Forgot your password?

Close
typodupeerror
Music

An album in a month - The 2011 RPM Challenge-> 1

Submitted by janap
janap writes "In January of 2008, I discovered the RPM Challenge through an article on Slashdot. What I read was this: "Record a whole album in the month of February. Just do it!" — Yea right, as if I'm able to do that...

But, in dire need of a creative kick in the butt, I decided to throw myself at the chance to prove myself, to myself. I came out at the other end of it a changed man, and I've been back for more of the same every year since. The sense of accomplishment that this little artificial deadline you impose upon yourself carries with it upon completion is incredible, and has to be experienced. By you? Yes, why not? Anyone can come up with an excuse to say no, so don't. Remember — this doesn't have to be "the" album, all it takes is "an" album. And there's a great community of peers to draw experience from, in blogs and boards at the site. Welcome!"
Link to Original Source
Earth

NASA Creates First Global Forest Map Using Lasers 55

Posted by samzenpus
from the if-a-tree-is-measured-and-nobody-is-around-to-see-it dept.
MikeCapone writes "Scientists, using three NASA satellites, have created a first-of-its-kind map that details the height of the world's forests. The data was collected from NASA's ICESat, Terra and Aqua satellites. The latter two satellites are responsible for most of NASA's Gulf spill imagery. The data collected will help scientists understand how the world's forests both store and process carbon. While there are many local and regional canopy maps, this is the very first global map using a uniform method for measure."
Businesses

A Requiem For Saab 438

Posted by kdawson
from the just-call-me-baab dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that auto enthusiasts across the country are dismayed by the news that General Motors is planning to shut down Saab, the Swedish carmaker it bought two decades ago, after a deal to sell it fell apart. Even with its modest and steadily declining sales, Saab, an acronym for Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget, or Swedish Airplane Company, long stood out as a powerful brand in spite of itself. 'It wasn't designed to be a fashion statement,' says Ron Pinelli, president of Autodata, which tracks industry statistics. 'It was designed to provide transportation under miserable weather conditions.' Many Saab owners consider the brand's glory days to be the 1980s, when Americans began buying cars again after a recession and energy crisis. 'The cars were communicative,' says Pinelli. 'They didn't try to numb the experience like cars do today.' The cars had odd touches and appealed to those who appreciate the unconventional. Swedish engineers assumed drivers would be wearing gloves, so they designed big buttons for the dashboard. Though the cars were compact, with long hoods and short rear ends, there was plenty of headroom inside. Now Saab, a brand that once had one of the clearest identities in the industry, seems headed for extinction just as automakers are searching for more distinctive designs to help set them apart. 'It's a shame that Saab is a victim,' adds Pinelli."

Comment: Re:The old problem (Score 1) 124

by Bohnanza (#29505775) Attached to: Former Interplay Dev Talks "Disastrous" Old Star Trek Games
What gamers have always wanted is to be Captain Kirk. Shout orders at your subordinates, beam down to cool planets with groovy space chicks, and occasionally beat up some Klingons. For whatever reason, it seems nobody has ever even TRIED to make this game. "Begin" was about the closest anyone has come.
Programming

The Best First Language For a Young Programmer 634

Posted by Soulskill
from the what-language-do-the-binars-speak dept.
snydeq writes "Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister questions whether Scheme, a dialect of Lisp taught as part of many first-year CS curricula and considered by some to be the 'latin of programming,' is really the best first language for a young programmer. As he sees it, the essentially write-only Scheme requires you to bore down into the source code just to figure out what a Scheme program is trying to do — excellent for teaching programming but 'lousy for a 15-year-old trying to figure out how to make a computer do stuff on his own.' And though the 'hacker ethic' may in fact be harming today's developers, McAllister still suggests we encourage the young to 'develop the innate curiosity and love of programming that lies at the heart of any really brilliant programmer' by simply encouraging them to fool around with whatever produces the most gratifying results. After all, as Jeff Atwood puts it, 'what we do is craftmanship, not engineering,' and inventing effective software solutions takes insight, inspiration, deduction, and often a sprinkling of luck. 'If that means coding in Visual Basic, so be it. Scheme can come later.'"

Comment: Re:Figure out what you want to do first... (Score 1) 324

by Bohnanza (#28564863) Attached to: What Are the Best First Steps For Becoming a Game Designer?
Doug Kaufman has been a top-tier game designer for years and has never written a line of code. He's designed board games and has also worked on a few computer games you might have heard of: Civilization II and Rise of Nations, among others:

http://ron.heavengames.com/press/events/bhgvisitmarch2004/interviews/DougKaufmanMar2004-1.shtml

Comment: Re:Only for casual gamers (Score 1) 275

by Bohnanza (#28392421) Attached to: <em>New Super Mario Bros. Wii</em> To Include Official "Cheat"
This ought to be an option in EVERY game. Too many designers don't understand the difference between "challenging" and "frustrating".

Civilization II famously included a "Cheat" menu to allow players to do as they wish with the game. After all, you bought it, why should anyone else tell you what you can do with it?

And furthermore, a gamer who wants a challenge can simply refuse to use the "cheat"!

Teutonic: Not enough gin.