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Comment Re:PROFILED (Score 1) 582

You're close to a good point raised by another person in the replies, that another hijacking attack is unlikely to occur with all the new safeguards, but you're supporting your argument with all the incorrect reasons.

The primary culprit that allowed such events to occur was a policy of cooperating with hijackers. That policy had been tested and proven effective dozens upon dozens of times before to counter act plane hijackings. The problem wasn't that the airlines were "trying to save a buck" by not reinforcing their doors or that "the patrons weren't all packing some sort of weapon" it was the very simply policy of cooperation. I mean heck a couple guys with box cutters stand no match against a mob of people - whether they're packing knives or not.

Now the correct people (air marshals, pilots, flight crew, etc) are trained to deal with situations like these. That's why it won't happen again.

Comment Re:Fuck you guys, someone has to say it (Score 1) 209

All of these things are common sense factors that would come with a drop in violent crime. The article isn't saying the violent games are the single determining factor but that the rise in violent games has been followed with a drop in violent crime. It's just correlation but it's a correlation that damages the common argument against violent games - that they cause violence in people.

It could be that all those factors are outweighing violent games but the correlation from TFA would seem to suggest that at the worst playing a violent game is probably a negligible factor in determining if you will be a violent criminal. I think that's all they're trying to say.

Comment Re:Offshoring. (Score 1) 527

Get off my lawn!

I should think the accessibility of technology today has encouraged students to become interested in software and computer science in general. And it's easier now than ever to write your own applications for various gadgets you own - especially something that's android or ios based. The hobby development hasn't gone away - it just moved to a different platform.

I mean I can't tell you how impressed with myself I was when I made some random junk in flash back in the day having not grown up with DOS based systems and IRC chat and I went on to a career in software dev. And it was playing other people's games that got me into doing that

Comment Re:Translation of meaning: (Score 1) 282

Of course Chrome - what I assume to be in your mind the "geek's choice" does everything you raged about in your post. Bugs, pointless versioning, etc.

But it's okay because they're the new kid on the block. Until a new browser comes along that is. Then Google can be the evil company producing a terrible browser that only luddites and non-geeks use.

Comment Re:My hands hurt... (Score 1) 330

Lest we not forget the Sony "boomerang" controller that originally debuted with the PS3 concept design. I'm sure some users gave that positive reviews to be paraded around like it was.

That design was vehemently debated between fanboys for months before Sony finally announced it was just going to use basically the same controller design from the PS2. Considering this console isn't going to launch until late next year (and let's face it with a launch window like what they gave we'll probably see it sometime in 2013) I would hardly be surprised to see the same thing happen.

Comment The Difference Is Government Funding (Score 1) 395

Games like Homefront or other similar games that has a sort of "USA vs them" feel to it is not an appropriate comparison for the game discussed by the article. These games are designed, developed, sold, and used independently of the US government.

The better comparison would be to America's Army per the article's suggestion. In these games the enemy combatants are generic pseudo middle eastern/central asian insurgents and terror groups. People who are universally decided by security council nations and most of the world to be "the bad guys". You aren't able to fight virtual simulations of a real life standing army as these articles suggest a facilitate of the US army is depicted.

Naturally this is going on the article's suggestion as I have not played or watched extensive footage of the game in question.

Comment Re:Simple (Score 1) 235

I'm not so sure I agree with this. Valve games have typically prospered extremely well on the PC with or without updates. The original Team Fortress was still being played by a good number of people right up to the release of Team Fortress 2. Counterstrike1.6 is still a popular game despite the success of Counterstrike: Source. Team Fortress 2 was a quality multiplayer experience and I would have expected it would have still had a strong playerbase to today - though the updates certainly don't hurt.

Comment Re:How many are actually studying computer science (Score 1) 173

A computer science degree is about the method of thinking. I know multiple non CS majors who program just fine every day at my job but when a discussion begins about the finer points of efficiency (which all development projects grapple with at some point or another) these people become suddenly quiet.

You may not need to write a intensive proof as to why an algorithm is efficient/inefficient in your career but being able to look at one and just tell whether or not it's an efficient solution (by leveraging the theory taught you) is important. Additionally completing a CS degree typically should say that a person is capable of learning multiple technologies and languages usually with little to no help as most CS programs will stop teaching practical development after the first year and focus on theory - leaving students to learn the practical aspect themselves. This is a huge pro on the old pro con list when comparing two potential employees.

Comment Re:No respect, work holidays, no dating prospects (Score 2) 173

I'd say the best senior management for technical projects are the ones who were writing code 10-20 years ago. Someone who majored in business will never fully understand the intricacies of development. I have seen many a project in my company go askew with project managers who thought they could just foist deadlines on their team ignoring developer estimates of how long they would like to take to develop a system.

The result? The good developers quit and you're left with a serious brain drain and cruddy product. But hey at least you finished on schedule.

Also going from a technical career to senior management would put you at the high ends of both compensation curves and lets face it - the vast majority of senior management functions are learned through experience not a degree.

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