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from the no-really-I-am-actually-doing-work dept.
Paul Vebber, a gameplay instructor in the navy, says that in the past decade the government has started using strategy board games much more often. They do not help predict outcomes. For that, the Pentagon has forecasting software, which it feeds with data on thousands of variables such as weather and weaponry, supply lines, training and morale. The software is pretty accurate for "tight, sterile" battles, such as those involving tanks in deserts, says an intelligence official. Board games are useful in a different way. They foster the critical but creative thinking needed to win (or avoid) a complex battle or campaign, he says.
The article goes on to explain that board games are advantageous over computer-based games for what is essentially a simulation:
...you can constantly tweak the rules to take account of new insights, says Timothy Wilkie of the National Defence University in Washington, DC. With computer games, this is much harder. Board games can also illuminate the most complex conflicts.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @03:05PM
You should be using startpage.com anyway.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @09:53PM
When their database, algorithm, and syntax catch up to Google, they will be a real alternative for search.
...and the JavaScript-driven nature of their pages (beyond the first page) sucks.
...and needing a cookie to change your preferences to more than 10 results per page sucks (again, no accessible Address Bar syntax).
Oh, and when they have Cached pages like Google does.
I often use ixquick.com (same ownership, as I understand) for image searches now, after Google stopped providing direct links to the actual images.
Again, it is JavaScript-driven 8-(, but all you have to do to dodge that is whitelist ixquick.com/js/jquery*.
An extension that reveals the actual link you're clicking on and allows you to Ctrl-click those is also a nice thing.
-- gewg_