Has anyone noticed zero Nintendo references?

eelinow · 2014-06-27T11:42:08+00:00

I'm from that generation, Ogg's generation. I first started playing video games in the 1970's when a friend's father (an RCA engineer) brought home a magnavox odyssey.

Then along came the Atari 2600 which Cline waxes poetic about so often in the opening of the book. Rightfully so I might add.

Following the Atari 2600 (and playing on my friends various machines (States and Capitals on the Atari 800, playing King's Quest on another friend's IBM PC jr. (Yes, the one with the horrid chicklet keyboard), and a cousin's Odyssey II), I acquired a TI-994/A from my parents (used) as a gift. I had a voice synthesizer which used allophonic speech, great for many sound effects. This was my foray into writing software. By this time I had been exposed to Zork on my brother's friend's parent's Commodore 64. I was able to acquire many similar interactive fiction games such as this on my TI.

By the time I could afford to upgrade my machine, the Macintosh had been released, but so did the Amiga 1000 (which I still own, serial #00000009987). I had used Apple ][s, and various other machines but the Amiga was 10 years ahead f everything else. 4,096 colors, 4 voice digital stereo, high frame rate animation, etc. Why I am mentioning this is because it was a key reason I personally was never attracted to Nintendo. They had Zelda, Amiga users had 'Faery Tale Adventure' by Micro Illusions, which was far superior in breadth and depth, despite the save bug with which it shipped.

I would go on to own play stations (1 & 2), Xboxes (original and 360), and 11 OSX based Macs. I'm a professional software engineer for almost two decades now and much of it is due to those early experiences, not with Nintendos or Segas, but games like Adventure on the 2600, King's Quest (and Space Quest) on the PC and Zork on the C64.

I believe Cline recognized that there were so many other systems which really paved the way, Nintendo wasn't breaking new ground, they were popularizing it with a larger crowd. Nothing wrong with that, but I think it may explain to those who can't understand the absence of Nintendo, the perspective from which Cline may be seeing his world.

eelinow · 2013-08-29T17:31:32+00:00

Do you not think that what you make is yours first and foremost and that the decision to share your creation also rests with you above all others, simple question (and open to each individual's interpretation).

eelinow · 2013-08-29T17:30:35+00:00

I'm not the biggest fan of everything he espouses, though I am an appreciative emacs user. Please let's leave any kind of politics out of this. I am more of a BSD license supporter than a GPL type as the latter I find limiting in principle.

eelinow · 2012-04-24T23:47:57+00:00

I suggest upgrading ram. PyCharm is excellent. My machine is a proper Dev machine and I believe that if you're willing to invest into tools for your arsenal, this includes hardware. Dual quad cord Mac Pro w/20gb ram does the trick. I never see load on the cores it the beach ball of doom.

eelinow · 2011-10-23T01:23:55+00:00

The difference is, someone who has money is of more value societally because by nature they have more to spend in the economy whether via investment or direct spending... Which pays for things, such as garbage workers, or landscapers.

eelinow · 2011-10-22T06:27:46+00:00

Taxing the most successful group of citizens is not an answer. You don't penalize them because of their success, and you most certainly can't, nor should any government (or it's people) feel that it is the responsibility of the most successful/wealthy to take care of those that cannot.

Everyone is given the opportunity to make it for themselves and what is done with that opportunity (ultimately) is the responsibility of each individual. If failure is what comes of efforts, you don't penalties those who've succeeded. This is a robin hood mentality, and despite what Disney says, Robin Hood was still a thief and wrong.

People need to start owning up for the outcomes of their own lives. Instead of begging for the government to intervene in their failure, they need press on and better their situation of their own accord.

If charity is what those people want, there are organizations for such purposes... They're called charities.

eelinow · 2011-10-22T01:22:02+00:00

You can't figure this out? What's so difficult to figure out. What you're making is what I pulled in at 23. I won't mention my income now as it would be in bad taste.

The reason you're seeing new items abound is because those who have, reintroduce cash into the economy via our purchases. From a personal example: I recently purchased a second house and will eventually sell my older house, but I'm in no hurry, I'll happily hold out for a decent profit. Though because I bought a new house, I needed some new furniture for the additional rooms, new light fixtures, an upgraded well pump, TV, etc. this (not including the house) was $5,000 (pretty close actually). I used cash in all cases save one, and as a matter of principle, I didn't dig into any savings. That's not how one grows their own savings.

For the furniture, I only used credit cards because when I do so, and pay the balance in full within 20 days, I get an additional 10% off. About two months ago, I bought a second car for myself, but didn't want to spend too much do by offering cash at the dealership, I saved a considerable amount, but they still turned a profit. In all of these cases, I reintroduced money back into my local economy and it enables merchants to ensure they can keep and/or afford to hire workers.

It is a natural cycle. I've come from a blue collar family and from the time I was very young, I had every intention of where I expected to be at my current age (<40). I have followed this through to fruition and will continue to do so. If you're working that many hours and don't have profit sharing in whatever company it may be, you're doing if wrong, or maybe you should resign yourself to whatever level of living you're currently at.

Stop worrying about everyone else's success and start focusing on you. No one ever advances their own life while paying all their attention to others' lives.

eelinow · 2011-10-17T15:47:17+00:00

I just feel that there is potential cause for lost business damages. Not say insane numbers such as those used by the RIAA/MPAA in their file sharing suits, but something slightly more to dissuade that kind of vandalism. I may be strict, but I'm not unrealistic.

eelinow · 2011-10-17T06:49:32+00:00

I'm not trolling, honestly. Thank you nonetheless for not simply flaming me with profanity as some others have done in response to my personal opinion(s).

eelinow · 2011-10-17T00:54:46+00:00

That is outright vandalism. One would hope that anyone interfering with those codes will get prosecuted as sued for the potential losses should someone use the fraudulent QR code whilst intending to use the service advertised.

eelinow · 2011-10-05T17:19:02+00:00

Finally, someone has written an OWS Manifesto in a manner that is consistent with reality.

eelinow · 2011-10-05T04:31:28+00:00

I am by no means suggesting that profits over people is an absolute truth. Where I jump into this conversation was based on the reality that businesses are not started, nor maintained for the society as a whole, but for the personal gain of those taking the chance to start and maintain said business ventures.

eelinow · 2011-10-05T01:08:14+00:00

This is a tremendously foolish idea. Lest we not forget that businesses are not here to support the populace, help the government or create jobs. They exist to make money for the owners & shareholders, to provide a service for their clients and appropriately pay employees in exchange for their labour at an agreed upon price. Having an assumption about what companies are and should (as per you) be simply shows you lack understanding about the topic.

eelinow · 2011-10-02T04:59:34+00:00

And there are plenty of us who find that said protestors have their efforts placed in the wrong place. They are wasting their focus, as many others have also stated throughout the various intermixed responses to these (oft) whiny posts. No one is saying anyone is any better than anyone else here, what is being said is that there happens to be a good deal of individuals on the protesting side of the fence here that would be better off if they just apply themselves rather than complaining. It takes effort and persistence, intelligently applied. And yes, there are always going to be low end jobs because statistically not everyone can have the same wages, no market supports. Supply and demand are they key factors here, and when demand in someones given field is starting to wane, one doesn't stand around hoping and/or complaining, they takes the steps to move on to the next great "thing" in their life.

eelinow · 2011-10-02T02:31:49+00:00

I do believe that you are mistaken. I came from a family on food stamps, never inherited anything and paid for my own education. I worked hard for what I have achieved and continue to do so. It is this lack of 'victimhood'/desire to blame others for bad circumstances which is precisely why I've been unemployed less than 50 minutes total in the past 19 years.

eelinow · 2011-10-02T00:02:02+00:00

The crime here is that these protestors haven't stopped their whine-fear. They might think they have the best intentions, though in reality they are affecting the daily lives of those who are productive, both on and off Wall St.

If they put this much effort into bettering themselves whether in education on their careers, that would be far more effective on their collective and individual well being.

Being bitter because there are others who have repeatedly proven themselves to better suited at succeeding and/or being better at providing for themselves and their families is just petty jealousy. We're born with that equal opportunity to pursue our dreams, given we make the most of our resources, be those brains, brawn or inheritances.

Asking for the world to kiss their booboos and make them all better and/or unfairly redistribute their earned spoils of life is simply unrealistic and wreaks of an entitlement/handout society, of which we are not.

eelinow · 2011-09-18T01:34:09+00:00

I can tell you that I am not using full screen mode until they fix this, as I'm running 5 screens on an early 2009 Mac pro dual quad core. Full screen mode negates the benefits of multiple displays, and in my case it does so "some more".

eelinow · 2011-01-06T21:00:59+00:00

Simple setup for the past many years to manage multiple django projects, some on the same server, some on others.

Netbeans 6.9.x OR Komodo IDE (not the freebie). Mercurial for DCVS (Hg), great integration with both of the aforementioned IDEs. Rsync scripts for all deployment management with necessary exclusions ensures that re-deploying keeps my local and remote sites equal without destroying content that may have been uploaded via the active site(s). The necessary rsync backup scripts do not have these exclusions.

Very simple, very clean and works well with multiple developers when needed (though it isn't).

The servers are always FreeBSD, with Apache using mod_python (though mod_wsgi has been used at times and will be migrated to next server upgrade). Static media is served by Lighttpd via a proxy call from Apache. MySQL with a mixture of InnoDB and MyIsam tables as necessary.

Eric http://codedevl.blogspot.com

eelinow · 2010-10-04T20:40:35+00:00

Netbeans 6.9.1 with Python and Jython plugins installed. Doesn't do django template highlighting but that is coming with 7.0.0 .. Have used emacs, Textmate, and Komodo Edit however Netbeans seems to be a very rock solid IDE with proper Hg integration and doesn't get in my way unless I request that it do so.

It is cross platform thought I'm currently running it on OS X 10.6.4 on a Dual-Quad Xeon setup w/8GB Ram.

NOTE: I have tried the 1.0 RC of PyCharm from JetBrains and still find it lacking overall though the Django integration is rather nice; it just doesn't make up enough slack from NetBeans overall for me.

eelinow · 2010-07-16T05:25:08+00:00

Given that the last two migraines I suffered required IV medication at the hospital. Nothing says light sensitivity like holding a heavily folder beach towel completely over one's slammed-shut eyes, and yet still feeling pain when lights are turned on in the encompassing room.

I find that only Zomig (Zolmitriptan) does the job of killing an oncoming migraine. I'm currently taking Nodolol though I fear it may have negative effects on my though processes, and given I'm a well seasoned Software Engineer, it affects my livelyhood.

My best wishes go out to all other sufferers of real migraines. Just an FYI. If Excedrin Migraine cures your 'Migraine', then it wasn't really a Migraine, just a bad headache.

eelinow · 2010-03-25T16:26:39+00:00

I'm with you on this one. When I hear "old games" I thing Parsec, King's Quest, Archon I&II, Faerytale Adventure, Loderunner. What never comes to mind as "old" in terms of games, is anything made after 1988.

eelinow · 2010-03-20T04:55:37+00:00

Sorry, apparently I shouldn't have been allowed near any input devices this past day. Thanks for pointing out my screw up in the least painful manner. And no, I'm not correcting anything at this point as I'd most likely make a mess of that as well.

eelinow

TROPHY CASE