@Corr
I agree, bring back the species that nature has evolved to survive in. However human nature, especially for scientists is to do the impossible, so we're probably looking at Wooly mammoths been what they really want to do. There's enough perfectly preserved specimens for the DNA to be salvageable, I think. But then we'll see how quickly before they're found dead, killed for trophy's and tusks, or sold to rich people who want to own one for prestige. Let's not forget that noone knows anything about their real life behaviour. You may as well reengineer a Sabre Tooth and chuck it back into the wild and hope it doesn't need to eat too much or isn't so aggressive that it kills off the indigenous lion population for example.

Once the problems that we already have are solved, I don't think we should bother bringing back any species just for them to suffer under our reign. But we already know that's not going to happen. Pollution levels are worse now than they've ever been and are just going to rise, and we haven't been able to solve poaching and fishing problems for the 50 years we've been fighting them. Because all the rules on paper are so helpful in making a poacher think twice. You want to stop poaching? You need to kill them on site. After all, even our reserves aren't stopping poaching. . .

Not really an article but still interesting...

I got a mail for the TV Licence department to remind me to renew my TV licence. I found some of the text in that letter rather interesting

In terms of broadcasting legislation you must have a paid-up television licence if you use/possess a television set. (Any combination of devices – a VCR, DStv or M-Net decoder or DVD recorder linked to a monitor, plasma or LCD screen – is also defined as a TV set.) A licence costs only R250.00 per annum, which works out to less than 70 cents a day. Concessionary licence holders pay only R70.00 per annum (people over the age of 70 and recipients of a social grant – old-age or disability – from the Department of Social Development may apply for such licences).

This made me laugh a little at first, but then it made me angry. How does a DVD player connected to a monitor equal a TV Set??? Would that not make a computer with a DVD rom a TV set too???

They just seem to want to get money from people that are not using their product - which is crazy. Why should you pay for something if you don't even have access to it like if you don't have a TV tuner on your monitor?

That is sad. The only reason I still pay mine is because my mum does it for me

@ Corr, keep it on the down-lo, if govt figures that out then they will add all laptops and PC as "potential" tv devices.

Heaven help us if they figure out we can stream channels through these devices and ipads/tablets. nah, they wont believe its possible coz tablets dont have roms or ariels

this weekend was the first time in ages i watched TV and I cant complain with what i saw, it wasnt wow but not half bad either

World's longest chocolate structure, a chocolate train:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/26/chocolate-train-worlds-longest-structure_n_2191245.html

A rather long article on how the Gaming landscape is (hopefully) changing for the better:
http://kotaku.com/and-then-the-video-game-industry-woke-up-464888949

Very interesting. That Brenda Romero lady sounds cool Girl Power!

I hope we are seeing positive changes. So far games like Tomb raider and Bioshock Infinite show that developers may have finally figured out what "Mature" is supposed to mean in games. Bewbs are awesome, but please remember to add a story and good gaming mechanics!

Corrosive said ...

Not really an article but still interesting...

I got a mail for the TV Licence department to remind me to renew my TV licence. I found some of the text in that letter rather interesting

In terms of broadcasting legislation you must have a paid-up television licence if you use/possess a television set. (Any combination of devices – a VCR, DStv or M-Net decoder or DVD recorder linked to a monitor, plasma or LCD screen – is also defined as a TV set.) A licence costs only R250.00 per annum, which works out to less than 70 cents a day. Concessionary licence holders pay only R70.00 per annum (people over the age of 70 and recipients of a social grant – old-age or disability – from the Department of Social Development may apply for such licences).

This made me laugh a little at first, but then it made me angry. How does a DVD player connected to a monitor equal a TV Set??? Would that not make a computer with a DVD rom a TV set too???

They just seem to want to get money from people that are not using their product - which is crazy. Why should you pay for something if you don't even have access to it like if you don't have a TV tuner on your monitor?

Note the text says DVD Recorder not DVD Player, thus they are refering to a device much like a vcr that records television signals onto a disk. some DVD recorders cant even playback anything they didn't make.

Maelstrom said ...


Note the text says DVD Recorder not DVD Player, thus they are refering to a device much like a vcr that records television signals onto a disk. some DVD recorders cant even playback anything they didn't make.

Yes that is true, but how would you record on the DVD recorder if you only had a LCD monitor with no TV tuner? The definition should be any device that is able to access a TV signal – be that digital (DSTV) or analogue (SABC).

The whole thing boils down (again) to the powers that be not being able to evolve and instead of accepting that they need to change they force progress behind so they can get money…

...OK maybe it isn’t as sinister or dire as all that (it is just a tv licence after all), but this is a reoccurring theme in life for me at the moment. Big companies/governments/organisations trying to wildly hold on to what they have – damn all the people and lives they affect in the progress.

/rant

And to get really technical, no mention of etv or TopTV via the dish...

@Corrosive

DVD recorders have tuners built in i.e. the incoming antenna/dish coax goes into the DVD recorder then into the TV (just like a VCR from back in the day) so that it can record without the TV being on.

I guess the SABC idea is anything with a tuner must have a licence.

Lol colour me embarrassed. Guess I got all worked up for nothing Didn't know that about DVD recorders - guess that makes senses then.

hell i only know cus i was shopping for a dvd recorder/player 2 years ago. eventually setteled on a hhd recorder+dvd player thing. though it makes crazy big files

Just a few comments on reports made more and more often by large publishers.

It sees RE6 has managed to make 4.9 millions sales... but this wasn't good enoughto make it profitable for Capcom: (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-05-08-resident-evil-6-sells-4-9-million-disappoints)

It reminds of the report from last month by Square Enix in which they were disappointing in the new Tomb Raider selling only 3.4 million copies in the 3 weeks of March it was on sale. Add in the fact they were unhappy with the new Hitman selling 3.6 million and the new IP Sleeping Dogs only making 1.75 million. They were apparently targeting a conservative number of 6 million units for TR in the first month (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-04-09-square-enix-thought-tomb-raider-could-sell-nearly-double-its-3-4-million-first-month-sales).

Things like this really make me worried about series like Dead Space (regardless of what EA may have stated - http://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/08/dead-space-3-sales-below-ea-expectation-pace-slower-than-sequel/). Looking at VGChartz (for an estimate), sales of Dead Space 3 across Xbox360, PS3 and PC could potentially be less than 1.5 million. Not the 5 million once mentioned by EA (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-06-15-ea-aiming-for-5-million-sold-with-dead-space-3). Only a month of sales led to the rumours of the series cancellation and subsequent denial form EA.

I've seen articles arguing that only 'AAA' and Indie developers can exist these days and 'AA' is no longer profitable (mostly from large publishers who are themselves starting to report lower profitability themselves). But when you consider the profits that some Indie designers are generating vs. the swelling development cost in 'AAA', it seems more and more like there is indeed a need for a 'AA' market that actually produces games understanding their market rather than working on insane expectations.

I think the bigger companies need to look at their spending habits. If you can create an amazing game on a shoestring budget and a promise, I really feel they can cut back a bit. I'm guessing a lot of money gets "wasted" on licensing though...

Licensing, voice work, orchestral scores, outsourcing for cutscenes, the time taken to model 1.5 million poly models and create 2048x2048 textures, etc. The list goes on.

This is cool... Where to store stuff in your kitchen

http://lifehacker.com/food-storage-101-where-and-how-long-to-keep-your-favor-498597803?utm_source=recirculation&utm_medium=recirculation&utm_campaign=afternoon

“Game makers and publishers now live in a world where offering game content as a pre-order exclusive is a requirement by retail..."

Mmm... Explains much

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/05/10/if-metro-last-light-ranger-mode-is-the-way-it-was-meant-to-be-played-why-isnt-it-included-for-all-players-we-ask-koch/

Dear Mr John Cheese
You write awesome articles
http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-obnoxious-personality-flaws-that-internet-makes-worse/