Reveilled

Well, you can trace the abysmal grasp of English grammar back to the 70s, when the liberal establishment rebelled against the authoritarian institutionalised rote-learning of rules for pupils (things like times tables, spelling and syntax); preferring to allow pupils instead fredom to express themselves without being "stiffled" by rules. I think it is plain to see that this initiative was a total failure, yet I think it is now almost (but not quite) irreversable. The biggest lament I have is the total lack of mathematics (specifically) and science (generally) literacy. Most young people I meet are innumerate. Ask them to work out the division of a divisor into a dividend without a calculator and they have no idea where to start. Heaven help them find a cube root, or interpret statistics -- something we are expected to do regularly when digesting news and current affairs. Most people wouldn't know the difference between a million and a (US) billion, for example. Here's a test: ask some friends how long a million seconds takes, and how long a billion seconds is. Using seconds is an easy way to give scope to an all-to-intangible number, because everyone is familiar with a second, and just over 11 days (million seconds) and over thirty-one and a half years (a billion seconds). This extends into further education; most students do arts degrees at tertiary level, and most of those students wouldn't be able to name a single mathematician, let alone three. Yet of those who specialize in mathematics or science at the same level, there is an expectation (mostly met) that everyone knows (or should be familiar with) the arts -- from literature to performance and fine arts. Why is this important? How many politicians are totally innumerate? Controlling billions of dollars of public funds whilst not even able to understand the big picture, let alone examine the details. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Interpreting statistics I can understand, but other than that, I don't see the problem. You said people today can't do these things without a calculator, but who doesn't have a calculator? For that matter, considering the widespread use of mobile phones (which all have built in calculator functions) who doesn't have a calculator with them at all times? And I don't know about you, but the idea of a politician doing the budget in his head is far scarier than that of a politician using a calculator to do it. So what if we do calculations with calculators that people before us did in their heads? We go to the supermarket to buy fish where the people before us caught it for dinner.

A book I read many years ago. It was about the history of the English language, but I cna't remember its name. I suppose it could have been an urban legend, but it would be no fun then. Well, formal written English changes according to the way people write and speak in the vernacular. Few people actually write or speak formal English, so the fact that the formal part of English may change very little, could mean equally little when it comes to how people speak in 50 years. It doesn't really bother me. If all the kids express themselves in something other than formal English, then when the kids grow up and run the world, they'll be speaking the same language to each other whether it's English, Swahili, txtspk or |33+$p33k. Take heart! I'm sure the English nobles of the Middle Ages were equally worried when their children didn't express themselves in Formal French, and began speaking English instead. But life went on, and so did language and communication.

All languages evolve naturally over time, but soemtimes the rate of change is too great. This has been a problem in Japan, where the influx of modern words (often derived from English) has altered the language so much that some seniors are unable to understand the newspapers, let alone talk to their grandchildren. Has the language gap grown too great in English as well? Are we losing important knowledge of our culture from older generations? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Eh? That

Oh, Come on. If you were all powerful, would you want to spend your time creating multiple evolutionary mechanisms for animals and plants such that they have a huge genetic difference? Maybe she has more important things to do than play with a universe with a mere eleven dimensions. Just cause she doesn't spend all her time with you doesn't mean she's lazy. Now quit yer whining kid, or she might just ground you for an eon or two.

After seeing Bale in The Machinest, I'm convinced he must have damn near taken up residence in a weight room to bounce back from the shell of a man he was in that movie and bulk up again for Batman. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Only if by "weight room" you mean "a place where they feed you lard through an IV".

Christian Bale. I haven't watched this preview yet, but Christian Bale in my experience is a pretty good and dedicated actor, and I'd be surprised if his performance in Batman Begins was not up to par. If it's unconvincing as you say, it may be simply the preview not giving an accurate picture. On the other hand, almost every actor gives an occasional poor performance. Maybe I'll have a better idea once I see it.

Well...Obi-Wan fell down a big hole of sorts into a lake, and the clones said "No one could have survived that fall". So some of the characters in EpIII did do the 'ol 'he fell down a big hole so he must be dead ; but he's not syndrome.'

Maybe he just forgot.

The Elements Song "There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium, And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium, And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium, Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium, And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium, And gold and protactinium and indium and gallium, And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium. There's yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium, And boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium, And strontium and silicon and silver and samarium, And bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium, and barium. There's holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium, And phosphorus and francium and fluorine and terbium, And manganese and mercury, molybdenum, magnesium, Dysprosium and scandium and cerium and cesium. And lead, praseodymium, and platinum, plutonium, Palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium, And tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium, And cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium. There's sulfur, californium, and fermium, berkelium, And also mendelevium, einsteinium, nobelium, And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc, and rhodium, And chlorine, carbon, cobalt, copper, tungsten, tin, and sodium. These are the only ones of which the news has come to Ha'vard, And there may be many others, but they haven't been discavard." I can sing it. Without a lyric sheet. "

Are you aware of Spore? That's exhaustive! Yeah, me too. :D <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I have read about it in a recent gamer magazine. It sounded pretty ambitious and very intereesting. I must say I like the sound of Victoria. Is this the game? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes, it is. Be warned, there's a pretty steep learning curve. Err...more like a learning cliff, actually. In addition to the Paradox Forums, you might find VickyWiki a helpful website, in particular their Modest Guide for Brand Spanking New Players. Trust me, unless you have lots of experience with either Europa Universallis or Hearts of Iron, you're likely to crash and burn without that guide. It helped me get into the game.

Shares are 13 cents each! Buy now! Buy low, sell high! Though the impression I got was that it was a con, rather than a farce.

AFAIK, it's only common if the developer and the console maker fall out, like happened with Square and Nintendo over Nintendo's plans to use cartridges for the N64. On another note, I used to have a very, very old SNES-exclusive games magazine, and I remember reading once about Nintendo teaming up with Sony for their next-generation console, called the "playstation". However, between this and Sony's solo release of the Playstation, I never heard anything more of it. What I've always been curious about is whether the magazine was wrong and Sony were always developing the PSX independently, or if Nintendo and Sony had a falling out of some kind in the development process?

Someone on Fark suggested that if Anakin had fallen onto his hands and knees instead of performing frankenstein gestures, it might not have been so cheesy. I'm inclined to agree, but what does everyone else think?

The Nintendo Revolution. :cool:

Wouldn't it be better if Norway gave Denmark 12, Denmark gave Sweden 12, Sweden gave Norway 12, Norway gave Sweden 10, Sweden gave Denmark 10, and Denmark gave Norway 10? Eveyone would have 22.

I think it would be better as a story-driven aspect. Like when you fight a boss you cut off their arm at the end, opening up a dialogue sequence.

Sing - Travis Ahh...memories...:D

True. I'm sure everyone has been at that point from time to time. But is it 'fun'? I think not, if the aim is to go somewhere else for a while and numb out. Building a character from a wimp to a god has appeal, for some more than others. But there has to be something else to recommend a particular game over and above the H&S masses. For Dungeon Seige, it was music and graphics, but that in itself was not enough to keep it consistently interesting. So what element makes one H&S more appealing than others? What did Diablo have that makes it different? I'd really like to know. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Well, I'd call it fun. A fun diversion, but still fun. As to what makes a particular game more appealing, that would depend on what sort of hack 'n' slash game you're looking for. Since I play my own music in the background, music isn't important in a hack 'n' slash game to me. Graphics might be important, but I quite liked the original Diablo's graphics. Strategy appears to be important to some. Complexity might be important, but simplicity might be too. They all have different qualities. Personally, I preferred the original Diablo over the second one, mainly because it wasn't as long, was much simpler in design, savegames loaded right at the exact point you saved them (Diablo II took you back to town and regenerated all the monsters), and going down through a dungeon is more fun for me than running about fields and deserts. But that's just me. Everyone has their own criteria in their choice of HnS game.

You only got the massive corruption if you had passed the map size's optimal city number which turned all your citizens in any new cities into damned dirty thieves. On a standard size map the city number was only like 30 or so cities. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You got massive corruption if you tried to build a city far away from your capital and forbidden palace too, whether you had exceeded the limit or not. Compund that with all the things which are continent based in Civ, and island based civilisations are placed at a huge disadvantage. If you were playing England on one of the player-made Earth maps, this became a *real* bitch if you tried to do anything like the colonisation it historically did. Want a city in South Africa? No problem, as long as you don't mind your harbor being finished in 2050.

I totally, totally hated corruption in Civ 3. It didn't matter how big your empire was, for the most part, all that mattered was the distance from your capital. You'd build a city on a small island a few squares away from your continent, and have to wait eighty turns befor it could finish a harbour to bring in resources for other projects. That sucked. I'm sure they'll find a decent way of replacing it, but Corruption as it was in Civ 3 just didn't work.

Maybe I just can't remember the explanation fron EpII, but could someone explain why General Greivous has Tuberculosis?

Well, they say the deadliest blunt object is a lawyer... " Okay, they don't say that, I just made that up, but my point still stands: Whack em long and hard with legal threats and action.

You could start venting your anger on their forum.

The PS3 is using Bluetooth v2.0 (I think it was) and with that technology, you don't even have to be in the same room to play. It goes through walls. Not sure what the Xbox 360 uses though. Also, with the Bluetooth you'll have something like 24 hours battery time in the controllers, because Bluetooth is extremely battery friendly. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> WHAT? I have to CHARGE THEM? That sucks! Jeez, what's wrong with a bloody wire?

Here: http://www.doggybagstudios.co.uk/bunnykillsite/index.php