vested interest in the movie industry, and it is also true that the popularity of video games is, to an extent, a detriment to the popularity of film.
I'm just saying that someone who depends on a certain media for their career, and possibly their major interest in life, is much less likely to be accepting of competing media.
Thinking about financial implications != looking for conspiracy. But a non-vested opinion would carry much more weight, IMO.
"One of the lessons in this story is that any organization involved in investigative reporting needs to keep its data systems under heavy cryptographic lock and key."
Pointless, since it is illegal to not provide the key when asked by law enforcement who've gotten a warrant for it.
If you are concerned about your data being seized, you're better off having it on a portable storage device that you can either toss or give to someone else for safekeeping if you think the hammer's going to drop on your investigation.
Third parties would have to give up your files if they are prsented with a warrant for them. The key would be to use an offshore storage company, and do all your online activity through an offshore proxy. I'm sure they'll have tons of fun trying to serve a warrant then.
He mentions that video games are typically just a waste of time; I would posit that movies are just as much a waste of time. It's like asking a classical music critic to judge whether or not a certain modern sculpture is art -- don't ask a movie critic about video games.
I've had plenty of "oh wow" moments in video games. I've also been affected emotionally in video games (which, I'm sure, was intended by the designers). I've also been stimulated to think critically about a topic by video games. All these things indicate that video games *can* be art.
Yes, there are artless videogames, just as there are artless movies and artless novels. There is also "bad" art out there, in every media. I believe that as video games continue to be developed, very many more of them will be intended as art pieces, and will succeed in being considered art.
/My 2 cents, at least as valid as Ebert's when discussing video games.
Also, keep in mind that the movie industry is losing $$ to the videogame industry -- video games are eating away at film's cultural mindshare. Ebert, as a part of that industry, has a professional interest in promoting movies over video games.
"I know that there are people that claim to believe in moral relativism.
I know that many actually have talked themselves into believing it, against all logic."
I know people who actually believe in moral absolutism -- people who actually have convinced themselves to have blanket faith in something that defies logic at its very foundation.
Not to be too snarky -- but faith in moral absolutes is exactly the same as faith in religion (often intertwined), or even creationism. It is the belief in undemonstrable, untestable universal postulates that is totally illogical, IMO.
Thanks. Next apt I refurbish, I'll take that into consideration -- though I've been trying to do it on the cheap (my personal living space is a different story). Insulation costs get big pretty quick.
"(it is in fact immoral to intentionally rip off buyers)"
Morality is subjective; the morality of an action cannot be immoral in fact, but only in someone's opinion.
It may be a fact that you think it is immoral -- but plenty of people have no moral qualms about getting the best price possible. People always try to show properties in the best light when they are selling; is that immoral?
That said, I agree with you in general -- caveat emptor still applies, and unless the seller made false claims about the property, the buyer needs to chalk this up as a learning experience.
I built a false wall in the last apartment I renovated -- very easy to nail in some 2x4 spacers and put up drywall / shelves / cabinet doors. Lost a little room space, but gained space for hidden eletronics & wiring (for rooms on both sides of the wall) as well as inset bookshelves for the LR and bar storage for the DR. Venting was an issue with sound leakage, never managed to figure out how to keep the sound from bleeding into the DR without putting in insulation that would block the venting.
"Then again, it's nice to have a guest room for visitors considering that I have all of that forest, a fish pond, cool breazes, and no noise!:)"
If you have a lot of property, you may want to consider guest cabin(s) instead of a guest room. Works great for the kids' sleepovers, as an ancillary office, or whenever you need to get away from the house. Very cheap to put up, and if its not fully enlcosed, you typically don't need to meet housing codes. Sucks in the winter, though.
"If you had access to an unlimited budget, what would you spend money on to make your home stand out? "
Everything in my power to make it NOT stand out. I want the benefits of high-tech with the clean living of low-tech. One of my favorites are the speakers that you install in your walls, and then pain over the fronting when you paint your walls. Totally invisible, and great for playing pranks on unsuspecting houseguests.
The only constraint on everything being hidden would be that everything needs to be easily accessible for tinkering/servicing.
My biggest pet peeve, however, is the control systems for a lot of home electronics setups. I don't want to have to access my PC to change the thermostat setting, nor do I want to have a ridiculous remote or set of remotes. I would like to be able to control everything via my cell phone or PDA, locally or remotely.
Finally, I want an army of fembots at my disposal, along with a place to store them.
This isn't about Mac security, it's about public perception of Mac security. He's calling for a VP of Marketing/Publicity for Security Issues.
As stated in the article, putting security in the hands of an individual is counter to Apple's philosophy of having security be a priority for everyone.
I personally think Apple's better off letting third parties defend the FUD; they seem to be doing a swell job with the last two instances. By now, no one in the know doesn't know that the past two were FUD.//sorry for the awkwardness of that sentence) Those who aren't in the know didn't even hear about it.
IMO, we should never ASK a company to add in another layer of publicity and marketing. That's asking to be mislead by slanted information, be it MS, Apple, Google, IBM, or whomever.
"Taco says that grammatical errors are perfectly acceptable, and in fact give slashdot much of it's "flavor." To me this says that gross grammatical errors are actually encouraged, so as to give it even more flavor."
I think what you meant to say was:
Taco says he's fine with grammer mistakes and spelling. Errors, are double-plus good flavor, so they are encouraged, IMO.
"A typically written "Getting Started with..." guild for OO.o charts."
What is this "OO.o charts" MMORPG? How do you know which guilds are good, and do they power-level you past the early grind? Or is there some other way they help you get started?
Oh, "guide". And I was getting all excited for an O/S MMORPG with histograms and pie charts. Dang.
Oh? Development for the PS3 isn't more complex and time-consuming and therefore more expensive than developing for the 360? That comes as a surprise to me, since PS3today.com found differently in October of 2005 (they referenced a Japanese article about Japanese developers leaving the PS3 for the 360).
Furthermore, developers for the PS3 need to code their own online service, adding to dev time/cost.
Finally, the 360 has enough similarities to development for PCs that there has been a larger base of developers for it -- requiring less time, then to learn how to develop for an entirely new architecture.
Maybe you should bother doing some research of your own before you prove yourself a moron. PS3 games are more expensive to develop than 360 games. Disagree? Why not find ANY information to the contrary (I'll give you a hint: it doesn't exist) and post it in reply, rather than responding like the mouth-breather you seem to be?
Well, you don't have to believe me. But that's also the situation with a friend of mine in the USMC right now -- his unit can only watch CNN and Fox. It's enforced by the majority of the guys in his unit, but they are egged on by his superiors.
RTFA. Look at the charts, if reading is too much of a bother.
Game companies are poised to see continued growth in online gaming revenues, the point of the article is that a lot of the successes are companies that did not come from established, traditional game companies.
"Unless an online game hits it big, or has a very dedicated group of fans, there isn't any money to be made as every two-bit publisher is trying to ride this fad with their Evercrack clones."
Not even close to accurate. Yes, there is a lot of competition, as is true with any emerging market. But that doesn't mean that the market doesn't exist and there is no money to be made. It just means that more companies are vying for the increasing slice of pie.
Now, IMO, the companies who will profit greatly in the long run are those who:
(1) Publish the games best tailored to the subscription model -- like scheduled content, etc. (2) Have the best variety of games tailored to their market (i.e., Popcap shouldn't publish an MMORPG, while Blizzard should publish a SciFi MMORPG) (3) As with any entertainment business, the company with the best marketing usually fares well -- look for the companies with the largest marketing budget.
Slashdot Mirror
"Finally, with today's fervor over terrorism it's best for you to not write anything down, record nothing and deny, deny, deny."
If you don't use the information you have, then the anti-terrorist fascists win.
Not writing anything down and not recording anything mean that you are effectively silent to everyone that you don't have personal physical contact with. Thanks for volunteering to have your voice taken away, you are a good little dissenting citizen.
I'm not sure where you see a conspiracy in my OP. I was speaking of Ebert's personal motivation, not any group. But it is true that he has a vested interest in the movie industry, and it is also true that the popularity of video games is, to an extent, a detriment to the popularity of film.
I'm just saying that someone who depends on a certain media for their career, and possibly their major interest in life, is much less likely to be accepting of competing media.
Thinking about financial implications != looking for conspiracy. But a non-vested opinion would carry much more weight, IMO.
"One of the lessons in this story is that any organization involved in investigative reporting needs to keep its data systems under heavy cryptographic lock and key."
Pointless, since it is illegal to not provide the key when asked by law enforcement who've gotten a warrant for it.
If you are concerned about your data being seized, you're better off having it on a portable storage device that you can either toss or give to someone else for safekeeping if you think the hammer's going to drop on your investigation.
Third parties would have to give up your files if they are prsented with a warrant for them. The key would be to use an offshore storage company, and do all your online activity through an offshore proxy. I'm sure they'll have tons of fun trying to serve a warrant then.
Not to be crass, but Ebert can suck it.
/My 2 cents, at least as valid as Ebert's when discussing video games.
He mentions that video games are typically just a waste of time; I would posit that movies are just as much a waste of time. It's like asking a classical music critic to judge whether or not a certain modern sculpture is art -- don't ask a movie critic about video games.
I've had plenty of "oh wow" moments in video games. I've also been affected emotionally in video games (which, I'm sure, was intended by the designers). I've also been stimulated to think critically about a topic by video games. All these things indicate that video games *can* be art.
Yes, there are artless videogames, just as there are artless movies and artless novels. There is also "bad" art out there, in every media. I believe that as video games continue to be developed, very many more of them will be intended as art pieces, and will succeed in being considered art.
Also, keep in mind that the movie industry is losing $$ to the videogame industry -- video games are eating away at film's cultural mindshare. Ebert, as a part of that industry, has a professional interest in promoting movies over video games.
"I know that there are people that claim to believe in moral relativism. I know that many actually have talked themselves into believing it, against all logic."
I know people who actually believe in moral absolutism -- people who actually have convinced themselves to have blanket faith in something that defies logic at its very foundation.
Not to be too snarky -- but faith in moral absolutes is exactly the same as faith in religion (often intertwined), or even creationism. It is the belief in undemonstrable, untestable universal postulates that is totally illogical, IMO.
Thanks. Next apt I refurbish, I'll take that into consideration -- though I've been trying to do it on the cheap (my personal living space is a different story). Insulation costs get big pretty quick.
"(it is in fact immoral to intentionally rip off buyers)"
Morality is subjective; the morality of an action cannot be immoral in fact, but only in someone's opinion.
It may be a fact that you think it is immoral -- but plenty of people have no moral qualms about getting the best price possible. People always try to show properties in the best light when they are selling; is that immoral?
That said, I agree with you in general -- caveat emptor still applies, and unless the seller made false claims about the property, the buyer needs to chalk this up as a learning experience.
I built a false wall in the last apartment I renovated -- very easy to nail in some 2x4 spacers and put up drywall / shelves / cabinet doors. Lost a little room space, but gained space for hidden eletronics & wiring (for rooms on both sides of the wall) as well as inset bookshelves for the LR and bar storage for the DR. Venting was an issue with sound leakage, never managed to figure out how to keep the sound from bleeding into the DR without putting in insulation that would block the venting.
"Then again, it's nice to have a guest room for visitors considering that I have all of that forest, a fish pond, cool breazes, and no noise! :)"
If you have a lot of property, you may want to consider guest cabin(s) instead of a guest room. Works great for the kids' sleepovers, as an ancillary office, or whenever you need to get away from the house. Very cheap to put up, and if its not fully enlcosed, you typically don't need to meet housing codes. Sucks in the winter, though.
"If you had access to an unlimited budget, what would you spend money on to make your home stand out? "
Everything in my power to make it NOT stand out. I want the benefits of high-tech with the clean living of low-tech. One of my favorites are the speakers that you install in your walls, and then pain over the fronting when you paint your walls. Totally invisible, and great for playing pranks on unsuspecting houseguests.
The only constraint on everything being hidden would be that everything needs to be easily accessible for tinkering/servicing.
My biggest pet peeve, however, is the control systems for a lot of home electronics setups. I don't want to have to access my PC to change the thermostat setting, nor do I want to have a ridiculous remote or set of remotes. I would like to be able to control everything via my cell phone or PDA, locally or remotely.
Finally, I want an army of fembots at my disposal, along with a place to store them.
This isn't about Mac security, it's about public perception of Mac security. He's calling for a VP of Marketing/Publicity for Security Issues.
//sorry for the awkwardness of that sentence)
As stated in the article, putting security in the hands of an individual is counter to Apple's philosophy of having security be a priority for everyone.
I personally think Apple's better off letting third parties defend the FUD; they seem to be doing a swell job with the last two instances. By now, no one in the know doesn't know that the past two were FUD.
Those who aren't in the know didn't even hear about it.
IMO, we should never ASK a company to add in another layer of publicity and marketing. That's asking to be mislead by slanted information, be it MS, Apple, Google, IBM, or whomever.
"Taco says that grammatical errors are perfectly acceptable, and in fact give slashdot much of it's "flavor." To me this says that gross grammatical errors are actually encouraged, so as to give it even more flavor."
I think what you meant to say was:
Taco says he's fine with grammer mistakes and spelling. Errors, are double-plus good flavor, so they are encouraged, IMO.
"A typically written "Getting Started with..." guild for OO.o charts."
What is this "OO.o charts" MMORPG? How do you know which guilds are good, and do they power-level you past the early grind? Or is there some other way they help you get started?
Oh, "guide". And I was getting all excited for an O/S MMORPG with histograms and pie charts. Dang.
"I hold to that belief today. Everything useful to me as a trade secret stays in my head. "
And were you to suddenly die, every brilliant idea you've had would be lost to humanity until someone else thought it up. That's not a net (+).
Hopefully, absolutely right.
I checked, she's signed with Legacy, an indie in the UK. I don't know what her contract terms are, but she's been getting airplay there...
Oh? Development for the PS3 isn't more complex and time-consuming and therefore more expensive than developing for the 360? That comes as a surprise to me, since PS3today.com found differently in October of 2005 (they referenced a Japanese article about Japanese developers leaving the PS3 for the 360).
Furthermore, developers for the PS3 need to code their own online service, adding to dev time/cost.
Finally, the 360 has enough similarities to development for PCs that there has been a larger base of developers for it -- requiring less time, then to learn how to develop for an entirely new architecture.
Maybe you should bother doing some research of your own before you prove yourself a moron. PS3 games are more expensive to develop than 360 games. Disagree? Why not find ANY information to the contrary (I'll give you a hint: it doesn't exist) and post it in reply, rather than responding like the mouth-breather you seem to be?
That kid of viewership numbers could be easily explained if she performs in the nude.
But I expect there was some marketing of some sort for the 3/2 show, and not the 2/24 show. Even so, I think you're right.
My question is, will she sign with a major label and perpetuate the crap we deal with from the RIAA?
Well, you don't have to believe me. But that's also the situation with a friend of mine in the USMC right now -- his unit can only watch CNN and Fox. It's enforced by the majority of the guys in his unit, but they are egged on by his superiors.
Because they sell more copies if it does, and because dev for the 360 is cheaper than dev for the PS3.
The 2006 Holiday season fast approaches, and if people think the 360 is a lame duck, they're not going to buy games for it.
RTFA. Look at the charts, if reading is too much of a bother.
Game companies are poised to see continued growth in online gaming revenues, the point of the article is that a lot of the successes are companies that did not come from established, traditional game companies.
"Unless an online game hits it big, or has a very dedicated group of fans, there isn't any money to be made as every two-bit publisher is trying to ride this fad with their Evercrack clones."
Not even close to accurate. Yes, there is a lot of competition, as is true with any emerging market. But that doesn't mean that the market doesn't exist and there is no money to be made. It just means that more companies are vying for the increasing slice of pie.
Now, IMO, the companies who will profit greatly in the long run are those who:
(1) Publish the games best tailored to the subscription model -- like scheduled content, etc.
(2) Have the best variety of games tailored to their market (i.e., Popcap shouldn't publish an MMORPG, while Blizzard should publish a SciFi MMORPG)
(3) As with any entertainment business, the company with the best marketing usually fares well -- look for the companies with the largest marketing budget.
You're absolutely right about the responsibility of the individual for the justness of their actions, IMO.
I should have been a little clearer with the sarcasm.
No.
Maybe you should bother reading my whole comment, you know, the part where I say that if it's a hit, they'll prt to the PS & Revolution?
Either way, my argument still stands -- they didn't want to waste dev costs on porting to another system before testing the waters on one system.
Also, as a major game producer, they have an interest in making sure the 360 remains popular through the release of the Revolution and the PS3.
Your other nickname wouldn't happen to be ad hominem, would it?
"Astroturf blog and newspaper spamming."
What's wrong with people organizing others on political campaigns? Really?
What do you think grassroots campaigning is?
How do you think individuals can overcome the power of the almighty dollar in politics without organizing themselves?
Sure, special interest groups do this. Why not, if it gets their message out?
Or maybe we should just allow corporate media to tell us how to think, since they are the ones with the ready resources to do so?
"Analyzing the connection as well as the route to the destination can probably be performed by software or hardware."
Well duh. Unless you think it might be better done by bioware? I don't think my brain could handle that.
The scary part is that they require combat boots for it. Rough terrain, or what?
I always thought the Marines and the Paras were nutters, and this confirms it.