Just looked it up, "There is no cow level" is actually referenced in two places. In later releases of Diablo it was added as a tip on the loading screen, and in Starcraft it was the cheat code to instantly win the game.
It's been a while so I don't remember all the details on it. If I recall I think the code allows you to warp to different areas. Or maybe I'm thinking of Starcraft, I'm pretty sure that was a code in Starcraft as well. Now I need to go lookup all the old cheat codes for all the blizzard games to verify all this. It was pretty common for Blizzard to include references to their other games in the cheat codes of different titles (and sometimes the content as well, ala the vikings reference in WoW).
Ahh, there's a million stories of people doing things the developers didn't envision.
Of course, that's the entire point! If the developers could envision it, then they would have just programmed it right from the start and skipped all the mess in between. No, the problem is people doing things the developers didn't envision that unbalance the gameplay. So, the real trick is to come up with a system that allows people to be creative and create new content, but in such a way that it's both interesting to do so, as well as maintains a balance. Think something like the unified field theory for games. No free energy, everything has a cost. The trouble is of course to do this in such a way that it rewards creativity, such that combining 12 different spells costs less and provides more bang for your buck than just stacking 12 fireballs on top of each other.
Religion was invoked as the cause. It's much easier to justify something when you're invoking a powerful thing that lots of people believe in.
And thus we get to the crux of the problem. Some people argue religion is useful in that it helps to fulfill certain emotional and psychological needs, however you also need to look at the cost. The fact is, religion acts as both a polarizing force to divide people into us vs. them groups, as well as to provide justification for fights, wars, and genocide (crusades, jihad, call it what you will). Yes a properly balanced individual will not take religion to these extremes, but the way people treat religion tends to rule out the majority being properly balanced. A great many people are indoctrinated early into various religious teachings and taught to believe everything the churches tell them at a literal level and never question it, so when the church says burn the infidels, they ask how hot.
nationalism hasn't been used anywhere nearly as effectively as religious bigotry to start wars and kill people. So Stalin's 50-odd million in the name of protecting the Soviet Union was what, inconsequential?
What about some of the high-profile genocides in the last 60 or so years?
What about, for that matter, the Iraq war? Religion wasn't invoked there, but tens of thousands have died already in that conflict.
Stalin's 50-odd million, was a dictatorship regime in a death spiral, no, religion wasn't the cause there, that was an entirely different form of bad idea. However, it's important to point out that Stalin was killing his own people, not starting wars (well, for the most part, there was a lot of posturing going on between the US and USSR, and they did use other countries as pawns). It's also interesting to note that even in the US vs. USSR conflict religion was invoked on the US side in the form of McCarthyism and the religious campaigning against the (perceived) atheistic communists.
With regard to the middle east, which Iraq is a part of, one cannot help but invoke religion, the entire history of that part of the world has been one religious war after another. Taking just Iraq into consideration some of the worst atrocities that Sadam committed were religious in nature. There's a long history of Sunni and Shi'ite brutality between each other in that part of the world. The US invasion of Iraq, although not in fact motivated by religion, was at least given credibility and backing by the Christian churches, and Bushes repeated invocation of "God" in reference to the US and various activities in Iraq further strengthens this assertion. You could argue that Bush doesn't actually believe he's doing it for religious reasons (although considering some of the things he's said, you have to wonder), but even then many of his supporters back him in his efforts for religious reasons.
when the battery is too low to attempt to make a phone call-- but yet, it can power the backlight, let me read email I've already received, etc. for hours beyond that point.
I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that transmitting back to the cell tower (particularly someplace far from a tower) was one of the most power intensive things a cell phone does. Not saying it should bar you from making calls of course, although a warning is probably appropriate.
I think the intent was to make you aware in the case where the door was slightly open (IE you didn't close it all the way). I haven't noticed that feature in any of the newer US cars. I know it's not in mine even if my car is technically not a US car (Honda, it was built in the US, but not sure if it's the same as it is in other parts of the world or not).
but that can't be since it was painfully obvious by any thoughtful person that George W. Bush was just going to stay the course with war, reckless spending, cronyism, and unconstitutional abuse of power if reelected.
Yes, and the other candidates if elected would make a total mess of pulling out of the war, have reckless spending, cronyism, and pass as much pork barrel socialist law as possible while trying to raise taxes. It's a choice between morons and morons, and I figured better the evil we know. At least you know exactly what kind of boneheaded things Bush is going to do, and for the most part he hasn't wasted time passing bills that will have a long term effect. The worst of his offense will be repealed in short order, and almost all of his power comes from the "state of war" that he managed to invoke. Once he's out of office it mostly goes away. If he hadn't made it, who knows what other stupid laws would already be on the books (like internet taxes). I'm just hoping that we get at least one decent candidate this time. Plus, look at it this way, we never have to worry about Dubya being president ever again.
Orclevgam's Corrolary to Godwin's Law doesn't roll off the tongue right. You can just shorten it to Orclev's Corollary. I normally use Orclev as my screen name, and actually have a/. account with that name, but I forgot the password, and the e-mail is set to a now defunct domain name on a server I quit using long long ago. So, on a related note, anyone know how to reclaim a old slashdot account when you don't have the e-mail anymore?
In order for that to happen we need to get a non-idiot to run first, and for him (or her) to have enough backing to have a reasonable chance of winning.
I voted for Bush in the last election not because I like him (I think he's a total moron) but because he was better than the other candidates, which says a lot about our politicians.
I don't follow your logic. Everytime you call a cab over a landline phone you have to pay a tax. Uh, yes! Telephone service is taxed. Doesn't matter you're calling a cab.
I think the logic and comparison he was trying to make was that specifying something like calling a cab over a phone is roughly equivalent to specifying sending e-mail over the internet. The actual connection may be taxed, but the content is to diverse to accurately asses a tax for. On a related note, various people have mentioned that the e-mail tax portion is supposed to be in reference to previous debates, and that the bills being considered now would be taxes on the connections rather than on specific content.
Ok, first, by stating this, you automatically invoke Quirk's Exception to Godwin's law and thus Godwin's law doesn't apply. Secondly, since at least part of the topic has to do with holocaust referring to the holocaust does not invoke Godwin's law. And finally, you are not drawing a comparison between something else and either the Natzis or Hitler which is what Godwin's law refers to, rather your citing relevant quotations so this also exempts you from Godwin's law.
I think maybe we need a new law that applies to people invoking laws in incorrect situations.
Or will I get an extra life? Actually these are the black mushrooms introduced recently. If you eat one of these you die. Also, be careful, these will follow you around as well, although if you can harvest one they're really handy at taking out koopas.
On a more serious note, the concept that low doses of radiation can be beneficial has been a pretty hot topic of debate in the radiological science community lately. Does this apply to all forms of radiation, or only ionizing radiation. Also is it specific to a certain form of ionizing radiation? If it applies to non-ionizing radiation as well could be a nice counter point to the "OMGWTFBBQ WiFi Radiation in teh Schools!!11!One!!" FUD piece that was posted the other day.
Wow, a KOL reference, and here I thought I was one of about 12 people that ever actually played that game. Of course, being KOL it probably has a larger than normal geek/nerd following, so it would make since to run into another player on slashdot.
- Posted without karma since this is offtopic
There is no inexpensive and hassle-free way to selectively grant and deny based on whether you are a customer. Ok, here's one for you, why not print the WPA (or if you must, WEP) on the customers receipt with a disclaimer that the service may only be used by paying customers. Then the only ones that have access are those that have read the disclaimer are have been informed of the access requirements. Can't get much cheaper than a couple lines on the receipt.
DHCP is exactly a request to be assigned network resources.
To extend an analogy that people of the camp that pushes this as trespass like to use, a router with DHCP and no restrictions set is kind of like a unlocked door on your house with a big giant sign that says "Please come in and make yourself at home". In this case, if you went out to work, and came home to find someone camped out in front of your TV drinking one of your beers and watching the game, I think you'd be on pretty shaky ground legally. It's the same deal here, if you don't secure the router in some way (and it's dead simple to do so) then you have no right to complain about someone using it.
so after they kill radio and there is no way for people to hear the new songs i guess they will be attaching the undrground/indie music scene. after all it must be their fault that no one buys any new music.
Exactly, the nerve of those people to operate unlicensed musical instruments. Just wait, the next line of legislation the RIAA is going to push will probably be bills requiring registration and fees of all musical instruments and public performances be paid to the RIAA.
When are these guys going to figure out that their business model just doesn't work anymore and will likely never work again? Right about the time someone pries their business model from their cold dead hands.
All the old analog radar systems used by the national aerospace system (1080MHz) need to go away anyway and be replaced by modern ADS-B digital systems where every aircraft in the sky has an GPS system on board that transmits its precise location, altitude, airspeed, and directional vectors.
I'm not trying to be a ludite or anything, and I don't know much about aviation, but I do have to wonder what then happens if one of the planes GPS transmitters drops offline. Surely some sort of ground based system, even if used solely for backup (reality check anyone?) would be a good idea?
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Just looked it up, "There is no cow level" is actually referenced in two places. In later releases of Diablo it was added as a tip on the loading screen, and in Starcraft it was the cheat code to instantly win the game.
It's been a while so I don't remember all the details on it. If I recall I think the code allows you to warp to different areas. Or maybe I'm thinking of Starcraft, I'm pretty sure that was a code in Starcraft as well. Now I need to go lookup all the old cheat codes for all the blizzard games to verify all this. It was pretty common for Blizzard to include references to their other games in the cheat codes of different titles (and sometimes the content as well, ala the vikings reference in WoW).
*sigh*
It was part information, part joke. The code to unlock the cow level in Diablo 2, was "There is no cow level".
Of course, that's the entire point! If the developers could envision it, then they would have just programmed it right from the start and skipped all the mess in between. No, the problem is people doing things the developers didn't envision that unbalance the gameplay. So, the real trick is to come up with a system that allows people to be creative and create new content, but in such a way that it's both interesting to do so, as well as maintains a balance. Think something like the unified field theory for games. No free energy, everything has a cost. The trouble is of course to do this in such a way that it rewards creativity, such that combining 12 different spells costs less and provides more bang for your buck than just stacking 12 fireballs on top of each other.
And thus we get to the crux of the problem. Some people argue religion is useful in that it helps to fulfill certain emotional and psychological needs, however you also need to look at the cost. The fact is, religion acts as both a polarizing force to divide people into us vs. them groups, as well as to provide justification for fights, wars, and genocide (crusades, jihad, call it what you will). Yes a properly balanced individual will not take religion to these extremes, but the way people treat religion tends to rule out the majority being properly balanced. A great many people are indoctrinated early into various religious teachings and taught to believe everything the churches tell them at a literal level and never question it, so when the church says burn the infidels, they ask how hot.
nationalism hasn't been used anywhere nearly as effectively as religious bigotry to start wars and kill people. So Stalin's 50-odd million in the name of protecting the Soviet Union was what, inconsequential? What about some of the high-profile genocides in the last 60 or so years? What about, for that matter, the Iraq war? Religion wasn't invoked there, but tens of thousands have died already in that conflict.Stalin's 50-odd million, was a dictatorship regime in a death spiral, no, religion wasn't the cause there, that was an entirely different form of bad idea. However, it's important to point out that Stalin was killing his own people, not starting wars (well, for the most part, there was a lot of posturing going on between the US and USSR, and they did use other countries as pawns). It's also interesting to note that even in the US vs. USSR conflict religion was invoked on the US side in the form of McCarthyism and the religious campaigning against the (perceived) atheistic communists.
With regard to the middle east, which Iraq is a part of, one cannot help but invoke religion, the entire history of that part of the world has been one religious war after another. Taking just Iraq into consideration some of the worst atrocities that Sadam committed were religious in nature. There's a long history of Sunni and Shi'ite brutality between each other in that part of the world. The US invasion of Iraq, although not in fact motivated by religion, was at least given credibility and backing by the Christian churches, and Bushes repeated invocation of "God" in reference to the US and various activities in Iraq further strengthens this assertion. You could argue that Bush doesn't actually believe he's doing it for religious reasons (although considering some of the things he's said, you have to wonder), but even then many of his supporters back him in his efforts for religious reasons.
did anyone else mentally complete this with:
... be a shame if something were to happen to it.
Maybe it's cause I just got done reading a story on slate about mafiaa hitmen dropping their guns.
Ok, who let the monkey in here huh?
I mean... hey, what's it doi*thunk*
Sorry to anyone who doesn't get these jokes. Nothing to see here, move along.
I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that transmitting back to the cell tower (particularly someplace far from a tower) was one of the most power intensive things a cell phone does. Not saying it should bar you from making calls of course, although a warning is probably appropriate.
I think the intent was to make you aware in the case where the door was slightly open (IE you didn't close it all the way). I haven't noticed that feature in any of the newer US cars. I know it's not in mine even if my car is technically not a US car (Honda, it was built in the US, but not sure if it's the same as it is in other parts of the world or not).
Yes, and the other candidates if elected would make a total mess of pulling out of the war, have reckless spending, cronyism, and pass as much pork barrel socialist law as possible while trying to raise taxes. It's a choice between morons and morons, and I figured better the evil we know. At least you know exactly what kind of boneheaded things Bush is going to do, and for the most part he hasn't wasted time passing bills that will have a long term effect. The worst of his offense will be repealed in short order, and almost all of his power comes from the "state of war" that he managed to invoke. Once he's out of office it mostly goes away. If he hadn't made it, who knows what other stupid laws would already be on the books (like internet taxes). I'm just hoping that we get at least one decent candidate this time. Plus, look at it this way, we never have to worry about Dubya being president ever again.
In order for that to happen we need to get a non-idiot to run first, and for him (or her) to have enough backing to have a reasonable chance of winning.
I voted for Bush in the last election not because I like him (I think he's a total moron) but because he was better than the other candidates, which says a lot about our politicians.
I think the logic and comparison he was trying to make was that specifying something like calling a cab over a phone is roughly equivalent to specifying sending e-mail over the internet. The actual connection may be taxed, but the content is to diverse to accurately asses a tax for. On a related note, various people have mentioned that the e-mail tax portion is supposed to be in reference to previous debates, and that the bills being considered now would be taxes on the connections rather than on specific content.
Ok, first, by stating this, you automatically invoke Quirk's Exception to Godwin's law and thus Godwin's law doesn't apply. Secondly, since at least part of the topic has to do with holocaust referring to the holocaust does not invoke Godwin's law. And finally, you are not drawing a comparison between something else and either the Natzis or Hitler which is what Godwin's law refers to, rather your citing relevant quotations so this also exempts you from Godwin's law.
I think maybe we need a new law that applies to people invoking laws in incorrect situations.
Wow, a KOL reference, and here I thought I was one of about 12 people that ever actually played that game. Of course, being KOL it probably has a larger than normal geek/nerd following, so it would make since to run into another player on slashdot. - Posted without karma since this is offtopic
To extend an analogy that people of the camp that pushes this as trespass like to use, a router with DHCP and no restrictions set is kind of like a unlocked door on your house with a big giant sign that says "Please come in and make yourself at home". In this case, if you went out to work, and came home to find someone camped out in front of your TV drinking one of your beers and watching the game, I think you'd be on pretty shaky ground legally. It's the same deal here, if you don't secure the router in some way (and it's dead simple to do so) then you have no right to complain about someone using it.
Exactly, the nerve of those people to operate unlicensed musical instruments. Just wait, the next line of legislation the RIAA is going to push will probably be bills requiring registration and fees of all musical instruments and public performances be paid to the RIAA.
Actually I rather have internets become a new SI Unit. Yes sir, this baby here has 10 whole internets of storage on it.
I'm not trying to be a ludite or anything, and I don't know much about aviation, but I do have to wonder what then happens if one of the planes GPS transmitters drops offline. Surely some sort of ground based system, even if used solely for backup (reality check anyone?) would be a good idea?