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Comment Re:Poor business (Score 1) 395

Based on the definition of art; the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power; I would say that any game is art if the game-play, story, or even background is appreciated for emotional power. As you pointed out, Ebert applies his own, narrower definition. Since he is not engaged by the power of games (until he actually, you know, plays them) he does not consider them art. I do. From my view, Ebert made far more pretentious statements than deep nuggets of wisdom. I, however, am not inclined to perform a count.

Comment Re:In your face Betteridge! (Score 1) 498

Oh, no. I just store a one way hash for each letter. Then I can verify any combination in any order. And I store a hash for the common permutations the system uses, for even better performance. In fact, I have a complete rainbow table for your password. For it to work, of course I use the same salt for all of it. And for speed, I store the salt in the same data store as the hashes....

And I am sure there is someone out there with a worse scheme than this to meet the bank regulations.

* I do not represent any bank or business, and these comments are entirely my own sarcasm.

Comment Re:Java (Score 1) 383

I read through this whole thread and there is a common theme: desktop and mobile. I think the concept of all platforms includes washing machines, toasters, Pi, Arduino, door locks, security panels, smoke detectors, etc. When I look at it that way, I see more than the monitor/keyboard/mouse/monitor(s) setup of a desktop, or the touch/screed/sensors interface of a smartphone.

How would a shopping program work? Could it run in my pantry, refrigerator, washing machine, garage, or anywhere I use consumables? Would each of these be able to communicate so that I can view my shopping list at any time? Would they work with my printer? What about my note-taking program?

Even more, could they send that list to my favorite stores so all I have to do when I arrive is choose perishables like meat and vegetables? Is the store running a scaled up version of the same software? Or maybe running an instance of the software for each customer in a VM?

I imagine a world trending toward Futurama, where everything is a robot of some type, albeit not AI. They can all communicate and take care of my needs mostly without my input. My vacuum knows when to go to work, the floor tells it about the traffic. Other sensors in the floor let the wet cleaner know to clean up a spill. The refrigerator makes sure to stock itself with my favorite drinks, so that they are cold and ready whenever I want one. And since they can all run the same software, I can play Upset Ornithoids on all of them without losing my high score, or take a note and know it will be wherever I am.

It's not about how we can program any one class of device, it's about how we can program all devices at once.

Comment Re:Reciprocity (Score 1) 113

Isn't that what most conversations already are?

There really are only three types of conversation I can have with you: I can offer to exchange or exchange something of value with you (e.g. cash for goods), I can ask something of value from you (e.g. time, donations), or we can exchange meaningless platitudes. I know that is a very basic way to look at it, but the exchange is the whole point of having a conversation, even if the exchange is of knowledge.

Comment Re: He sounds like an idiot (Score 1) 332

You may not borrow my circular saw, ever. The problem with that assumption is that all of the reasons for using the right tools (axe, chainsaw) are gone; no sap, the tree is all dry wood, there are no fibrous sections in the bark, etc. That is the same problem I see all the time with evangelists for any tool. In order to make a rational, evaluated decision, all facts must be looked at as objectively as possible. Or to use an old quote "the right tool for the right job".

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