You'll have a hard time convincing today's game designers, who think any game without slick movie-qualiy graphics and 5.1 surround sound won't sell.
That's the bad news; the good news is a text-only adventure game requires only an imagination and writing ability (both of which seem to be lacking in modern games).
"The Adventures of Retro Bob and his sidekick Tex".
I'd do an adventure game out of my slashdot journals and old K5 diaries, but nobody could sell it because it would be rated AO. Especially the one titled "NSFW".
I imagine you're not the only one. Daughter of a nerd running a Gamestop. Bad news though dude - she's engaged, and living with her fiancee (he runs a different Gamestop)
She's of age, you'll have to ask her, not me. I was impressed as hell when her fiancee asked me for permission to marry her. Be warned, he's older than you and a pretty big guy to boot (and by "big" I don't mean overweight)
If you're anti-corporate, why would you ever vote for a Libertarian?
Because I'm not a single issue voter. If you've ever seen my journals you would know that I like pot and hookers, and the Libertarians want to legalize them both. They wouldn't, of course, be able to manage that unless they somehow got control of the House and Senate.
The biggest reason I'd like to see a Libertarian in the White House is because he would veto, veto, and veto some more. The President doesn't write the laws, he vetos them when he can, and must enforce them when he can't. And IMO we have way, way too many laws.
The law I'd like to see is one that gives term limits to laws; unless reenacted, all laws would expire after a ten year period. Do we really need to protect sugar farmers form their South American competetion?
The party I'd like to see doesn't exist. It would be a social libertarian party that understood that government's prime purpose is to protect me from you, not to protect the corporations from customers, voters, and environmental laws. It would be pro-osha, drug-neutral, and antiNannyState.
When I was a young man the only corporation I was against was the one that killed my grandfather (that was 1959 and I still refuse to buy Purina products). Perhaps being young made me naive (actually in retrospect I'm sure that was the case), but it didn't seem like corporations were all run by murderous theiving sociopaths like today's corporations are.
When I speak of "murderous theiving sociopaths" I speak of Ford and the exploding Pintos and crown victorias, the Firestone SUV rollovers, Microsoft's business practices, Ty's refusal to take lead tainted toys off of Illinois shelves despite our consumer protection laws, Sony's rootkit, Alpo's poison Chinese dog and cat food, Mattell's poison Chinese toys... the list is endless.
In fact, if I had my way most CEOs would be facing trial for negligent homicide amd Grand Theift.
That's funny, I haven't heard a peep from him about religion. Are you confusing him with Mike Huckabee? Huckabee's the bible thumper, Paul's the one trumpeting the constitution and the liberty it used to stand for.
If he had a chance in hell, he would get coverage
That's even funnier. Remember Ralph Nader's Prseidential candidacy? The Green Party wasn't on the ballot in enough states to win th ePresidency even if they won every single state they were on the ballot in, while the Libertarians were on the ballot in all but one state. The media slobbered all over Nader, and didn't give so much as a peep to the Libertarian, who garnered 10% in Illinois (now they're a "real" party here).
As far as yard signs, in the last local election judging from signs alone you would think that my alderman, Mahoney* would have lost by a landslide, but he won the election by a two to one margin.
*(anybody old enough to remember Jerry Mahoney? Well this IS Springfield)
I swear, what's with the slashdot obsession over video games?
Have you seen the masthead? Hint: It's not "news for middle aged IT managers and PHBs". If you are in fact a nerd, then you are the first one I've ever seen who isn't at at least interested in video games.
'Honestly, I haven't really explored video games thoroughly, and I'm sure there are video games that fit more the bill of something that I'd be interested in, but I'm kind of hard-pressed to find a game that's like reading a book or something like that. I understand the kids like it, so I allow them to do it; it's monitored but it's not my favorite thing for them to be doing
Parents should know what they're letting their kids do before they let them do it. I was playing arcade games long befpre I had any kids, the quoted parent should do a little research, both on child development and the games themselves.
I sought out videogames for my kids. Sesame Street games when they were Sesame Street age, Carmen Santiago later, etc. When they were teens we had a couple of PCs networked and played Road Rash and Quake II together.
Oddly, my ex-wife came to hate video games after enjoying the arcades earlier and the daughters became "daddy's girls" (I played whiffleball with them, as well as playing their "girl things" with them since their mom wouldn't, too. Evil-X wasn't a very good mom). My youngest turns 21 in March, she's manager of a Gamestop store now.
But what would you expect from the daughter of the guy who started the Springfield Fragfest Quake site?
But more freom the ignorant parent quoted above: I'm kind of hard-pressed to find a game that's like reading a book
Hear that, game developers? How about some old fashioned early 80s text adventures?
or something like that
Where in the world is Carmen Santiago? My kids loved that game. IIRC they were in grade school, but honestly I enjoyed it, too.
Scientology originated in the US. You might want to look up the US Constitution to see what the purpose of copyright actually is.
It's so that authors' and artists' will create works that will enter the public domain to be freely seen and used by all. Copyright's purpose is to make artistic expression freely available, not hidden.
If you don't want your words to be seen, don't write them down. If you don't want them heard, don't say them. Copyright is NOT there to keep your work a secret, despite what the MAFIAA organizations would have you believe (and it appears they have you believing it).
I'd rather see the youtube videos of their HQs being blown to bits than cannibals eating them. Once I'm dead I don't care what happens to my carcass, but blow up my house and I'll be pissed.
Come on, folks, lets see some property damage! You have to die from something, so killing them isn't an answer. Just blow some shit up! And make sure the camera is turned on.
I haven't seen a good "blowing shit up" video since they blew up that whale carcass a few years back.
1. a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies. 2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult. 3. the object of such devotion. 4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc. 5. Sociology. a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols. 6. a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader. 7. the members of such a religion or sect. 8. any system for treating human sickness that originated by a person usually claiming to have sole insight into the nature of disease, and that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or unscientific. -adjective 9. of or pertaining to a cult. 10. of, for, or attracting a small group of devotees: a cult movie.
It's pretty pointless arguing the meanings of words when you can look the damned things up. I say Scientology is NOT a cult because it's NOT a religion. Bhuddism is a religion, Scientology is a con game. Christianity started out as a cult (see definition #6) but became a mainstream religion, even bigger than the religion (Judism) that spawned it..
tell the scientologists that the RIAA are planning to clone Xenu from some evil thetans that were surgically extracted from Britney.
That might work if the people who ran Scientology actually believed in their own garbage. I don't believe they do. I believe the whole organization is a money making scam.
-mcgrew
PS- yes I got the joke, I'm just in a bad mood today.
I don't know, I get the feeling that this organization called "anonymous" is probably four or five guys (or maybe only one) with basically zero power to do anything whatever.
You college kids should study history. Nobody ever accomplished anything great, whether building a skyscraper, remodeling a kitchen, or stopping the Vietnam War without massive property damage.
Blow up the Scientologists' HQ and I'll make some popcorn. Untill then I'll yawn and ignore it like everyone else.
What's oddest about the media's lack of coverage, is the fact that the only bumper stickers and yard signs I see here in Springfield are Ron Paul signs.
It appears that the corporates are trying to spray Roundup on the grass roots, or at least keep them covered up in hopes that lack of sunshine will make them die.
Any candidate that the corporate media is afraid oof is a candidate that gets my vote. I don't expect to see him get nominated, but I plan on voting for Paul in the primaries anyway. Then I'll either vote Green or Libertarian in the general election.
IMO corporatism is a threat to capitalism AND freedom. I do not welcome our corporate overlords.
-mcgrew
OT but if anybody wants to downmod me, this is the best time to do it. Try "flamebait" because I'm in a really bad mood today.
The plague may have killed 3/4 of the population of Europe but it didn't wipe the whole continent out, let alone mankind. And that was the worst on record, and was over a thousand years ago.
And guess what? There was no Big Pharma then. Mankind lived for 100,000 years without big pharma before that AND without being wiped out by disease.
Many slashdotters, when shown some incredibly stupid thing someone has killed himself doing, gleefully shout "Darwin Award". Well, if an infection kills you guess what? Darwin strikes again! A good immune system (and reproduction, of course) beats a big brain every single time. Lucky for Linda*, bad for me, eh?
Sorry, I'm in a bad mood and will not suffer foiols gladly today. Take your neocon garbage elsewhere, Mr. Limbaugh.
-mcgrew
*No, I'm not going to link. Just find it. I'm too pissed off at the world to bother right now.
Depending on the job, wage security is often less of a concern than schedule security
In my case at least, you're absolutely right! I come in at 7:30 AM Monday through Friday and leave at 4:00. Years ago that was a big perk; I could make a lot more money doing what I'm doing now (and even more still doing what I could do etter than what I'm doing now) but that fixed schedule is valuable.
What good is a fistfull of cash when you don't have any time to enjoy it?
Not really, rich people could buy a new home, or a new boat
They could anyway. I couldn't.
There is an incredibly large percentage of the population that does not live paycheck to paycheck
That's true, and again, they are not the best target for economic stimulus, although they are a better target than the rich. Give me a tax break and I'd have to decide whether to squander it on doodads or pay down my debt.
Doesn't this just create a needless incentive toward decentralization?
I guess it could. In fact you're probably right.
That part of the economy has been dead for a while. Most new wealth in this country comes from sectors that are not labor intensive.
When I say "labor" I'm talking about those who produce: musicians, programmers, bricklayers, electricians, fry cooks, cashiers, wait staff, etc. All of these people's work (labor) creates wealth. Their employers' investments made the creation of the wealth possible, but the worker creates the wealth.
As to the insurance, I don't think our views are that far apart. IMO insurance itself is a scam; unfortunately my mortgage company insists on homeowners' insurance, my car loan bank and state government insist on auto insurance, and my employer "provides" health insurance, the cost of which could go to my paycheck.
The last times I went to the doctor were for eye surgery on a torn retina. If I'd been saving all my health insurance with interest it would have been easy to pay for.
According to the dictionary, if the government gets it it's a tax. A "user fee" is a particular type of tax.
tax/tæks/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[taks] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation -noun 1. a sum of money demanded by a government for its support or for specific facilities or services, levied upon incomes, property, sales, etc. 2. a burdensome charge, obligation, duty, or demand. -verb (used with object) 3. (of a government) a. to demand a tax from (a person, business, etc.). b. to demand a tax in consideration of the possession or occurrence of (income, goods, sales, etc.), usually in proportion to the value of money involved.
4. to lay a burden on; make serious demands on: to tax one's resources. 5. to take to task; censure; reprove; accuse: to tax one with laziness. 6. Informal. to charge: What did he tax you for that? 7. Archaic. to estimate or determine the amount or value of. -verb (used without object) 8. to levy taxes.
Slashdot Mirror
I used to joke at work that my favorite video game was Microsoft Word's "Find the needed menu item in the new version of Word"
You'll have a hard time convincing today's game designers, who think any game without slick movie-qualiy graphics and 5.1 surround sound won't sell.
That's the bad news; the good news is a text-only adventure game requires only an imagination and writing ability (both of which seem to be lacking in modern games).
"The Adventures of Retro Bob and his sidekick Tex".
I'd do an adventure game out of my slashdot journals and old K5 diaries, but nobody could sell it because it would be rated AO. Especially the one titled "NSFW".
I imagine you're not the only one. Daughter of a nerd running a Gamestop. Bad news though dude - she's engaged, and living with her fiancee (he runs a different Gamestop)
She's of age, you'll have to ask her, not me. I was impressed as hell when her fiancee asked me for permission to marry her. Be warned, he's older than you and a pretty big guy to boot (and by "big" I don't mean overweight)
If you're anti-corporate, why would you ever vote for a Libertarian?
Because I'm not a single issue voter. If you've ever seen my journals you would know that I like pot and hookers, and the Libertarians want to legalize them both. They wouldn't, of course, be able to manage that unless they somehow got control of the House and Senate.
The biggest reason I'd like to see a Libertarian in the White House is because he would veto, veto, and veto some more. The President doesn't write the laws, he vetos them when he can, and must enforce them when he can't. And IMO we have way, way too many laws.
The law I'd like to see is one that gives term limits to laws; unless reenacted, all laws would expire after a ten year period. Do we really need to protect sugar farmers form their South American competetion?
The party I'd like to see doesn't exist. It would be a social libertarian party that understood that government's prime purpose is to protect me from you, not to protect the corporations from customers, voters, and environmental laws. It would be pro-osha, drug-neutral, and antiNannyState.
When I was a young man the only corporation I was against was the one that killed my grandfather (that was 1959 and I still refuse to buy Purina products). Perhaps being young made me naive (actually in retrospect I'm sure that was the case), but it didn't seem like corporations were all run by murderous theiving sociopaths like today's corporations are.
When I speak of "murderous theiving sociopaths" I speak of Ford and the exploding Pintos and crown victorias, the Firestone SUV rollovers, Microsoft's business practices, Ty's refusal to take lead tainted toys off of Illinois shelves despite our consumer protection laws, Sony's rootkit, Alpo's poison Chinese dog and cat food, Mattell's poison Chinese toys... the list is endless.
In fact, if I had my way most CEOs would be facing trial for negligent homicide amd Grand Theift.
That's funny, I haven't heard a peep from him about religion. Are you confusing him with Mike Huckabee? Huckabee's the bible thumper, Paul's the one trumpeting the constitution and the liberty it used to stand for.
If he had a chance in hell, he would get coverage
That's even funnier. Remember Ralph Nader's Prseidential candidacy? The Green Party wasn't on the ballot in enough states to win th ePresidency even if they won every single state they were on the ballot in, while the Libertarians were on the ballot in all but one state. The media slobbered all over Nader, and didn't give so much as a peep to the Libertarian, who garnered 10% in Illinois (now they're a "real" party here).
As far as yard signs, in the last local election judging from signs alone you would think that my alderman, Mahoney* would have lost by a landslide, but he won the election by a two to one margin.
*(anybody old enough to remember Jerry Mahoney? Well this IS Springfield)
Think about it.
No, technology's not quite that advanced yet. You still have to press the buttons.
I swear, what's with the slashdot obsession over video games?
Have you seen the masthead? Hint: It's not "news for middle aged IT managers and PHBs". If you are in fact a nerd, then you are the first one I've ever seen who isn't at at least interested in video games.
BTW, I'm 55 and I still play them.
-mcgrew
Lucky you, no journal today.
the parent(s) decide they are old enough. IMHO
From the sumary:
'Honestly, I haven't really explored video games thoroughly, and I'm sure there are video games that fit more the bill of something that I'd be interested in, but I'm kind of hard-pressed to find a game that's like reading a book or something like that. I understand the kids like it, so I allow them to do it; it's monitored but it's not my favorite thing for them to be doing
Parents should know what they're letting their kids do before they let them do it. I was playing arcade games long befpre I had any kids, the quoted parent should do a little research, both on child development and the games themselves.
I sought out videogames for my kids. Sesame Street games when they were Sesame Street age, Carmen Santiago later, etc. When they were teens we had a couple of PCs networked and played Road Rash and Quake II together.
Oddly, my ex-wife came to hate video games after enjoying the arcades earlier and the daughters became "daddy's girls" (I played whiffleball with them, as well as playing their "girl things" with them since their mom wouldn't, too. Evil-X wasn't a very good mom). My youngest turns 21 in March, she's manager of a Gamestop store now.
But what would you expect from the daughter of the guy who started the Springfield Fragfest Quake site?
But more freom the ignorant parent quoted above: I'm kind of hard-pressed to find a game that's like reading a book
Hear that, game developers? How about some old fashioned early 80s text adventures?
or something like that
Where in the world is Carmen Santiago? My kids loved that game. IIRC they were in grade school, but honestly I enjoyed it, too.
-mcgrew
He's dead, Jim.
Oblig. Jeff Foxworthy: "Famous last words: 'Hey Billybob, watch THIS!'"
Scientology originated in the US. You might want to look up the US Constitution to see what the purpose of copyright actually is.
It's so that authors' and artists' will create works that will enter the public domain to be freely seen and used by all. Copyright's purpose is to make artistic expression freely available, not hidden.
If you don't want your words to be seen, don't write them down. If you don't want them heard, don't say them. Copyright is NOT there to keep your work a secret, despite what the MAFIAA organizations would have you believe (and it appears they have you believing it).
"Professional sport?" You mean when some asshat mods my comment as "troll" I'm supposed to get paid?
Sweet!
I saw the Tom Cruise interview video last week - it really didn't seem all that fundamentally different from listening to an evangelical Christian.
The difference is, Tom Cruise probably actually read the Scientology book, whereas very few evangelists seem to have a clue what Jesus taught.
I'd rather see the youtube videos of their HQs being blown to bits than cannibals eating them. Once I'm dead I don't care what happens to my carcass, but blow up my house and I'll be pissed.
Come on, folks, lets see some property damage! You have to die from something, so killing them isn't an answer. Just blow some shit up! And make sure the camera is turned on.
I haven't seen a good "blowing shit up" video since they blew up that whale carcass a few years back.
-mcgrew
(yes, I'm in a bad mood)
Hehe. If that were a credible metric of "business", we'd have an emo President by now.
I take it you're too young to remember Jimmy Carter.
Hey, no fair posting in a thread about your own orginization!
-mcgrew
PS: Somebody blow something up, I'm in a real bad mood. Thanks in advance.
tell the scientologists that the RIAA are planning to clone Xenu from some evil thetans that were surgically extracted from Britney.
That might work if the people who ran Scientology actually believed in their own garbage. I don't believe they do. I believe the whole organization is a money making scam.
-mcgrew
PS- yes I got the joke, I'm just in a bad mood today.
It'll be amusing to watch, though.
I don't know, I get the feeling that this organization called "anonymous" is probably four or five guys (or maybe only one) with basically zero power to do anything whatever.
You college kids should study history. Nobody ever accomplished anything great, whether building a skyscraper, remodeling a kitchen, or stopping the Vietnam War without massive property damage.
Blow up the Scientologists' HQ and I'll make some popcorn. Untill then I'll yawn and ignore it like everyone else.
-mcgrew
No soup for YOU.
What's oddest about the media's lack of coverage, is the fact that the only bumper stickers and yard signs I see here in Springfield are Ron Paul signs.
It appears that the corporates are trying to spray Roundup on the grass roots, or at least keep them covered up in hopes that lack of sunshine will make them die.
Any candidate that the corporate media is afraid oof is a candidate that gets my vote. I don't expect to see him get nominated, but I plan on voting for Paul in the primaries anyway. Then I'll either vote Green or Libertarian in the general election.
IMO corporatism is a threat to capitalism AND freedom. I do not welcome our corporate overlords.
-mcgrew
OT but if anybody wants to downmod me, this is the best time to do it. Try "flamebait" because I'm in a really bad mood today.
The plague may have killed 3/4 of the population of Europe but it didn't wipe the whole continent out, let alone mankind. And that was the worst on record, and was over a thousand years ago.
And guess what? There was no Big Pharma then. Mankind lived for 100,000 years without big pharma before that AND without being wiped out by disease.
Many slashdotters, when shown some incredibly stupid thing someone has killed himself doing, gleefully shout "Darwin Award". Well, if an infection kills you guess what? Darwin strikes again! A good immune system (and reproduction, of course) beats a big brain every single time. Lucky for Linda*, bad for me, eh?
Sorry, I'm in a bad mood and will not suffer foiols gladly today. Take your neocon garbage elsewhere, Mr. Limbaugh.
-mcgrew
*No, I'm not going to link. Just find it. I'm too pissed off at the world to bother right now.
Depending on the job, wage security is often less of a concern than schedule security
In my case at least, you're absolutely right! I come in at 7:30 AM Monday through Friday and leave at 4:00. Years ago that was a big perk; I could make a lot more money doing what I'm doing now (and even more still doing what I could do etter than what I'm doing now) but that fixed schedule is valuable.
What good is a fistfull of cash when you don't have any time to enjoy it?
-mcgrew
No soup for YOU!
Salesman: New, improved Swiss cheese -- now with 50% fewer holes!
Customer: Looks good, I see no holes at all.
Salesman: See?
Customer: (takes a bite) OMFG this cheese tastes like SHIT!
Salesman: That's the new innovation, the holes are all inside so thare's less of that nasty taste!
Customer: I'll take seven, please
Guy waiting in line behind 1st customer: Huh?
Customer: Everybody eats this. It's the best cheeRALPH BLOG RALPH RALPH
Not really, rich people could buy a new home, or a new boat
They could anyway. I couldn't.
There is an incredibly large percentage of the population that does not live paycheck to paycheck
That's true, and again, they are not the best target for economic stimulus, although they are a better target than the rich. Give me a tax break and I'd have to decide whether to squander it on doodads or pay down my debt.
Doesn't this just create a needless incentive toward decentralization?
I guess it could. In fact you're probably right.
That part of the economy has been dead for a while. Most new wealth in this country comes from sectors that are not labor intensive.
When I say "labor" I'm talking about those who produce: musicians, programmers, bricklayers, electricians, fry cooks, cashiers, wait staff, etc. All of these people's work (labor) creates wealth. Their employers' investments made the creation of the wealth possible, but the worker creates the wealth.
As to the insurance, I don't think our views are that far apart. IMO insurance itself is a scam; unfortunately my mortgage company insists on homeowners' insurance, my car loan bank and state government insist on auto insurance, and my employer "provides" health insurance, the cost of which could go to my paycheck.
The last times I went to the doctor were for eye surgery on a torn retina. If I'd been saving all my health insurance with interest it would have been easy to pay for.