And I'll keep on buying games for as long as they keep making them - and the quality stays as high as it is.
Test Drive LeMans absolutely rawks, Starlancer brings back all kinds of happywarmfuzzy Wing Commander vibes, and my wife loves blowing me up in Worms Armageddon.
Game labels, keep 'em coming!
(and who knows - maybe Loki will start compiling games for Dreamcast Linux someday)
I actually started playing this when it first came out - my roomate at the time would have his friends over all the time, and I picked it up from them.
The game was a lot of fun, and the math implicit behind building decks was a cool intellectual exercise.
I even entered a couple of tournements, and did reasonably well.
But soon after, it seemed that the "collectible" part of the game took over from the "fun" part of the game, and when that happened, I sold my cards to my brother in law (for like $50) and left the game.
Imagine my shock when 6 months later I saw an internet price list showing the Black Lotus card at $500.00 each! I had had 2 of them....
Bleah. Capitalism sure knows how to suck the fun out of games.
I just finished reading an interesting book, called "The Jesus Mysteries" that presents strong, well-researched evidence (if in a somewhat tabloid style) that the Christian myths are heavily based on Greek Dionysus cult rituals, which themselves seem heavily based on Egyptian Osirus cult rituals.
According to the book, Christianity is a "new" face on a very, very old religion.
A few years ago, I was the Course Officer for a basic training course, and part of my duties was teaching the Military Law portions of the classroom work to the new recruits.
Dry, dry stuff. Hard to keep a 16 year old's attention.
We were working through the "prisoners of war" section of the Geneva Convention stuff - the part that talks about the rights of prisoners once captured. As I went down the list of things one is legally required to provide prisoners with - which includes reading material and sports equipment - one of the recruits started giggling. He got worse and worse as we went down the list, until I stopped and asked him what he thought was so funny.
He thought the Geneva Convention was ridiculous. These were the enemy, they were captured, and now we had the right to do whatever we wanted to them. After all, hadn't we been busy killing them a few minutes before they were captured?
To this question, I provided 2 examples, which I will now provide to you:
1) In WWI, the Americans were late to the party, and North America in general was completely spared the ravages of war. Accordingly, when the Yanks showed up, they were covered in luxuries from North America that the European battlegrounds had not seen in years. Things like candy bars, real coffee, white bread (not black bread half-sawdust) new boots, and so on. When Germans were captured by Yank units, they were provided to their prisoners as required by the Geneva convention.
When word got back to the lines, that good treatment made the decision to surrender to the Yanks a hell of a lot easier. In fact, it made such a powerful impression that may sons who went into battle in WWII were told by their fathers "Keep your head down, don't volunteer for anything, and surrender to the first American you see"
Having a reputation for humane treatment of prisoners (and of combatants) pays real tactical dividends.
2) On D-Day, the Canadian Army penetrated deeper into France than any other army, and they had a reputation from WWI as being "stormtroopers" - where you found Canadian units was likely to be the center of axis. Accordingly, a division of Hitler Jugand (Hitler Youth) was thrown against them, with orders from Hitler himself to "throw the Canadians back into the sea"
Note that while Hitler youth, they were "youths" in 1939. By 1944, they were in their 20s, and fiece, fanatical fighters form whom Hitler was like unto a god.
The Canadians managed to repulse them and hold their ground, but a large number were captured. Maddened and outraged by their inability to carry out Hitler's orders, these prisoners were slaughtered as a form of revenge.
When word got back to the Canadian lines about what had happened, that unit was "marked". No prisoners were ever taken from that unit, and it was singled out for special attention. When Canadians ran up against this unit, they'd fight like deamons. By the end of the month, the division was essentially exterminated.
So while it may seem silly and 18th-century, the Geneva Convention has real military value, and no professional, regular army seriously considers breaking it as a matter of policy. There may be local lapses in discipline, but no commander who allows his troops to behave in an unlawful matter lasts for long.
All my machines were intended to be Linux machines right from the very first - so every PC I've ever bought (with the exception of the laptop that must run some specific software to make the racecar work) was specified "no Windows".
Why pay for what I don't want and will never use?
And lately, the cost of Windows has been a signifigant portion of the cost of the PC. Hardware keeps getting cheaper. Windows is the same price as it ever was. Specifying "no windows" has changed from a political statement to a real cost savings.
And as Wine approaches actual usability, soon I'll be able to have both my OS of choice _and_ still get access to the software I need. Win win win.
If you could pick any 10 currently copyrighted works, and have them placed in the public domain (specifically for inclusion in Project Gutenburg) what would they be?
As you've had some contact with these folks, perhaps you've got a feel for this:
- Corporation implements (or proposes to implement) a technology designed to protect their business model that happens to trample on the rights of their customers
- Educated customer realizes implications, makes a big stink about it.
How sensitive are the corporations you've been dealing with to non-busines-related "huma rights" issues?
In other words, how big does the stink have to get before the profit provided by the implementation being disputed is no longer worth the effort?
Which I suppose is another way of asking "how much effort do we have to make before they'll back down?"
Your calculations would be great if you were flying from point A to point B in a straight line, but unfortunatately it's not that simple.
Firstly, you're moving about in Sol's gravity well, so you can't just point at Mars and pull the trigger. Instead, what you want to do is move into a higher (faster) orbit around the sun.
Secondly, Mars moves!:) So not only do you have to worry about the eccentrities of getting into a Solar orbit at Mars' distance, but you have to time the process such that Mars will be there when you arrive. Depending on the positions of Mars when you leave terrestial orbit, this can be non-trivial.
I Am Not An Orbital Mechanic, and perhaps someone who is could do the real math, but I think that the distance covered is far greater than you've assumed.
However, it seems to me that the accelerations involved are still not extreme. I may be wrong, but I think that a 1G acceleration gets you to Mars in ~ 2 weeks, taking orbital mechanics into account. 1G is a magic number, as it would simulate the gravity you're experiencing now - good for bone mass retention.:)
I happen to live in Windsor, Ontario, but work in Detroit, MI - so I get to experience both cultures every single day. I also get to pay both sets of taxes (although a deal between the governments mean I only pay the normal mount of Canadian tax, it's just that most of it goes to the IRS instead of Revenue Canada.
As far as taxes go, my average tax bill has been roughly $1000 CAN over what my US taxes were, and all of that has been Ontario taxes, most noteably the "Ontario Fair Share Health Levy". Given the reduction in tax rates this coming year, I expect that my 2002 taxes will come out mostly even. So much for "overtaxed"
Standard of living? I've lived in all of the largest Canadian cities, and a lot of the smaller ones, and NOWHERE have I seen anything like some of the slums you see in inner city America. Even the worst parts of Montreal and TO have NOTHING on Detroit, Chicago, and Philedelphia
Canadian freedom of speech has been addressed by others better than I.
If you want to see idiots on major highways, go visit Florida. Bring an extra air bag.
Don't EVEN get me started on Customs agents. I cross the border twice every day. The Yanks seem to recruit from the ranks of the Criminally Surly, whereas the Canadian side is quick and painless.
Health care? I had to visit the Windsor Hotel Dieu Emergency room about a month back, and I waited a whole 5 min to see the doctor. Paid not a dime. No complaints.
Weather? Come on. You can die of exposure anywhere. You're reaching now....
The ONLY things good about working in the US are the stronger currency and cheap gas. The US banking system could suck-start a Harley. I can cash a cheque at any branch of a Canadian bank in seconds, but the US banks - independant to a fault - will hold cheques from other banks to up to a month, and there's nothing at all like Interac in the US. The US government beauracracy is nothing short of byzentine - I never thought I'd have anything good to say about Revenue Canada, but next to the IRS, they're positively delightful. And don't EVEN get me started on the US court system.....
All you have to do to learn to TRULY appreciate Canada is go work in the US for a while. There isn't a day that goes by where I'm not glad to be Canadian.
Hi Cassie, good to see someone with authority commenting. Your journal entries made fascinating reading, and I'm glad to see you both came through OK.
But as for the "stopped at red light" scenario, Jason *still* may have been able to evade the accident. If he had been watching his mirrors, he may have been able to see the vehicle coming, and get out of the way.
No, I'm not on crack. In fact, a demonstration of this very manouever is the centerpoint of a TV commercial for the Young Drivers of Canada driving school.
After a while, this all becomes reflexive. Step on the brake, check the mirrors. Stopped at the light, check the light, check the mirrors, check the light, back to the mirrors... etc.
This is not to say that Jason is *at fault* for the accident - a certain drunk bastard bears that responsibility. But neither is he completely innocent either. When you go out on the road, you place yourself in harm's way. If you do not remain aware of your surroundings and maintain a level of readiness to react to changes in your surroundings, then you are placing a measure of your security into the hands of others - and those others tend to be mainly idiots.
You'll note the numbers of "may"s in the above. It's quite possible that he'd've gotten hit no matter what he tried to do. But the description I remember made no note of _any_ attempt at evasive action (although his memory of the event may be at fault here) Ask him. If the answer was "I didn't even see him coming" then you've found your answer.
In any case, a drunk idiot in an SUV is a drunk idiot - the vehicle he's driving makes little difference. You'd be just as well served railing against the evils of semis, busses, and front-end-loaders with drunks behind the wheel.
I think that SUV's are great vehicles - for a certain audience. The problem is that people are buying them for the "wrong" reasons.
I have a 1991 Chev Suburban 2WD. I also have an Eagle Talon race car, and the trailer it fits on. The 'burban is the tow vehicle.
For long haul trips hauling a race car, three sets of tires, enough gas for the weekend, tools, spares, and all the other miscellanious sundry required, nothing beats a great big SUV. In fact, I'm in the market for a new one, and I'm having trouble finding one I consider "big enough".
But I'm not the problem here. The problem is those that buy an SUV in the belief that it renders them invincible to weather conditions. The soccer moms roaring down an unplowed Interstate at 80 MPH.
There is an element of truth here - I drive race cars, right? So I took the 'burban out onto a snowy parking lot, to see how easy it was to slide it around, what braking distances were like, and so on. There's no doubt in my mind that the limits in adverse weather are quite a bit higher in an SUV than in a "normal" passenger car. This means that an SUV in the hands of the blissfully ignorent is much less likely to lose control.
However, once control is lost, the laws of physics dictate that a heavy SUV moving at high speed will have a lot more energy and momentum to dissipate in the crash, which means a lot more damage - especially if the SUV hits a smaller vehicle.
Note that THIS is nothing new either - look at what happens when car meets semi - but your average truck driver is much more competant than Ms Soccer Mom.
The problem here is not the SUVs. The problem is people who don't understand the limits of their vehicles, and who drive in excess of those limits (or while talking on the cell phone, or whatever) Idiocy is not limited to SUV drivers.
I'll give you an example. When the tow rig is fully loaded up, the stopping distances get pretty long (trailer brakes notwithstanding) So I leave a correspondingly longer distance between myself and the vehicle in front of me - the idea being that if the car in front of me stops NOW, that I have time to react and get the rig stopped. Well, that buffer space has to be the most attractive thing on the road, because I can't count the number of times that guys in little cars (with much shorter stopping distances than the rig) will move into that buffer space. You do that, and you have taken your own life into your hands, because if you stop before I can re-establish the buffer, then all 10,000lbs of me will be eating your rear bumper if you stop.
Driving is an *active process*, but far too many people treat it as a passive routine. That's your problem.
One final point - I don't have the details about Jason's accident, but I know that every single time I cross an intersection my eyes are up checking the crosstreets for someone approaching too quickly WELL before I enter the intersection myself; green light be dammed. That extra little bit of situational awareness has saved my bacon on more than one occasion. Jason may have been able to do the same.
Assume that everyone on the road is **actively trying to kill you**, drive accordingly, and you'll never have an accident.
Hey John, I'm one of your customers. I bought Quake and Quake 2 (Windows versions, used with the downloaded Linux binaries) Had a great time with them, still occasionally fire them up for some fragging.
I didn't buy Quake 3.
Not because there was anything wrong with the game (I downloaded the demo, fired it up, and it was beautiful) but because the system requirements were higher than what I have.
The machine in question is a P233MMX, 64Mb RAM, big ol' HD, and a Matrox MillII
That system has served me in good stead since 1997, still runs just fine, and I have no pressing need to upgrade or replace it. Yes, the Q3 demo ran on it with software rendering, and looked great, but it was a little slow.:)
That's one of the major benefits I get from having my primary computer be a Linux box - I don't need bleeding-edge hardware for an enjoyable computing experience. This machine does everything I want it to.
The next game I buy for this computer will probably be Railroad Tycoon 2, from Loki. Fun game, low system requirements, doesn't play as nice on my Dreamcast (less features, lower resolution)
I understand that part of Id's existance is to provide a place for you to stretch your coding skills (it not like you're financially insolvent) so I don't begrudge your chasing the bleeding edge. But if you want to sell games to people like me, then you have to provide an experiance I can't get oon the consoles, and you have to do it with less hardware.
In case you're wondering, I do own a Windows machine - it's a Panasonic Toughbook CF-25 mil spec magnesium notebook. It's a P100, and it's used exclusively for programming the EFI system in the race car. I haven't tried Q3 on it.;)
I love perl. Despite the current fashion for the peeps to distain it, it is a fantastic language for getting things DONE.
And I don't mean just "quick'n'dirty" stuff either; I'm talking about enterprise applications that live for a long time. I have an LDAP replication daemon, written in perl, that has been running strong for two years, thank you very much.
Perl is like English. It can be very dirty and ugly when written so, but it can also be so beautiful as to be sublime. And unlike "bondage and discipline" languages (*cough* Java *cough*) it gives you the freedom to code in an accent when needed - adapt the code to fit the problem, not the problem to fit the code!
Those that complain that perl is illegible or hard to understand just haven't seen perl written as to be maintainable - tip: don't use Slashcode as a starting point.
And as for Tom Christiansen... how horrible that there exists someone who stands up for code quality, and is willing to speak his mind!
Y'know, I'm suprised that nobody in the Florida legislature (or whatever body has jusistiction on such things) hasn't done a Wisdom of Solomon on this:
With a margin of ~1000 votes, well within the margin of error, why not split the electoral votes betweem the 2 candidates, with W getting the extra remainder for apparently winning.
So Gore gets 12, and W gets 13. Case closed, and the world could get back to business.
I too, am voting Liberal in the upcoming Canadian election.
Canadian Alliance? Nope, Stockwell gives me the shivers. I liked Preston (Refooooooooooorm Party!) but Stockwell has that weird look in his eyes...
Progressive Conservatives? Not on your life. I'm looking forward to the day when the party of Mulroney no longer exists. And poor Joe Clark... shouldn't someone tell him that everybody else left?
Bloc Quebecois? *snort* Even Hop-Along Lucien wants nothing to do with them anymore.
NDP? After seeing what an NDP government did to BC? Not freakin' likely.
So it's Liberals for me.
Besides, you gotta like having a leader who'll take the time to punch out a whiny protestor.:)
In a perfect world, the Bastille scripts would be unecessary, because the default installation of the distribution would have been hardened from the get-go.
Why do you feel that various distributions are so insecure by default? What are the most common mistakes they make? What kinds of changes need to happen at Red Hat to make your scripts unneeded?
"Another argument raised in the comments and testimony regarding
DVDs is that users of Linux and other operating systems who own
computers with DVD drives and who purchase legitimate copies of
audiovisual works on DVDs should be able to view these works. Many
Linux users have complained that they are unable to view the works on
their computers because a licensed player has not yet been developed
for the Linux OS platform. R56, PH11, PH3. While this situation created
frustration for legitimate users,
[[Page 64569]]
the problem requires balancing of other considerations.
The reasonable availability of alternate operating systems (dual
bootable) or dedicated players for televisions suggests that the
problem is one of preference and inconvenience, and leads to the
conclusion that an exemption is not warranted. T Metalitz, 5/19/00, pp.
298-99. Moreover, with the rapidly growing market of Linux users, it is
commercially viable to create a player for this particular operating
system. T Metalitz, 5/19/00, pp. 297-98. DVD CSS has expressed its
willingness to license such players, and in fact has licensed such
players. PH25. There is evidence that Linux players are currently being
developed (Sigma Designs and Intervideo) and should be available in the
near future. It appears likely that the market place will soon resolve
this particular concern. PH123 (MPAA)."
Notice the attribution of that last comment - the MPAA! It appears that the MPAA is speaking for Linux users!
Upset that you cannot reverse-engineer the encrption format on your DVD that you legitimately purchased so that you can view it in the manner that you choose? Don't worry, someone will licence the player format from the MPAA, and "the market will solve the problem for you" So speaks the MPAA, advocate for Linux users!
Bah. I'm outraged. Since when am I a subordinate of "the Market"? Since when is the ability of a corporation to make money placed above my own rights and freedoms?
I am SO glad I'm not an American. Maybe the US is going to hell in a handbasket, but we can try and keep laws as downright EVIL as this off the books in Canada.
Note how many comments they got - 325-ish. How many American Slashdot readers commented? Not many, it would seem. You're reaping the result of your own apathy. You chose not to speak, and the MPAA spoke for you.
Slashdot Mirror
And I'll keep on buying games for as long as they keep making them - and the quality stays as high as it is.
Test Drive LeMans absolutely rawks, Starlancer brings back all kinds of happywarmfuzzy Wing Commander vibes, and my wife loves blowing me up in Worms Armageddon.
Game labels, keep 'em coming!
(and who knows - maybe Loki will start compiling games for Dreamcast Linux someday)
The purpose of the *game* was to defeat an opponent via intelligent deck design, careful application of strategy, and more than a little luck.
The *game* was fun.
The purpose of the *collecting* was to make money for the Wizards of the Coast. It had little to do with the actual gameplay.
Collecting killed the game. The fact that the collecting aspect was designed in from the get go doesn't change that one iota.
Once the cards went from "gamepieces" to "priceless works of art at overvalued prices" the fun factor was dead.
Idiot.
I actually started playing this when it first came out - my roomate at the time would have his friends over all the time, and I picked it up from them.
The game was a lot of fun, and the math implicit behind building decks was a cool intellectual exercise.
I even entered a couple of tournements, and did reasonably well.
But soon after, it seemed that the "collectible" part of the game took over from the "fun" part of the game, and when that happened, I sold my cards to my brother in law (for like $50) and left the game.
Imagine my shock when 6 months later I saw an internet price list showing the Black Lotus card at $500.00 each! I had had 2 of them....
Bleah. Capitalism sure knows how to suck the fun out of games.
Oh man, what a time to be without any mod points. If anything deserves a +5 (Funny) today, this is it.
For those that might not get it, this isn't a troll - go read the article.
Good one "Doctor"
I just finished reading an interesting book, called "The Jesus Mysteries" that presents strong, well-researched evidence (if in a somewhat tabloid style) that the Christian myths are heavily based on Greek Dionysus cult rituals, which themselves seem heavily based on Egyptian Osirus cult rituals.
According to the book, Christianity is a "new" face on a very, very old religion.
It's a good read.
:)
A few years ago, I was the Course Officer for a basic training course, and part of my duties was teaching the Military Law portions of the classroom work to the new recruits.
Dry, dry stuff. Hard to keep a 16 year old's attention.
We were working through the "prisoners of war" section of the Geneva Convention stuff - the part that talks about the rights of prisoners once captured. As I went down the list of things one is legally required to provide prisoners with - which includes reading material and sports equipment - one of the recruits started giggling. He got worse and worse as we went down the list, until I stopped and asked him what he thought was so funny.
He thought the Geneva Convention was ridiculous. These were the enemy, they were captured, and now we had the right to do whatever we wanted to them. After all, hadn't we been busy killing them a few minutes before they were captured?
To this question, I provided 2 examples, which I will now provide to you:
1) In WWI, the Americans were late to the party, and North America in general was completely spared the ravages of war. Accordingly, when the Yanks showed up, they were covered in luxuries from North America that the European battlegrounds had not seen in years. Things like candy bars, real coffee, white bread (not black bread half-sawdust) new boots, and so on. When Germans were captured by Yank units, they were provided to their prisoners as required by the Geneva convention.
When word got back to the lines, that good treatment made the decision to surrender to the Yanks a hell of a lot easier. In fact, it made such a powerful impression that may sons who went into battle in WWII were told by their fathers "Keep your head down, don't volunteer for anything, and surrender to the first American you see"
Having a reputation for humane treatment of prisoners (and of combatants) pays real tactical dividends.
2) On D-Day, the Canadian Army penetrated deeper into France than any other army, and they had a reputation from WWI as being "stormtroopers" - where you found Canadian units was likely to be the center of axis. Accordingly, a division of Hitler Jugand (Hitler Youth) was thrown against them, with orders from Hitler himself to "throw the Canadians back into the sea"
Note that while Hitler youth, they were "youths" in 1939. By 1944, they were in their 20s, and fiece, fanatical fighters form whom Hitler was like unto a god.
The Canadians managed to repulse them and hold their ground, but a large number were captured. Maddened and outraged by their inability to carry out Hitler's orders, these prisoners were slaughtered as a form of revenge.
When word got back to the Canadian lines about what had happened, that unit was "marked". No prisoners were ever taken from that unit, and it was singled out for special attention. When Canadians ran up against this unit, they'd fight like deamons. By the end of the month, the division was essentially exterminated.
So while it may seem silly and 18th-century, the Geneva Convention has real military value, and no professional, regular army seriously considers breaking it as a matter of policy. There may be local lapses in discipline, but no commander who allows his troops to behave in an unlawful matter lasts for long.
DG
I wonder if anyone ever broke the 2-digit barrier playing BLAZEMONGER! and actually scored 10 points.
My best game ever I played for almost a full minute, and only got an 8.
DG
Hi Dan!
All my machines were intended to be Linux machines right from the very first - so every PC I've ever bought (with the exception of the laptop that must run some specific software to make the racecar work) was specified "no Windows".
Why pay for what I don't want and will never use?
And lately, the cost of Windows has been a signifigant portion of the cost of the PC. Hardware keeps getting cheaper. Windows is the same price as it ever was. Specifying "no windows" has changed from a political statement to a real cost savings.
And as Wine approaches actual usability, soon I'll be able to have both my OS of choice _and_ still get access to the software I need. Win win win.
For Mr Hart:
If you could pick any 10 currently copyrighted works, and have them placed in the public domain (specifically for inclusion in Project Gutenburg) what would they be?
DG
As you've had some contact with these folks, perhaps you've got a feel for this:
- Corporation implements (or proposes to implement) a technology designed to protect their business model that happens to trample on the rights of their customers
- Educated customer realizes implications, makes a big stink about it.
How sensitive are the corporations you've been dealing with to non-busines-related "huma rights" issues?
In other words, how big does the stink have to get before the profit provided by the implementation being disputed is no longer worth the effort?
Which I suppose is another way of asking "how much effort do we have to make before they'll back down?"
Your calculations would be great if you were flying from point A to point B in a straight line, but unfortunatately it's not that simple.
:) So not only do you have to worry about the eccentrities of getting into a Solar orbit at Mars' distance, but you have to time the process such that Mars will be there when you arrive. Depending on the positions of Mars when you leave terrestial orbit, this can be non-trivial.
:)
Firstly, you're moving about in Sol's gravity well, so you can't just point at Mars and pull the trigger. Instead, what you want to do is move into a higher (faster) orbit around the sun.
Secondly, Mars moves!
I Am Not An Orbital Mechanic, and perhaps someone who is could do the real math, but I think that the distance covered is far greater than you've assumed.
However, it seems to me that the accelerations involved are still not extreme. I may be wrong, but I think that a 1G acceleration gets you to Mars in ~ 2 weeks, taking orbital mechanics into account. 1G is a magic number, as it would simulate the gravity you're experiencing now - good for bone mass retention.
You're so far off track it's amazing.
I happen to live in Windsor, Ontario, but work in Detroit, MI - so I get to experience both cultures every single day. I also get to pay both sets of taxes (although a deal between the governments mean I only pay the normal mount of Canadian tax, it's just that most of it goes to the IRS instead of Revenue Canada.
As far as taxes go, my average tax bill has been roughly $1000 CAN over what my US taxes were, and all of that has been Ontario taxes, most noteably the "Ontario Fair Share Health Levy". Given the reduction in tax rates this coming year, I expect that my 2002 taxes will come out mostly even. So much for "overtaxed"
Standard of living? I've lived in all of the largest Canadian cities, and a lot of the smaller ones, and NOWHERE have I seen anything like some of the slums you see in inner city America. Even the worst parts of Montreal and TO have NOTHING on Detroit, Chicago, and Philedelphia
Canadian freedom of speech has been addressed by others better than I.
If you want to see idiots on major highways, go visit Florida. Bring an extra air bag.
Don't EVEN get me started on Customs agents. I cross the border twice every day. The Yanks seem to recruit from the ranks of the Criminally Surly, whereas the Canadian side is quick and painless.
Health care? I had to visit the Windsor Hotel Dieu Emergency room about a month back, and I waited a whole 5 min to see the doctor. Paid not a dime. No complaints.
Weather? Come on. You can die of exposure anywhere. You're reaching now....
The ONLY things good about working in the US are the stronger currency and cheap gas. The US banking system could suck-start a Harley. I can cash a cheque at any branch of a Canadian bank in seconds, but the US banks - independant to a fault - will hold cheques from other banks to up to a month, and there's nothing at all like Interac in the US. The US government beauracracy is nothing short of byzentine - I never thought I'd have anything good to say about Revenue Canada, but next to the IRS, they're positively delightful. And don't EVEN get me started on the US court system.....
All you have to do to learn to TRULY appreciate Canada is go work in the US for a while. There isn't a day that goes by where I'm not glad to be Canadian.
Hi Cassie, good to see someone with authority commenting. Your journal entries made fascinating reading, and I'm glad to see you both came through OK.
But as for the "stopped at red light" scenario, Jason *still* may have been able to evade the accident. If he had been watching his mirrors, he may have been able to see the vehicle coming, and get out of the way.
No, I'm not on crack. In fact, a demonstration of this very manouever is the centerpoint of a TV commercial for the Young Drivers of Canada driving school.
After a while, this all becomes reflexive. Step on the brake, check the mirrors. Stopped at the light, check the light, check the mirrors, check the light, back to the mirrors... etc.
This is not to say that Jason is *at fault* for the accident - a certain drunk bastard bears that responsibility. But neither is he completely innocent either. When you go out on the road, you place yourself in harm's way. If you do not remain aware of your surroundings and maintain a level of readiness to react to changes in your surroundings, then you are placing a measure of your security into the hands of others - and those others tend to be mainly idiots.
You'll note the numbers of "may"s in the above. It's quite possible that he'd've gotten hit no matter what he tried to do. But the description I remember made no note of _any_ attempt at evasive action (although his memory of the event may be at fault here) Ask him. If the answer was "I didn't even see him coming" then you've found your answer.
In any case, a drunk idiot in an SUV is a drunk idiot - the vehicle he's driving makes little difference. You'd be just as well served railing against the evils of semis, busses, and front-end-loaders with drunks behind the wheel.
I think that SUV's are great vehicles - for a certain audience. The problem is that people are buying them for the "wrong" reasons.
I have a 1991 Chev Suburban 2WD. I also have an Eagle Talon race car, and the trailer it fits on. The 'burban is the tow vehicle.
For long haul trips hauling a race car, three sets of tires, enough gas for the weekend, tools, spares, and all the other miscellanious sundry required, nothing beats a great big SUV. In fact, I'm in the market for a new one, and I'm having trouble finding one I consider "big enough".
But I'm not the problem here. The problem is those that buy an SUV in the belief that it renders them invincible to weather conditions. The soccer moms roaring down an unplowed Interstate at 80 MPH.
There is an element of truth here - I drive race cars, right? So I took the 'burban out onto a snowy parking lot, to see how easy it was to slide it around, what braking distances were like, and so on. There's no doubt in my mind that the limits in adverse weather are quite a bit higher in an SUV than in a "normal" passenger car. This means that an SUV in the hands of the blissfully ignorent is much less likely to lose control.
However, once control is lost, the laws of physics dictate that a heavy SUV moving at high speed will have a lot more energy and momentum to dissipate in the crash, which means a lot more damage - especially if the SUV hits a smaller vehicle.
Note that THIS is nothing new either - look at what happens when car meets semi - but your average truck driver is much more competant than Ms Soccer Mom.
The problem here is not the SUVs. The problem is people who don't understand the limits of their vehicles, and who drive in excess of those limits (or while talking on the cell phone, or whatever) Idiocy is not limited to SUV drivers.
I'll give you an example. When the tow rig is fully loaded up, the stopping distances get pretty long (trailer brakes notwithstanding) So I leave a correspondingly longer distance between myself and the vehicle in front of me - the idea being that if the car in front of me stops NOW, that I have time to react and get the rig stopped. Well, that buffer space has to be the most attractive thing on the road, because I can't count the number of times that guys in little cars (with much shorter stopping distances than the rig) will move into that buffer space. You do that, and you have taken your own life into your hands, because if you stop before I can re-establish the buffer, then all 10,000lbs of me will be eating your rear bumper if you stop.
Driving is an *active process*, but far too many people treat it as a passive routine. That's your problem.
One final point - I don't have the details about Jason's accident, but I know that every single time I cross an intersection my eyes are up checking the crosstreets for someone approaching too quickly WELL before I enter the intersection myself; green light be dammed. That extra little bit of situational awareness has saved my bacon on more than one occasion. Jason may have been able to do the same.
Assume that everyone on the road is **actively trying to kill you**, drive accordingly, and you'll never have an accident.
DG
Hey John, I'm one of your customers. I bought Quake and Quake 2 (Windows versions, used with the downloaded Linux binaries) Had a great time with them, still occasionally fire them up for some fragging.
:)
;)
I didn't buy Quake 3.
Not because there was anything wrong with the game (I downloaded the demo, fired it up, and it was beautiful) but because the system requirements were higher than what I have.
The machine in question is a P233MMX, 64Mb RAM, big ol' HD, and a Matrox MillII
That system has served me in good stead since 1997, still runs just fine, and I have no pressing need to upgrade or replace it. Yes, the Q3 demo ran on it with software rendering, and looked great, but it was a little slow.
That's one of the major benefits I get from having my primary computer be a Linux box - I don't need bleeding-edge hardware for an enjoyable computing experience. This machine does everything I want it to.
The next game I buy for this computer will probably be Railroad Tycoon 2, from Loki. Fun game, low system requirements, doesn't play as nice on my Dreamcast (less features, lower resolution)
I understand that part of Id's existance is to provide a place for you to stretch your coding skills (it not like you're financially insolvent) so I don't begrudge your chasing the bleeding edge. But if you want to sell games to people like me, then you have to provide an experiance I can't get oon the consoles, and you have to do it with less hardware.
In case you're wondering, I do own a Windows machine - it's a Panasonic Toughbook CF-25 mil spec magnesium notebook. It's a P100, and it's used exclusively for programming the EFI system in the race car. I haven't tried Q3 on it.
Oh, this is rich:
"How do you formally verify a perl program for correctness?"
You compare the output to the input and the program specifications, and if the program does what it is supposed to do, it is correct.
Here's a tip from a real programmer, Java-boy: just because it *compiles* doesn't mean that it *works*
I love perl. Despite the current fashion for the peeps to distain it, it is a fantastic language for getting things DONE.
And I don't mean just "quick'n'dirty" stuff either; I'm talking about enterprise applications that live for a long time. I have an LDAP replication daemon, written in perl, that has been running strong for two years, thank you very much.
Perl is like English. It can be very dirty and ugly when written so, but it can also be so beautiful as to be sublime. And unlike "bondage and discipline" languages (*cough* Java *cough*) it gives you the freedom to code in an accent when needed - adapt the code to fit the problem, not the problem to fit the code!
Those that complain that perl is illegible or hard to understand just haven't seen perl written as to be maintainable - tip: don't use Slashcode as a starting point.
And as for Tom Christiansen... how horrible that there exists someone who stands up for code quality, and is willing to speak his mind!
Long Live perl!
Y'know, I'm suprised that nobody in the Florida legislature (or whatever body has jusistiction on such things) hasn't done a Wisdom of Solomon on this:
With a margin of ~1000 votes, well within the margin of error, why not split the electoral votes betweem the 2 candidates, with W getting the extra remainder for apparently winning.
So Gore gets 12, and W gets 13. Case closed, and the world could get back to business.
Alas, poor HAL-9000! I knew him, Arthur.
Well, at least it won't run Windows.
While we're on the topic, how about doing CYMK 4-color separations using Linux?
Can Ghostscript do this for you, or is this an end-user deal?
Links and advice highly appreciated.
So if one of the core ideas of the book is that it's possible to write programs (and AI programs at that) that run on human brain hardware.
/dev/random > /dev/brain
That implies that one could port Linux to the human brain - or at the very least, whip up a device driver.
So, this is your brain:
/dev/brain
And this is your brain on drugs:
cat
Any questions?
I too, am voting Liberal in the upcoming Canadian election.
:)
Canadian Alliance? Nope, Stockwell gives me the shivers. I liked Preston (Refooooooooooorm Party!) but Stockwell has that weird look in his eyes...
Progressive Conservatives? Not on your life. I'm looking forward to the day when the party of Mulroney no longer exists. And poor Joe Clark... shouldn't someone tell him that everybody else left?
Bloc Quebecois? *snort* Even Hop-Along Lucien wants nothing to do with them anymore.
NDP? After seeing what an NDP government did to BC? Not freakin' likely.
So it's Liberals for me.
Besides, you gotta like having a leader who'll take the time to punch out a whiny protestor.
In a perfect world, the Bastille scripts would be unecessary, because the default installation of the distribution would have been hardened from the get-go.
Why do you feel that various distributions are so insecure by default? What are the most common mistakes they make? What kinds of changes need to happen at Red Hat to make your scripts unneeded?
Read this excerpt:
"Another argument raised in the comments and testimony regarding
DVDs is that users of Linux and other operating systems who own
computers with DVD drives and who purchase legitimate copies of
audiovisual works on DVDs should be able to view these works. Many
Linux users have complained that they are unable to view the works on
their computers because a licensed player has not yet been developed
for the Linux OS platform. R56, PH11, PH3. While this situation created
frustration for legitimate users,
[[Page 64569]]
the problem requires balancing of other considerations.
The reasonable availability of alternate operating systems (dual
bootable) or dedicated players for televisions suggests that the
problem is one of preference and inconvenience, and leads to the
conclusion that an exemption is not warranted. T Metalitz, 5/19/00, pp.
298-99. Moreover, with the rapidly growing market of Linux users, it is
commercially viable to create a player for this particular operating
system. T Metalitz, 5/19/00, pp. 297-98. DVD CSS has expressed its
willingness to license such players, and in fact has licensed such
players. PH25. There is evidence that Linux players are currently being
developed (Sigma Designs and Intervideo) and should be available in the
near future. It appears likely that the market place will soon resolve
this particular concern. PH123 (MPAA)."
Notice the attribution of that last comment - the MPAA! It appears that the MPAA is speaking for Linux users!
Upset that you cannot reverse-engineer the encrption format on your DVD that you legitimately purchased so that you can view it in the manner that you choose? Don't worry, someone will licence the player format from the MPAA, and "the market will solve the problem for you" So speaks the MPAA, advocate for Linux users!
Bah. I'm outraged. Since when am I a subordinate of "the Market"? Since when is the ability of a corporation to make money placed above my own rights and freedoms?
I am SO glad I'm not an American. Maybe the US is going to hell in a handbasket, but we can try and keep laws as downright EVIL as this off the books in Canada.
Note how many comments they got - 325-ish. How many American Slashdot readers commented? Not many, it would seem. You're reaping the result of your own apathy. You chose not to speak, and the MPAA spoke for you.
Enjoy your law.