Buying a used game for $20 is better than buying it new for $50 only to discover that it sucks.
Besides, some of those used games are really worth picking up but they're out of print. So should we just never get the rare gems? Obviously the answer is to buy them new, but sometimes you don't realize how good a game is until its too hard to find - reference Disgaea.
I haven't WTFV yet, but I'm glad it's supposed to be parody. The women in my group (including my wife) would probably have to say that we're anything but afraid of girls.
Sadly, humor like this is why tabletop RPGs are still a male-dominated hobby. Thankfully it's easy to relate D&D to LotR, and that tends to pique to curiousity of the ladies. Of course, not every ranger looks as good as Legolas.
Gamers are, unfortunately, a large group without a collective voice. Until we can organize and start lobbying in Washington and get an advocacy group together, we will never be understood by the rest of society. The media will continue to misrepresent us, and society will continue to react out of ignorance. Attacks on gaming like this one will continue, when they should have already ended long ago. We need to educate people about games and show them more stories about people like Fata1ity instead of focusing on the 'morose gamer kills five then self' events.
Of course, the game manufacturers already have a small lobby, but we really need one for the game players. Sure, there are those of us who live in basements and have no social skills, but plenty of us have productive jobs and families. We participate in our real-world communities, some of us go to church, and we contribute meaningfully to society as a whole. Gaming is a hobby for most of us - not the be-all end-all of our lives. This is the face of gaming that we need the public to see. So do we speak up ourselves, or let others decide who and what we are?
Hopefully they will have had enough time to figure out how to code in a way that takes full advantage of the Cell. If all that we get is the equivilant of PS2 games with shinier graphics, then who really cares?
Fortunately, Oblivion is slated for a March 20th release, so that should keep me occupied until whenever the system does come out.
I never said that playing in the dirt would prevent allergies, although I can see how you might have thought that. I said that parasites may possibly be linked to allergies, but that exposure to bacteria will strengthen the immune system in general.
Not bacteria per se, but it has been speculated that the distinct dirth of internal parasites in America could be part of why we have so many allergy issues.
Consider that the class of antibody (IgE) and immune cells (Mast Cells, Basophils, and Eosinophils) involved in allergic reactions are the very same ones used to fight off parasitic infections. The basic hypothesis is that that particular aspect of the immune system essentially gets bored from never having antigen to respond to that it freaks out any time that a stimulating antigen is presented to it. Forgive me for anthropomorphising the immune system... As far as I know, the strongest evidence for this is that in areas that do have a lot of parasites, such as Africa and South America, they have almsot no incidence of allergies.
As for bacteria and strengthening the immune system, well, duh. If you want healthy kids, let them go play in the dirt.
not surprising. Fungal spores are nearly omni-present in the environment, and bacteria thrive on your skin at all times. Now, given that the keyboard is open to the surrounding air and has plenty of shielded space, yes, spores will accumulate there. But there's a difference between 3,100 fungal spores/sq. cm and having fungus actually growing there. Also, I have to question that number - 3,100 spores is a lot of spores.
Did the article bother listing precisely what bacteria and fungi they found? I wouldn't be surprised if they mostly found bacterial species from the genera of Bacillus and Staphylococcus with a few gram-negative rods thrown in for good measure. Oh, Propionibacterium acnes is probably pretty common as well. With the fungi it's more of a mixed bag, although most would probably fall into the general category of Ascomycetes.
As for catching the flu from your keyboard... Viruses such as Influenza don't survive on dry, non-porous surfaces for very long. Once the viral envelope has dried out, the virus is pretty much inactivated. You stand a better chance of catching the flu from talking to the person in the next cubicle or on the elevator.
In most cases they work backwards. You start with a known protein, determine its amino acid sequence, and then convert that into the most likely DNA sequence (accounting for codon bias). Primers/probes are then generated for the 3' and 5' ends of the probable DNA sequence. If you're working with a small genome like that of a bacterium, you can perform a restriction digest to get random hunks of chromosome. These are then amplified via PCR using your designer primers. The final product is then sequenced.
In other cases you can create a gene knockout by splicing a random gene into your gene of interest. This causes your target gene to encode a non-functional protein. Then you watch and see what happens to the test subject. In some cases the creature dies because the gene turned out to be extremely important. In others it results in minor to significant impairment. But because of the complexity of most organisms, single-gene knockouts usually don't have too much effect - the creature has multiple pathways that can accomplish the same goal. This is especially true for critical functions like those in the immune system.
When we figure out what all of that does. For every organism as or more complex than your average bacterium, there's a large amount of what amounts to filler DNA. Viruses don't have this problem, as few of them are large enough to even get by without overlapping reading frames. If you shrink this dataset down to only sequences that encode functional proteins (read: genes), there's still an insane amount of information. If you then remove the introns, the dataset gets even smaller. But of course, we don't really know if the introns and intra-genic regions of DNA (the so-called 'junk DNA') have functions (or how many they have), although some do act as regulators of transcription.
Given that a change of just 1 base in 500 of the 16S rRNA gene is sufficient to differentiate between two different species of bacteria, I have to wonder how many of these entries are quasi-redundant. When you consider how many species of bacteria are known to man, that means that there are literally thousands of potential entries for each gene. Unless, of course, they're storing only consensus sequences, which still vary widely between genera.
Sadly, the trend here seems to be more of 'sequence it, upload it, and patent it' instead of 'sequence it, upload it, figure out what it does/makes, do something useful with it'. Knowing the sequence for the Ubiquitin gene is all well and good, but it's of little practical importance. Being able to construct designer proteins to treat illnesses based on that information, however, is a truly worthy goal. Unfortunately, that's also where the 'patent it' part comes into play...
If Sony decides to heavily DRM the PS3 and, by extension, the Blu-Ray discs, Microsoft won't have to worry. I'd rather pick up an Xbox 360 w/ HD-DVD than a heavily-DRM'd PS3 that I can't let friends borrow games for.
I've only ever played Ars Magicka once, but I have to say that I much prefer its quasi-successor Mage.
You could easily create earth-shattering effects in Mage, but between the threats of Paradox (basically reality punishing you for pushing too hard with magic) and being found out by the Technocracy (scientifically-minded mages) or other 'bad guys', most people kept their spells on the subtle side. In a way, it's as low-magic as you can get. Sure, it was mired in the World of Darkness setting, but with the right storyteller, that didn't matter as much.
At one of my former jobs, fully half of each meeting was dedicated to other meetings. We'd spend about 15 minutes recapping the last meeting, and another 30 setting the agenda for the next one! I think it may just be for the reason you cited - even though the higher-ups in the meetings were 'constantly in touch with each other', they never really seemed to know what anyone else was doing or if any progress had been made. The net result was that I was pulled away from my work for twice as long as should have been necessary and got less accomplished than should have been possible.
While the question of her 'full functionality' remains to be addressed, perhaps there's some deeper message in the Major's outfit. Given Batou's comments about just getting a male body the next time she needs to replace one, maybe she dressed that way to remind herself that she was actually a flesh-and-blood female at one time instead of simply resembling one via physical form. Alternatively, the attire could have been chosen for reasons of mobility and unhindered movement while still meeting societial standards of decency.
In a way, it all comes back to the question of one's own humanity and identity.
Or I could be wrong and the character design team could be composed of drooling fanboys.
You apparently don't watch much in the way of drama, do you? With any good series you'll feel as though you missed something if you fail to see certain episodes. GiTS is no different. Some of the episodes actually can be skipped (although why you'd want to is beyond me), such as the one from season 2 where a combat veteran turned pilot continuously fantasizes about murdering his employer. It has little to nothing to do with the overall story arc, and could easily be missed without damaging your sense of continuity.
Part of what makes GiTS worth watching is the level of detail put into things, especially the technical aspects. In fact, I'd almost like to see a technical manual published for the series. Having said that, if you ever get a chance to read some of Shirow's manga, he almost always includes extensive footnotes and essays in the back of the books. Things like that are what make the series brain candy instead of simply being eye-candy. I'll admit though that my wife doesn't really like it either - she's much more entertained by Dragon Half and similar series. Strangely enough, she doesn't like FLCL either...
I downloaded the RC a few weeks ago, and I have to admit that it's great. If 1.5 final is any better, then it'll definately be worth downloading. Now if only they'd get Sunbird completed...
I submitted this story with the school's URL in the summary...
In either case, what's worse is that the four students who 'hacked' into the school's server to change their grades were only charged with Misdemeanors.
Aren't pole reversals also generally linked to major climate shifts (i.e., ice ages)?
Either way, the poles have been wobbling and varying in their year-to-year intensity for the past several years. Whether this is because they've suddenly started doing so or because we've just recently gotten sensitive enough instruments to detect is beyond me though. Any geologists lurking around?
Slashdot Mirror
Buying a used game for $20 is better than buying it new for $50 only to discover that it sucks.
Besides, some of those used games are really worth picking up but they're out of print. So should we just never get the rare gems? Obviously the answer is to buy them new, but sometimes you don't realize how good a game is until its too hard to find - reference Disgaea.
Any chance of this becoming available on the PC? Even as a (shudder) flash-based web game?
offend me. Can I take legal action / instigate a boycott of them?
I think it's fair to say that a lot of us have PTFG. What was your point?
I haven't WTFV yet, but I'm glad it's supposed to be parody. The women in my group (including my wife) would probably have to say that we're anything but afraid of girls.
Sadly, humor like this is why tabletop RPGs are still a male-dominated hobby. Thankfully it's easy to relate D&D to LotR, and that tends to pique to curiousity of the ladies. Of course, not every ranger looks as good as Legolas.
Gamers are, unfortunately, a large group without a collective voice. Until we can organize and start lobbying in Washington and get an advocacy group together, we will never be understood by the rest of society. The media will continue to misrepresent us, and society will continue to react out of ignorance. Attacks on gaming like this one will continue, when they should have already ended long ago. We need to educate people about games and show them more stories about people like Fata1ity instead of focusing on the 'morose gamer kills five then self' events.
Of course, the game manufacturers already have a small lobby, but we really need one for the game players. Sure, there are those of us who live in basements and have no social skills, but plenty of us have productive jobs and families. We participate in our real-world communities, some of us go to church, and we contribute meaningfully to society as a whole. Gaming is a hobby for most of us - not the be-all end-all of our lives. This is the face of gaming that we need the public to see. So do we speak up ourselves, or let others decide who and what we are?
Hopefully they will have had enough time to figure out how to code in a way that takes full advantage of the Cell. If all that we get is the equivilant of PS2 games with shinier graphics, then who really cares?
Fortunately, Oblivion is slated for a March 20th release, so that should keep me occupied until whenever the system does come out.
I never said that playing in the dirt would prevent allergies, although I can see how you might have thought that. I said that parasites may possibly be linked to allergies, but that exposure to bacteria will strengthen the immune system in general.
Not bacteria per se, but it has been speculated that the distinct dirth of internal parasites in America could be part of why we have so many allergy issues.
Consider that the class of antibody (IgE) and immune cells (Mast Cells, Basophils, and Eosinophils) involved in allergic reactions are the very same ones used to fight off parasitic infections. The basic hypothesis is that that particular aspect of the immune system essentially gets bored from never having antigen to respond to that it freaks out any time that a stimulating antigen is presented to it. Forgive me for anthropomorphising the immune system... As far as I know, the strongest evidence for this is that in areas that do have a lot of parasites, such as Africa and South America, they have almsot no incidence of allergies.
As for bacteria and strengthening the immune system, well, duh. If you want healthy kids, let them go play in the dirt.
not surprising. Fungal spores are nearly omni-present in the environment, and bacteria thrive on your skin at all times. Now, given that the keyboard is open to the surrounding air and has plenty of shielded space, yes, spores will accumulate there. But there's a difference between 3,100 fungal spores/sq. cm and having fungus actually growing there. Also, I have to question that number - 3,100 spores is a lot of spores.
Did the article bother listing precisely what bacteria and fungi they found? I wouldn't be surprised if they mostly found bacterial species from the genera of Bacillus and Staphylococcus with a few gram-negative rods thrown in for good measure. Oh, Propionibacterium acnes is probably pretty common as well. With the fungi it's more of a mixed bag, although most would probably fall into the general category of Ascomycetes.
As for catching the flu from your keyboard... Viruses such as Influenza don't survive on dry, non-porous surfaces for very long. Once the viral envelope has dried out, the virus is pretty much inactivated. You stand a better chance of catching the flu from talking to the person in the next cubicle or on the elevator.
Very true. But they had to start somewhere, right?
I actually love the databases. At my current job I have almost no use for them, but I still like to cruise around and see what all has been sequenced.
In most cases they work backwards. You start with a known protein, determine its amino acid sequence, and then convert that into the most likely DNA sequence (accounting for codon bias). Primers/probes are then generated for the 3' and 5' ends of the probable DNA sequence. If you're working with a small genome like that of a bacterium, you can perform a restriction digest to get random hunks of chromosome. These are then amplified via PCR using your designer primers. The final product is then sequenced.
In other cases you can create a gene knockout by splicing a random gene into your gene of interest. This causes your target gene to encode a non-functional protein. Then you watch and see what happens to the test subject. In some cases the creature dies because the gene turned out to be extremely important. In others it results in minor to significant impairment. But because of the complexity of most organisms, single-gene knockouts usually don't have too much effect - the creature has multiple pathways that can accomplish the same goal. This is especially true for critical functions like those in the immune system.
When we figure out what all of that does. For every organism as or more complex than your average bacterium, there's a large amount of what amounts to filler DNA. Viruses don't have this problem, as few of them are large enough to even get by without overlapping reading frames. If you shrink this dataset down to only sequences that encode functional proteins (read: genes), there's still an insane amount of information. If you then remove the introns, the dataset gets even smaller. But of course, we don't really know if the introns and intra-genic regions of DNA (the so-called 'junk DNA') have functions (or how many they have), although some do act as regulators of transcription.
Given that a change of just 1 base in 500 of the 16S rRNA gene is sufficient to differentiate between two different species of bacteria, I have to wonder how many of these entries are quasi-redundant. When you consider how many species of bacteria are known to man, that means that there are literally thousands of potential entries for each gene. Unless, of course, they're storing only consensus sequences, which still vary widely between genera.
Sadly, the trend here seems to be more of 'sequence it, upload it, and patent it' instead of 'sequence it, upload it, figure out what it does/makes, do something useful with it'. Knowing the sequence for the Ubiquitin gene is all well and good, but it's of little practical importance. Being able to construct designer proteins to treat illnesses based on that information, however, is a truly worthy goal. Unfortunately, that's also where the 'patent it' part comes into play...
In that case, I'd have to go with the PS3 just to keep my old games around. But the porn industry will determine which format wins anyway.
If Sony decides to heavily DRM the PS3 and, by extension, the Blu-Ray discs, Microsoft won't have to worry. I'd rather pick up an Xbox 360 w/ HD-DVD than a heavily-DRM'd PS3 that I can't let friends borrow games for.
I've only ever played Ars Magicka once, but I have to say that I much prefer its quasi-successor Mage.
You could easily create earth-shattering effects in Mage, but between the threats of Paradox (basically reality punishing you for pushing too hard with magic) and being found out by the Technocracy (scientifically-minded mages) or other 'bad guys', most people kept their spells on the subtle side. In a way, it's as low-magic as you can get. Sure, it was mired in the World of Darkness setting, but with the right storyteller, that didn't matter as much.
At one of my former jobs, fully half of each meeting was dedicated to other meetings. We'd spend about 15 minutes recapping the last meeting, and another 30 setting the agenda for the next one! I think it may just be for the reason you cited - even though the higher-ups in the meetings were 'constantly in touch with each other', they never really seemed to know what anyone else was doing or if any progress had been made. The net result was that I was pulled away from my work for twice as long as should have been necessary and got less accomplished than should have been possible.
Then again, I was working for the state...
While the question of her 'full functionality' remains to be addressed, perhaps there's some deeper message in the Major's outfit. Given Batou's comments about just getting a male body the next time she needs to replace one, maybe she dressed that way to remind herself that she was actually a flesh-and-blood female at one time instead of simply resembling one via physical form. Alternatively, the attire could have been chosen for reasons of mobility and unhindered movement while still meeting societial standards of decency.
In a way, it all comes back to the question of one's own humanity and identity.
Or I could be wrong and the character design team could be composed of drooling fanboys.
You apparently don't watch much in the way of drama, do you? With any good series you'll feel as though you missed something if you fail to see certain episodes. GiTS is no different. Some of the episodes actually can be skipped (although why you'd want to is beyond me), such as the one from season 2 where a combat veteran turned pilot continuously fantasizes about murdering his employer. It has little to nothing to do with the overall story arc, and could easily be missed without damaging your sense of continuity.
Part of what makes GiTS worth watching is the level of detail put into things, especially the technical aspects. In fact, I'd almost like to see a technical manual published for the series. Having said that, if you ever get a chance to read some of Shirow's manga, he almost always includes extensive footnotes and essays in the back of the books. Things like that are what make the series brain candy instead of simply being eye-candy. I'll admit though that my wife doesn't really like it either - she's much more entertained by Dragon Half and similar series. Strangely enough, she doesn't like FLCL either...
I downloaded the RC a few weeks ago, and I have to admit that it's great. If 1.5 final is any better, then it'll definately be worth downloading. Now if only they'd get Sunbird completed...
I submitted this story with the school's URL in the summary... In either case, what's worse is that the four students who 'hacked' into the school's server to change their grades were only charged with Misdemeanors.
Aren't pole reversals also generally linked to major climate shifts (i.e., ice ages)? Either way, the poles have been wobbling and varying in their year-to-year intensity for the past several years. Whether this is because they've suddenly started doing so or because we've just recently gotten sensitive enough instruments to detect is beyond me though. Any geologists lurking around?