Indeed. My main argument against supporting these patches is that the modding community, that is more than eager to create great new content free of charge, just for their love of the game, will not be supplied with adequate tools (such as an extractor) to create new content, because it could rival those Bethesda puts forth.
Oblivion is such a great game, I am sure they will make enough money from it alone for a long time - why introduce a scam like this that just alienates most people - at least apart from those that are misled into believing this will 'support' the company that produced their beloved game. Real support will stem from the game sales themselves (and its 'real' expansions) and even more from the people creating mods that enhance the game and make it even more popular - just look at what the Counter Strike mod did to Half-Life.
..shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again. (old Tennessee saying -scnr)
If people weren't notified right away that their moderation wouldn't count, but, say, a day later this could really work on some people; they'd be moderating all say.;)
A more elaborate verion of this idea would be to seemingly allow *every* slashdotter to post news which would even show up on the(ir modified local) main page.
More like "Hasta la vista!" - I'm still wondering how they came up with THAT name; maybe they'll have that message pop up, replacing the infamous BSODs, before rebooting.
Re:The backup issue could be solved like this
on
Region-free PS3
·
· Score: 1
"Just include a second CD/DVD labled 'Backup' in the box, the additional cost should be negligible" What a brilliant Idea, now I will just borrow my friends' "Backup"...
True. There is not a big difference between the legal backup and the illegal copy. My method eliminates the need for users to make private backups. Whether or not they want to copy/use their games illegally is another problem and needs to be addressed by solutions (such as activating the game online/through the telephone).
The backup issue could be solved like this
on
Region-free PS3
·
· Score: 1
Just include a second CD/DVD labled 'Backup' in the box, the additional cost should be negligible. Then if the original dies the buyer can go with it to the store and request a replacement; the shop owner would order these directly from the game manufacturer. Until it arrives people can play with the 'Backup'.
Minimal additional cost for Sony (or the game producer) - especially since this wouldn't happen that often - and it eliminates the need for the user to make/copy their own backups.
Can't... fit.. into.. mind.. Sony DRM.. Linux free software.. Sony Rootkit... Linux Opensource... Sony big fat corporation.. Linux community of nerds and cyberpunks... my head.. ahhh the pain.... *splat*
(Janitor) "Ah, not again! I hate wiping brains off the monitors.. someone block this slashdot site!"
maybe he didn't really care for all this glamour..
on
Green Geek Beer
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· Score: 1
and just wanted to be a lumberjack lee[ing from tree to tree, who sleeps all night and works all day and likes to put on women's clothing and hang around in bars...
I have to demystify a myth also... team red claims that Series 7 can't handle both HDR and antialiasing at the same time. That's only partly true... NVIDIA's series 7 product can do so for sure yet they use another method. Here's the issue, G7x hardware does not support multisample antialiasing with fp16 render targets. The G7x series however can support AA with HDR through a variety of other methods, including supersampling, and application specific implementation. Now in more simple terms explained.. NVIDIA does supports multi sampling with HDR when HDR is handled by shaders and (and not by floating point 16 buffer)
Now be an idiot and click OK to let me steal your info.
Yes indeed - this could work (maybe with a little different phrasing for the humoristically challenged users). It could be incorporated simply by using a Greasemonkey script. It won't noticably 'bloat' up the browser for most users: normal users won't notice a big difference, and 'power users' would have Greasemonkey installed anyway - so they would just need to disable the script and be happy.
I prefer this approach to 'hard-wiring' such a feature. Might be even better than a fork (FF versions "safe and sluggish" & "fast and furious").
Ahh! - For a split-second this post's icons looked to me as if someone guillotined Einstein and held up his head. The horror! To see it on slashdot..
I'd say the most dangerous idea is the sentiment of (far too) many people nowadays that science and rational thought is too complicated and doesn't give any real answers.
How about inventing a device to put into everybody's house (at least in the living room, maybe even the bed room) that, through some kind of electro-magnetic radiation or something, makes them more tranquil and less critical so it is easier to rule over them. Just think of the opportunities of such sort of devices - you could teach an entire population what (or who) is "good" or "bad" and you can pull off just about anything without the fear of being held responsible for your actions.
I shall call it "thought vehicle" or short TV. - Sounds good too.. I should patent this idea.
I always wondered - if Santa lives at the north pole why doesn't he look like an Eskimo?
How does he survive there wearing red clothes? Potential prey would spot him from miles away.
And now this worm thing..
I don't know - there are just so many things that just don't seem right with this fellow.. - But not to worry: thanks to Bush there shouldn't be a problem finding what this guy is up to.
I consider this legislation doubleplusungood as well and I surely hope parent hasn't posted this from Oceania, because even posting anonymously won't prevent BB from persecuting him for thoughtcrime.
This whole thing reminds me of ACDC's song "We're on a highway to hell", because... - oh hello there uniformed men - I was just posting on Slashdot, nothing to worry.. - aah let me go - neeed to keeep posting...
As for the other point in the grandparent - my post did not mention the average or the mean; what I wrote was The only way to counter this effect is to have a larger base of educated and critical thinking people in a society.. Granted, this base does not have to (actually as shown above "shouldn't") consist entirely of geeks, but at least of people who embrace rationality (or let's just say use the human mind) as a tool for problem solving and in matters of politics value facts over fiction.
I do realize that there is a variation in the ability to use the brain among humans, but I do believe that every human can be taught to use reason and to think critically.
Egoism may be the simplest solution, but it is not always the best solution. This is actually quite an interesting topic. If you like to know more about altruism and why it often enough is superiour to plain egoism check the Wikipedia pages on it, more specifically I found the Prisoner's dilemma to be quite a good article on it from a game-theory perspective.
Humans are, after all, social creatures (yes - even the Slashdotter in his mom's basement - would he be posting on Slashdot otherwise?). yes, selfishness is part of our nature, because it helped us survive in hard times on an individual level. But just in the same way humans have created a social sense - tasks such as hunting or defending you own life are more efficient in a group with defined roles and rules. Actually our moral system and all our values (honor, compassion, loyality, love etc.) evolved and are defined through human interaction.
There may be those people who will use their ellbows against anyone or anything to get ahaid, because that's what they've been taught, but they won't have a nice life (no matter how much they earn) - they will not have true friends and will never know what happiness really is; and many of them won't be clever enough to realize that before it's too late.
Oh yea, foreign language knowledge helps a lot - I love to use Wikipedia's left sidebar . On certain topics the English version of the page just doesn't cut it (or is a stub); the German part of Wikipedia for instance is usually top-notch (including the links sections).
I was speaking in absolute terms here: you can get more than 50% to cast their votes on an educated basis. Unfortunately, as you pointed out, the conventional mass media doesn't really help with that. They are too much focused on getting maximum profit with the least amount of effort and - since they are the mass media - they easily convince the people to pay it. There seems to be a trend to dumb down people.
Because of this in the long run the only thing which can make democracy work isn't 'rallying the clever people to vote' but to make the people in general cleverer so even the less educated 50% will know about e.g. Occam's razor or, say, Slashdot;).
This is why people like Socrates opposed democracy - lobbyists (i.e. people good at manipulating other people) can sway many of the less educated populace, which in ancient Greece (and actually all through history to this day) was the majority of citizens. And the worst part is that those lobbyists/demagogues/politicians etc. don't need to be very knowledgable themselves, they just need to be charismatic and very convincing. Socrates (and his disciple Plato) saw this as a huge danger for society (which would prove true often enough in history, take Hitler's rise to power as the most prominent example).
The only way to counter this effect is to have a larger base (i.e. at least more the 50%) of educated and critical thinking people in a society. And maybe for the first time in history we might have the chance to get closer to this goal.
Wikipedia is one of the greatest resources for knowledge on the web. Not necessarily for the contents of the articles, which obviously range from 'exceptionally well done' to 'nothing but a troll post', but for the links and sources that are supplied at the end of the page that will get you started in getting the "real" information.
In this respect Wikipedia is actually far more effient than any search engine, because ALL links will point to pages with information on the subject - filtering between 'good' and 'bad' webpages is quite straight forward. This approach will also give you a layer of redundancy which is required when doing good research on any topic.
Ah thank god it was Bill Gates. You all remember Ballmer's "Developers" video - imagine him in Bangalore doing the exact same thing - but due to the lack of air conditioning WITHOUT his shirt.;)
Slashdot Mirror
Indeed. My main argument against supporting these patches is that the modding community, that is more than eager to create great new content free of charge, just for their love of the game, will not be supplied with adequate tools (such as an extractor) to create new content, because it could rival those Bethesda puts forth.
Oblivion is such a great game, I am sure they will make enough money from it alone for a long time - why introduce a scam like this that just alienates most people - at least apart from those that are misled into believing this will 'support' the company that produced their beloved game. Real support will stem from the game sales themselves (and its 'real' expansions) and even more from the people creating mods that enhance the game and make it even more popular - just look at what the Counter Strike mod did to Half-Life.
If people weren't notified right away that their moderation wouldn't count, but, say, a day later this could really work on some people; they'd be moderating all say. ;)
A more elaborate verion of this idea would be to seemingly allow *every* slashdotter to post news which would even show up on the(ir modified local) main page.
More like "Hasta la vista!" - I'm still wondering how they came up with THAT name; maybe they'll have that message pop up, replacing the infamous BSODs, before rebooting.
True. There is not a big difference between the legal backup and the illegal copy. My method eliminates the need for users to make private backups. Whether or not they want to copy/use their games illegally is another problem and needs to be addressed by solutions (such as activating the game online/through the telephone).
Minimal additional cost for Sony (or the game producer) - especially since this wouldn't happen that often - and it eliminates the need for the user to make/copy their own backups.
(Janitor) "Ah, not again! I hate wiping brains off the monitors.. someone block this slashdot site!"
and just wanted to be a lumberjack lee[ing from tree to tree, who sleeps all night and works all day and likes to put on women's clothing and hang around in bars...
I see that as a sign of confidence. Writing an article without a spell-checker is like programming without a debugger. ;)
Yes indeed - this could work (maybe with a little different phrasing for the humoristically challenged users). It could be incorporated simply by using a Greasemonkey script. It won't noticably 'bloat' up the browser for most users: normal users won't notice a big difference, and 'power users' would have Greasemonkey installed anyway - so they would just need to disable the script and be happy.
I prefer this approach to 'hard-wiring' such a feature. Might be even better than a fork (FF versions "safe and sluggish" & "fast and furious").
In the Cartoon Bart is older AND taller than Lisa, though.
I don't want to sound like the comic book guy, but "attention to detail"?
"What? He says no backdoor in our upcoming Windows version?? - I'm going to f**ing kill that guy!"
..does it make the same sound as when Pacman dies?
How does this article (that doesn't even address the security issue) get on main page and stuff that really matters, like people getting screwed over by uncovering that voting machines malfunctioned doesn't? O tempora, o mores..
I'd say the most dangerous idea is the sentiment of (far too) many people nowadays that science and rational thought is too complicated and doesn't give any real answers.
I shall call it "thought vehicle" or short TV. - Sounds good too.. I should patent this idea.
How does he survive there wearing red clothes? Potential prey would spot him from miles away.
And now this worm thing..
I don't know - there are just so many things that just don't seem right with this fellow.. - But not to worry: thanks to Bush there shouldn't be a problem finding what this guy is up to.
This whole thing reminds me of ACDC's song "We're on a highway to hell", because... - oh hello there uniformed men - I was just posting on Slashdot, nothing to worry.. - aah let me go - neeed to keeep posting...
As for the other point in the grandparent - my post did not mention the average or the mean; what I wrote was The only way to counter this effect is to have a larger base of educated and critical thinking people in a society.. Granted, this base does not have to (actually as shown above "shouldn't") consist entirely of geeks, but at least of people who embrace rationality (or let's just say use the human mind) as a tool for problem solving and in matters of politics value facts over fiction.
I do realize that there is a variation in the ability to use the brain among humans, but I do believe that every human can be taught to use reason and to think critically.
Humans are, after all, social creatures (yes - even the Slashdotter in his mom's basement - would he be posting on Slashdot otherwise?). yes, selfishness is part of our nature, because it helped us survive in hard times on an individual level. But just in the same way humans have created a social sense - tasks such as hunting or defending you own life are more efficient in a group with defined roles and rules. Actually our moral system and all our values (honor, compassion, loyality, love etc.) evolved and are defined through human interaction.
There may be those people who will use their ellbows against anyone or anything to get ahaid, because that's what they've been taught, but they won't have a nice life (no matter how much they earn) - they will not have true friends and will never know what happiness really is; and many of them won't be clever enough to realize that before it's too late.
Oh yea, foreign language knowledge helps a lot - I love to use Wikipedia's left sidebar . On certain topics the English version of the page just doesn't cut it (or is a stub); the German part of Wikipedia for instance is usually top-notch (including the links sections).
Because of this in the long run the only thing which can make democracy work isn't 'rallying the clever people to vote' but to make the people in general cleverer so even the less educated 50% will know about e.g. Occam's razor or, say, Slashdot ;).
The only way to counter this effect is to have a larger base (i.e. at least more the 50%) of educated and critical thinking people in a society. And maybe for the first time in history we might have the chance to get closer to this goal.
In this respect Wikipedia is actually far more effient than any search engine, because ALL links will point to pages with information on the subject - filtering between 'good' and 'bad' webpages is quite straight forward. This approach will also give you a layer of redundancy which is required when doing good research on any topic.
Thank you, I'll be here all week.