Something even more sobering on this is that the Russian bomb was actually toned down. (It was a dial-a-yield multi-stage device) It was originally going to be 69 MT IIRC but some saner heads reminded them that a yield of that magnitude would make 1000's or square miles poisonous for decades if not centuries. My bet is on a fatman type bomb that fizzled due to bad detenators/wiring as that's the hardest part to get right in a single stage weapon. If they were crazy enough to try a multistage weapon I'd say contamination somehow in the 2nd stage or bad lenses (but they're not too hard to make so who knows). I don't believe it's conventional explosives though. It's really REALLY hard to detenate them with anything approaching enough precision to simulate a nuclear event and if you could do it why not just use a real nuke as they already had the material. You'll notice that historically with the exception of the MOAB it's always an accident that produces these kinds of explosions.
So my vote is a fizzle on a fatman type bomb. But IANANP... so YMMV.
I got my taste of over powerful hardware already...
I mean what's the point of a system so powerful that you simply can't peg it? I'll freey admit it's badass (I get my kicks from my clusters at work - gotta love power hungry IT managers!) But with graphics I just don't see the point. I bought a 6800GT when it first came out and I have to admit, I'm perfectly happy with it at 1024x768@85hz and mid to high detail on most games. I've yet to openly marvel at the better stuff in HL2,Q4,or F.E.A.R. since I'm usually too busy trying not to die! However... maybe there isn't a point and that's what makes hardware like this badass. In anycase NVIDIA all the way since getting ATI to work under linux can sometimes drive you to drink! (I don't know about you but I like to get what I pay for and I do with Nvidia not with ATI's stripped down drivers!)
Of course that's just my opinion I could be wrong.
I'm not so sure that groupthink is a good thing. Coordinated thinking, working as a team, whatever, is ok, but groupthink is sort of dangerous in a way. It's kind of similar to what happens in some AI/Neural Nets sims. A majority of the Automata get going in one direction, BUT the wrong one. Then the entire system follows because of the momentum. Sure there's some that "know" the right thing, but because such emphasis is placed on group cohesion and such, they still follow along. While this is a grossly simplified explanation it shows the point I'm trying to get across.
To use more real examples. Germany 1930.
As a country, there was genocide. On a typical individual level there were elements looking to stop the murder. What happened? Groupthink. Ala, 1984. Many followed the same "logic" as a delusional leader, and because the weight of his output (to borrow an AI term) was so high it overrode the good logic of many.
A good fictional example of this is Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex - 2ng Gig. Towards the end, everyone was on the path to civil war, and there was a player who knew *JUST* how to nudge and manipulate the public into thinking just the right thing to serve his needs.
Too fake?
Ok, let's look at the stock market crash of 1930 (I just love that time period). What happened there? Groupthink, but not in the traditional sense. A trend was started, and it caused a loss of confidence in the system so to speak and then what happened. EVERYONE DID THE SAME THING. They all stopped spending money. They saw their neighbor loss his money/job/Marklar, and figured I better hold on to my money in case it happens to me too. Same thing everyone else thought, not incorrect thinking, given their small view of the situation. However at a 10,000 foot view, you could see the train wreck coming. You see that could also be considered stand alone groupthink.
All said groupthink has its uses, just not in anything REALLY important.
Of course this is just my opinion... I could be wrong. But you all agree right;)
Please for the love of God learn what you're talking about. The fissile material in a nuclear device has ratios that tend to be particular to a type of reactor and with certain types even the section of the reactor. Thing about breeder reactors, for example, is that they have "hot spots". Places where you're certainly promised to get more Pu isotopes than other spots. This can be for a variety of reasons. The thing that makes this unique is that to change this you'd need to change the very structure of the reactor and it's hard to do that when you can't get anywhere near it (as in human hands can never touch it again). Robots stop being robots in high radiation enviorments and people simply break down REALLY quickly (much quicker than the movies ever show)in reactor core conditions. You see at 10,000+ rems nerves and such just stop, no pain, nothing, they just stop. At levels that high, suits don't matter anymore, it's simply game over. So for someone to hide the source of a nuclear blast by chaging the signature of the material, it's quite impossible, plus we can always check the fallout of this. Nuclear reactions are highly effiecent, but not 100%; so it's possible to figure it out. Can't say much more, but it's very interesting what you learn in some A-schools....
I read the article clearly before submitting it. I just think that he's trying to say he's not going to go for a sequal, and it makes sense. Too many main characters died and MAJOR story arcs were resolved.
And develops confidential code and 0-day exploits...
Perhaps he does lots of finance work...
Maybe he just values his privacy...
To assume someone with something to hide is simply wrong. Not to be offtopic but your reply is similar to the government's arguement that warrantless wiretapping is 'OK'. "If you're not hiding anything, you shouldn't care that we're listening."
Last time I checked we had violence on a scale never before captured in a game.
Let's see, "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquision!"
"Your son screamed like a girl when they nailed him to the cross!"
"Here's your 30 pieces."
"E tu Brutus?"
"You don't belong in this here town boy."
Those are all quotes of unspeakable violence, some from fiction and some from art, all inspired by the real thing historically. After RTFA I can also say that I grew up in a place like Liberty City where cops didn't come in anything less than squad strength. So I can tell you that GTA's violence means very little to me and the intense violence of the CS:source and the like mean very little to me. Does this mean I'm not sensitive to violence? Of course not, it means that I'm about to discern reality from fantasy. Before you say, "But what about those who can't?!", What about all those people in previous times who couldn't and as a result killed and ate people? Ok, so you say but what about kids? Well last time I checked, kids in other countries don't have the sheer amount of freedom that American kids do (divorcing your own parents?) and just maybe it's the parent's fault in not TEACHING REALITY FROM FANTASY. I'm not saying that kids shouldn't be responsible for their own actions but I am saying that kids should be taught. My leassons in violence came from seeing what a.22 and what a.45 would do in real life. I know that a body doesn't fly from a gunshot. I know that no doesn't mean yes. I know that a person doesn't shrug off a shot in the leg or arm. These lessons when taught at a young age will make certain reality is understodd. Harse? Yes. But so's life.
I have to agree, that little 0.1 kt wouldn't do shit. The LD/50 is about 500m assuming a stagnant wind. Beyond that LD decreases on a logarithmic scale. Those in the immediate blast area would live about 12 hours as walking dead and the others in the outer rings of the blast would not far so well in the immediate time as low to moderate radiation poisoning tends to take you out with a quickness but the high dose victims are what are called walking dead (1-2 days at the most). Considering all of that plus one other HUGE thing... the Earth does a hell of a good job absorbing Gamma and XRay (even if you used tritium as a booster)... you simply can't get a powerful enough blast to do anything other than assure your own destruction. USSR used to have a REGIMENT (1000+), of ICBMs each with 5 - 20 dial-a-yield (you can determine the blast ranging from 10kt to 500kt) warheads whose sole purpose was to turn Cheyenne mountain into Cheyenne lake. Remember a backback nuke is just a big bomb with interesting side effects that's it, no more no less.
RTFA dude, he addressed that. The risk associated with that would be somewhat lower since you already KNOW you're a target. Not like when you're oblivious to an attack. Once again... don't reply to this UNTIL you've RTFA.
Funny thing... a lot of companies did that and it exposes a somewhat fundamental flaw in many of Microsoft's projects (no pun intended!). My two favorite examples are Nintendo and DoCoMo (Japan's largest cell carrier). Nintendo Wii. Their new controller, while gimmicky, is simply brilliant. It allows people to interact in a natural way with the technology. Nintendo (with Miyamoto-dono)sat down and did something insane. Ignored the hardcore fan. Then instead asked why isn't a 40-year-old mother of two playing this WITH her kids instead of using it as a distraction. They figured out that that generation viewed the interface to most games as homework. Something to be learned, only to have to learn a game itself next. The Wii controller addresses that and as a result will likely have a major impact when it's released. On to DoCoMo. They made this awesome thing called i-Mode. (if that sounds familar it's because AT&T wireless licensed the tech as m-Mode) The way they did it was great as well. They simply asked the customer what they thought would be cool and told engineers to make it happen. As a result you have video and pictures literally YEARS(it took awhile but now look at the texting markey in Asia and Europe as a result) contrast this to the way most US carriers do things and you see why text is SO pricey and clunky. (BTW I work for the company that powers one of the largest cellphone VOD and can tell ya that it totally pales in comparison to what DoCoMo can do.)
If it's not apparent Microsoft's fundamental flaw is that it has failed to realize that technology has advanced to a point where users can be asked what they want. What I mean by this is that it's not the 80's or 90's, where users still had to be told (and sold) that a GUI or PNP is a good idea. Rather than figure out how to present it, figure out how to make it's function and use transparent. Maybe an expert system to "listen" to an audio file and then determine if it's spoken word or music via beat detection. While easier said than done it oculd be a direction to move so that users don't even need to think about it, while allowing to learn based on what you listen to and every few weeks after listening updating its model, until you tell it stop. While a bit annoying like a new Black ICE install it would eventually quiet down. Most importantly leave the option to turn it off and adaquatly explain its function in the out of the box setup.
Of course this is my opinion I could be wrong. (and if you look at my Karma you'll see I've been burned in effegy before)
I used to work for PC Club in Washington and we were ruthless motherfuckers when it came to stuff like that. I got an LCD, a Radeon 9800 (back when that was as good as it got), I got almost a TB of hard drives out of old machines. People often had no idea what was up and our sales team (some of them, one in particular was awesome with the soccer moms, a HUGE demographic in our area) would get them to upgrade. However we were the shit, there was almost nothing we couldn't fix. Too bad they paid shit and it caused everyone who was really good to leave...
As much as I hate to say it he is right on the software side of things. The Cell chip is basically a SMP system crammed onto one chip. There are numerous issues involved in writing software for such systems. I'd say either Sony starts out with a MUCH better SDK than my company has seen or licenses the one from IBM which isn't half bad and gives a shit load more information about how things a really working. I mean there's a REASON N64 didn't really go anywhere and it's not lack of storage on a cart. Ok, ok I'll give you that, it was a factor but what REALLY hurt it was that it was fucking mission immpossible to code for. You'll notice that the best titles came from either Nintendo themselves, RARE, who practically slept with SGI (who designed the CPU and GPU for the N64), or from people who were doing stuff that didn't really use the platform's advanced features (NFL Blitz is a great example).
It's called Final Fantasy becuase the original creator, Square designer Hironobu Sakaguchi, had planned to retire after making the game (also because Square was on some REALLY thin ice finacially). However as we all know this isn't how it turned out.
Yes, she is, if you want to see something even funnier, check out Puni Puni Pume. If there's an anime stereotype to make fun of and pee your pants. That one is it!
Well this just reminds me of the stuff people were saying about seeing FF7 in movie trailers. I mean, sometimes games get bigger than themselves. I could see WoW doing the same.
I replied to my own post since my first one was getting buried.
Wow.... I never imagined that I'd get this many replies.......
I don't usually respond to heated subjects like this as I know it tends to either bring out the worst in people, or like I said they basically say, "Show me."
I never stated that I don't care about other's opinions; please show me how I implied that.
I am merely stating fact at things I have done. Whether or not you believe them doesn't really matter to me as I am still going to get up in the morning, go to work, make lots of money, pick up something nice for my wife on the way home and do the same thing tomorrow. (Except for the picking something, that could spoil her!)
My wife read this and was hurt (for about 3 shakes (props if you know what that refers to!)), but she did agree that I may have come off sounding a bit arrogant and I'm not at all (except in most any FPS, I will kill all who stand before me!).
I have an ego, like anyone, however to put it into context, I'm only considered of *average* intelligence where I work, so it's not like I pull John Nash's all day and write state tables on windows all day (I use Linux!).
It's just that I wanted to make those out there who think I am not capable of great things, simply because of my color or background, understand that I can.
I'm glad that this discussion hasn't degenerated into a flame war or worse, as it's one of the more interesting "Ask Slashdot" I've read. Not because of the content but the views expressed. I don't know about the rest of you but I've only seen a few replies with absolutes. The responses, like the topic itself, have been many interesting shades of gray.
Am I "pounding a podium", hell yes! Sometimes it's the only way to get someone's attention.
Looking at these replies, I'd say I have.
P.S. - To the Korean person who blew a gasket. What? I think you are misunderstanding me. Please elaborate on your point more. I could tell you were upset over something, and you said that Japanese don't consider other's cultures... I think. The company I work for isn't Japanese it's just that word took the Japanese out of my post. (Yes, I DO proof everything I post.) In any case I'd like to hear more of what you have to say.
Wow.... I never imagined that I'd get this many replies.......
I don't usually respond to heated subjects like this as I know it tends to either bring out the worst in people, or like I said they basically say, "Show me."
I never stated that I don't care about other's opinions; please show me how I implied that.
I am merely stating fact at things I have done. Whether or not you believe them doesn't really matter to me as I am still going to get up in the morning, go to work, make lots of money, pick up something nice for my wife on the way home and do the same thing tomorrow. (Except for the picking something, that could spoil her!)
My wife read this and was hurt (for about 3 shakes (props if you know what that refers to!)), but she did agree that I may have come off sounding a bit arrogant and I'm not at all (except in most any FPS, I will kill all who stand before me!).
I have an ego, like anyone, however to put it into context, I'm only considered of *average* intelligence where I work, so it's not like I pull John Nash's all day and write state tables on windows all day (I use Linux!).
It's just that I wanted to make those out there who think I am not capable of great things, simply because of my color or background, understand that I can.
I'm glad that this discussion hasn't degenerated into a flame war or worse, as it's one of the more interesting "Ask Slashdot" I've read. Not because of the content but the views expressed. I don't know about the rest of you but I've only seen a few replies with absolutes. The responses, like the topic itself, have been many interesting shades of grey.
Am I "pounding a podium", hell yes! Sometimes it's the only way to get someone's attention.
I am often at a disadvantage as come into any "in person" interaction in a technical conversation.
It often goes something like this.
I state the issue. They then rephrase the issue, adding something not really relevant to the issue but closely related to show how smart they are. I, out of politeness, say oh that's interesting, or some other meaningless drivel to show them that I too understand basic Calculus, OSI, or traffic law, etc. I then move on to state my idea for solving the issue. One of three things happens.
40% of the time: "Oh no, that won't work because (insert bullshit techno babble about TCP/IP, IPSec, pointers)." I call bullshit on them and prove it. They then don't like it and leave me out of the little cliques and such.
20% of the time:
(They're so impressed they break into Japanese!)
40% of the time: Show me!
Being a Black man who speaks perfect English, who can converse in multiple languages aside from only English and Spanish, and coming from a single parent home in a drug-infested, crime-ridden ghetto (think New Jack city only where the cops never won) I'm often underestimated, undervalued, and ignored. I don't let this get to me though and I'm not one who simply says, "Whitey is out to get me!" (If fact while it is very true I've over some it and many other things I won't discuss on a public forum to get where I am today). I think that people as a whole, not just white or black; have been conditioned by the mass media on how to think. When I'm presented with a hiring decision, it typically goes to whomever can come up with the best "on the spot" thinking. That said, I will admit that when spoken language isn't an issue many AMERICAN blacks are at a distinct disadvantage as critical thinking (which is something that MUST be taught) isn't very stressed in many US schools today particularly inner city urban schools where they are often focused on "cookbook math and phonics" rather than the underlying abstract meanings which is the true basis for comprehension of those subjects.
I'm digressing from my original subject not to show how smart I am but to show that the question is too limited in scope. I've worked in IT, and because I can calculate multi-dimensional state tables in my head I can sometimes out route a router. I've worked in sales, and because I have a firm grasp of sales psychology I can typically close sales (it took 3 other salesmen combining their sales to beat me once and they only beat me by a fraction of a percent). I've worked in retail, and because I can multitask like a well designed Unix Daemon, I could work multiple registers simultaneously (during Xmas season it's often quicker to do it yourself than explain to a temp worker for the nth time how to do something).
My IQ was rated at about 190 when I was 12 but I never had the opportunity to just exclusively go to school and not work. I've held some type of job since I was 13 to help make ends meet. Somehow in that time, I taught myself digital electronics, and as a side effect math and physics. An abusive early childhood left me with a nearly insatiable desire to read whatever I could get my hands on (if I'm smart nothing bad will ever happen to me, hey I was only 5). I built my first computer, an Apple II clone (I had an original manual with the schematic in the back). I never got it to work quite right (Hey Woz is THE MAN!), but I use that today in a lot of the cool toys I build now.
My point is really simple. There is significant discrimination against me. I never say my race or send a pic with my CV. That solves that as you can't inquire on someone's race in ANY kind of interview except for positions related to national security. Most roadblocks an underclass face are placed there by those with power. An easy solution would be to say that those are the minorities fault but no they're not. What IS the minorities fault and often fatal mistake is simply
Slashdot Mirror
Something even more sobering on this is that the Russian bomb was actually toned down. (It was a dial-a-yield multi-stage device) It was originally going to be 69 MT IIRC but some saner heads reminded them that a yield of that magnitude would make 1000's or square miles poisonous for decades if not centuries. My bet is on a fatman type bomb that fizzled due to bad detenators/wiring as that's the hardest part to get right in a single stage weapon. If they were crazy enough to try a multistage weapon I'd say contamination somehow in the 2nd stage or bad lenses (but they're not too hard to make so who knows). I don't believe it's conventional explosives though. It's really REALLY hard to detenate them with anything approaching enough precision to simulate a nuclear event and if you could do it why not just use a real nuke as they already had the material. You'll notice that historically with the exception of the MOAB it's always an accident that produces these kinds of explosions.
So my vote is a fizzle on a fatman type bomb. But IANANP... so YMMV.
I got my taste of over powerful hardware already...
I mean what's the point of a system so powerful that you simply can't peg it? I'll freey admit it's badass (I get my kicks from my clusters at work - gotta love power hungry IT managers!) But with graphics I just don't see the point. I bought a 6800GT when it first came out and I have to admit, I'm perfectly happy with it at 1024x768@85hz and mid to high detail on most games. I've yet to openly marvel at the better stuff in HL2,Q4,or F.E.A.R. since I'm usually too busy trying not to die! However... maybe there isn't a point and that's what makes hardware like this badass. In anycase NVIDIA all the way since getting ATI to work under linux can sometimes drive you to drink! (I don't know about you but I like to get what I pay for and I do with Nvidia not with ATI's stripped down drivers!)
Of course that's just my opinion I could be wrong.
I'm not so sure that groupthink is a good thing. Coordinated thinking, working as a team, whatever, is ok, but groupthink is sort of dangerous in a way. It's kind of similar to what happens in some AI/Neural Nets sims. A majority of the Automata get going in one direction, BUT the wrong one. Then the entire system follows because of the momentum. Sure there's some that "know" the right thing, but because such emphasis is placed on group cohesion and such, they still follow along. While this is a grossly simplified explanation it shows the point I'm trying to get across. To use more real examples. Germany 1930. As a country, there was genocide. On a typical individual level there were elements looking to stop the murder. What happened? Groupthink. Ala, 1984. Many followed the same "logic" as a delusional leader, and because the weight of his output (to borrow an AI term) was so high it overrode the good logic of many. A good fictional example of this is Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex - 2ng Gig. Towards the end, everyone was on the path to civil war, and there was a player who knew *JUST* how to nudge and manipulate the public into thinking just the right thing to serve his needs. Too fake? Ok, let's look at the stock market crash of 1930 (I just love that time period). What happened there? Groupthink, but not in the traditional sense. A trend was started, and it caused a loss of confidence in the system so to speak and then what happened. EVERYONE DID THE SAME THING. They all stopped spending money. They saw their neighbor loss his money/job/Marklar, and figured I better hold on to my money in case it happens to me too. Same thing everyone else thought, not incorrect thinking, given their small view of the situation. However at a 10,000 foot view, you could see the train wreck coming. You see that could also be considered stand alone groupthink. All said groupthink has its uses, just not in anything REALLY important. Of course this is just my opinion... I could be wrong. But you all agree right ;)
My Karam was burned in effegy so I'll almost never be read, but thanks for the positive comment.
Please for the love of God learn what you're talking about. The fissile material in a nuclear device has ratios that tend to be particular to a type of reactor and with certain types even the section of the reactor. Thing about breeder reactors, for example, is that they have "hot spots". Places where you're certainly promised to get more Pu isotopes than other spots. This can be for a variety of reasons. The thing that makes this unique is that to change this you'd need to change the very structure of the reactor and it's hard to do that when you can't get anywhere near it (as in human hands can never touch it again). Robots stop being robots in high radiation enviorments and people simply break down REALLY quickly (much quicker than the movies ever show)in reactor core conditions. You see at 10,000+ rems nerves and such just stop, no pain, nothing, they just stop. At levels that high, suits don't matter anymore, it's simply game over. So for someone to hide the source of a nuclear blast by chaging the signature of the material, it's quite impossible, plus we can always check the fallout of this. Nuclear reactions are highly effiecent, but not 100%; so it's possible to figure it out. Can't say much more, but it's very interesting what you learn in some A-schools....
I read the article clearly before submitting it. I just think that he's trying to say he's not going to go for a sequal, and it makes sense. Too many main characters died and MAJOR story arcs were resolved.
They'd be figuring out how to bury them while throwing chairs....
And develops confidential code and 0-day exploits...
Perhaps he does lots of finance work...
Maybe he just values his privacy...
To assume someone with something to hide is simply wrong. Not to be offtopic but your reply is similar to the government's arguement that warrantless wiretapping is 'OK'. "If you're not hiding anything, you shouldn't care that we're listening."
Last time I checked we had violence on a scale never before captured in a game.
.22 and what a .45 would do in real life. I know that a body doesn't fly from a gunshot. I know that no doesn't mean yes. I know that a person doesn't shrug off a shot in the leg or arm. These lessons when taught at a young age will make certain reality is understodd. Harse? Yes. But so's life.
Let's see, "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquision!"
"Your son screamed like a girl when they nailed him to the cross!"
"Here's your 30 pieces."
"E tu Brutus?"
"You don't belong in this here town boy."
Those are all quotes of unspeakable violence, some from fiction and some from art, all inspired by the real thing historically. After RTFA I can also say that I grew up in a place like Liberty City where cops didn't come in anything less than squad strength. So I can tell you that GTA's violence means very little to me and the intense violence of the CS:source and the like mean very little to me. Does this mean I'm not sensitive to violence? Of course not, it means that I'm about to discern reality from fantasy. Before you say, "But what about those who can't?!", What about all those people in previous times who couldn't and as a result killed and ate people? Ok, so you say but what about kids? Well last time I checked, kids in other countries don't have the sheer amount of freedom that American kids do (divorcing your own parents?) and just maybe it's the parent's fault in not TEACHING REALITY FROM FANTASY. I'm not saying that kids shouldn't be responsible for their own actions but I am saying that kids should be taught. My leassons in violence came from seeing what a
I have to agree, that little 0.1 kt wouldn't do shit. The LD/50 is about 500m assuming a stagnant wind. Beyond that LD decreases on a logarithmic scale. Those in the immediate blast area would live about 12 hours as walking dead and the others in the outer rings of the blast would not far so well in the immediate time as low to moderate radiation poisoning tends to take you out with a quickness but the high dose victims are what are called walking dead (1-2 days at the most). Considering all of that plus one other HUGE thing... the Earth does a hell of a good job absorbing Gamma and XRay (even if you used tritium as a booster)... you simply can't get a powerful enough blast to do anything other than assure your own destruction. USSR used to have a REGIMENT (1000+), of ICBMs each with 5 - 20 dial-a-yield (you can determine the blast ranging from 10kt to 500kt) warheads whose sole purpose was to turn Cheyenne mountain into Cheyenne lake. Remember a backback nuke is just a big bomb with interesting side effects that's it, no more no less.
RTFA dude, he addressed that. The risk associated with that would be somewhat lower since you already KNOW you're a target. Not like when you're oblivious to an attack. Once again... don't reply to this UNTIL you've RTFA.
Funny thing... a lot of companies did that and it exposes a somewhat fundamental flaw in many of Microsoft's projects (no pun intended!). My two favorite examples are Nintendo and DoCoMo (Japan's largest cell carrier). Nintendo Wii. Their new controller, while gimmicky, is simply brilliant. It allows people to interact in a natural way with the technology. Nintendo (with Miyamoto-dono)sat down and did something insane. Ignored the hardcore fan. Then instead asked why isn't a 40-year-old mother of two playing this WITH her kids instead of using it as a distraction. They figured out that that generation viewed the interface to most games as homework. Something to be learned, only to have to learn a game itself next. The Wii controller addresses that and as a result will likely have a major impact when it's released. On to DoCoMo. They made this awesome thing called i-Mode. (if that sounds familar it's because AT&T wireless licensed the tech as m-Mode) The way they did it was great as well. They simply asked the customer what they thought would be cool and told engineers to make it happen. As a result you have video and pictures literally YEARS(it took awhile but now look at the texting markey in Asia and Europe as a result) contrast this to the way most US carriers do things and you see why text is SO pricey and clunky. (BTW I work for the company that powers one of the largest cellphone VOD and can tell ya that it totally pales in comparison to what DoCoMo can do.) If it's not apparent Microsoft's fundamental flaw is that it has failed to realize that technology has advanced to a point where users can be asked what they want. What I mean by this is that it's not the 80's or 90's, where users still had to be told (and sold) that a GUI or PNP is a good idea. Rather than figure out how to present it, figure out how to make it's function and use transparent. Maybe an expert system to "listen" to an audio file and then determine if it's spoken word or music via beat detection. While easier said than done it oculd be a direction to move so that users don't even need to think about it, while allowing to learn based on what you listen to and every few weeks after listening updating its model, until you tell it stop. While a bit annoying like a new Black ICE install it would eventually quiet down. Most importantly leave the option to turn it off and adaquatly explain its function in the out of the box setup. Of course this is my opinion I could be wrong. (and if you look at my Karma you'll see I've been burned in effegy before)
I thought of that but I didn't think they'd accept the article then!
I used to work for PC Club in Washington and we were ruthless motherfuckers when it came to stuff like that. I got an LCD, a Radeon 9800 (back when that was as good as it got), I got almost a TB of hard drives out of old machines. People often had no idea what was up and our sales team (some of them, one in particular was awesome with the soccer moms, a HUGE demographic in our area) would get them to upgrade. However we were the shit, there was almost nothing we couldn't fix. Too bad they paid shit and it caused everyone who was really good to leave...
Hey mine has raised floors and dedicated AC....
Rule #3 - Nobody talks about #FightClub
To each his own I guess....
Sad but true.....
As much as I hate to say it he is right on the software side of things. The Cell chip is basically a SMP system crammed onto one chip. There are numerous issues involved in writing software for such systems. I'd say either Sony starts out with a MUCH better SDK than my company has seen or licenses the one from IBM which isn't half bad and gives a shit load more information about how things a really working. I mean there's a REASON N64 didn't really go anywhere and it's not lack of storage on a cart. Ok, ok I'll give you that, it was a factor but what REALLY hurt it was that it was fucking mission immpossible to code for. You'll notice that the best titles came from either Nintendo themselves, RARE, who practically slept with SGI (who designed the CPU and GPU for the N64), or from people who were doing stuff that didn't really use the platform's advanced features (NFL Blitz is a great example).
It's called Final Fantasy becuase the original creator, Square designer Hironobu Sakaguchi, had planned to retire after making the game (also because Square was on some REALLY thin ice finacially). However as we all know this isn't how it turned out.
Yes, she is, if you want to see something even funnier, check out Puni Puni Pume. If there's an anime stereotype to make fun of and pee your pants. That one is it!
Well this just reminds me of the stuff people were saying about seeing FF7 in movie trailers. I mean, sometimes games get bigger than themselves. I could see WoW doing the same.
I replied to my own post since my first one was getting buried.
Wow.... I never imagined that I'd get this many replies.......
I don't usually respond to heated subjects like this as I know it tends to either bring out the worst in people, or like I said they basically say, "Show me."
I never stated that I don't care about other's opinions; please show me how I implied that.
I am merely stating fact at things I have done. Whether or not you believe them doesn't really matter to me as I am still going to get up in the morning, go to work, make lots of money, pick up something nice for my wife on the way home and do the same thing tomorrow. (Except for the picking something, that could spoil her!)
My wife read this and was hurt (for about 3 shakes (props if you know what that refers to!)), but she did agree that I may have come off sounding a bit arrogant and I'm not at all (except in most any FPS, I will kill all who stand before me!).
I have an ego, like anyone, however to put it into context, I'm only considered of *average* intelligence where I work, so it's not like I pull John Nash's all day and write state tables on windows all day (I use Linux!).
It's just that I wanted to make those out there who think I am not capable of great things, simply because of my color or background, understand that I can.
I'm glad that this discussion hasn't degenerated into a flame war or worse, as it's one of the more interesting "Ask Slashdot" I've read. Not because of the content but the views expressed. I don't know about the rest of you but I've only seen a few replies with absolutes. The responses, like the topic itself, have been many interesting shades of gray.
Am I "pounding a podium", hell yes! Sometimes it's the only way to get someone's attention.
Looking at these replies, I'd say I have.
P.S. - To the Korean person who blew a gasket. What? I think you are misunderstanding me. Please elaborate on your point more. I could tell you were upset over something, and you said that Japanese don't consider other's cultures... I think. The company I work for isn't Japanese it's just that word took the Japanese out of my post. (Yes, I DO proof everything I post.) In any case I'd like to hear more of what you have to say.
Wow.... I never imagined that I'd get this many replies.......
I don't usually respond to heated subjects like this as I know it tends to either bring out the worst in people, or like I said they basically say, "Show me."
I never stated that I don't care about other's opinions; please show me how I implied that.
I am merely stating fact at things I have done. Whether or not you believe them doesn't really matter to me as I am still going to get up in the morning, go to work, make lots of money, pick up something nice for my wife on the way home and do the same thing tomorrow. (Except for the picking something, that could spoil her!)
My wife read this and was hurt (for about 3 shakes (props if you know what that refers to!)), but she did agree that I may have come off sounding a bit arrogant and I'm not at all (except in most any FPS, I will kill all who stand before me!).
I have an ego, like anyone, however to put it into context, I'm only considered of *average* intelligence where I work, so it's not like I pull John Nash's all day and write state tables on windows all day (I use Linux!).
It's just that I wanted to make those out there who think I am not capable of great things, simply because of my color or background, understand that I can.
I'm glad that this discussion hasn't degenerated into a flame war or worse, as it's one of the more interesting "Ask Slashdot" I've read. Not because of the content but the views expressed. I don't know about the rest of you but I've only seen a few replies with absolutes. The responses, like the topic itself, have been many interesting shades of grey.
Am I "pounding a podium", hell yes! Sometimes it's the only way to get someone's attention.
Looking at these replies, I'd say I have.
This is something I explained to my last boss.
I am often at a disadvantage as come into any "in person" interaction in a technical conversation.
It often goes something like this.
I state the issue.
They then rephrase the issue, adding something not really relevant to the issue but closely related to show how smart they are.
I, out of politeness, say oh that's interesting, or some other meaningless drivel to show them that I too understand basic Calculus, OSI, or traffic law, etc.
I then move on to state my idea for solving the issue.
One of three things happens.
40% of the time:
"Oh no, that won't work because (insert bullshit techno babble about TCP/IP, IPSec, pointers)."
I call bullshit on them and prove it.
They then don't like it and leave me out of the little cliques and such.
20% of the time:
(They're so impressed they break into Japanese!)
40% of the time:
Show me!
Being a Black man who speaks perfect English, who can converse in multiple languages aside from only English and Spanish, and coming from a single parent home in a drug-infested, crime-ridden ghetto (think New Jack city only where the cops never won) I'm often underestimated, undervalued, and ignored. I don't let this get to me though and I'm not one who simply says, "Whitey is out to get me!" (If fact while it is very true I've over some it and many other things I won't discuss on a public forum to get where I am today). I think that people as a whole, not just white or black; have been conditioned by the mass media on how to think. When I'm presented with a hiring decision, it typically goes to whomever can come up with the best "on the spot" thinking. That said, I will admit that when spoken language isn't an issue many AMERICAN blacks are at a distinct disadvantage as critical thinking (which is something that MUST be taught) isn't very stressed in many US schools today particularly inner city urban schools where they are often focused on "cookbook math and phonics" rather than the underlying abstract meanings which is the true basis for comprehension of those subjects.
I'm digressing from my original subject not to show how smart I am but to show that the question is too limited in scope.
I've worked in IT, and because I can calculate multi-dimensional state tables in my head I can sometimes out route a router.
I've worked in sales, and because I have a firm grasp of sales psychology I can typically close sales (it took 3 other salesmen combining their sales to beat me once and they only beat me by a fraction of a percent).
I've worked in retail, and because I can multitask like a well designed Unix Daemon, I could work multiple registers simultaneously (during Xmas season it's often quicker to do it yourself than explain to a temp worker for the nth time how to do something).
My IQ was rated at about 190 when I was 12 but I never had the opportunity to just exclusively go to school and not work. I've held some type of job since I was 13 to help make ends meet. Somehow in that time, I taught myself digital electronics, and as a side effect math and physics. An abusive early childhood left me with a nearly insatiable desire to read whatever I could get my hands on (if I'm smart nothing bad will ever happen to me, hey I was only 5). I built my first computer, an Apple II clone (I had an original manual with the schematic in the back). I never got it to work quite right (Hey Woz is THE MAN!), but I use that today in a lot of the cool toys I build now.
My point is really simple.
There is significant discrimination against me. I never say my race or send a pic with my CV. That solves that as you can't inquire on someone's race in ANY kind of interview except for positions related to national security. Most roadblocks an underclass face are placed there by those with power. An easy solution would be to say that those are the minorities fault but no they're not. What IS the minorities fault and often fatal mistake is simply