deanb

You could hack away at pieces of rock and call it art. You're looking for aesthetically pleasing. Art doesn't have to be beautiful. And in the same way something that is beautiful isn't art. Also what you've produced is an "instillation". Just because an everyday object is used in an instillation, doesn't make it art in itself. Instillations are also interactive (well, a fair few) For example this one was on reddit the other day: The Recovery of Discovery (bet you're all wishing you were into going to art museums now huh ) Beer is used in the instillation, but beer isn't a piece of art in itself. My room has artwork hanging on the wall, stories lined along shelves and music echoing off the walls. Doesn't make my room art. One of my main things is that anyone can make art. You can be absolutely bad at it, but if you're struck by a feeling you can hum a ditty, make a story, film a home movie* or do a doodle at the very least. But making a video game at even the basic level of the others takes many hours of training and skill. And it's training in programming to make even the most basic of games. And you can't be creative with programming. Get creative with programming and it won't compile, simple as that. Also back to Excel for a second: *does anyone else's browser throw up movie as a spelling error?

I'm still of the opinion that games are just pretty looking versions of Excel. Very pretty looking, but Excel none the less. Excel: Video Game: Games are games, nothing more, nothing less. Haven't been for the past thousand years and I feel that they still won't be for a thousand more. Declaring games as art would change nothing. There seems to be this impression that games like COD would fade away in favour of yearly. high selling Team Ico productions. That gamers would suddenly gain respect from society. Games would be an intellectual pursuit. Ain't happening. That can change, games can become a part of society, they can become more like Ico titles. But that change would have nothing to do with being declared as art. It's kind of treat as the get out of jail free card. This magical solution that will stop the regular press taking the piss out of you and having to keep your gaming habit off CVs n out of facebook lest people think worse of you. Also I get the legal ramifications in the US, but this recent move by the NEA will mean jack since the case was over 6 months ago and a verdict due in 2. And from what I understand NEA policies aren't law.

I was linked this yesterday btw: http://en.wikipedia....ki/Forer_effect Don't read until you've taken the test.

They're fleeing from "the ones who came before". Minerva n Co. They were slave drivers after all. But they're part-human part-ones who came before. It's why Assassins are immune to Pieces of Eden (it'd be a bit fucking stupid to make a device that can mind control you too) You have: Ones Who Came Before. They're kind of gods of sorts, they made the human race in their image as a slave races to help build the temples. No idea on their origin yet though. Humans: made as slaves, they eventually outumber and overthrow the OWCB. Us. Templars come from this stock too. Assassins: Descended from Adam n Eve, a cross-breed/hybrid of the two. So outwardly human, but with traits such as Eagle Vision, immunity to the POEs, improved reflexes and supposedly longevity. Not all Assassins are hybrids though, some are just initiated into the guild so none of the magic powers. But I'd imagine they do try to have some kind of selective breeding going. Maybe it's a dominant trait, so it doesn't matter who the partner is? btw we've all seen "The Truth" yeah?

I dunno now. Maybe I interpreted it incorrectly, but I'm pretty sure that it's implied that the assassins order is descended from Adam n Eve. The eagle vision isn't a taught skill, it's inherited along with the reflexes. You have apprentices too, like Shaun n Rebecca, and the ones you pick up in Brotherhood. It's why there's a bloodline all the way from Adam n Eve, through to Altair, Ezio n on to Desmond, all are Assassins. As for Templars they're regular joe humans in a get rich club.

Oh yeah someone mentioned if the Apple boosts longevity. I don't think that's the case. Assassins aren't a trade(okay there's the random ones you can pick up), it's a sub-species of human. So along with improved reflexes, eagle vision etc, maybe a longer lifespan is part of it.

They can go with other people in the Animus. Brotherhood mentions Rebecca popping in and Shaun wanting a shot. If you're wanting other era's that is.

My mum for some reason (though I have a feeling it's post-operation Wolverine/hugh jackman) likes Origins. I took it around on my HDD once, they watched it but only half way , then she went n bought it. She even called me up to tell me she'd bought it. My main grievance with Origins is the bit in the farmers bathroom when he's first looking at his claws then slices the sink. The CG is SOOOO BAAADDD.

It's the INTP bit that's the main bit, the numbers mean jack without it. Thats your Type. The numbers are just to what degree you fit in it. Since we're posting figures: 100, 12, 62, 22.

Youtube doesn't update the View count on the fly.

Via Mason. (since he doesn't seem to be posting here) (oh btw: not spoilers, but if you've not played the game it will make the early part really interesting...)

"NFJs tend to be easily hurt" I guess I should stop calling you Fucking Retarded :/ Good at working behind the scenes and "driven to resolve differences in a cooperative and creative manner." I guess that fits mod abilities

It's just something in the way EMA n such are worked out. You still get taxed normally. Two different depts. On my end my mum is as poor as dirt (well.. not that bad, but not exactly great. I'm a student, I'm richer than she is) but my dad isn't too bad off. They're divorced and I'd lived with my mum the previous 13 years of my life, it was pretty clear cut which one was the parent that is put down on the forms.

Dunno if any of you have ever heard of, or even taken, this test before. It's a basic personality test. It filters in to 4 elements of two types each. So there's 16 variances all in all. Personally I'm INTP which is an "Architect" There's two tests. One will take about 5-10 minutes and one takes about 2 minutes (it has 4 questions ) http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp - longer http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html - short The second one is substantially less accurate, you'll be able to tell when you see how it works out the "answer" So yeah, maybe have a crack at it, read the article given in the longer test if you want to know more about it, or check Wikipeidia. As with all tests like this, reading up on the various types kind of ruins it, cos you'll maybe attempt to aim to fulfil what you think you're meant to get than what the test would naturally put you out as.

Aapche isn't the CFW Apache is the operating system the servers run on. Same as your PC runs Windows. If you don't run the updates you're vulnerable to virus n attacks. Same with server software like Apache. The guy was saying Sony weren't keeping it up to date, therefore more vulnerable. The google cache shows that it's running the most up to date version, so there wasn't much in that way that would make them vulnerable to any old exploits.

It means that when the PSN was hacked it was fully up to date on the latest server software, and the articles running last week of "PSN wasn't updated for months" are based off some guy who heard off some guy. As the guy pointed out, even if the games sites weren't willing to get their hands dirty with google cache, just reading the report the guy submitted would have enlightened them. Most likely one site half read it and ran a story, everyone else followed off them.

Righty-ho. It seems applications have stopped. The new writers we have gained are: @Nexus Keyworks @Vintage @MasterDex @Chronixal Maybe Strangelove, but I didn't get a response back on that. Also got a guest article due from "Jake Russel" and Rockyran. Anyone of those I've just listed don't yet have a GDocs account give me a yell. Have a fish about. I finish uni end of this week and will start hopefully churning stuff out this coming weekend, so keep your eyes peeled.

So some guy decided to do his own digging. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:h9540GDnnIoJ:auth.np.ac.playstation.net:443/+auth.np.ac.playstation.net That's the PSN on the day it went down. The part to pay attention to is the bit that says: The current release is: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/new_features_2_2.html tl;dr: The servers were running up to date software. The information that they weren't was second hand: http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1549251&postcount=491

They scrapped the EMAs? I guess I'll leave it as is then since I did comment the current government want to get rid of them. It's fucked up. From what I'm reading the EMA has been scrapped on favour of a much lower pool of resources for "targeted" aid. Seems mostly to be for disabled then low income though. And it's up to the college/sixth form on what and how much is paid, instead of a nation wide and consistent scheme the EMA presented.

Oh yeah our university is made up of schools. I go to the School of Computing. SCM for short( it used to be "and Maths". I don't know if other uni's are like that though. http://www.tees.ac.uk/sections/schools/

So this one I think is going to require a bit of back n forth before it gets laid down. Education. The ages will be rough estimates given everyone is at different ages, yet the academic year stays the same. Nursery/Pre-school Age 4. So this isn't really school, and I'm not even sure if it's compulsory. Kids go for half a day. Primary School This is divided into to Infant school, and Junior school. And in some schools that's an architectural divide too, with the school sort of split in half between the age groups. Main difference is size, lower coat pegs n smaller toilets. Starts with "Reception", about age 5. Reception is more an introduction to school life, than education proper. Infant school is up to Year 3. At the end of Year 2 you apparently (I don't remember doing them, at that age) do SATs, which test English, Maths n Sciences. You're given a numerical grade (1 is the lowest, up to 8). This is known officially as "Key Stage 1" Junior school is Year 4 to Year 6. (Year 6 is about 10 years old) At the end of Year 6 you do SATs again (these I remember). By Year 6 you're expected to get a level 4. (the standard test at that age can only give a max of a level 5, so schools have to manually put forward students to take the tests that go up to 6. But that may have changed). This is the end of "Key Stage 2" Just to reinforce: Primary school is the entire thing, the infant n junior division is in name only. Secondary School This starts at age 10/11. You start in Year 7. There's a vague divide. In Year 9 you do your final SATs. This is "Key Stage 3". In year 9 you're expected to get a 5/6 on average with the max of 8 being possible. In year 9 you pick which GCSEs you'll be taking in the following 2 years. Depending on how old the person you're talking to depends on what they had for GCSEs. Some might have CSEs, some (i.e most of our parents) have O-Levels. GCSEs take place during Year 10 and Year 11. That's age 14-16. GCSE's are graded A*-G. Technically all are a pass, but a C is considered the lowest rung by most. Your GCSE's are the grades you stick on your CV. Further Education This is where it gets messy for a bit. Further Education is entirely optional. There are several routes to take. I'll let others fill in more on what they've done. I personally went to College. An art college. There I took a BTEC National Dilpoma. It's a single certification, and nets you a three part grade that is Passed, Passed with Merit, and Passed with Distinction. Shortened to DDD/ "triple distinction"(what I got). A college is an academic setting that teaches vocational skills on a single area. You do several modules over 2 years, each are graded then it all gets mashed into the single grade at the end. I also took an A-Level which I'll go into more detail in the next paragraph. An alternative is Sixth Form. This is a more academically focused education, and is more of an extension on secondary school. Some Secondary Schools also have a Sixth Form as part of it. Sixth Form is Years 12 and Years 13. You take 5(someone want to correct that?) AS-levels in first year. These can be on anything you want (Well as long as your GCSE grades allow it). Then in Year 13 you carry some of these AS-levels on to A2-levels. These combine to became an A-level. (at my college the AS was mandatory, if you were good enough n they reckoned you could do it, you could turn it into a full A-level) An A-level uses the same grading system as GCSEs, A to whatever. Then there's also Modern Apprenticeships. I think this is what my brother is doing. This is pretty much a job, just with certification at the end of it. You get an NVQ with this one. An apprenticeship involves some time spent at work, learning on the job and applying skills, and some time at college(or whatever) doing the academic side of things as well as checking in. When going into Further Education you're eligible for an "EMA", Education Maintenance Allowance. This is a means tested grant of £10/£20/£30 per week. If you hit grading and attendance targets you get termly bonus of £100. I think the Conservatives want to scrap this. (Can't have the poor vermin learning things, they might get ideas). I think EMA is for college n Sixth form only. (since modern apprenticeships gets you a wage, no matter how low) Higher Education Then you apply for UCAS. UCAS is the University applications. They take whatever certification you have and boil it down to a universal point score out of 360. So taking that extra A-level can really help. Universities will say that a course requires a UCAS score of x points. Mine was a requirement of 275, if you had 300 or more you got a scholarship of £1000 a year. You also apply for a Student Loan. Everyone is eligible for them. It's done through a semi-government body called the Students Loan Company (inventive name huh) alongside Student Finance. (SLC supply the cash n such, Student Finance deal with the bureaucratic side of things and they're the ones you apply to). You can apply for Tuition Fee loan, Maintenance loan and a maintenance grant. The tuition fee is a flat up about. As it stands it's currently £3,225 (as you may have heard, it soon goes up to £9,000). That covers the cost of your course. Maintenance loan is a a set amount like the tuition fee. This covers the cost of rent, buying books, food etc. It varies depending on if you live in london or nor, or if you'll live at home during uni. The grant is means tested. The poor get more, the rich get jack shit. The grant isn't called a loan, cos you don't pay this back. You pay this back at a rate of 9% of everything you earn over £15,000 salary. You earn £16K in a year, you pay 9% of £1000, so £90 (you earn less than £15K, you pay nothing). This is taken out of your wage. This goes on until you've paid the loan back, or it's been 25 years since you went to uni, or you turn 65 years old. Completing a 3 year course will mean you owe the gov't around about £16,000 (yep taking a 3 year course will cost you, course fees, rent, living costs: £16K) Oh if you're Scottish you get the whole thing paid for you, don't owe a penny back. University takes place over 3 years as an Undergraduate student. Some courses have a sandwich year between years 2 n 3 where you can go get a job in the field. You get a bachelors degree in whatever field you are doing. I'll have a BA, Bachelor of Arts. There's tons of others. This is graded as 1, 2:1, 2:2 and 3. a first being the highest. You can then go into work, or take a Post-graduate degree course to get a Masters or a Doctorate. (my course leads on to a Masters) So. Anyone want to explain the US system. Maybe correct anything I have wrong here. Like A-levels.

Siren is the only low level one there. Xavier n Magneto: pretty big hitters. Beast n Mystique were in the last three films. Havok is Scott Summers brother. Same powers, just not with the glasses so much. (I'm sure in the comics it comes from his hands n not his whole body though). Emma Frost is big in the comics, I guess not so much in other stuff, though she has a short cameo in Wolverine.

Does it come inside a PC tower?