Dude, Galactica falling from the sky, launching Vipers through the fire of atmospheric reentry is what I would call "fun". Maybe I'm just a nihilist...
I think they're banking on being able to fabricate materials with the needed strength by the time the get the kinks worked out of the climber. Kind of a "work on what you can right now" thing. I don't think it's a complete waste, because as more organizations get involved it might lead to unexpected but cool developments.
That when you own a computer you have other things to spend your money on? Like your ISP? Software? Games? Video Doctor CD-ROMS? Porn Sites? If someone was spending $50 a month in disposable income, I could totally see spending $7.50 less a month just as a result of owning a PC.
I'm assuming that you've actually checked the power supply to make sure that it's putting out consistent power, considering how some brands of motherboards are notoriously sensitive to fluctuations.
that the CEA is neither a grandmother that has never owned a computer nor an aging member of a washed out metal band; maybe if the CEA chairman dressed up as one of those he could trick them into talking to him.
My mom's been blind since birth and she's a braille speedreader...and she prefers for things that have audio. She has had talking calculators (the one she had in the '80s was the same model that The Pet Shop Boys sampled in "Two Divided by Zero"); talking clocks; talking fluid level meters (hang it on the side of the cup and it tells you when it's full); tape machines for listening to books on tape from the Library for the Blind; a JAWS card, scanner and screenreading software for her PC, an iPod nano for books...you name it. Through my work I have an account with a library in New Jersey that offers audio book downloads from a collection and I gave her access, she loves it. I'm gonna send her and my dad the link to this, it's perfect for her.
When I was younger and in the Marines, my vision was measured as 20/15. I could see things at a distance of 20 feet with the same acuity as someone with 20/20 vision has to be at a distance of 15 feet to see.
I was (and am) not:
1) Farsighted 2) Nearsighted 3) Myopic 4) In need of glasses or contact lenses
Sorry, but you're wrong on this; 20/10 or 20/15 indicates better visual acuity and is independent of any other visual deficiencies such as near or farsightedness
Given my experience recently working with Florida school districts, it's surprising they could figure out how to vote. And I'm not talking experience with the students, I'm talking about the backwards-ass administrators.
I did the whole certification thing, but that didn't help me get the job I have today. At best I learned a whole bunch of stuff I didn't know that I've now forgotten and at worst they're pretty useless...but I don't think it's hurting me particularly. If anything, my fiances mother (who has a BA in Computer Science) has hurt herself because she feels that she shouldn't have to take an entry level job because she has the degree (but no experience). It's all about knowing your limitations and doing what it takes to overcome or improve them and not being hung up on a certificate or degree.
There's s threshold where games can start to take themselves too seriously, and I think this was in the subtext of the editorial.
The original Half Life comes out and it's fantastic - there's the feeling that there is a larger world, there's more going on than running around shooting creepy things that look like animated Thanksgiving turkeys. You can't interact meaningfully with the environment, or the characters, but what little interaction there is has some character to it.
People love it, and they start adding to it, and theorizing about it. It generates mods and fan fiction. So when Valve creates Half Life 2, they incorporate some of those things into the game, as well asthrow in all kinds of cool stuff that the latest technology allows you to do.
And in throwing all this stuff in, somehow it loses it's magic. It seems too contrived and almost takes on the air of, "Ha! Here's the little details we didn't tell you about until now, see how cool we are in our mysteriosity?".
So, yes the graphics and the gameplay and the moddability in HL2 are a great improvement over the original. Yet I've still only played HL2 once...and I must have played HL over a dozen times (the same goes for Thief and Thief: Deadly Shadows...I've played Thief probably 20 times, but T:DS only once). I liken it to the experience a lot of people have with, say, Basic D&D vs. D&D 3e - sure, D&D 3e is a better game but it can't help a 30-something gamer relive his early teens playing Basic D&D in exactly the same way. Even going back to Basic D&D there's a sense of discovery that can't be regained.
An instructor of mine was working on a study that was related to this in a way. The premise was that a combination of diet, health factors, social factors, external stimulus were contributing to children hitting puberty earlier and earlier, with an extended period of adolescence - which made it extremely difficult for anyone to abstain from having sex.
It went something like in the 20s, most people were marrying at 17 or 18, but not reaching puberty until 15 or 16. They only had to wait a couple years at most before they could start hitting it and not be a disgrace to their family. As the years progressed, the average age that people married got older, but the age they hit puberty got younger. Now, if I'm recalling correctly, the average age that an American kid begins puberty is 10, but the average age that they get married is in the mid-20s. That's over a decade of abstinence if "saving yourself for marriage" is your bag - compared to your grandparents or greatgrandparents who only had to wait a couple of years to be "respectable".
the RIAA identified more than one "Marie Lindor". Or she was a victim of identity theft, but I think the first case is more likely. They filed suit against either just her, or all of them. And they will claim to their graves that their system of identifying users is flawless. "We can identify the user who is assigned to an IP address with 100% certainty!", they cry. Yeah, except when the person assigned to the IP address is the guy with the unsecured WiFi across the street from the person leeching off of it, who is doing the real downloading.
Slashdot Mirror
How do you get 15 minutes of content if there were 10 and they averaged 3-5 minutes apiece ?? It's more like a whole extra episode.
Dude, Galactica falling from the sky, launching Vipers through the fire of atmospheric reentry is what I would call "fun". Maybe I'm just a nihilist...
I think they're banking on being able to fabricate materials with the needed strength by the time the get the kinks worked out of the climber. Kind of a "work on what you can right now" thing. I don't think it's a complete waste, because as more organizations get involved it might lead to unexpected but cool developments.
That when you own a computer you have other things to spend your money on? Like your ISP? Software? Games? Video Doctor CD-ROMS? Porn Sites? If someone was spending $50 a month in disposable income, I could totally see spending $7.50 less a month just as a result of owning a PC.
I'm assuming that you've actually checked the power supply to make sure that it's putting out consistent power, considering how some brands of motherboards are notoriously sensitive to fluctuations.
that the CEA is neither a grandmother that has never owned a computer nor an aging member of a washed out metal band; maybe if the CEA chairman dressed up as one of those he could trick them into talking to him.
My mom's been blind since birth and she's a braille speedreader...and she prefers for things that have audio. She has had talking calculators (the one she had in the '80s was the same model that The Pet Shop Boys sampled in "Two Divided by Zero"); talking clocks; talking fluid level meters (hang it on the side of the cup and it tells you when it's full); tape machines for listening to books on tape from the Library for the Blind; a JAWS card, scanner and screenreading software for her PC, an iPod nano for books...you name it. Through my work I have an account with a library in New Jersey that offers audio book downloads from a collection and I gave her access, she loves it. I'm gonna send her and my dad the link to this, it's perfect for her.
When I was younger and in the Marines, my vision was measured as 20/15. I could see things at a distance of 20 feet with the same acuity as someone with 20/20 vision has to be at a distance of 15 feet to see.
I was (and am) not:
1) Farsighted
2) Nearsighted
3) Myopic
4) In need of glasses or contact lenses
Sorry, but you're wrong on this; 20/10 or 20/15 indicates better visual acuity and is independent of any other visual deficiencies such as near or farsightedness
Given my experience recently working with Florida school districts, it's surprising they could figure out how to vote. And I'm not talking experience with the students, I'm talking about the backwards-ass administrators.
I did the whole certification thing, but that didn't help me get the job I have today. At best I learned a whole bunch of stuff I didn't know that I've now forgotten and at worst they're pretty useless...but I don't think it's hurting me particularly. If anything, my fiances mother (who has a BA in Computer Science) has hurt herself because she feels that she shouldn't have to take an entry level job because she has the degree (but no experience). It's all about knowing your limitations and doing what it takes to overcome or improve them and not being hung up on a certificate or degree.
Found a picture on someone's Flickr thingy...that sure does look like a pyramid: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samwalker/123132855/
I didn't say who they were or cast any value judgement on the belief, I just mentioned that not everyone agrees.
Apparently not everyone agrees.
There's s threshold where games can start to take themselves too seriously, and I think this was in the subtext of the editorial. The original Half Life comes out and it's fantastic - there's the feeling that there is a larger world, there's more going on than running around shooting creepy things that look like animated Thanksgiving turkeys. You can't interact meaningfully with the environment, or the characters, but what little interaction there is has some character to it. People love it, and they start adding to it, and theorizing about it. It generates mods and fan fiction. So when Valve creates Half Life 2, they incorporate some of those things into the game, as well asthrow in all kinds of cool stuff that the latest technology allows you to do. And in throwing all this stuff in, somehow it loses it's magic. It seems too contrived and almost takes on the air of, "Ha! Here's the little details we didn't tell you about until now, see how cool we are in our mysteriosity?". So, yes the graphics and the gameplay and the moddability in HL2 are a great improvement over the original. Yet I've still only played HL2 once...and I must have played HL over a dozen times (the same goes for Thief and Thief: Deadly Shadows...I've played Thief probably 20 times, but T:DS only once). I liken it to the experience a lot of people have with, say, Basic D&D vs. D&D 3e - sure, D&D 3e is a better game but it can't help a 30-something gamer relive his early teens playing Basic D&D in exactly the same way. Even going back to Basic D&D there's a sense of discovery that can't be regained.
An instructor of mine was working on a study that was related to this in a way. The premise was that a combination of diet, health factors, social factors, external stimulus were contributing to children hitting puberty earlier and earlier, with an extended period of adolescence - which made it extremely difficult for anyone to abstain from having sex. It went something like in the 20s, most people were marrying at 17 or 18, but not reaching puberty until 15 or 16. They only had to wait a couple years at most before they could start hitting it and not be a disgrace to their family. As the years progressed, the average age that people married got older, but the age they hit puberty got younger. Now, if I'm recalling correctly, the average age that an American kid begins puberty is 10, but the average age that they get married is in the mid-20s. That's over a decade of abstinence if "saving yourself for marriage" is your bag - compared to your grandparents or greatgrandparents who only had to wait a couple of years to be "respectable".
the RIAA identified more than one "Marie Lindor". Or she was a victim of identity theft, but I think the first case is more likely. They filed suit against either just her, or all of them. And they will claim to their graves that their system of identifying users is flawless. "We can identify the user who is assigned to an IP address with 100% certainty!", they cry. Yeah, except when the person assigned to the IP address is the guy with the unsecured WiFi across the street from the person leeching off of it, who is doing the real downloading.