Why do people still have this image that all poor people live in mud, and each what little grass they get? Maybe they have little grass skirts and spears? Until the West gets rid of the idea that the majority of the poor in the world have completely nothing, things won't get fixed.
The purpose of the Laptop isn't to be sent to the areas of the world where food and water are the biggest and most desperate needs. They are to be sent to places where most basic needs are taken care of, but the people could use an extra boost to educate themselves and get better jobs and raise themselves out of poverty. The idea that "there are worse problems, so if you don't help with the worst one, then you can't do any good" is one of the most flawed and disgusting ideas. It's the same argument that we shouldn't have gone into space until we feed every person on the planet. Some people have strengths other than giving hygiene kits or delivering rations to starving areas of the world. Why can we not use what we're best at (programming skills) to help out the poor in another way?
May I ask what the writer of this FUD has been doing to help the starving? You shouldn't be wasting your time writing anything, after all -- it's taking time away that you could be donating food to the hypothetical mud-hut-dwelling Africans.
President Bush was right...the human/animal hybrids are coming! (well, human/plant...but you get my idea!)
But seriously, I'd like to offer some words of wisdom:
We hold life to be sacred, but we also know the foundation of life consists in a stream of codes not so different from the successive frames of a watchvid. Why then cannot we cut one code short here, and start another there? Is life so fragile that it can withstand no tampering? Does the sacred brook no improvement?
Chairman Sheng-ji Yang "Dynamics of Mind"
Why do you insist that the human genetic code is "sacred" or "taboo"? It is a chemical process and nothing more. For that matter -we- are chemical processes and nothing more. If you deny yourself a useful tool simply because it reminds you uncomfortably of your mortality, you have uselessly and pointlessly crippled yourself.
If you're going to get in trouble for playing games at work, then don't have it be Solitaire. As Maddox said, Solitaire is a waste of time. It's a mindless boring game.
I mean, at least do something brain-building like Minesweeper -- that way if you're caught you can say that you're improving your analytical skills or something.
Oh, please...the company didn't "disappear from teh interwebs." It disappeared from Google's page. That's analogous to saying that removing a link to something on Slashdot is removing it from the Internet. Why should Google not have the right to decide what gets put on its own site?
...I think that Flash is one of the worst things to happen to the Web. Maybe it's just frustration, but do we really need to slowly fading buttons on a corporate website?
"It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grammes a week. And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grammes a week. "
It's because everyone's been told that "you can't hit girls," and so they obviously won't receive as much damage, making armor unneeded. In fact, to get not hit even more, they emphasize their feminine traits, so no one will mistake them for a male and accidentally hit them.
Because the women ranting about sexism in video games don't have them.
Maybe we should have FPS's that have the male main character talk out his feelings with the aliens he's shooting.
Or make the cheerleaders in the Super Bowl be "intelligent, strong, and powerful."
I played around with this at CompUSA once, and while it's an interesting idea, there's one big flaw: that tiny remote is not only easy to lose (I dropped it behind the display area!), but it magnetically sticks to only ONE part of the monitor, and not in the most intuitive section (it was on the right side, which is bad for a sinistral fellow like myself, and it was too far down on the monitor when one expects to stick it higher up).
Being an avid Myst fan myself, I was hit hard by the collapse of Uru Live in February 2004, then the fact that Cyan seemed to deteriorate due to financial pressures...and now this.
'Tis a shame -- while I have nothing against violent videogames (I love Halo immensely), Myst was able to create a new kind of game. And the fan support has been amazing; the Myst community is one of the most closely-knit ones I've ever seen.
Shorah, Cyan, and may the ending never be written.
I hate to post a "yeah, that," but as one who is increasingly becoming disenchanted with Microsoft products and wishes to move into the open-source field more, I have found interface to be a big issue for OSS, something which is one of the main contributors, I believe, to the sharp learning curve for OSS. Of course, much of that learning curve is inevitable, but a good UI will make people feel much more comfortable, and, when they get open source software, they'll stick with it.
Now all the whiny politicians will latch onto this article and talk about how video games are sexual training exercises.
Won't somebody think of the children?!?!
Perhaps it should be mentioned that it's odd that Homeland Security said that it's best to use an alternative to IE, and the same government is requiring IE.
Slashdot Mirror
Is this it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemic_(amateur_extrasolar_planet_search_project)
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/mar07/4933
Why do people still have this image that all poor people live in mud, and each what little grass they get? Maybe they have little grass skirts and spears? Until the West gets rid of the idea that the majority of the poor in the world have completely nothing, things won't get fixed.
The purpose of the Laptop isn't to be sent to the areas of the world where food and water are the biggest and most desperate needs. They are to be sent to places where most basic needs are taken care of, but the people could use an extra boost to educate themselves and get better jobs and raise themselves out of poverty. The idea that "there are worse problems, so if you don't help with the worst one, then you can't do any good" is one of the most flawed and disgusting ideas. It's the same argument that we shouldn't have gone into space until we feed every person on the planet. Some people have strengths other than giving hygiene kits or delivering rations to starving areas of the world. Why can we not use what we're best at (programming skills) to help out the poor in another way?
May I ask what the writer of this FUD has been doing to help the starving? You shouldn't be wasting your time writing anything, after all -- it's taking time away that you could be donating food to the hypothetical mud-hut-dwelling Africans.
http://ceasarscasinolive.com/
http://www.amazinggamblingsystems.com/
http://www.gamblinggates.com/
President Bush was right...the human/animal hybrids are coming! (well, human/plant...but you get my idea!)
But seriously, I'd like to offer some words of wisdom:
We hold life to be sacred, but we also know the foundation of life consists in a stream of codes not so different from the successive frames of a watchvid. Why then cannot we cut one code short here, and start another there? Is life so fragile that it can withstand no tampering? Does the sacred brook no improvement?
Chairman Sheng-ji Yang
"Dynamics of Mind"
Why do you insist that the human genetic code is "sacred" or "taboo"? It is a chemical process and nothing more. For that matter -we- are chemical processes and nothing more. If you deny yourself a useful tool simply because it reminds you uncomfortably of your mortality, you have uselessly and pointlessly crippled yourself.
Chairman Sheng-ji Yang
"Looking God in the Eye"
If you're going to get in trouble for playing games at work, then don't have it be Solitaire. As Maddox said, Solitaire is a waste of time. It's a mindless boring game.
I mean, at least do something brain-building like Minesweeper -- that way if you're caught you can say that you're improving your analytical skills or something.
Oh, please...the company didn't "disappear from teh interwebs." It disappeared from Google's page. That's analogous to saying that removing a link to something on Slashdot is removing it from the Internet. Why should Google not have the right to decide what gets put on its own site?
...in Soviet Russia, Flash mutes YOU!
...I think that Flash is one of the worst things to happen to the Web. Maybe it's just frustration, but do we really need to slowly fading buttons on a corporate website?
"It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grammes a week. And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grammes a week. "
The family that slays together stays together.
Speaking of realistic, why haven't we seen any video games with Amazons in them that have cut off one of their breasts?
Yeah, Yeesha is pretty cool...a crazy spiritualistic nut in the games, but cool nonetheless.
My thoughts exactly -- if you want more politically correct gender roles in video games...make your own game. Don't just whine about it to developers.
It's because everyone's been told that "you can't hit girls," and so they obviously won't receive as much damage, making armor unneeded. In fact, to get not hit even more, they emphasize their feminine traits, so no one will mistake them for a male and accidentally hit them.
Because the women ranting about sexism in video games don't have them. Maybe we should have FPS's that have the male main character talk out his feelings with the aliens he's shooting. Or make the cheerleaders in the Super Bowl be "intelligent, strong, and powerful."
Linux is about choice, and ideas about a unified distro run contrary to what it's all about.
Here's a good essay on why this is: http://www.psychocats.net/essays/unifiedlinux.php
I played around with this at CompUSA once, and while it's an interesting idea, there's one big flaw: that tiny remote is not only easy to lose (I dropped it behind the display area!), but it magnetically sticks to only ONE part of the monitor, and not in the most intuitive section (it was on the right side, which is bad for a sinistral fellow like myself, and it was too far down on the monitor when one expects to stick it higher up).
Freedom fries?
Wait...That won't work, since it's about free-as-in-freedom software...
Free-as-in-beer fries!
People BUY VMWare? O_o
I agree that it could be dangerous...they'd be fighting him on his own turf.
Being an avid Myst fan myself, I was hit hard by the collapse of Uru Live in February 2004, then the fact that Cyan seemed to deteriorate due to financial pressures...and now this. 'Tis a shame -- while I have nothing against violent videogames (I love Halo immensely), Myst was able to create a new kind of game. And the fan support has been amazing; the Myst community is one of the most closely-knit ones I've ever seen. Shorah, Cyan, and may the ending never be written.
I hate to post a "yeah, that," but as one who is increasingly becoming disenchanted with Microsoft products and wishes to move into the open-source field more, I have found interface to be a big issue for OSS, something which is one of the main contributors, I believe, to the sharp learning curve for OSS. Of course, much of that learning curve is inevitable, but a good UI will make people feel much more comfortable, and, when they get open source software, they'll stick with it.
Now all the whiny politicians will latch onto this article and talk about how video games are sexual training exercises. Won't somebody think of the children?!?!
Perhaps it should be mentioned that it's odd that Homeland Security said that it's best to use an alternative to IE, and the same government is requiring IE.