metadigital

No, the links I posted were talking about the Huon Pine species; there are a number of trees over 2000 years old. There was a specific tree that had been tested and it was at least 10k years old. All that I could dig up at the time to validate my assertion of the specific Huon pine being the oldest tree (you're right, I did say organism, but I was referring to "animal and plant life"). Since you have pressed me, here is another source. (There are a plethora of US sites loudly proclaiming their oldest tree. Data polution.) I threw the cloned organism in for free, I found it whilst I was surfing for the Huon Pine. Someone who supports your pov: tree fight 2500yo versus 10kyo clone And maybe we're all wrong: ... Baobab Adansonia gregorii The explorer Dr David Livingstone described the Baobab A. digitata tree as "that of a giant upturned carrot," for it defoliates in dry conditions, and seems to be growing upside down! The largest African Baobab has a circumference of 46.8 metres (152 feet). If 9m wide trees are carbon dated to 4000 years old, this one could be 20,000 years old, making it the oldest living tree. Hollow trunks are huge storage vessels, but when hollowed out have been used as jails, toilets or bars. This colossus, like the elephant, dominates its landscape, seemingly ageless, amused yet eternal. White fl owers are pollinated by fruit bats. Our seeds were collected by Tessa Blazey whilst holidaying in Broome, so we propagated them and can offer this bizarre colossus for the fi rst time! ... PDF: http://www.diggers.com.au/RNLW05/Trees.pdf HTML: source

Yeah, I noticed the obvious bias and outright propaganda in his little speech, and his total disdain for AI and Physics engines, i.e. the stuff his engine doesn't do (and those competitors that keep their engines secret!). Still, it's interesting to hear his take on the next gen consoles.

So it is just a bigger bunch of countries spread out a bit more? And the edges have less SCs, too. Why the sudden attraction to this variant?

He was Icarus's father, and he built the labyrinth. linkie

Looks pretty ridgey-didge to me. He's an independent, so he'll never win (and probably take some votes away from the democrats, i.e. Hilary Clinton).

You have apparently never LIVED with a woman. A clue: women don't spend their time shaving every part of their body continuously. Trust me. When you see them they're probably well-shaved, because you're a stranger and they're moving around among people and want to look good. Live with a woman (any woman) and you'll see what I mean. Just because someone shaves themselves (like every woman in the civilized world seems to do) doesn'tn mean the hair doesn't grow on them. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> My current partner is brunette. She does not lack the grooming skills that seem to have skipped your live-ins. There are many ways to depiliate: shaving, disolving the protein, removing the hair from the follicle, or destroying it with a laser (which works by heating the melanin, and so is most effective with dark hair, and completely ineffective with blonde hair).

It's not like you can have a conversation with it, though. "Living" is just a metaphor for existing, in this case. Another interesting factoid is the behaviour of colonies (e.g. ants, bees, etc): the group displays "intelligent" balancing; there are common thresholds, above which more of a particular member type will be born, and below which (if there is a reduction in the size of the colony, e.g. war, famine, disaster) the surplus members will be killed / not replaced. Hence there is an optimum number of drones, soldiers and princes / princesses for colony sizes, and the colony keeps to these.

Actually blonde hair is more prevalent than darker hair, it just looks sparse. Guys like to date blondes, but they marry brunettes. Actually, I don't give a tinker's cuss about hair colour; I look for personality, but that doesn't enter into the poll, so I voted brunette.

What, no in-flight gaming whilst you deliver the next generation geek ...?

You know, that got me to thinking about another thing with Revan. He was supposed to be this genius strategist. Maybe he foresaw Kreia's evil and instructed T3 to not unlock the nav computer until the Exile had defeated Kreia so that Kreia wouldn't be able to find Revan. Once Kreia was defeated, T3 could then allow the Exile to know Revan's whereabouts. Make any sense? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes. Or you might be an apopheniac. Or a paranoid Revanmaniacal. He was a strategist, not a clairvoyant.

So you agree with me.

No. It's a tree. A male conifer. A Huon Pine Tree. And it is twelve thousand years old. Huon pine species ABC doco on Huon Huon Pine email oldest plant is 43k year old Lomatia tasmanica crackpot creationist website disputing the age of anything older than 6000 years based on the bible which, by the way, is incorrect in its assertion that genetic testing has not been done and core sampling not been taken. The tree sits on top of a hill, and in concentric rings around the original root. Some of the dead bits have been carbon dated, that's why there is a minimum guess of 10-12k years (and why the first link mentions 20k years old).

You have to talk to the woman outside the council chamber after resolving the trouble on Dantooine. That way, she comes to the conclusion that not all Force Users (Jedi [sic passim]) are evil, hence the name of the quest.

Hey, leave the garment-challenged one alone! (Okay, maybe he's armless, but just because he's braccium-challenged doesn't mean you can discriminate against him.) GhostOfAnakin

The thread is about stupid, yet neat things. You are derailing our discussion on the stupid, yet neat syntactical devices of diphthongs and digraphs. You should be reported. "

Now you know you shouldn't be operating geek machinery whilst under the influence of medication, mind-altering substances, or pregnant.

Did you follow in my footsteps? Did you? I almost went straight back to Half-Life to replay it again ...!

Recently, I wandered across to the fan mod site for Half-Life (run the Flash intro on http://www.blackmesasource.com/ to follow in my footprints). I noticed just how quickly and well my mind was catapulted back into the game. Then I remembered playing the Space Invaders pinball game, about twenty years ago, and noticing that my heartrate had synchronised with the overt bass beat, which had been accelerating as the game progressed, reaching a crescendo or excitement that linked directly to my autonomic nervous system through my aural senses. So I am asking you lot; do you think sound is important for ambience and immersion? Is it more important than graphics, perhaps?

Then that's perfectly alright! And you're always a doofus in my eyes!

Anywhere from three to five days depending on the status of the combatants. Five Days for an internation match between official Test nations. Four days for counties and states. Three days for other, non-Test nations (e.g. Zimbabwe before they achieved Test Nation status). In that time, each side must bat twice. A side can declare at any time. The second side to bat may be forced to "follow on" if they do not make more than 200 runs less than the first side (i.e. First Side's first innings total runs - 199 is the target). Rain can and frequently does interrupt play, although for the last century wickets have been covered to prevent some of the more disasterous effects on the side batting second. There are frequent draws, when the losing side manages to hang on until the end of the game without being dismissed. There have only been two ties (i.e. when both teams get the same total after two innings), and Australia was playing in both. (against West Indies at the 'Gabba dog track in Brisbane, Qld in December 1960; and against India in Chennai (formerly Madras) in September 1986.)

They use better sense than most of the US ...

... It's the red hair and correct use of English grammar that threw him ... "

Thursday, May 26, 2005 Internships available at Irrational Games I've just received an email from Chris Kline, the Lead Programmer for Irrational Games over in Boston. They have programming internships on offer for Bioshock! If you're interested - read on! Irrational Games, creators of critically acclaimed games such as System Shock 2, Freedom Force, Tribes:Vengeance, and SWAT 4, is currently seeking programming interns for their upcoming title "Bioshock". Interns will be responsible for supporting the programming team on a wide variety of development tasks. These tasks might include any of the following: Bugfixing Game system feature implementation AI support User interface implementation Tools development for Design, Art, and Quality Assurance Visual effects development (implementation of HLSL shaders, particle systems, frame buffer effects, etc.) Core game engine functionality Did I mention bugfixing? Candidates should exhibit the following: A love of games: Creative passion is important in all aspects of game development. We need interns who love computer games, play them regularly, and can talk about them intelligently. Willingness to undertake any task required: This is a perfect opportunity for an ambitious and skilled programmer to gain experience in the game development process, but interns will not be able to pick and choose their own tasks. We're looking for someone who is eager and excited to undertake any task necessary to bring the game to fruition. Service-oriented personality: Code is not an end in itself! Game development is a team effort, and the programming team works in support of the design and art teams. Candidates should think of the other teams and their fellow programmers as clients, and strive to achieve the needs of the team. Excellent communication skills: Good communication is vital to building great games. Interns will need to be able to work effectively with other team members to gather requirements, write planning and technical documents, and respond to feedback in a prompt and professional manner. Technical chops: Our interns will need a strong and demonstrable understanding of C++ and software engineering principles, and the ability to come up to speed rapidly on a massive codebase. Directable creativity: The intern should be comfortable taking direction from a staff engineer, but able to work creatively and independently. We'll throw you off the dock; you should be able to swim. Desired related skills include: Experience in the games industry Experience in computer animation Experience in reactive artificial intelligence A strong foundation in the principles of 3D computer graphics; experience with DirectX 9 and HLSL Experience working with the Unreal Engine is a strong plus. Positions will be unpaid -- in return for your efforts we will provide you with a T pass, experience working at one of the most respected companies in the industry, and your name in the credits of any titles you work on. If this sounds like something you are interested in, please email a resume, cover letter, references, and sample code with a description of its context and purpose to the address below. The position will be Quincy, MA (just outside of Boston, accessible via the subway). Christopher Kline Lead Programmer Irrational Games, LLC (Boston) ckline ATnoSPAM irrationalstudios.com If you're not up for an internship, you could always apply for the job of Rendering/Engine Programmer for an undisclosed title! http://www.sshock2.com/

Warn for PM Sign seen at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground, 13 Aug, 2005: Day 3, Third Test

Without going into the thorny area of pronunciation (i.e. whether the ae is a digraph or a diphthong, even though the three pronunciations you quoted are all digraphs ); there is little agreement between scholars with more letters after their names than in the Greek, Latin and English alphabets combined; I would just like to point out two things: 1. Just because something is common, does not grant it correctness. 2. You did not say "'Daedalus' is the most common spelling", or anything like it; you said I was wrong to use the