Anybody who thinks they will immediately lose weight playing this game is kidding themselves. This game at best provides a moderate intensity workout with the added twist of being challenging and perhaps addictive.
The thing is though, the game can easily be a gateway to other forms of activity as well. When you're in a regular habit of activity you are more inclined to be active in general. That easily extends to other areas of your life outside the habit, you have more energy to be active in other ways. All based on an addiction in this case. I have an addict personality, so this is a winning proposition for me.
maybe you should consider TURNING OFF THE GAME CONSOLE for good and going to PLAY SOME BASKETBALL or something, you lazy physically and socially uncoordinated fatass.
That made me think of Foamy the squirrel, I figure you either know who that is, or would like him if you found him. Foamy rocks, this might make a good rant for him. Go to illwillpress.com it's funny as hell.
That isn't true, if one has learned properly. As with playing an instrument, or learning a martial art, you want to focus on the slow movements first, and economy of motion. It is not necessary to stomp in order to get to the pad quickly. That's just a sign of not enough practice on the slower songs, with conscious thought given to lifting the feet as little as possible. Learned properly, with correct practice, the game is very non-stressing to the joints. Your heart and lungs bear the brunt of the real workout.
"OH MY GOD I'M GONNA TO LOOK SILLY IN PUBLIC AGAIN"
I had that fear about actual dancing, and about DDR, and found to my amazement that the self-consciousness melts away almost as soon as you start. This was described in a slashdot article about DDR a couple years ago that got me aware of it in the first place. I found it to be true. I was so busy watching the arrows and trying to do well at the game that the rest of the room sort of 'went away'. And last summer a friend of mine got me out on a dancefloor, and though initially nervous about learning something in front of other people, I found immediately that my main concern about the other people was to avoid running into them (we were fast two-stepping), I had no thought for what they might be thinking of me, hell they looked busy anyway.
People, if you've got such fears, get over them and try it, you'll be amazed at how quickly you stop caring what others are seeing and thinking.
I had played it a bit a couple years ago in the arcades, not very much, just enough to be intimidated by the really good players. But then a couple months ago, I started spending more time with my 14 year old niece, who is a DDR fanatic and wanted me to take her to arcades in between other activities. We'll be driving around and she'll be like, "Do you know if there's a DDR machine around here somewhere?" Anyhow, we played it together in the arcades to the point of exhaustion, for several consecutive days before I decided to go get a dance pad for my PS/2. It's an awesome workout for one simple reason: It doesn't feel like 'work', yet it truly is. The motivation to keep going, to beat a given song, at a given difficulty level, is very compelling. My DDR rig is right beside my main PC, and is often running throughout the day, so I can just get out of my chair, take a step to the left and I'm playing. Do a few rounds, while waiting for something on the computer, and take a break. Rinse, repeat. It's great if you know someone who plays, because you can encourage each other. I've gotten competant at Light mode now, but my niece has edged into playing on Standard more often, so I've got to catch up, because we still hit the arcade a lot.
My weight was already acceptable to me, just over 200 lbs, with a slight gut. I'm in it for the cardio workout. What I really notice from it is the energy I get out of being more active. Other forms of activity (well except for sex) just aren't fun to me. But a video game that's keeping score, that really keeps me going. And keeping active carries a momentum with it, one tends to *gain* energy from burning all that energy through working out regularly. It's nice to see that there's a whole 'movement' forming out there around the fitness this game encourages. I've been telling everyone I know that it's the best piece of excersize equipment I could have ever bought.
For those of us where computers are a large part of our lives and/or careers, these things seem obvious, just like a doctor might think some complex medical procedure is obvious...
Totally.. Even after all these years, I'm still taken aback when I do something simple and 'obvious' to somebody's computer and they go into genius-worshipping mode. They might ask something like, "How did you know to do that??" to which I may not have a ready response, because my first impulse is to wonder why it's so arcane to them. Or if I can see how it's not obvious to them, it can still be something really easy to find if they would only have read the dialog box that's been popping up in front of them every morning for the past year.. I guess it's all about inclination.
"If the RIAA can't figure out who say, 66.35.250.150 is, they can go pound sand as far as I'm concerned."
If you do a whois lookup on me, you won't get the correct city for starters. You'll get the location of head office, which is 4 hours away from me. Upon contacting them, you will discover that they don't want to tell you who I am, particularly if you identify yourself as being from the RIAA. So good luck..
I'm interested to see what happens when the RIAA sues a downloader who happens to have already purchased the CDs of the songs he is downloading
They're going after uploaders, not downloaders. It's fair use for you to rip your own CDs to your harddrive, but it's not fair use for you to put that whole collection up for free taking.
The ISPs should be utilities, like electric companies, providing you an unhindered connection to the Internet.
I totally agree with the first part of what you say there, but utilities in general are not 'unhindered' access. If I'm making harassing phonecalls, it is reasonable for my phone service to be terminated. If I make modifications to my gas or power lines, I can get in big trouble for that as well. Utilities have usage requirements. So yeah, let's make ISPs like utilities, and have certain in/outbound ports blocked by default, for 'safety' reasons. Unblock where requested.
What is it about late teens/early twenties that think they're in love?
Well, I was 29 and she was 31 when we met. What is it about ACs that grants them this idea that they can see into everyone's minds and hearts? What an amazing ability you (don't) have.
"Some wag" is a cop out. They did it and are afraid to admit it. Who else would have the necessary safety equipment to put the toy there, other than the people who put the web cam there, and who else would know exactly where the web cam was on an island that "people don't go on"?
You've obviously never watched 'Jackass'. There are lots of people who would embark on such an endeavor, with minimal safety equipment. Their webcam is public. That means Joe Anybody has the chance to see it, and get an idea pop up in his brain that says, "Hey, it would be funny if..."
Actually, I have a private fantasy that I will share with all of you.. I like to dream that I can fly in outer space under my own power, safely, and as fast as needed to go where I want to look. Anyhow, the scenario where I go to Mars and 'buzz' the Spirit rover and try to get on cam has played out a few times in my head. It's fun.
I know this is a joke, but I still feel compelled to say that only God can 'save' you.
Get an Auto-save plugin.. I bought a digital indulgence off a Catholic priest, that saves my soul every 15 minutes, and does a full system backup if my UPS gets tripped.
I've had waitress's ask me computer questions while I was waiting for food to arrive because of that shirt. All it does is tip people off that you know about computers.
Perfect, this gives us the v2.0 of that shirt, which should read:
I think you will find that anyone who claims to fix anything (actual M.D.s, chiropractors, computer techs, etc) has a real good chance of being a quack until you know for sure they aren't just running you around. Case in point, I am sure that we all know 'computer technicians' making good salaries that really shouldn't be within 20 feet of an ailing machine. The chiropractor I see is *magical* in the work he does. Compared to the others I had been to before him, he is the God of all of 'em.
Over the years, I've gotten lots of things.. Steak dinners, beer, new articles of clothing, and even chiropractic work like the article mentions. Had one guy, a complete stranger, offer to build me a house for half the cost of what anybody else might quote me, plus a standing invitation to drop in for dinner whenever I happen to be hungry and in the neighborhood.
And if you consider my ex-girlfriend, I got 3 years of great sex for keeping her computer in shape. It was supposed to be about love, but in the end it wasn't. C'est la vie..
Did the installer make the partitions? And what does partition magic think of those partitions? I'm curious because that was the way the problems manifested for me.
I had problems with Mandrake a version or two ago in terms of it messing up my partitions if I let the installer make them. There would be drive errors when I would load into Windows, and if I fixed those errors, then fsck would throw a total shit-fit the next time I booted Linux, which would turn out to be unbootable from massive corruption. What worked perfectly for me in the end was to use Partition Magic under Windows to set up the linux partitions first, and NOT let the Mandrake installer do it. I wasn't terribly impressed by that. I think it was Mandrake 8.0 I had this trouble with.
For the record, I've had the modem a few years, in a temperature range from about +35 to -35. It still cuts out sporadically, but temperature has no obvious correlation:)
Actually, it can and does. The cable amplifiers in the street do not always have automatic gain control, or perhaps do have AGC but it's not working properly. In very cold weather, the amp runs very nicely, and the signal will become stronger, quite possibly too strong. In very hot weather, the amp doesn't work so well, and the signal will drop. The amount that a given amp will affect the houses it serves changes with each house too, due to varying ages of wire, different numbers/brands of splitters being used in the homes, etc. Cable modems have an ideal range they like to be in, if the signal goes too far out of bounds you get problems. And the temperature outside can indeed cause this.
Last summer on a particularly hot day (hottest we had all year), my net went out around 1pm. I checked the TV and certain channels were crappy that were usually better. It was the heat, and the net (and my full TV reception) came back in the evening once things had cooled down, as I expected.
Friends of mine that I hadn't seen in awhile ran into a rash of problems with their '98 over a period of several months. First IE started crashing a lot, then other things started crashing too. Eventually they started getting blue screens, which after awhile were accompanied with insistant beeping from the PC speaker. Then Caps Lock would get stuck on, or the keyboard would freeze (mouse could move). Finally, it would only boot in safe mode so I got invited over to dinner. This 'death' had taken about 4 months, following a relative's last visit when he had upgraded IE. We thought maybe it was a virus or a dead keyboard or both. So I went over there to have a look, and took my toolkit with me in case I had to open the PC. The machine was off when I got to the house, and my friends were out of the room when I turned it on. I went into the BIOS right away so I could see how the keyboard was faring without Windows running. It was fine there. I poked around the settings and everything appeared to be in order. I saved on exit, and Windows booted up fine.
As my friends came into the room, I asked them if it had started booting normally again before I got there. Not having seen Normal Mode in a couple of weeks, they were amazed and wondered how I did it. I had been in the house less than 5 minutes.
I gestured at my toolkit and said, "It knew I was going to open it up if it didn't cooperate. Accidents 'happen', you know." I then got them to load up everything they normally get going, and then more and more programs, open-close-open-open-open-close, etc.. Nothing like its recent self according to them. No viruses to blame, and no corrupt files. Touching the BIOS and saving without doing anything is the only thing I had done.
My point was missed.. In order for the average person to realize Google's been messed with on their machine, they would actually need to take the step of having Ad Aware or similar.
To the respondant that mentioned a cease and desist letter solving everything, it was my assumption that any company engaging in this type of activity would be doing so clandestinely. So where would you send the letter?
I dispute that. If Google had obnoxious pop-ups with every page of search results, big annoying blinking banner ads and pages that took months to load, I wouldn't use them so much, or have made it my home page.
Which brings to mind an interesting thought.. If a malware author employed by some other search engine wrote some code that detected a Google Submit button-hit and launched pop-ups, how difficult would it be to persuade average people that it wasn't Google doing it?
As well, I have occasionally noticed that plugging in the network cable while an XP machine is running can actually wig out the drivers to the point where you have to remove them, reboot, and let them re-install on the next boot up. What you get is a packet-storm of some kind, the transmit light on the cable modem practically goes solid. It's pretty rare, but has happened to me often enough that I try to avoid hot-plugging cat-5 on an XP machine.
Personally, I value my personal relationships above petty "I told you so" point scoring. But then I don't live in a basement, so YMMV.
We don't all live in basements, but we still know people who only seem to call when they've got a virus or something, and the rest of the time you never hear from them. Those kind of people piss me off.
Slashdot Mirror
Anybody who thinks they will immediately lose weight playing this game is kidding themselves. This game at best provides a moderate intensity workout with the added twist of being challenging and perhaps addictive.
The thing is though, the game can easily be a gateway to other forms of activity as well. When you're in a regular habit of activity you are more inclined to be active in general. That easily extends to other areas of your life outside the habit, you have more energy to be active in other ways. All based on an addiction in this case. I have an addict personality, so this is a winning proposition for me.
maybe you should consider TURNING OFF THE GAME CONSOLE for good and going to PLAY SOME BASKETBALL or something, you lazy physically and socially uncoordinated fatass.
That made me think of Foamy the squirrel, I figure you either know who that is, or would like him if you found him. Foamy rocks, this might make a good rant for him. Go to illwillpress.com it's funny as hell.
you're slamming the pads to make time somethines
That isn't true, if one has learned properly. As with playing an instrument, or learning a martial art, you want to focus on the slow movements first, and economy of motion. It is not necessary to stomp in order to get to the pad quickly. That's just a sign of not enough practice on the slower songs, with conscious thought given to lifting the feet as little as possible. Learned properly, with correct practice, the game is very non-stressing to the joints. Your heart and lungs bear the brunt of the real workout.
"OH MY GOD I'M GONNA TO LOOK SILLY IN PUBLIC AGAIN"
I had that fear about actual dancing, and about DDR, and found to my amazement that the self-consciousness melts away almost as soon as you start. This was described in a slashdot article about DDR a couple years ago that got me aware of it in the first place. I found it to be true. I was so busy watching the arrows and trying to do well at the game that the rest of the room sort of 'went away'. And last summer a friend of mine got me out on a dancefloor, and though initially nervous about learning something in front of other people, I found immediately that my main concern about the other people was to avoid running into them (we were fast two-stepping), I had no thought for what they might be thinking of me, hell they looked busy anyway.
People, if you've got such fears, get over them and try it, you'll be amazed at how quickly you stop caring what others are seeing and thinking.
I had played it a bit a couple years ago in the arcades, not very much, just enough to be intimidated by the really good players. But then a couple months ago, I started spending more time with my 14 year old niece, who is a DDR fanatic and wanted me to take her to arcades in between other activities. We'll be driving around and she'll be like, "Do you know if there's a DDR machine around here somewhere?" Anyhow, we played it together in the arcades to the point of exhaustion, for several consecutive days before I decided to go get a dance pad for my PS/2. It's an awesome workout for one simple reason: It doesn't feel like 'work', yet it truly is. The motivation to keep going, to beat a given song, at a given difficulty level, is very compelling. My DDR rig is right beside my main PC, and is often running throughout the day, so I can just get out of my chair, take a step to the left and I'm playing. Do a few rounds, while waiting for something on the computer, and take a break. Rinse, repeat. It's great if you know someone who plays, because you can encourage each other. I've gotten competant at Light mode now, but my niece has edged into playing on Standard more often, so I've got to catch up, because we still hit the arcade a lot.
My weight was already acceptable to me, just over 200 lbs, with a slight gut. I'm in it for the cardio workout. What I really notice from it is the energy I get out of being more active. Other forms of activity (well except for sex) just aren't fun to me. But a video game that's keeping score, that really keeps me going. And keeping active carries a momentum with it, one tends to *gain* energy from burning all that energy through working out regularly. It's nice to see that there's a whole 'movement' forming out there around the fitness this game encourages. I've been telling everyone I know that it's the best piece of excersize equipment I could have ever bought.
For those of us where computers are a large part of our lives and/or careers, these things seem obvious, just like a doctor might think some complex medical procedure is obvious...
Totally.. Even after all these years, I'm still taken aback when I do something simple and 'obvious' to somebody's computer and they go into genius-worshipping mode. They might ask something like, "How did you know to do that??" to which I may not have a ready response, because my first impulse is to wonder why it's so arcane to them. Or if I can see how it's not obvious to them, it can still be something really easy to find if they would only have read the dialog box that's been popping up in front of them every morning for the past year.. I guess it's all about inclination.
"If the RIAA can't figure out who say, 66.35.250.150 is, they can go pound sand as far as I'm concerned."
If you do a whois lookup on me, you won't get the correct city for starters. You'll get the location of head office, which is 4 hours away from me. Upon contacting them, you will discover that they don't want to tell you who I am, particularly if you identify yourself as being from the RIAA. So good luck..
I'm interested to see what happens when the RIAA sues a downloader who happens to have already purchased the CDs of the songs he is downloading
They're going after uploaders, not downloaders. It's fair use for you to rip your own CDs to your harddrive, but it's not fair use for you to put that whole collection up for free taking.
The ISPs should be utilities, like electric companies, providing you an unhindered connection to the Internet.
I totally agree with the first part of what you say there, but utilities in general are not 'unhindered' access. If I'm making harassing phonecalls, it is reasonable for my phone service to be terminated. If I make modifications to my gas or power lines, I can get in big trouble for that as well. Utilities have usage requirements. So yeah, let's make ISPs like utilities, and have certain in/outbound ports blocked by default, for 'safety' reasons. Unblock where requested.
What is it about late teens/early twenties that think they're in love?
Well, I was 29 and she was 31 when we met. What is it about ACs that grants them this idea that they can see into everyone's minds and hearts? What an amazing ability you (don't) have.
"Some wag" is a cop out. They did it and are afraid to admit it. Who else would have the necessary safety equipment to put the toy there, other than the people who put the web cam there, and who else would know exactly where the web cam was on an island that "people don't go on"?
You've obviously never watched 'Jackass'. There are lots of people who would embark on such an endeavor, with minimal safety equipment. Their webcam is public. That means Joe Anybody has the chance to see it, and get an idea pop up in his brain that says, "Hey, it would be funny if..."
Actually, I have a private fantasy that I will share with all of you.. I like to dream that I can fly in outer space under my own power, safely, and as fast as needed to go where I want to look. Anyhow, the scenario where I go to Mars and 'buzz' the Spirit rover and try to get on cam has played out a few times in my head. It's fun.
I know this is a joke, but I still feel compelled to say that only God can 'save' you.
Get an Auto-save plugin.. I bought a digital indulgence off a Catholic priest, that saves my soul every 15 minutes, and does a full system backup if my UPS gets tripped.
I've had waitress's ask me computer questions while I was waiting for food to arrive because of that shirt. All it does is tip people off that you know about computers.
...unless you give really good head
Perfect, this gives us the v2.0 of that shirt, which should read:
No, I will not fix your computer
then in smaller text, lower down:
Chiropractors are generally quacks.
I think you will find that anyone who claims to fix anything (actual M.D.s, chiropractors, computer techs, etc) has a real good chance of being a quack until you know for sure they aren't just running you around. Case in point, I am sure that we all know 'computer technicians' making good salaries that really shouldn't be within 20 feet of an ailing machine. The chiropractor I see is *magical* in the work he does. Compared to the others I had been to before him, he is the God of all of 'em.
Over the years, I've gotten lots of things.. Steak dinners, beer, new articles of clothing, and even chiropractic work like the article mentions. Had one guy, a complete stranger, offer to build me a house for half the cost of what anybody else might quote me, plus a standing invitation to drop in for dinner whenever I happen to be hungry and in the neighborhood.
And if you consider my ex-girlfriend, I got 3 years of great sex for keeping her computer in shape. It was supposed to be about love, but in the end it wasn't. C'est la vie..
Did the installer make the partitions? And what does partition magic think of those partitions? I'm curious because that was the way the problems manifested for me.
I had problems with Mandrake a version or two ago in terms of it messing up my partitions if I let the installer make them. There would be drive errors when I would load into Windows, and if I fixed those errors, then fsck would throw a total shit-fit the next time I booted Linux, which would turn out to be unbootable from massive corruption. What worked perfectly for me in the end was to use Partition Magic under Windows to set up the linux partitions first, and NOT let the Mandrake installer do it. I wasn't terribly impressed by that. I think it was Mandrake 8.0 I had this trouble with.
For the record, I've had the modem a few years, in a temperature range from about +35 to -35. It still cuts out sporadically, but temperature has no obvious correlation :)
Actually, it can and does. The cable amplifiers in the street do not always have automatic gain control, or perhaps do have AGC but it's not working properly. In very cold weather, the amp runs very nicely, and the signal will become stronger, quite possibly too strong. In very hot weather, the amp doesn't work so well, and the signal will drop. The amount that a given amp will affect the houses it serves changes with each house too, due to varying ages of wire, different numbers/brands of splitters being used in the homes, etc. Cable modems have an ideal range they like to be in, if the signal goes too far out of bounds you get problems. And the temperature outside can indeed cause this.
Last summer on a particularly hot day (hottest we had all year), my net went out around 1pm. I checked the TV and certain channels were crappy that were usually better. It was the heat, and the net (and my full TV reception) came back in the evening once things had cooled down, as I expected.
I tried the I-d-10-t but someone caught it..that was fun explaining that to my boss.
Try telling them it's a Pebcak (Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard) Error, and assure them it's very common.
(Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard)
Friends of mine that I hadn't seen in awhile ran into a rash of problems with their '98 over a period of several months. First IE started crashing a lot, then other things started crashing too. Eventually they started getting blue screens, which after awhile were accompanied with insistant beeping from the PC speaker. Then Caps Lock would get stuck on, or the keyboard would freeze (mouse could move). Finally, it would only boot in safe mode so I got invited over to dinner. This 'death' had taken about 4 months, following a relative's last visit when he had upgraded IE. We thought maybe it was a virus or a dead keyboard or both. So I went over there to have a look, and took my toolkit with me in case I had to open the PC. The machine was off when I got to the house, and my friends were out of the room when I turned it on. I went into the BIOS right away so I could see how the keyboard was faring without Windows running. It was fine there. I poked around the settings and everything appeared to be in order. I saved on exit, and Windows booted up fine.
As my friends came into the room, I asked them if it had started booting normally again before I got there. Not having seen Normal Mode in a couple of weeks, they were amazed and wondered how I did it. I had been in the house less than 5 minutes.
I gestured at my toolkit and said, "It knew I was going to open it up if it didn't cooperate. Accidents 'happen', you know." I then got them to load up everything they normally get going, and then more and more programs, open-close-open-open-open-close, etc.. Nothing like its recent self according to them. No viruses to blame, and no corrupt files. Touching the BIOS and saving without doing anything is the only thing I had done.
My point was missed.. In order for the average person to realize Google's been messed with on their machine, they would actually need to take the step of having Ad Aware or similar.
To the respondant that mentioned a cease and desist letter solving everything, it was my assumption that any company engaging in this type of activity would be doing so clandestinely. So where would you send the letter?
I dispute that. If Google had obnoxious pop-ups with every page of search results, big annoying blinking banner ads and pages that took months to load, I wouldn't use them so much, or have made it my home page.
Which brings to mind an interesting thought.. If a malware author employed by some other search engine wrote some code that detected a Google Submit button-hit and launched pop-ups, how difficult would it be to persuade average people that it wasn't Google doing it?
Santa's main advantage in life is that he knows where all the Bad Girls live.
As well, I have occasionally noticed that plugging in the network cable while an XP machine is running can actually wig out the drivers to the point where you have to remove them, reboot, and let them re-install on the next boot up. What you get is a packet-storm of some kind, the transmit light on the cable modem practically goes solid. It's pretty rare, but has happened to me often enough that I try to avoid hot-plugging cat-5 on an XP machine.
Personally, I value my personal relationships above petty "I told you so" point scoring. But then I don't live in a basement, so YMMV.
We don't all live in basements, but we still know people who only seem to call when they've got a virus or something, and the rest of the time you never hear from them. Those kind of people piss me off.