I'm pretty sure that is the point of the ESRB (regardless of personal opinion about its effectiveness). The biggest problem with the ESRB "tool" is that many (not all) parents either don't understand how to use the tool, don't think that the game content is an issue for their kid, or just don't care.
Before too long you have a kid kill a bunch of people and if the media determines the kid played violent video games then they sensationalize it. Yet, you never hear the media tell the story of say, LeBron James who grew up playing EA Sports NBA XX and became a great basketball player.
Applications require people to write them, people require some sense of security (per Maslow) before they can achieve the sort of self-actualization necessary to be creative and productive, early warning radar systems provide some of that security.
If you live in the US, this logic is obviously a bit of a stretch; However, if you live some place like the Gaza Strip then this argument has a bit more merit.
In any case, my points were that Ada is far from useless. In fact, it is used in more mission critical applications than we realize. It is also not limited to merely introducing students to procedural programming, which it is very good for.
You could easily get "a PC for $600 that will play ALL the games for it while running great for five years", under the following 2 conditions:
1. ALL games have to be developed using the same vendor SDK
2. The PC can be sold for $600, but may be designed/developed/packaged/marketed for thousands more
I also want to counter the caveat "running great for five years." When does the timer start for the XBox?
Consoles have always been cheaper than PCs That statement is invalid. The PS3 cost Sony ~$850.00 to make and was intentionally sold at a loss. Had they sold the system at a profit, the price to consumers would have been have been close to a grand(likely more). Consumers would have had a fit if they had to pay "PC" prices for a console, even if this device is essentially a proprietary "PC" with a more traditional console controller.
For the nay-sayers who think PC gaming is dead...
Maybe I'm missing the picture here but given the inner workings of both the XBox and the PS3, their PC-like peripherals (sans mouse), their network-ability and the mod-ability of both into Linux systems, I would argue that console gaming is dead. The only problem with that argument is that the Wii (as the only real console left) is doing pretty damned well.
On a side note, even Apple has realized the benefits of being more PC.
I'd say the PC is doing fine, 1200 dollar video cards and all.
Although the text books can be difficult to get through on one's own accord, they are designed to be complimented by an instructor's explanation of the material within the book. The problem of effectively teaching engineering courses (whether the core math and science or the discipline specific stuff) is that there is so much information that is jammed into an undergraduate curriculum, which is also one of the reasons why attrition is so high. We spend so little time getting exposed to something that took years to derive/prove/formulate that it appears to the novice as if our discipline was designed to "make people fail." If I had all the time in the world and could take 2 or 3 courses a semester without worry about taking care of my family, then I could certainly have walked away with much better understanding of the material studied and consequently, higher grades.
Even if my perspective on the situation is completely wrong from reality, good engineers learn more from failing than succeeding (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge) anyway. As a personal example, I had taken a math course on complex numbers. I failed the course because I couldn't commit the time necessary to effectively study the material. That failure made me realize that I had over-committed myself for the semester and when I retook the course next semester and properly applied myself I walked away with an A for the course. The principals weren't complicated and I didn't have a mathematical epiphany, I realized my failure and restructured my course load to support the topic.
I believe this thread can be best summed up with a quote from Richard Feynman...
"The theoretical broadening which comes from having many humanities subjects on the campus is offset by the general dopiness of the people who study these things..." - Richard Feynman
..but then that is probably a bit arrogant on my part.:-)
They've "disappeared" because it is far less newsworthy to see the military perform its daily peacekeeping mission than it is to see who got cut from American Idol. Personally, I'm glad there are fewer battlefield correspondents because out military has a hard enough time looking out for themselves, let alone civilians trying to capture the most sensational camera angle. As for being able to handle the truth, the answer is 'no' we can't, which is why we find solace in who got cut from American Idol.
I have to disagree with your fix. People always have the option of buying beyond their means so they aren't obligated to purchase inexpensive goods. In a very general sense, I think that most would rather get the best deal on whatever it is they're shopping for in order to stretch their purchasing power to other goods, necessary or not.
The Chinese make cheap goods:
1) People like to buy cheap goods
There, fixed that for you.
Capitalism/The Market is to blame. People want to buy commodity goods (virtually everything these days) as cheaply as possible. Correction
1) Companies like to buy cheap goods to improve margin
1a) People like to buy inexpensive goods
First, decoy satellites take away from the usable space that is left in much the same way that China did with their ASAT test (thank you, douchebags). Second, the only "stationary" satellites are the ones that sit on the geosynchronous belt (at ~22k miles out.) This makes them a bit more difficult for the hobbyist astronomer to see, akin to looking for a bar of ivory soap floating on the ocean 3000 miles away. Finally, you can keep the satellite oriented such that the sun provides ambient light. It is called a sun synchronous orbit and is best utilized for satellites that have some imaging capability.
Realistically, it is too cost prohibitive to add anything other than what is absolutely necessary for satellite operation. If you add a passive defense to the satellite then you potentially increase the weight of the payload such that it results in using a larger booster than is typical for the satellite's given application. If you add some sort of active defense then you have to trade off power/space/computational requirements. In the end, the satellite will get picked up anyway by countries with more sophisticated tech than is available to a hobbyist. How many hobbyists have a radar system lying around?
So what you're saying is that this satellite failed because someone from IT forgot to load the latest Win SP? Must have been part of the MSDN community to not get it in time.
Yes, I do see pictures in my head when I read something the author is trying to describe to me. Tell me, when you recall the story of Adam and Eve in paradise, do you see them carousing in a lush green garden filled with blossoms that are so vibrantly colored that the vision is almost psychedelic and far too beautiful to seem real or do you just interpret that there is a tree with an apple that Eve isn't supposed to touch?
What I'm trying to learn how to do is use some of those same "little pictures" in my head to remember more complex things. Mind you I don't want to waste it on Pi (http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/05/2219247), but it would still be a valuable skill to become more proficient with.
I applaud your choice of imaginary fruit. I think you've also more than effectively proven my point on interpretation using a biblical reference. Thank You.
Last time I checked (last night) there isn't much strategic planning or difficult choices to be made in reading a book. A book may work your imagination, but trying to predict what will happen if you do such-and-such, or trying to figure out how to do whatever, in a video game works your imagination quite effectively as well. Seriously, how many kids 7 years or younger are capable, let alone willing, to perform strategic planning. Do they know enough about consequence to make the difficult choice? Outcome prediction can still take place in a book, but instead of predicting the outcome of your own action you predict the outcome of the main character's actions (unless you're the type to read the first few pages, skip to the end and make assumptions about what happens in the middle). Video games exercise limited analytical thought, period.
Books are better for social development than a video game? Last I checked people don't tend to get together to read books Sure, I only go to Barnes and Noble for the Starbucks Coffee. Hell, even Oprah has a book of the month club.
I'd suggest more time outside in the world you're missing.
If you are not sure about whether or not there are games equal to books yet, then you're an idiot and should stay out of the argument. Leave it to people who have played the games, and know what they're talking about. Instead of the knee-jerk response of calling this woman an idiot because she doesn't play the games her children play (hence understand their value), why not apply some rational thought. Her remark that games aren't as imaginative as a book has merit. When you are playing a game you are essentially walking through someone else's vision of whatever world you are in whereas reading a book allows you to formulate you own vision of the world through your interpretation of the author's description. Sure with SDKs, you can create your own world to play in, but then you aren't playing at that point your creating.
Games do have some inherent value that involve limited analytic thought to solve puzzles necessary for progression, but its really just a trade-off of socialization skills, which are crucial to development in young children. I'll concede that multiplayer games do allow some crude form of socialization, but it's typically not enough to show someone what the proper behavior is beyond the pc/console. Argue it however you'd like, but you just can't learn skills and behaviors like empathy or acceptance over team chat or at a lan party.
Limiting game playing for children under seven years is a pretty conservative norm and can obviously be tailored to how well the child socializes with other people.
Boardgame - D&D, Adventures in Greyhawk, later I learned to enjoy Battletech with miniatures and finally Battlelords of the 23rd century
Atari 2600 - Combat
Commodore 64 - Wizard (and a little F-19 Stealth Fighter)
PC - Zork until I got the latest CGA card then it was Test Drive until I got the latest EGA card then it was Maniac Mansion
Full Size Arcade Machine - hmm....can't remember what the first was, but some favorites were Cobra Command, Gauntlet, Battlezone, Star Wars, Spy Hunter, Pacman, Galaga, Donkey Kong & DK Jr.,.... this could go on a while....
Slashdot Mirror
I'm pretty sure that is the point of the ESRB (regardless of personal opinion about its effectiveness). The biggest problem with the ESRB "tool" is that many (not all) parents either don't understand how to use the tool, don't think that the game content is an issue for their kid, or just don't care.
Before too long you have a kid kill a bunch of people and if the media determines the kid played violent video games then they sensationalize it. Yet, you never hear the media tell the story of say, LeBron James who grew up playing EA Sports NBA XX and became a great basketball player.
I'm with you on this one. I especially like the knotty pines.
"Activision and Blizzard have merged, Valve's minions grow stronger"
Applications require people to write them, people require some sense of security (per Maslow) before they can achieve the sort of self-actualization necessary to be creative and productive, early warning radar systems provide some of that security.
If you live in the US, this logic is obviously a bit of a stretch; However, if you live some place like the Gaza Strip then this argument has a bit more merit.
In any case, my points were that Ada is far from useless. In fact, it is used in more mission critical applications than we realize. It is also not limited to merely introducing students to procedural programming, which it is very good for.
You're right. An XML parser is infinitely more useful than say an early warning radar, which are largely coded in Ada.
I'm kinda partial to BSGU:ZombieMod
You could easily get "a PC for $600 that will play ALL the games for it while running great for five years", under the following 2 conditions:
1. ALL games have to be developed using the same vendor SDK
2. The PC can be sold for $600, but may be designed/developed/packaged/marketed for thousands more
I also want to counter the caveat "running great for five years." When does the timer start for the XBox?
The addition of the Blu-Ray drive alone forced significant losses, both in market share (to the XBox 360) and in production costs.
For the nay-sayers who think PC gaming is dead...
Maybe I'm missing the picture here but given the inner workings of both the XBox and the PS3, their PC-like peripherals (sans mouse), their network-ability and the mod-ability of both into Linux systems, I would argue that console gaming is dead. The only problem with that argument is that the Wii (as the only real console left) is doing pretty damned well.
On a side note, even Apple has realized the benefits of being more PC.
I'd say the PC is doing fine, 1200 dollar video cards and all.
Although the text books can be difficult to get through on one's own accord, they are designed to be complimented by an instructor's explanation of the material within the book. The problem of effectively teaching engineering courses (whether the core math and science or the discipline specific stuff) is that there is so much information that is jammed into an undergraduate curriculum, which is also one of the reasons why attrition is so high. We spend so little time getting exposed to something that took years to derive/prove/formulate that it appears to the novice as if our discipline was designed to "make people fail." If I had all the time in the world and could take 2 or 3 courses a semester without worry about taking care of my family, then I could certainly have walked away with much better understanding of the material studied and consequently, higher grades.
..but then that is probably a bit arrogant on my part. :-)
Even if my perspective on the situation is completely wrong from reality, good engineers learn more from failing than succeeding (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge) anyway. As a personal example, I had taken a math course on complex numbers. I failed the course because I couldn't commit the time necessary to effectively study the material. That failure made me realize that I had over-committed myself for the semester and when I retook the course next semester and properly applied myself I walked away with an A for the course. The principals weren't complicated and I didn't have a mathematical epiphany, I realized my failure and restructured my course load to support the topic.
I believe this thread can be best summed up with a quote from Richard Feynman...
"The theoretical broadening which comes from having many humanities subjects on the campus is offset by the general dopiness of the people who study these things..." - Richard Feynman
They've "disappeared" because it is far less newsworthy to see the military perform its daily peacekeeping mission than it is to see who got cut from American Idol. Personally, I'm glad there are fewer battlefield correspondents because out military has a hard enough time looking out for themselves, let alone civilians trying to capture the most sensational camera angle. As for being able to handle the truth, the answer is 'no' we can't, which is why we find solace in who got cut from American Idol.
Crysis at 2560 x 1600, All settings maxed.
I have to disagree with your fix. People always have the option of buying beyond their means so they aren't obligated to purchase inexpensive goods. In a very general sense, I think that most would rather get the best deal on whatever it is they're shopping for in order to stretch their purchasing power to other goods, necessary or not.
1) People like to buy cheap goods
There, fixed that for you.
Capitalism/The Market is to blame. People want to buy commodity goods (virtually everything these days) as cheaply as possible.
Correction
1) Companies like to buy cheap goods to improve margin
1a) People like to buy inexpensive goods
First, decoy satellites take away from the usable space that is left in much the same way that China did with their ASAT test (thank you, douchebags). Second, the only "stationary" satellites are the ones that sit on the geosynchronous belt (at ~22k miles out.) This makes them a bit more difficult for the hobbyist astronomer to see, akin to looking for a bar of ivory soap floating on the ocean 3000 miles away. Finally, you can keep the satellite oriented such that the sun provides ambient light. It is called a sun synchronous orbit and is best utilized for satellites that have some imaging capability.
Realistically, it is too cost prohibitive to add anything other than what is absolutely necessary for satellite operation. If you add a passive defense to the satellite then you potentially increase the weight of the payload such that it results in using a larger booster than is typical for the satellite's given application. If you add some sort of active defense then you have to trade off power/space/computational requirements. In the end, the satellite will get picked up anyway by countries with more sophisticated tech than is available to a hobbyist. How many hobbyists have a radar system lying around?
So what you're saying is that this satellite failed because someone from IT forgot to load the latest Win SP? Must have been part of the MSDN community to not get it in time.
Which is actually OK if you've developed an immunity to Iocane powder.
Yes, I do see pictures in my head when I read something the author is trying to describe to me. Tell me, when you recall the story of Adam and Eve in paradise, do you see them carousing in a lush green garden filled with blossoms that are so vibrantly colored that the vision is almost psychedelic and far too beautiful to seem real or do you just interpret that there is a tree with an apple that Eve isn't supposed to touch?
What I'm trying to learn how to do is use some of those same "little pictures" in my head to remember more complex things. Mind you I don't want to waste it on Pi (http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/05/2219247), but it would still be a valuable skill to become more proficient with.
I applaud your choice of imaginary fruit. I think you've also more than effectively proven my point on interpretation using a biblical reference. Thank You.
I'd suggest more time outside in the world you're missing.
Games do have some inherent value that involve limited analytic thought to solve puzzles necessary for progression, but its really just a trade-off of socialization skills, which are crucial to development in young children. I'll concede that multiplayer games do allow some crude form of socialization, but it's typically not enough to show someone what the proper behavior is beyond the pc/console. Argue it however you'd like, but you just can't learn skills and behaviors like empathy or acceptance over team chat or at a lan party.
Limiting game playing for children under seven years is a pretty conservative norm and can obviously be tailored to how well the child socializes with other people.
Boardgame - D&D, Adventures in Greyhawk, later I learned to enjoy Battletech with miniatures and finally Battlelords of the 23rd century
.... this could go on a while....
Atari 2600 - Combat
Commodore 64 - Wizard (and a little F-19 Stealth Fighter)
PC - Zork until I got the latest CGA card then it was Test Drive until I got the latest EGA card then it was Maniac Mansion
Full Size Arcade Machine - hmm....can't remember what the first was, but some favorites were Cobra Command, Gauntlet, Battlezone, Star Wars, Spy Hunter, Pacman, Galaga, Donkey Kong & DK Jr.,
I like your idea. It has promise. But how well does it short out box cutters? :-)
Done, where's my prize? http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=screening-for-terrorism