It wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that MTV execs are as frustrated by the lack of music programming on the network as we are. If music shows and videos were what made them money, then that's what they'd broadcast. I'd be willing to bet that being part of the liaison between MTV and Harmonix is a plum assignment.
Disney has always been a diversified company. For years the highest grossing movie made under the Disney umbrella was "Pretty Woman." "Good Morning, Vietnam," "The Golden Girls," and "Home Improvement" are all Disney properties. So are Pixar, ESPN and a line of cruise ships. ABC was one of the first television networks to embrace internet broadcasting; practically all their shows are available online at no cost. They're not anti-innovation.
Disney has long been in the comic book business, with a history going back to the fifties. Now, to be certain, their content has never been superhero oriented, but they're no strangers to the world of periodical publishing. The kneejerk reaction is that Marvel's going to be ruined because DIsney is synonymous with sanitized, milquetoast family entertainment.
At its core, however, Disney is a media company. The lions share of their business is in movies, television and music: three segments that are in a tremendous upheaval right now. The past five years have seen amazing changes in the way we get our entertainment. iPods and iPhones, torrents and DVRs were marginal technologies just earlier this decade. Imagine what's going to change in the next five. This is much less a creative acquisition than it is a business decision.
The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj was world event that took place in World of Warcraft in late 2005 and early 2006. Access to new content was locked away from players until a number of goals were achieved, including a long chain of quests that culminated in the piecing together of a staff that could open the gate.
Everything I know about Ahn'Qiraj comes from what I've read, since I didn't start playing the game until 2008. Based on descriptions and forum postings the event appears to have been widely enjoyed. Starting earlier this year, new servers that are added to the game come with the gate already open, so there won't be any more opportunities for players to take part in the war effort.
In retrospect, what is Blizzard's impression of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj and are there any plans to create similar realm-wide events in the future?
I don't know about you, but I pay for my Internet access, and I rather like the idea of controlling what gets downloaded onto my computer and what doesn't.
The problem there, however, is that you're paying one company for access but expecting a different company to supply you content. The only way your argument makes sense is if your ISP is providing your content, too. Sounds like AOL, which admittedly works for a lot of people. I think most Slashdot users would get bored with it pretty quickly, though.
Even better would be to ferry the cars along those rails so you can drive as needed once you reach your destination. Paying for the train then having to rent a car because your final destination is too far from the stations is silly, and that's one reason many people just drive the whole way.
Exactly! Unless and until the urban cores of places that the train stops can support not having a car to get around, this seems like a perfect solution.
Amtrak actually has one route that works this way: the Auto Train. It only works between the DC area and Orlando, non-stop, but for about a hundred bucks one-way you save yourself the cost of a plane fare plus a rental car, not to mention the drive down I-95. And, as the Wikipedia article states, "The train grossed $49,351,664 in ticket revenue in Fiscal Year 2006, making it Amtrak's highest grossing single train. With total expenses of $62.1 million, it is Amtrak's best-paying long distance train in terms of income in comparison with operating expenses."
We already have a working, proven solution in the United States to make this happen. All we need to do now is expand it.
Okay, the one person in my family who knows more about the changeover than anyone else is my wife's grandmother. They must be advertising the swap all the time on things she watches. Since Christmas she's been asking everyone she comes across whether or not they've got their coupon and are ready for the swap. Can't speak for the latter, but in my sample size of one, the elderly are extremely well informed.
Here's an article describing exactly what you're talking about. From TFA:
A computer sends an image to the field, where it is distributed among 1,750 interconnected square trays, 7.5 feet on a side, that host their own light processing circuitry. Thousands of blades of polyethylene grass, blended with optical fibers, reflect light upward from the trays. It's like a computer monitor that you can walk on. A football field would have 128 million pixels, which works out to 1,280 per square foot. In pixels per square foot it can't hold a candle to your television set; in total pixels it's well ahead.
...
Nicholls says the lit-up fields are still two years away from commercialization
It's nice that Best Buy decided to provide this as a service to its customers. The concern, though, is that if they use a credit card for anything other than obtaining money, then in all likelihood they've still got that card number lying around somewhere. That means that any hacker with a grudge against Best Buy (!) has the ability to get my perhaps improperly secured card number and have a field day.
As far as I'm concerned, it's a matter of risk vs. reward.
I'm one of a handful of WoW players that focuses on the roleplay aspects of the game. I interact with other players in-character and write original fan fiction using my characters and the Warcraft universe.
( Minor spoilers for "Wrath of the Lich King's" Borean Tundra and Dragonblight zones follow )
In one quest, my character was asked to capture an enemy sorcerer and bring him back to the questgiver. On my return, I was directed to torture the NPC by clicking on an item I was given. At that moment I had an in-character choice to make: is this the sort of thing my character would actually do? I had the opportunity to walk away. The cost of doing so would have been the reward for completing that particular quest as well as any rewards from later quests in that chain.
In the end, I chose for my character to go through with what was asked. Each time I used the item, the NPC reacted in pain. The first time his response was defiant, the second time his response was bargaining, the third time his response was pleading. He was given the information he wanted, the information was accurate, and it led to the rescue of a captured prisoner.
In a later quest, my character was instructed to kill another enemy wizard. In this instance, one of the items dropped by the enemy was a bundle of letters, identifying her as the daughter of an important NPC and revealing that she was a covert agent infiltrating and sabotaging the enemy organization. In essence, by following instructions given by a "good guy," my character helped out the "bad guys."
I'm not that far into the content of "Wrath," but I'm struck so far by the gray areas in which the opposing sides work. As a player, I would love for there to be consequences to my character having chosen to do both those quests. Of course I can work that into my writing as a roleplayer, but it would be fantastic for there to be in-game ramifications as well.
In the 1950's, the corporate share of taxes was about 50%. Citizens paid half, corporations paid half. Nope. There's no such thing as a corporate share of taxes. There's no such thing as corporate taxes. Corporate taxes are just a cost of doing business, and the cost of a good or service gets passed on to the customer. As this article puts it:
Economists see corporate taxation in a different light from most people. They note that a company is actually just a legal paper entity, not a person. The cost of corporate taxes, they say, is passed on to real people - shareholders, employees, consumers - through lower dividends, trimmed wages, or higher prices for their products and services. The only good thing about integrating tax into the cost of a good is that you, as the consumer, have the option to avoid that tax by not buying that item. Of course, that assumes the tax is placed on items you can live without.
Is there anything that could be done to stop an impact if we were to see one coming? Aside from sending Bruce Willis up in a pair of Space Shuttles, of course. What's the value of having an accurate map?
If this were happening in a government agency, there would rightly be cries of conflict of interest. So much for the "perfection" of the free market over the ebil gubbermint...
Yep, there would be cries of conflict of interest. There would be committee meetings, inquiries, perhaps a grand jury or two. There would be years of investigation by a special prosecutor. The talk shows would have fodder for weeks. Then, in the end, some low-level deputy would be reprimanded. All this done at a taxpayer-funded cost of thousands.
On the other hand, you personally can stop shopping at Sears. You can teach your friends what's going on and advise them to stop shopping at Sears. It may not destroy the company, but neither will slapping the wrist of the underling in the above example. With hard work and some luck, you could lead a charge that punishes the people who deserve punishment.
On the other other hand, you could decide that internet abuse isn't worth the trouble, and keep this in mind next time you're looking to buy a drill or a refrigerator. If that's the case, I thank you on behalf of all us other taxpayers whose money you saved.
The world's largest known underground lake is Lost Sea, in Tennessee between Chattanooga and Knoxville. It's worth stopping off if you're ever in the area.
Back in the 1970's, a group of divers tried to map the lake. The bubbles from their air tanks dislodged so much debris from the ceilings of the caves that they were unable to complete the project. I wonder if something like this robot would be able to finish the job.
Of course we're genetically hardwired to believe in supernatural deities. That's so the Vorlons, who appear to us as angels, can use the human telepaths they've also been engineering in their upcoming war against the Shadows. Manipulative bastards.
My previous job was the first time I'd been asked to submit a code example. The interview focused quite a bit on object oriented technique, and they told me that's what they'd like to see in my submitted code.
As it happens, the best example of OO technique I had done at that time was a version of Tetris I had programmed during my down time at my then-current job. I checked with my recruiter to get his opinion on whether or not it would be appropriate, sent it in, and got the job.
Don't think that your code needs to be related to the business of the job you're after, or really even business related at all. Interviewers are just looking to see that you have the ability you claim.
Does anyone know how the systems are marketed in Asia? For example, in Japan is the new system called a "pee-ess-three" or is it transliterated somehow? I could see some cute marketing come out of translating the digit into Japanese, giving "PS-san."
If I understand TFA correctly, the idea is that the device calculates the rate of the ball by knowing its position at two given times. At that point, predicting the landing point of the ball is as easily as distance = rate x time.
The reason this works in roulette is that it's one of the few games that the players are allowed to place their bets once the game has already started:
Repeat
The dealer opens the table for bets
Players place bets
The dealer spins the ball {Players continue to place bets}
The dealer closes the table for bets
The ball lands
Losing bets are raked off the table (a.k.a. Profit!)
Winning bets are played out
Until 0=1
By doing this instead:
Repeat
The dealer opens the table for bets
Players place bets
The dealer closes the table for bets
The dealer spins the ball
The ball lands
Losing bets are raked off the table (a.k.a. Profit!)
Winning bets are played out
Until 0=1
The device no longer works. Why would a casino not want to do this? Because the more bets that are placed, the more money they make. If the casino has to wait for all the bettors to finish placing before the ball is spun, fewer spins are made over the course of a day and therefore less money is made by the house.
Slashdot Mirror
"Extreme feminine beauty is always disturbing. -- Spock, "The Cloud Minders", stardate 5818.4"
It wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that MTV execs are as frustrated by the lack of music programming on the network as we are. If music shows and videos were what made them money, then that's what they'd broadcast. I'd be willing to bet that being part of the liaison between MTV and Harmonix is a plum assignment.
Disney has always been a diversified company. For years the highest grossing movie made under the Disney umbrella was "Pretty Woman." "Good Morning, Vietnam," "The Golden Girls," and "Home Improvement" are all Disney properties. So are Pixar, ESPN and a line of cruise ships. ABC was one of the first television networks to embrace internet broadcasting; practically all their shows are available online at no cost. They're not anti-innovation.
Disney has long been in the comic book business, with a history going back to the fifties. Now, to be certain, their content has never been superhero oriented, but they're no strangers to the world of periodical publishing. The kneejerk reaction is that Marvel's going to be ruined because DIsney is synonymous with sanitized, milquetoast family entertainment.
At its core, however, Disney is a media company. The lions share of their business is in movies, television and music: three segments that are in a tremendous upheaval right now. The past five years have seen amazing changes in the way we get our entertainment. iPods and iPhones, torrents and DVRs were marginal technologies just earlier this decade. Imagine what's going to change in the next five. This is much less a creative acquisition than it is a business decision.
The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj was world event that took place in World of Warcraft in late 2005 and early 2006. Access to new content was locked away from players until a number of goals were achieved, including a long chain of quests that culminated in the piecing together of a staff that could open the gate.
Everything I know about Ahn'Qiraj comes from what I've read, since I didn't start playing the game until 2008. Based on descriptions and forum postings the event appears to have been widely enjoyed. Starting earlier this year, new servers that are added to the game come with the gate already open, so there won't be any more opportunities for players to take part in the war effort.
In retrospect, what is Blizzard's impression of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj and are there any plans to create similar realm-wide events in the future?
You absolutely can mod the article off the main page. That's what those new plus and minus buttons to the left of the headline are for.
I don't know about you, but I pay for my Internet access, and I rather like the idea of controlling what gets downloaded onto my computer and what doesn't.
The problem there, however, is that you're paying one company for access but expecting a different company to supply you content. The only way your argument makes sense is if your ISP is providing your content, too. Sounds like AOL, which admittedly works for a lot of people. I think most Slashdot users would get bored with it pretty quickly, though.
Even better would be to ferry the cars along those rails so you can drive as needed once you reach your destination. Paying for the train then having to rent a car because your final destination is too far from the stations is silly, and that's one reason many people just drive the whole way.
Exactly! Unless and until the urban cores of places that the train stops can support not having a car to get around, this seems like a perfect solution.
Amtrak actually has one route that works this way: the Auto Train. It only works between the DC area and Orlando, non-stop, but for about a hundred bucks one-way you save yourself the cost of a plane fare plus a rental car, not to mention the drive down I-95. And, as the Wikipedia article states, "The train grossed $49,351,664 in ticket revenue in Fiscal Year 2006, making it Amtrak's highest grossing single train. With total expenses of $62.1 million, it is Amtrak's best-paying long distance train in terms of income in comparison with operating expenses."
We already have a working, proven solution in the United States to make this happen. All we need to do now is expand it.
How do you grind reputation with CmdrTaco anyway? And what are the faction rewards, Slashdot tabards?
Strangely enough, "The Straight Dope" on December 26, 2008, was about satellite collisions and tracking efforts.
Okay, the one person in my family who knows more about the changeover than anyone else is my wife's grandmother. They must be advertising the swap all the time on things she watches. Since Christmas she's been asking everyone she comes across whether or not they've got their coupon and are ready for the swap. Can't speak for the latter, but in my sample size of one, the elderly are extremely well informed.
Here's an article describing exactly what you're talking about. From TFA:
The date of the article is 11/27/2006.
It's nice that Best Buy decided to provide this as a service to its customers. The concern, though, is that if they use a credit card for anything other than obtaining money, then in all likelihood they've still got that card number lying around somewhere. That means that any hacker with a grudge against Best Buy (!) has the ability to get my perhaps improperly secured card number and have a field day.
As far as I'm concerned, it's a matter of risk vs. reward.
I'm one of a handful of WoW players that focuses on the roleplay aspects of the game. I interact with other players in-character and write original fan fiction using my characters and the Warcraft universe. ( Minor spoilers for "Wrath of the Lich King's" Borean Tundra and Dragonblight zones follow ) In one quest, my character was asked to capture an enemy sorcerer and bring him back to the questgiver. On my return, I was directed to torture the NPC by clicking on an item I was given. At that moment I had an in-character choice to make: is this the sort of thing my character would actually do? I had the opportunity to walk away. The cost of doing so would have been the reward for completing that particular quest as well as any rewards from later quests in that chain. In the end, I chose for my character to go through with what was asked. Each time I used the item, the NPC reacted in pain. The first time his response was defiant, the second time his response was bargaining, the third time his response was pleading. He was given the information he wanted, the information was accurate, and it led to the rescue of a captured prisoner. In a later quest, my character was instructed to kill another enemy wizard. In this instance, one of the items dropped by the enemy was a bundle of letters, identifying her as the daughter of an important NPC and revealing that she was a covert agent infiltrating and sabotaging the enemy organization. In essence, by following instructions given by a "good guy," my character helped out the "bad guys." I'm not that far into the content of "Wrath," but I'm struck so far by the gray areas in which the opposing sides work. As a player, I would love for there to be consequences to my character having chosen to do both those quests. Of course I can work that into my writing as a roleplayer, but it would be fantastic for there to be in-game ramifications as well.
No, no: it only self-cleans in sunlight. The world will still be safe from horrific visions of pasty naked geeks.
Is there anything that could be done to stop an impact if we were to see one coming? Aside from sending Bruce Willis up in a pair of Space Shuttles, of course. What's the value of having an accurate map?
Yep, there would be cries of conflict of interest. There would be committee meetings, inquiries, perhaps a grand jury or two. There would be years of investigation by a special prosecutor. The talk shows would have fodder for weeks. Then, in the end, some low-level deputy would be reprimanded. All this done at a taxpayer-funded cost of thousands.
On the other hand, you personally can stop shopping at Sears. You can teach your friends what's going on and advise them to stop shopping at Sears. It may not destroy the company, but neither will slapping the wrist of the underling in the above example. With hard work and some luck, you could lead a charge that punishes the people who deserve punishment.
On the other other hand, you could decide that internet abuse isn't worth the trouble, and keep this in mind next time you're looking to buy a drill or a refrigerator. If that's the case, I thank you on behalf of all us other taxpayers whose money you saved.
That's the perfection of the free market.
I, for one, welcome our three-toed banjo-pickin' overlords.
The world's largest known underground lake is Lost Sea, in Tennessee between Chattanooga and Knoxville. It's worth stopping off if you're ever in the area. Back in the 1970's, a group of divers tried to map the lake. The bubbles from their air tanks dislodged so much debris from the ceilings of the caves that they were unable to complete the project. I wonder if something like this robot would be able to finish the job.
Of course we're genetically hardwired to believe in supernatural deities. That's so the Vorlons, who appear to us as angels, can use the human telepaths they've also been engineering in their upcoming war against the Shadows. Manipulative bastards.
Yeah, well, a pint's a pound the world around.
My previous job was the first time I'd been asked to submit a code example. The interview focused quite a bit on object oriented technique, and they told me that's what they'd like to see in my submitted code.
As it happens, the best example of OO technique I had done at that time was a version of Tetris I had programmed during my down time at my then-current job. I checked with my recruiter to get his opinion on whether or not it would be appropriate, sent it in, and got the job.
Don't think that your code needs to be related to the business of the job you're after, or really even business related at all. Interviewers are just looking to see that you have the ability you claim.
Does anyone know how the systems are marketed in Asia? For example, in Japan is the new system called a "pee-ess-three" or is it transliterated somehow? I could see some cute marketing come out of translating the digit into Japanese, giving "PS-san."
If I understand TFA correctly, the idea is that the device calculates the rate of the ball by knowing its position at two given times. At that point, predicting the landing point of the ball is as easily as distance = rate x time.
The reason this works in roulette is that it's one of the few games that the players are allowed to place their bets once the game has already started:
Repeat
Until 0=1
By doing this instead:
Repeat
Until 0=1
The device no longer works. Why would a casino not want to do this? Because the more bets that are placed, the more money they make. If the casino has to wait for all the bettors to finish placing before the ball is spun, fewer spins are made over the course of a day and therefore less money is made by the house.