In the end this is a big black hole. You make the excuse that Humans are going into space. Well if this is what is an example we won't get too far with blunders such as this.
I've had this experience in several different games. In one it was the end game for Baldur's Gate (old hot-seat X-box version). There is a room where you fight this unstoppable boss warrior. It took schlock to win - my mage had to become an archer and the dwarf had to be nothing but a meat shield. This is a similar issue in games like Guild Wars. There was an elite area in the game of Night Fall where you either had to use the AI against itself or you would never have a chance of killing Malyx (big bad boss in Domain of Anguish). I've often seen that there are issues associated with certain skills and balancing. I think that perhaps part of the problem is that those that balance game skills are more PvP vs. PvE, but that can't explain all of it.
Personally I like a challenge, but I don't enjoy what is called Hard Mode with the exception of running through the campaign in Guild Wars again. However doing things like vanquishing that take hours of grinding (500+ level 28 or higher bosses) and playing specific builds that get around the over-balance of difficulty takes away from feeling much accomplishment. For me I just feel like I've been at work. !Fun.:(
What I HAVE to ask is WHY ANYONE would allow personal laptops to go up at all? Clean laptops and NO USB drives allowed is what SHOULD be the correct process. I guess this is just another example of the simple route to infection being over-looked. At NASA it seems like the IT Overseers are more worried about documents getting lost on USB drives (they require encrypted USB drives) versus the USB drives being the vector of infection.
You're missing the point. No one is saying physicists need to learn programming as fall back for when they can't find jobs as physicists. Physicists need programming to do physics.
No, I'm not. YOU are not getting the intent of his post. It's not just aimed at Physics majors. As I said, I know enough of them (close friends with several folks with Physics degrees) and not all use programming. I will give you that some will require computer aid for modeling and/or running equations. But to say it should be required for science degrees is over-kill. Not all physicists will use their own programming skills to do their jobs either.
What exactly is it that you think physicists do? Nearly the only physical problems that can be solved without resorting to numerics are classroom examples.
That being said, I do not really think it is necessary to have dedicated programming classes. I am a second year doctoral student in physics, at a decent university (somehow), and I have had several research assistantships for computational optics and quantum mechanics.
Someone with a non-half-assed degree in physics does not need training on how to think logically and build an algorithm; they need a tutorial for the syntax as the need arises. A class would certainly help, but there is not this horrible void in a physics education that some here seem to perceive.
I don't see a correlation between a Science degree and programming. I don't see Biology, Chemistry, or Physics majors needing or necessarily gaining anything beyond an understanding of logic. Engineering and Math majors might be good candidates, or any other science type that saw a potential job in Information Technology and the degree as a way in....There are already enough things required that are never used after graduation. What exactly is it that you think physicists do? Nearly the only physical problems that can be solved without resorting to numerics are classroom examples.
That being said, I do not really think it is necessary to have dedicated programming classes. I am a second year doctoral student in physics, at a decent university (somehow), and I have had several research assistantships for computational optics and quantum mechanics.
Someone with a non-half-assed degree in physics does not need training on how to think logically and build an algorithm; they need a tutorial for the syntax as the need arises. A class would certainly help, but there is not this horrible void in a physics education that some here seem to perceive.
The Physicists that I'm friends with work as Full-time programmers. As to what the rest do - Astronomy, electromagnetics, signals, you name it. Unfortunately there are not as many gigs out there that pay well. One friend has a doctorate in the discipline and works as a software developer.
I do agree that programming should not be required, although it could help. My point is that a blanket statement that it should be required for a science degree makes little sense.
I don't see a correlation between a Science degree and programming. I don't see Biology, Chemistry, or Physics majors needing or necessarily gaining anything beyond an understanding of logic. Engineering and Math majors might be good candidates, or any other science type that saw a potential job in Information Technology and the degree as a way in.
OTOH I have known several people with degrees in Physics, undergrad and grad that work as programmers. That said, unless a person KNOWS that they will not be working as Physicists, I don't see programming as being an integral part of the curriculum. Of course it does not hurt anything, I just believe it should not be required. There are already enough things required that are never used after graduation.
On one hand I can agree that gaming IS can be a stress relief. However, if a person is easily agitated and prone to violence it may actually contribute to desensitizing a person to violence. In the past some studies show violent games and tv viewing lead to more aggressive behavior in kids. My daughter, husband, and I play Guild Wars. I can say that I've never witnessed my daughter showing an increase in aggressive behavior, but asking people how they feel is very qualitative and not a good study. It would be better to give some type of test AFTER playing an MMO that measures aggression and/or stress attributes. Otherwise the results are based on opinions of the test subjects. Hmmm...
Well, Texas has a caucus. She took the primary but Obama took more in the caucus which is a smaller percentage of the delegates.
As to her actually *winning* one must wonder if Rush Limbaugh may have contributed to Republicans cross-voting just to up the contention between Clinton and Obmana and further muddy the outcome for the Dems.
--cally
I think that this may have to do with bravado, but more likely it has to do with plain old ignorance. I seriously doubt the Airforce has good IT personnel. Maybe I'm being an IT snob, but from what I've heard from family members that work in government and other civil service (one is pretty highly ranked) is that (as we all know) woefully behind the times. I suspect that an email about data being sent to a public URL may have been seen as cryptic to whatever administrator ended up with the information. On a different thread I was talking about identify theft and how the government is one of the largest areas where proprietary data is stolen from. I think that it's just another symptom of a much more systemic problem within government agencies in the US.
I think what everyone is missing is that everything you let your kids do should have limits. Both of my daughters are very bright but had focus issues. They are both a year ahead. I discovered that turning off the television during the week improved their concentration as well as their grades. However, we also encourage use of computers and our gaming consoles. Our daughters are 3 and 7 and the younger plays on Noggin.com and PC games for her age. Our older daughter also started at 3 and has worked her way up to proficiency on the Wii, PC, and various online games. She has been awarded girl scout patches for computer expertise. She now plays with us in Guild Wars. Her younger sister has amazed the teachers at their school at how adept she is at using the computer. The girls also spend time at swimming, biking, skating and ballet. They watch the old tube on the weekends. They sometimes complain about not having it during the week, but their grades keep me convinced about the ban during the week.
What it all boils down to is balance. Anything done in excess can be damaging. Use common sense instead of banning any childhood activity outright.
Sure, code has been updated/refactored, but there may be enough to cause IBM pause. M$ used SCO to attack IBM over Linux distributions. Perhaps IBM is tired of flinging mud back and forth with M$.
As to speed, as a former OS/2 administrator, I disagree with your speed comments. It was way better than anything else at the time (mid-1995ish), but Linux is much faster period.
Cheers,
Cally
I think you have missed the point. Back in the day OS/2 was far better than Windoze 3.1 or 95. However today any species of Linux would outstrip it by light years. Another point is that OS/2 was a team effort between M$ and IBM. M$ pulled out. I bet there are tons of code shared between the OSs. NT 3.5 was based in part on it. So unless IBM wants to be sued by M$, they will probably keep that one locked away.
One thing to keep in mind is that some of the market for the Wii is the seniors. They are probably more willing to wait to get one than teens or twenty somethings. Another group are those with young children. I have a 3 year old and a 7 year old. When considering other consoles because of the Wii shortage, it became clear the other consoles would not suffice. The Wii is so young-kid friendly that we decided that if we couldn't get one for XMAS we'd wait until we could. I think that part the demographic for those that are in the line for the Wii will wait until they can get their hands on it. The seniors and young kids are what contributed to the shortage in the first place.
I don't wait. I have a good system. It is admittedly a gaming system but it also works fine with GIMP. I used to use it on an old laptop and it was a bit slow there, but it is quite fine on a good pc.
Thing here is -it's not a pile at all. GIMP works great with my WACOM digital tablet as well. I do a bit of art and have a small online gallery. I render first with paper and pencil, charcoal, or colored pencil, scan in and then do the rest digitally. GIMP is wonderful. It works just fine. I agree with a prior poster that said it's all about familiarity with the interface. I think that some people don't want to rtfm or deal with something that isn't mom's Photoshop. The free part is just an added bonus.
I use Gimp on a regular basis for photo editing as well as some artwork I do. Yes, it's UI is a bit clunky but it's free and works. It takes a bit to get used to but it's not that more difficult than Photoshop. Another key to remember is that it's free. That goes miles in my book.
Good ideas. I commented along those lines in another response in this thread. I guess at the end of the day even if you had the correct-sounding avatars the responses could very well blow it too. *shrug* However, it's definitely food for thought.
You make good points. I've only played a little with vent. Most of my history has been with text chat and using the battle map. I'm primarily a PvE player although I've done farming and some PvP. I really think things depend on what you are working towards. Some missions in GW can be day-long events. When dealing with a party of 8 or 12 it can be more confusing to only use vent. I see a combination of vent, battle map, and text chat. As prior posters and my own commentary have said - I guess it is dependent on situation and what you as an individual and/or team are after. If atmosphere and preservation of the PvE exerience is important I'd say avoid vent when running the story of the game you are playing.
Let's say that gaming tech moves on to a point where you could speak into a headset and have your avatar respond with an appropriate voice - well all well and good. Yet...what if what they say is off? I guess at least the atmosphere is preserved if not all of the content. Voice chat preserves some of the mood but I must admit that sometimes in the middle of hard mode having to type is a pain in the arse and vent is my preferred venue. Of course doing hard mode is for getting titles and good drops as opposed to just running PvE through the story.
Exactly. Somehow, when you are running around with the mighty warrior and the mage and then you hear a deep South accent or a 9 year old it just skews the entire mission. Of course, if I already know most of the folks then it does make a long, complex mission easier to manage.
I play Guild Wars. Recently we (the hubby) and I picked up Vent since it is what our Alliance and Guild uses for communication on long/complicated missions. I generally know how old folks are in my guild/team but it was definitly enlightening to hear accents from the UK to the deep South of the US. On some levels it was cool but it does have a different flavor from going at it with text. Somehow you lose some of the ambience. Not sure how else to explain it.
I'm an avid Guild Wars player. So is my spouse. My elder daughter (6) has expressed interest in playing. I've let her move one of my toons around and help pick clothing but I have yet to acquiesce to her her desire to have her own account and let her play. She is rather good at computer games but they consist of things like "Barbie and the Twelve Dancing Princesses, Barbie Explorer" etc. These two are examples of first person explorers as opposed to shooters. I'm leaning towards laying off of letting her join us in our online VR until she has some level of emotional maturity to deal with teenagers and adults that she might bump into (in the case of an MMORPG). The violent imagery is also not something I want her to participate in although she has often stayed and watched us kill monsters and asked questions about it. I must admit that at least in Guild Wars there is no blood and guts imagery that is very evident in some of our Xbox console games. She has also played Shrek II on the Xbox with the the two of us and at that time avoided combat of any type and collected coins and did non-violent types of activity.
I guess it is really best to simply gauge emotional maturity and also ask your child directly what they would like to do. In the case of online games I'd add even more caution due to the risks associated with such a venue.
Blocking the sale of video games due to content will not stop violence in kids. It's less about what the kids are allowed to watch or play, and more about what they select and are enabled to experience by their parents. A child with emotional problems may commit crimes regardless of playing violent games. The playing of violent games is more likely a symptom of a troubled psyche as opposed to the game causing the emotional trouble. I think this is what is at issue. I'm not condoning excessively violent games but I think that the folks that go out trying to block a thing to stop another thing have missed the point.
What is concerning is that it's great that they have removed the coding for the cows to create Prions. It's even amazing that thus far they are healthy and alive. What is a bit worrisome is that we do not know what potential for other diseases or impacts may result from modifying the genetic code of a creature that evolved that code over tens of thousands of years. We cannot see this as a panacea. Prions may have been there at some point for a reason. Perhaps not. I'm not trying to be a Luddite, but I would be cautious before jumping for joy.
Slashdot Mirror
In the end this is a big black hole. You make the excuse that Humans are going into space. Well if this is what is an example we won't get too far with blunders such as this.
I've had this experience in several different games. In one it was the end game for Baldur's Gate (old hot-seat X-box version). There is a room where you fight this unstoppable boss warrior. It took schlock to win - my mage had to become an archer and the dwarf had to be nothing but a meat shield. This is a similar issue in games like Guild Wars. There was an elite area in the game of Night Fall where you either had to use the AI against itself or you would never have a chance of killing Malyx (big bad boss in Domain of Anguish). I've often seen that there are issues associated with certain skills and balancing. I think that perhaps part of the problem is that those that balance game skills are more PvP vs. PvE, but that can't explain all of it. Personally I like a challenge, but I don't enjoy what is called Hard Mode with the exception of running through the campaign in Guild Wars again. However doing things like vanquishing that take hours of grinding (500+ level 28 or higher bosses) and playing specific builds that get around the over-balance of difficulty takes away from feeling much accomplishment. For me I just feel like I've been at work. !Fun. :(
What I HAVE to ask is WHY ANYONE would allow personal laptops to go up at all? Clean laptops and NO USB drives allowed is what SHOULD be the correct process. I guess this is just another example of the simple route to infection being over-looked. At NASA it seems like the IT Overseers are more worried about documents getting lost on USB drives (they require encrypted USB drives) versus the USB drives being the vector of infection.
You're missing the point. No one is saying physicists need to learn programming as fall back for when they can't find jobs as physicists. Physicists need programming to do physics.
No, I'm not. YOU are not getting the intent of his post. It's not just aimed at Physics majors. As I said, I know enough of them (close friends with several folks with Physics degrees) and not all use programming. I will give you that some will require computer aid for modeling and/or running equations. But to say it should be required for science degrees is over-kill. Not all physicists will use their own programming skills to do their jobs either.That being said, I do not really think it is necessary to have dedicated programming classes. I am a second year doctoral student in physics, at a decent university (somehow), and I have had several research assistantships for computational optics and quantum mechanics.
Someone with a non-half-assed degree in physics does not need training on how to think logically and build an algorithm; they need a tutorial for the syntax as the need arises. A class would certainly help, but there is not this horrible void in a physics education that some here seem to perceive.
The Physicists that I'm friends with work as Full-time programmers. As to what the rest do - Astronomy, electromagnetics, signals, you name it. Unfortunately there are not as many gigs out there that pay well. One friend has a doctorate in the discipline and works as a software developer. I do agree that programming should not be required, although it could help. My point is that a blanket statement that it should be required for a science degree makes little sense.I don't see a correlation between a Science degree and programming. I don't see Biology, Chemistry, or Physics majors needing or necessarily gaining anything beyond an understanding of logic. Engineering and Math majors might be good candidates, or any other science type that saw a potential job in Information Technology and the degree as a way in. OTOH I have known several people with degrees in Physics, undergrad and grad that work as programmers. That said, unless a person KNOWS that they will not be working as Physicists, I don't see programming as being an integral part of the curriculum. Of course it does not hurt anything, I just believe it should not be required. There are already enough things required that are never used after graduation.
On one hand I can agree that gaming IS can be a stress relief. However, if a person is easily agitated and prone to violence it may actually contribute to desensitizing a person to violence. In the past some studies show violent games and tv viewing lead to more aggressive behavior in kids. My daughter, husband, and I play Guild Wars. I can say that I've never witnessed my daughter showing an increase in aggressive behavior, but asking people how they feel is very qualitative and not a good study. It would be better to give some type of test AFTER playing an MMO that measures aggression and/or stress attributes. Otherwise the results are based on opinions of the test subjects. Hmmm...
Cross-vote to cause contention in the Democratic race. Without a clear leader heading into the convention it could give McCain a boost. *shrug*
--cally
Well, Texas has a caucus. She took the primary but Obama took more in the caucus which is a smaller percentage of the delegates. As to her actually *winning* one must wonder if Rush Limbaugh may have contributed to Republicans cross-voting just to up the contention between Clinton and Obmana and further muddy the outcome for the Dems. --cally
I think that this may have to do with bravado, but more likely it has to do with plain old ignorance. I seriously doubt the Airforce has good IT personnel. Maybe I'm being an IT snob, but from what I've heard from family members that work in government and other civil service (one is pretty highly ranked) is that (as we all know) woefully behind the times. I suspect that an email about data being sent to a public URL may have been seen as cryptic to whatever administrator ended up with the information. On a different thread I was talking about identify theft and how the government is one of the largest areas where proprietary data is stolen from. I think that it's just another symptom of a much more systemic problem within government agencies in the US.
--cally
I think what everyone is missing is that everything you let your kids do should have limits. Both of my daughters are very bright but had focus issues. They are both a year ahead. I discovered that turning off the television during the week improved their concentration as well as their grades. However, we also encourage use of computers and our gaming consoles. Our daughters are 3 and 7 and the younger plays on Noggin.com and PC games for her age. Our older daughter also started at 3 and has worked her way up to proficiency on the Wii, PC, and various online games. She has been awarded girl scout patches for computer expertise. She now plays with us in Guild Wars. Her younger sister has amazed the teachers at their school at how adept she is at using the computer. The girls also spend time at swimming, biking, skating and ballet. They watch the old tube on the weekends. They sometimes complain about not having it during the week, but their grades keep me convinced about the ban during the week.
What it all boils down to is balance. Anything done in excess can be damaging. Use common sense instead of banning any childhood activity outright.
my 2 cents,
Cally
Sure, code has been updated/refactored, but there may be enough to cause IBM pause. M$ used SCO to attack IBM over Linux distributions. Perhaps IBM is tired of flinging mud back and forth with M$. As to speed, as a former OS/2 administrator, I disagree with your speed comments. It was way better than anything else at the time (mid-1995ish), but Linux is much faster period. Cheers, Cally
I think you have missed the point. Back in the day OS/2 was far better than Windoze 3.1 or 95. However today any species of Linux would outstrip it by light years. Another point is that OS/2 was a team effort between M$ and IBM. M$ pulled out. I bet there are tons of code shared between the OSs. NT 3.5 was based in part on it. So unless IBM wants to be sued by M$, they will probably keep that one locked away.
My two cents.
Cally
One thing to keep in mind is that some of the market for the Wii is the seniors. They are probably more willing to wait to get one than teens or twenty somethings. Another group are those with young children. I have a 3 year old and a 7 year old. When considering other consoles because of the Wii shortage, it became clear the other consoles would not suffice. The Wii is so young-kid friendly that we decided that if we couldn't get one for XMAS we'd wait until we could. I think that part the demographic for those that are in the line for the Wii will wait until they can get their hands on it. The seniors and young kids are what contributed to the shortage in the first place.
My two cents.
I don't wait. I have a good system. It is admittedly a gaming system but it also works fine with GIMP. I used to use it on an old laptop and it was a bit slow there, but it is quite fine on a good pc.
Thing here is -it's not a pile at all. GIMP works great with my WACOM digital tablet as well. I do a bit of art and have a small online gallery. I render first with paper and pencil, charcoal, or colored pencil, scan in and then do the rest digitally. GIMP is wonderful. It works just fine. I agree with a prior poster that said it's all about familiarity with the interface. I think that some people don't want to rtfm or deal with something that isn't mom's Photoshop. The free part is just an added bonus.
I use Gimp on a regular basis for photo editing as well as some artwork I do. Yes, it's UI is a bit clunky but it's free and works. It takes a bit to get used to but it's not that more difficult than Photoshop. Another key to remember is that it's free. That goes miles in my book.
Good ideas. I commented along those lines in another response in this thread. I guess at the end of the day even if you had the correct-sounding avatars the responses could very well blow it too. *shrug* However, it's definitely food for thought.
You make good points. I've only played a little with vent. Most of my history has been with text chat and using the battle map. I'm primarily a PvE player although I've done farming and some PvP. I really think things depend on what you are working towards. Some missions in GW can be day-long events. When dealing with a party of 8 or 12 it can be more confusing to only use vent. I see a combination of vent, battle map, and text chat. As prior posters and my own commentary have said - I guess it is dependent on situation and what you as an individual and/or team are after. If atmosphere and preservation of the PvE exerience is important I'd say avoid vent when running the story of the game you are playing.
For what it's worth.
Let's say that gaming tech moves on to a point where you could speak into a headset and have your avatar respond with an appropriate voice - well all well and good. Yet...what if what they say is off? I guess at least the atmosphere is preserved if not all of the content. Voice chat preserves some of the mood but I must admit that sometimes in the middle of hard mode having to type is a pain in the arse and vent is my preferred venue. Of course doing hard mode is for getting titles and good drops as opposed to just running PvE through the story.
Exactly. Somehow, when you are running around with the mighty warrior and the mage and then you hear a deep South accent or a 9 year old it just skews the entire mission. Of course, if I already know most of the folks then it does make a long, complex mission easier to manage.
I play Guild Wars. Recently we (the hubby) and I picked up Vent since it is what our Alliance and Guild uses for communication on long/complicated missions. I generally know how old folks are in my guild/team but it was definitly enlightening to hear accents from the UK to the deep South of the US. On some levels it was cool but it does have a different flavor from going at it with text. Somehow you lose some of the ambience. Not sure how else to explain it.
I'm an avid Guild Wars player. So is my spouse. My elder daughter (6) has expressed interest in playing. I've let her move one of my toons around and help pick clothing but I have yet to acquiesce to her her desire to have her own account and let her play. She is rather good at computer games but they consist of things like "Barbie and the Twelve Dancing Princesses, Barbie Explorer" etc. These two are examples of first person explorers as opposed to shooters. I'm leaning towards laying off of letting her join us in our online VR until she has some level of emotional maturity to deal with teenagers and adults that she might bump into (in the case of an MMORPG). The violent imagery is also not something I want her to participate in although she has often stayed and watched us kill monsters and asked questions about it. I must admit that at least in Guild Wars there is no blood and guts imagery that is very evident in some of our Xbox console games. She has also played Shrek II on the Xbox with the the two of us and at that time avoided combat of any type and collected coins and did non-violent types of activity.
I guess it is really best to simply gauge emotional maturity and also ask your child directly what they would like to do. In the case of online games I'd add even more caution due to the risks associated with such a venue.
My two cents...
Cally
Blocking the sale of video games due to content will not stop violence in kids. It's less about what the kids are allowed to watch or play, and more about what they select and are enabled to experience by their parents. A child with emotional problems may commit crimes regardless of playing violent games. The playing of violent games is more likely a symptom of a troubled psyche as opposed to the game causing the emotional trouble. I think this is what is at issue. I'm not condoning excessively violent games but I think that the folks that go out trying to block a thing to stop another thing have missed the point.
My two cents.
Cally
What is concerning is that it's great that they have removed the coding for the cows to create Prions. It's even amazing that thus far they are healthy and alive. What is a bit worrisome is that we do not know what potential for other diseases or impacts may result from modifying the genetic code of a creature that evolved that code over tens of thousands of years. We cannot see this as a panacea. Prions may have been there at some point for a reason. Perhaps not. I'm not trying to be a Luddite, but I would be cautious before jumping for joy.
Cally