I haven't seen one of my sci-fi favorites on here, a book that I believe to be on par with "1984" or "Fahrenheit 451", and that's "The Children of Men" by P.D. James. Particularly the opening description of a future world without posterity and therefore without out hope is truly striking. (It should be noted that the film, while quite good, has almost nothing to do with the book). Another thing to consider would be to incorporate some Graphic Novels into the mix. "V for Vendetta" would be a good choice here.
For all of you Gilbert and Sullivan fans out there: "If someday it should happen that a victim must be found, I've got a little list, I've got a little list...."
Bought, unused time is the way that the phone companies make their profit, whether it be with dozens of unused minutes you have leftover at the end of the month, or the 59 seconds you bought but didn't use because you phone call lasted 61. It's an arbitrage opportunity. The point is that if they free up 59 seconds of airtime even though you've paid for it, they can do the same with the next guy, and they next. Ultimately, if you have 60 people make 61 second phone calls, that second minute of airtime made them 60x the amount of profit as if people had actually been using it.
The 15 second message is a way of pushing you closer to that magic 61 second mark, and I would imagine the length of that message (and thus the reason it still has that stupid "page this person" option) is calculated to set the average call length to leave a message right at the point where it's most profitable to them.
I'd be willing to say that *ALL* of the "Quest" games could use some revival. King's Quest, Quest for Glory, Police Quest (pre-SWAT days), Space Quest, those were my bread-and-butter growing up. I'd love to go back to any of those worlds.
I'd particularly like to take on the Vorpal Bunnies in QFG4 again. Obvious, but hilarious reference.
I have to say that I reject your theory that ion engines are low-thrust, since I happen to know for a fact that a single-man spacecraft with a Twin Ion Engine is capable of 1,200 km/hr and an acceleration of 4,100 G. Please refer to: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/TIE/ln_starfighter Thank you for your time. Let's keep things grounded in reality, people!
This is interesting, actually. I think a lot of it may be poor word-of-mouth. My father lives in a small, rural town of 750 people, goodness knows how far from a DSL node. One of his friends got a DSL line and then complained to Dad how the speed wasn't much different. Ever since, trying to convince Dad to get some kind of broadband solution has been impossible.
For my money, I'd recommend (as many others have) Design Patterns by the Gang of Four. The Mythical Man-Month is also good reading. However, for a general essay on User Interfaces, I recommend The Inmates are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper.
Just for a kick-ass read (required reading in my university's Ethics and Computing course) check out The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll.
Or put a slightly different way: "Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job." -Douglas Adams
Hear here! One of the most accessible Science books I've ever read. Strange, though, that even though this (and for that matter "Cosmos") were both NY Times Best-Sellers, they would be left off. Perhaps Hawking and Sagan weren't quite beatnik enough for the EW guys.
A co-worker of mine (I work for a major financial corporation) had an old NeXT box running underneath his desk. Well, one day, while he was out sick, the box started whirring like an anemic helicopter. Drove me nuts, and half of the floor. Finally, someone said, "Just turn it off." So I did. The next day, he came back, confused as to why it was off, and turned it back on, but while he was at lunch, the noise started up again. So I turned it off again. This continued at least twice more.
All the while, on the other side of the building, people were going absolutely bananas. Red lights were going off, everything was dying. What I hadn't realized was that this underpowered little machine was running an antiquated operating system was actually running a critical documentation generating program. My co-worker was convinced that the power supply was just going out on it, I was convinced it was trying to slowly drive me mad, and the financial honchos were quite convinced that the Apocalypse had come.:)
I hate to be the one to inform you of this, but Blizzard has never been one to be accused of milking anything. Shoot, their new games come out every 3 years. Mass producing games has never been their strategy (take note, EA). Instead they polish for so long we get itchy waiting for new ones to come out.
One thing that we need to remember is that censorship and rating are two radically different things. This system, as I understand it, is simply to add a rating system similar to the movie system or the grossly over-simplified music system. No one is preventing the publication of the smut, they are simply helping to make sure that the material which is inappropriate is less accessible to those to whom it could be detremental (and if you want to try and argue that porn is actually good for kids, go right ahead. I sincerely hope you don't garner much support).
Personally, I don't see why those who publish materials are so unwilling to take responsibility for its content. It seems strange that we should cower behind "it's art" rather than plainly and simply admitting what our published content contains. If there's really no problem, then why are you afraid to say what's there? If you're going to be an avant-guarde artiste, starting a world revolution that will expand and extend the human consciousness and understanding beyond any previous boundary, then what do you care if there's a rating on it? It's gonna change the world, right? In the words of Bill Cosby, "riiiiiiight!"
There's a very simple solution to this, and I wonder if Sony's thought of it:
Get into the software business. Pirated UMDs are already available. They can be burnt on a regular CD/DVD burner. Why doesn't Sony create some software that will let you copy from a PS1 Disc (which is just a CD anyway) and then burn it onto a UMD disc in your home burner? Sell it for 39.95 a piece. Make a fortune. Make people happy. Quadruple your PSP game library for the cost of developing one more title. Sound like a plan?
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I haven't seen one of my sci-fi favorites on here, a book that I believe to be on par with "1984" or "Fahrenheit 451", and that's "The Children of Men" by P.D. James. Particularly the opening description of a future world without posterity and therefore without out hope is truly striking. (It should be noted that the film, while quite good, has almost nothing to do with the book). Another thing to consider would be to incorporate some Graphic Novels into the mix. "V for Vendetta" would be a good choice here.
For all of you Gilbert and Sullivan fans out there: "If someday it should happen that a victim must be found, I've got a little list, I've got a little list...."
Bought, unused time is the way that the phone companies make their profit, whether it be with dozens of unused minutes you have leftover at the end of the month, or the 59 seconds you bought but didn't use because you phone call lasted 61. It's an arbitrage opportunity. The point is that if they free up 59 seconds of airtime even though you've paid for it, they can do the same with the next guy, and they next. Ultimately, if you have 60 people make 61 second phone calls, that second minute of airtime made them 60x the amount of profit as if people had actually been using it. The 15 second message is a way of pushing you closer to that magic 61 second mark, and I would imagine the length of that message (and thus the reason it still has that stupid "page this person" option) is calculated to set the average call length to leave a message right at the point where it's most profitable to them.
I'd be willing to say that *ALL* of the "Quest" games could use some revival. King's Quest, Quest for Glory, Police Quest (pre-SWAT days), Space Quest, those were my bread-and-butter growing up. I'd love to go back to any of those worlds. I'd particularly like to take on the Vorpal Bunnies in QFG4 again. Obvious, but hilarious reference.
I have to say that I reject your theory that ion engines are low-thrust, since I happen to know for a fact that a single-man spacecraft with a Twin Ion Engine is capable of 1,200 km/hr and an acceleration of 4,100 G. Please refer to: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/TIE/ln_starfighter Thank you for your time. Let's keep things grounded in reality, people!
I can hear the sound of RIAA stormtroopers and attack dogs laying siege your house as we speak.
I'd settle for an AI that can say that 5 times fast.
This is interesting, actually. I think a lot of it may be poor word-of-mouth. My father lives in a small, rural town of 750 people, goodness knows how far from a DSL node. One of his friends got a DSL line and then complained to Dad how the speed wasn't much different. Ever since, trying to convince Dad to get some kind of broadband solution has been impossible.
And while you're at it, you can brush up your Scottish History by knocking back a few Highlander reruns.
For my money, I'd recommend (as many others have) Design Patterns by the Gang of Four. The Mythical Man-Month is also good reading. However, for a general essay on User Interfaces, I recommend The Inmates are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper. Just for a kick-ass read (required reading in my university's Ethics and Computing course) check out The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll.
37,964's enough to start a Federation right?
Well, I for one welcome our new litigious bastard overlords.
I tried to play it but my character just kept getting sucked into that black hole in level 2.
3.5.9 sounds a little suspicious. Don't we all remember what happened at Wolf 359? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_of_Both_Worlds_(TNG_episode)
Or put a slightly different way: "Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job." -Douglas Adams
Hear here! One of the most accessible Science books I've ever read. Strange, though, that even though this (and for that matter "Cosmos") were both NY Times Best-Sellers, they would be left off. Perhaps Hawking and Sagan weren't quite beatnik enough for the EW guys.
A co-worker of mine (I work for a major financial corporation) had an old NeXT box running underneath his desk. Well, one day, while he was out sick, the box started whirring like an anemic helicopter. Drove me nuts, and half of the floor. Finally, someone said, "Just turn it off." So I did. The next day, he came back, confused as to why it was off, and turned it back on, but while he was at lunch, the noise started up again. So I turned it off again. This continued at least twice more. All the while, on the other side of the building, people were going absolutely bananas. Red lights were going off, everything was dying. What I hadn't realized was that this underpowered little machine was running an antiquated operating system was actually running a critical documentation generating program. My co-worker was convinced that the power supply was just going out on it, I was convinced it was trying to slowly drive me mad, and the financial honchos were quite convinced that the Apocalypse had come. :)
Can you imagine the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing "Battle Hymn of the Republic" with a hundred million mile pipe organ! Sweet!!!
I hate to be the one to inform you of this, but Blizzard has never been one to be accused of milking anything. Shoot, their new games come out every 3 years. Mass producing games has never been their strategy (take note, EA). Instead they polish for so long we get itchy waiting for new ones to come out.
One thing that we need to remember is that censorship and rating are two radically different things. This system, as I understand it, is simply to add a rating system similar to the movie system or the grossly over-simplified music system. No one is preventing the publication of the smut, they are simply helping to make sure that the material which is inappropriate is less accessible to those to whom it could be detremental (and if you want to try and argue that porn is actually good for kids, go right ahead. I sincerely hope you don't garner much support). Personally, I don't see why those who publish materials are so unwilling to take responsibility for its content. It seems strange that we should cower behind "it's art" rather than plainly and simply admitting what our published content contains. If there's really no problem, then why are you afraid to say what's there? If you're going to be an avant-guarde artiste, starting a world revolution that will expand and extend the human consciousness and understanding beyond any previous boundary, then what do you care if there's a rating on it? It's gonna change the world, right? In the words of Bill Cosby, "riiiiiiight!"
Isn't that sort of like Telly Savales admitting that he's bald?
Gosh darn it, I paid $4000 for this Zero-G Mattress and all I get is muscle loss.
There's a very simple solution to this, and I wonder if Sony's thought of it: Get into the software business. Pirated UMDs are already available. They can be burnt on a regular CD/DVD burner. Why doesn't Sony create some software that will let you copy from a PS1 Disc (which is just a CD anyway) and then burn it onto a UMD disc in your home burner? Sell it for 39.95 a piece. Make a fortune. Make people happy. Quadruple your PSP game library for the cost of developing one more title. Sound like a plan?
Date? What is this "date" of which you speak?
There's a Dr. Evil joke here somewhere....