Steve Jobs has passed away.

[brentsg]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/last-a ... ing,26268/

[BryanM]

He fiddled away nine months on special sammiches? That's like longer than the median survival time post diagnosis for this shit... money really is an aura that can fight back everything, ne?

Must have been shitty not being able to digest food. Wasn't great for my grandfather's health neither. RIP, ridiculously rich guy...

[GaijinPunch]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/last-a ... ing,26268/

I love the Onion.

[Shatterhand]

We should honor him by playing oldschool Apple ][ shooters.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/apple2/threshold
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBSLkZQ8i4c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksYGCX-xJE4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhig18_ZKDM

word.

I never had an Apple II. I never even tried emulators of it until very recently. I always get shocked how for such an old piece of hardware (First personal computer ever to be popular?), its games are pretty advanced in the graphics department. They look better than most Spectrum Games (Which was released like what? 5 years after?), and they don't look too shabby near most C64 games either.

[chempop]

If you guys haven't heard this speech of his, please take the time and do so. What a great man, he will be missed. RIP Steve, thanks for everything.

http://mashable.com/2011/10/06/steve-jo ... nt-speech/

[louisg]

We should honor him by playing oldschool Apple ][ shooters.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/apple2/threshold
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBSLkZQ8i4c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksYGCX-xJE4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhig18_ZKDM

word.

I never had an Apple II. I never even tried emulators of it until very recently. I always get shocked how for such an old piece of hardware (First personal computer ever to be popular?), its games are pretty advanced in the graphics department. They look better than most Spectrum Games (Which was released like what? 5 years after?), and they don't look too shabby near most C64 games either.

But to put it in perspective, the Apple II was very expensive even into the late 80s. The Spectrum is on the complete other end of the spectrum-- very cheap. I think the C64 does do a lot better, but it was a few years later. If you see Apple games in action, one thing you'll notice is that the framerates are extremely sluggish and tend to slow down whenever anything happens. There is, AFAIK, absolutely 0 hardware acceleration. It also cannot generate sound in the background the way the PC beeper (and I think the Spectrum?) can. The colors are also very cheap as it's DAC-less: it outputs a binary signal directly into the NTSC stream! Very clever, but also limited and noisy. Where it shined though were adventure and strategy games: it had a very fast disk drive (games would load in a couple seconds vs. minutes for the C64), and the keyboard was a nice quality.

But for the first kitless personal computer, it's pretty damn kick ass!

[Stormwatch]

Emulating the ][? Have fun!

[Shocky]

We should honor him by playing oldschool Apple ][ shooters.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/apple2/threshold
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBSLkZQ8i4c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksYGCX-xJE4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhig18_ZKDM

word.

I never had an Apple II. I never even tried emulators of it until very recently. I always get shocked how for such an old piece of hardware (First personal computer ever to be popular?), its games are pretty advanced in the graphics department. They look better than most Spectrum Games (Which was released like what? 5 years after?), and they don't look too shabby near most C64 games either.

But to put it in perspective, the Apple II was very expensive even into the late 80s. The Spectrum is on the complete other end of the spectrum-- very cheap. I think the C64 does do a lot better, but it was a few years later. If you see Apple games in action, one thing you'll notice is that the framerates are extremely sluggish and tend to slow down whenever anything happens. There is, AFAIK, absolutely 0 hardware acceleration. It also cannot generate sound in the background the way the PC beeper (and I think the Spectrum?) can. The colors are also very cheap as it's DAC-less: it outputs a binary signal directly into the NTSC stream! Very clever, but also limited and noisy. Where it shined though were adventure and strategy games: it had a very fast disk drive (games would load in a couple seconds vs. minutes for the C64), and the keyboard was a nice quality.

But for the first kitless personal computer, it's pretty damn kick ass!

The first video game I ever played, was a shmup, some space invaders clone, on a green-black display. Mind was blown. On Apple II (or rather a computer my uncle constructed himself which was Apple II -compatible (!). The circle is nowadays complete: I'm using an iMac and not in anyway missing the dark, configuration-laden days of personal computing (post-amiga). R.I.P. Steve Jobs.

I founded a small shrine at the office to honor his departing and achievements:

[t0yrobo]

I've never been a big Apple fan, even less so since I've been using a MacBook Pro for the last 3 years. it's the worst computer I've owned . However, for all the marketing bs that Jobs spewed when he did presentations, and all the design decisions that I disagree with about Apple products, it still stands that they're one of the only companies that's had the balls to release products that are different from the norm. They're usually not the first to use a technology, but they're almost always the first to go all out with it instead of pussyfooting around and even though there's a lot of things I don't like about how they do business, I'm glad that someone on the market is doing what they do.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

treatable != curable

I'd probably opt to have it removed, but having had a parent who survived an undetectable by mammogram form of cancer, I fully respect anyone's decision. It's their body. My mother did chemo once and told her doctor to go fuck himself after that. She's in remission and has been for 4 years. Her logic was it almost kills the host in the process of getting the cancer.

And let's face it -- even in the medical world there are no absolutes. If you've never been faced with making a life altering decision that's hard to swallow. Walk a mile, bitches. If you can't respect that, enjoy being a commie.

Also...

In the end, Jobs had the surgery,

You forgot that one.

Going through chemo ain't easy...especially when you try eating just a small bite/morsel and end up throwing up. Eating some Jello seemed to be the only thing that didn't make some folks vomit undergoing chemo indeed. Going through it a second time...it really robs you physically. Not to mention having to use the toilet every so often if hooked up to an I/V line 24/7...perhaps a few hours of rest and it's time to go to the loo again (with the I/V line in tow). (This isn't mentioned/shown in the big-budgeted Hollywood cancer patient movies though.)

The only two methods of chemo is delivered through I/V or taken in pill form (to the tune of $6,000 USD per pill). Surely, that'd be $$$ better spent towards something else but if it prolongs one's life, it's all worth it in the end.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Elixir]

So, let me get this straight. I can't really get my head around it so please let me know if this is incorrect.

He ignored regular treatment suggested by doctors, friends and family, in favour for alternative medicine?

...

Since this is a death thread, I won't say much else. I feel rather bad for the people who tried to steer him in the right direction.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Basically the worst kind. Generally by the time they find it, it's too late.

My dad had this 5 years ago but he was lucky as it caused yellow jaundice and they where able to remove it from the pancreas and stomach where it had started to spread.

[GaijinPunch]

So, let me get this straight. I can't really get my head around it so please let me know if this is incorrect.
He ignored regular treatment suggested by doctors, friends and family, in favour for alternative medicine?

Partially correct. He eventually had the surgery several months later, and lived 7 years. Apparently the "majority" that had this operation lived more than "10" so you can extrapolate those numbers as you will. Anyway, the company he ran marched to their own beat... so did he.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

If you ask any cancer patient or cancer survivor, he or she will tell you that it's easier going through radiation treatments than it is to undergo chemotherapy. I asked a former co-worker about this issue (whom took a year off as sick leave for treatment for throat cancer) and he said that was true.

Plus it's common knowledge/standard prodecure to have a 5-year follow up to see the cancer returns/spreads after intial radiation/chemo...entails undergoing CT scans + lab work every three to four months. Not to mention that a single CT scan exposes the person to the equivelent of radiation exposure from 300 standard X-Ray sessions in one shot. Plus the fact that kidney damage can/will occur if residual CT contrast dye isn't flushed out of one's system within a certain time frame. Too much radiation exposure (over time) and the cancer could return, indeed.

PC Engine Fan X ^_~