Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: Decisions, Recognizance, Canadianisms
And no, he didn't just slip through the bars. Grexnix writes "ShapeShifter, the 2600 staffer arrested during the Republican convention protests, has finally been released, after a series of events that clearly illustrate the sort of things to expect when the wheels of judicial bureaucracy start grinding. Read the article here."
Sticking up for common sense in the Great White North. Ant writes "http://www.globeandma il.com/gam/National/20000812/USOLDN.html Victoria -- The U.S. manufacturers of Soldier of Fortune are launching a legal battle over an unprecedented British Columbia ruling classifying the graphic computer game as an adult motion picture. Activision Inc. announced yesterday it will appeal the decision by B.C.'s provincial director of film classification that restricts minors under 18 from renting and selling the CD-ROM game. The Canadian distributor of the game, Beamscope Canada, has also filed an appeal with B.C.'s Motion Picture Appeal Board."
Well, it's not a law of nature, fellas. Ian01 writes "Here is an article from MIT's Tech Review magazine about how Moore's Law is false." Well, "false" is a little strong a word for as loose an idea as Mr. Moore's -- errr, "conjecture" -- but isn't it nice to see things keep getting smaller faster and cheaper?
Lars Lars Lars Lars Lars Lars Lars Obiwan Kenobi writes: "As quoted from the Q Online article: 'Napster's number one critic Lars Ulrich - who can barely contain his pleasure at seeing the file sharing company in strife - has done a U-turn. The Metallica drummer's business, the no-brainer monikered The Music Company, will promote work from its artists online at www.theMusicCom.com. And users will be able to sample one of the artists, Goudie through MP3 downloads on the band's official site, which it linked through The Music Company site.'
Dudn't it just seem...you know...ironic?"
While Lars hawking online music may seem ironic at first blush, reading the words he spoke to slashdot a few moons ago, it's not that surprizing at all. Metallica, after all, has long allowed fans to bootleg their concerts, and as Lars said, "So of course there will be at some point -- we are not stupid, of course we realize the future of getting music from Metlalica to the people who are interested in Metallica's music is through the Internet. But the question is, on whose conditions, and obviously we want it to be on our conditions." Now at some level, doesn't that strike a chord?
"No known solutions"? In "10 nm Process?" IBM is said to be working on much smaller sizes, so we should not be quick to cry "End of Moore's Law!" (i.e. "wolf!") once again...
10 nm by 2010 (or even 2015) is still on track with "100 nm by 2005"...
--
-- Without the right to carry and use self-defence tools, we effectively have no right to life.
There are plenty of articles like this, from years ago. Every time again people say 'it won't be possible to make it much faster, because we are at the limits of nature'.
;-)
:-)
Then, one month after I buy a new computer, one that is about twice at fast comes out
OTOH, now even M$ can't come up with Windows/Office versions slow enough to justify a GHz computer for desktop use, there may just be no very large market need for faster processors at the moment.
Guess I am wrong, am i????
Every expression is true, for a given value of 'true'
OK, now I now all the libertarians are going to get upset over British Columbia calling a CD game a "motion picture" and labelling it, but ...
Look, in the US society supports individual rights over those of societal rights. So long as noone bugs us too much, you can do pretty much what you want, sue whomever you want, and that's just the way it is.
In Canada, however, societal rights are regarded as more important than individual rights. This extends even to sports - it's not as much about the individual as it is about the team. All of Canada's heroes (and I mean ALL of them) tend to be modest about their own personal acheivements, say how it was a team effort, and (amazing, this) believe it.
So, the concept that the law can decide to shut down the sale of games that may cause teen violence is totally legit in a Canadian context, whereas in the US it's an alien concept. This doesn't mean there aren't regional variations - B.C. is less Blue than Ontario, Quebec is more open to this (so long as you speak French), and hey Newfoundland is just glad you paid attention to them, since they are the most wired province.
So, forget about all the posts you'll read today by Yanks about individual liberties and censorship - it's Canada and you're just going to have to deal with the fact that they have different values than Americans and even a slightly different legal system. Did you know they appoint their judges and cops? Not elect them (Yanks elect sherrifs and judges), appoint them.
Here endeth the lesson.
(yeah, so I lived half my life in Canada and half in the States, so?)
Will in Seattle
Nader's really quite interesting because he's the only candidate to strongly oppose corporate funding of government, the only candidate to support universal health care, and the only candidate who really supports worker's rights.
If you're not familiar with his platform, you should at least give it a chance; it's much more reasonable than other third party alternatives.
Also, it's worth thinking about signing the petition to get Nader into the debates. Right now the Democrats and Republicans have created a system that prevents third parties from being heard in the national debates. They don't want a repeat of what happened when Perot was in the debates in '92. But third party candidates are critical in that they bring up issues that the other candidates don't want to consider. This is important regardless of whether you support Nader as a candidate.
Sorry to rant about politics, but I think Nader provides an alternative to the republicrats with which so many of the /. readers seem to be dissatisfied.
Actually it is 4.5 in Canada. Plus you don't drink it for the alcohol. You drink it for the hair it puts on your chest ARGH ARGH (plus the flavour which can grow on you. It only took me three to start liking it)
These games do not promote handgun culture. I live in the UK (where there really aren't that many handguns), and we have these games. I *serverly* doubt that someone would play the game and then think 'Damn, I really want a gun now!' or anything remotely similar. They're just fun games, so why ban them?
--
--
Andy
I think they're protesting the two halves of the Corporatist party. But I don't know- I wasn't there, and as one of the previous posters pointed out, the media isn't letting us know what it's about.
There are always people who will jump on the bandwagon without knowing what's going on. Don't judge all of the protesters solely based on Emmett's actions.
Heck, how many Linux users out there don't "get" Free software? That doesn't lessen Free software in any way.
Just a question, as things here in NZ are a bit different; Is it possible those are standard venue signs? If not, what about the band's record company/management? The band may encourage bootlegging, but their management may not. Were the security monkeys^H^H^H^H^H^H^H guards actually searching for gear? Just looking for the full story...
Prisoner #655321
Um, duh, he didn't say it in congress. He said it while he was VP, on a talk show. I recently listened to a soundbite of Al Gore giving that outrageous claim.
No comment at this time
Fourth, Gore has no experience "running" this country.
I think we might be better off if we had fewer 'experienced' politicians. Our government used to be made up of 'citizen legislators' - people who served a term and then went back to their life as a doctor, teacher, farmer, lawyer or whatever. Now we have second-generation career politicians - people who have never had another career and lack firsthand experience of the real world.
I guess I'm just jaded and cynical...
--
That's why I have moved into Guinness. I find most light ales too weak. For me Kieth's tastes like water. But you don't give Americans Brador, (maybe if you like them), you give them Fin du Monde (which translates to "The End of The World") it has 10%+ alcohol.
I wonder how far off that point is, particularly when you throw the effect of the Net in. My father was in the office equipment industry (what was photocopiers, but is now more and more about what are essentially high-speed laser printers), and there are many, many business processes that haven't seen technology applied effectively yet. A small for-instance:
Can you see room for improvement here with a bit of intelligent technology application? Just as importantly, is a slowdown in Moore's law going to make any difference?
IMHO, even if Moore's Law ran out of steam tomorrow (which it won't), there's still plenty of potential productivity improvements out there from IT yet to be realised.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
Speaking of air pollution in Texas, it's getting ridiculous isn't it? A poison cloud hanging over Dallas........
UGH! Labatt 50 is like Bud. Truckers drink that crap! (No offense to truckers) Personally if I drink Canadian beer it is usually Rikkards Red. I hear that before Molson bought the Capilano brewery it was a lot better. I have also heard that about Kokanee before Labatts swallowed them up.
Read the article (or do three years of compsci)!
Moore's Law does not specifically have anything to do with processor speed, it actually refers to the observation (guess?) Moore made in the mid sixties that transistor density would double every twelve months (later revised to eighteen months.)
This space intentionally left blank.
Here are some of the real libertarian viewpoints:
Libertarians are just people who want to live and let live. Many people on slashdot are libertarians without realizing it. Libertarians don't want Carnivore. In fact, they don't even want an FBI to abuse peoples rights, and subject them to unlawful search and seizure.
If you vote for George W. Bush because you can't stand Al Gore, your vote will be interpreted as an endorsement for every big-government program George Bush wants to inflict upon you. If you vote for Al Gore because you're afraid of the religious right,
your vote will be interpreted as an endorsement for all the plans Al Gore has made for running your life.
Do America a favor during this election. Vote for a third party candidate. It doesn't have to be Browne. Anyone but Bush or Gore.
Browne and Buchanan are on the ballot in all 50 states! A third party candidate could win the election in 2004, if you vote third party NOW!
No comment at this time
Once again, malice is read into a situation where none is intended. There's an IRS regulation that says that any transfer of $10,000 or more requires a form. As the article says, it's a drug war thing. Yet another way to contain drug money being laundered.
Yet somehow, the judge intentionally set this number to hurt the defendent. Am I the only one who's confused? Isn't this whole "everyone against us" attitude self-fulfilling?
Most excellent points.
I might add that some of these legal restrictions may give parents a false sense of security. They may feel that they don't need to pay as close attention to what their kids are up to if they think the law is going to take care of it.
--
cute nicknames, talks about golf, and what they all did over the weekend.
...and whether or not they did drugs or slept with so and so...but the public sucks it up...reporters are concerned with one thing, paycheck and they get this by acheiving ratings. you think people who can afford cable and televisions want to hear about the healthcare or welfare problems of those that can't...no! why should they. they have their own problems and issues.
i fully agree with you though...i hate the media. everytime i watch a car chase i hear the reporters saying everything 5-10 times...why...thats all they know how to do.
we will never have another FDR, because someone like that will not be graceful enough for the TV. look at how Kennedy whooped Nixons ass because he banked on looking good on TV.
our world is forever based off of images and imagery...we can't expect someone to get elected for ideals or character anymore...we elect people cuz they are nice, or speak spanish.
*side note...i think this whole spanish thing is a crock. those two shitheads running for pres are gonna shit on all the mexicans once they get elected*
JediLuke
JediLuke
-Do or Do Not, There is no Try
Caution: Flamebait!
Do you remember the communication majors from college? You know, the guys that were only up at 4AM because they were smoking pot, while you were walking back from lab for the 3rd consecutive night. It's no wonder so few of them make it to being serious journalists that can be respected.
I do, however, give them a bit of credit for being able to hold their own while under the ratings gun. It's awfully unfortunate that the American public (with an attention span as short as the propegation delay through 9 inches of silicon) is holding onto the trigger.
"Blue Elf shot the food!"
Because you can't, you won't, and you don't stop...
Looks like Big Rock is distributed in some areas in the states:
Here is a map showing distributors in Canada and the states..
British Columbia recently prohibited the game Leisure Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, classifying the high qaulity graphic computer game as an adult motion picture.
Then you wake up and are glad to live in the Netherlands.
Some time ago VVN - a national traffic safety organisation tried to prohibit Carmageddon here, but the judge did not allow that to happen!
Every expression is true, for a given value of 'true'
Don't know if you want a guy in the White House who may have a painful, life-threatening ailment
Does Bush's retardation count as this?
i'm sure we all want gore or bush in...bunch of hypocraites...
JediLuke
JediLuke
-Do or Do Not, There is no Try
boring or not, at least Gore knows how to run a country
:)
when he's not inventing the internet
seriously...GWB is a pretty boy that is coasting off his dad's popularity...don't want more reganites fucking up the country...(they managed to do a number on california).
too bad McCain didn't get it...he would have been good...him or Nader, VOTE NADER...heh...he's totally anti-mpaa and anti-riaa
JediLuke
JediLuke
-Do or Do Not, There is no Try
At first glance, it looks like it might work like this, which would be a good thing. But in reality, it's probably different. Some family-oriented places don't offer restricted media, and if a game gets such a rating, it might not be for sale there. If it's a big shop like Best Buy, EB, etc., the impact on sales would be big. Big enough to make publishers force developers to dumb down their games for kids.
Right now, games are designed for a target audience, and released for everyone to buy. Kids and adults alike. If adult games are only available to adults, while kid games are available to adults and kids, the kid games will be more profitable. Instead of Quake 3: Arena, you'd only get a Nerf ArenaBlast, for example.
-- Eavy (: Linux Is Not UniX
This is kinda like clinton saying "the country did well under democratic leadership"
well its only because greenspan did so well while the reganites were fucking the nation up...clinton didn't do anything but get some koochie juice on a cigar.
JediLuke
JediLuke
-Do or Do Not, There is no Try
You don't need to have a say in anything in order to trade. All that you need are goods that someone else wants.
Mutual-defense treaties don't do America any good - we're the superpower!
No comment at this time
"I *never* said that I invented the damn thing!! All I said was I (and others from both sides of the aisle) helped author and sponsored most of the bills in Congress that allowed the internet to be publicly accessible."
This is what pisses off about the guy, he can't just call bullshit on the misrepresentations, lest he be viewed as contentious.
-------------------------------------------------
I bent my wookie
Well I knew it was a mistake to break my rule about the futility of political discussions on /. (well, anything more political than RDRAM vs. DDR), but I'll bite. Yes, Krugman is a "liberal", if by that you mean someone to the left of you and the GOP party line. As far as economists and Americans go, he's probably just a tad left of center; as far as academics go, he's solidly conservative. Yes, Krugman probably just uses his New York Times column to publicly bash his conservative-but-also-well-respected colleague down Mass. Av., Harvard economist and G.W. Bush advisor Martin Feldstein. Yes, I may just subconsciously enjoy Krugman's column because I think Marty Feldstein is an asshole.
...You do know that virtually the entire academic establishment is liberal, right?
Nonetheless, the fact remains that here is one of the most respected economists in the world saying quite pointedly that the economic policy Bush is promising would have killed the economic boom were he already president, and will probably kill it if he is elected president. It may not be positive credit given to Clinton for creating the new economy, but I think if you listen carefully to all the Democrats' speeches, most of them aren't claiming positive credit anyways. (If they are, well, of course they're wrong; on the other hand, it's a political convention for crying out loud, of course they're going to exaggerate.)
You may argue that this is only because we had a Republican Congress forcing Clinton into fiscal discipline. Ok, fine. Disregarding the fact that the Republican Congress was the one so sure that Clinton's budget would send the country straight to hell in a handbasket that they shut down the government for a month before giving up and signing it, this is a reasonable argument. I'm all for divided government too.
The problem here is that the Congress will definitely be Republican for the next 2 and almost certainly 4 years. That means that if Gore is elected, we'll get a sensible compromise budget which will probably be what's needed to continue our current prosperity, and that if Bush is elected he'll be free of any meaningful checks-and-balances to push through whatever old economic plan he sees fit. Just to refresh your memory, he is currently promising to push through a plan which some very well respected economists (Krugman) think will derail the economy.
Ever wonder why Women's studies majors are liberals? Not because they know what they're talking about!
Women's Studies majors tend to be liberal because it is generally only liberal-minded people who believe women's studies is a field worthy of their time and study. Economics majors tend to be conservative partially because conservative-minded people often believe economics is most worthy of their time and study, but more often because it's a decent way to get into Business School. I'm not sure what you're point is here.
You do know that virtually the entire academic establishment is liberal, right?
I would wager that I know a good deal more about the academic establishment than you. (Note email address.) While parts of it are indeed prone to being absurdly liberal (e.g. your aforementioned Women's Studies), Economics is not one of those parts. Despite the popular notion that all of academia is overrun by Marxists and Feminists, it turns out that most fields and departments are remarkably well insulated from each other. While there are plenty of wacko Marxist and Feminist professors around on leading university campuses, I assure you none of them are in the Economics department, and that, besides, they almost all know quite a lot about what they're talking about.
You bring up the fact that successful business owners tend to be more conservative than respected economists. This, of course, is exactly the point: a "liberal" philosophy turns out to be quite well-suited for an economist, whose job is to ensure the fiscal well being of an entire society. Meanwhile, a conservative philosophy is quite appropriate for a business-owner, whose your job is to ensure the continued fiscal well-being of himself.
Guess which philosophy is better suited for the government?
Rickards Red is great, but when I can get it, I get Tree beer (microbrewed in the Okanagan). It's even better.
Dear Will, the plums were poisoned. -- Cheese Club
> beer store? --> ontario isn't canada - it differs province to province...
My apologies. I have to admit I've never been outside Ontario.
And I wouldn't get mad at that, I heartily agree that our drinking age is absolutely ridiculous. I can't think of a single person who waited until they were 21 to try drinking. Hell, half of my friends (including me) got fake id's just so we could go out to bars when we were sophomores in college! They wonder why so many people 'binge-drink' on college campuses, but they don't let us go out and drink responsibly at a bar. It's way too expensive to drink 'till yer dead at a bar, and there's people there like bartenders and bouncers who will cut you off eventually! But hell, get 10 guys together, throw in $10 each and you got yourself a half-barrel! WOO!
I didn't intend to write this much, since I know that no one's going to read it cuz this story's so old.... oh well.
Search first, ask questions later.
Many venues have policies of their own about bootlegging (though usually if the artist wants, they can work something out). Last time I saw Metallica (after the black album) there was plenty of bootlegging going on, and even signs saying which sections tapers were allowed in.
Addlepated - punk & metal
There isn't going to be any major media coverage of the reasons behind the protests. One reason is probably because many of the people there don't really have a good grasp on why they are protesting, they're just there to have a good time. The bigger reason is because that type of coverage doesn't draw any viewers. We aren't talking about you and a couple of your friends who are well informed, we're talking about Joe Six Pack. Most viewers don't want to have to think about any issues while they watch TV, they just want to be entertained. This is why Jerry Springer is a millionaire while most political talk shows languish in obscurity.
The sad reality is that many people have no desire to become educated voters, it is too difficult for them. If you desire something other than mainstream coverage you will have to go find it. The major news outlets are giant corporations, you can bet your ass that no one brings up the quality of the news at a shareholder or board meeting.
Icebox
Yuck. Most American beer is horrible. What did you expect of beer from a gas station anyway?
Some good American beers are made by Samuel Adams, Brooklyn Brewery, Wild Goose, and hundreds of regional microbreweries.
--
Ogg Vorbis is the totally open, more efficient replacement for old Napster.
"..don't you eat that yellow snow."
Metallica, after all, has long allowed fans to bootleg their concerts
Um, I was just at their makeup show in Kentucky, last wednesday. There were very prominent signs, obviously put up for that event, which proclaimed that no recording equipment of any kind was allowed inside the arena. So I'm not sure what kind of bootlegging they think they are allowing, unless I'm supposed to remember how it went and sing it back after I get home.
--
Communication is only possible between equals
I don't know about you, but I'm mighty thankful to the Great White North for those Molsons they keep hidden up there. The imports aren't just the same and love it when friends bring down "the good stuff." :)
I too used to puzzle about the "productivity paradox." But I think you are off base in thinking that the data is as refined as you say. The "computer productivity paradox" more simply is the observation that--in the aggregate--increased investments in computers has not increased--in the aggregate--overall productivity.
But when I recently read "Roadside Empires" (How the Chains Franchised America, by Stan Luxemburg--look for it at www.bookfinder.com), I saw that this amazing franchising process can account for much of the paradox, alone.
Investment has gone in recent years in the U.S. to service industries such as franchise restaurants (now >61% of our food dollar). Productivity is low, the wages are low, and owners have little incentive to use computers to displace cheap labor. The productivity relation stills works in manufacturing industries, or agriculture, or the larger service industries such as banking and insurance, which automated earlier.
Reading this book made me angry. I don't think you can blame IT for the problems--they are much larger, and would involve rethinking much of our modern social structure.
Censorship of any kind is a job for parents, not community
I agree with you there, but this restriction of sales to minors allows the parents to control what their children buy much better. If the restriction is not set then any kid with the cash can buy SoF.
With the restriction in place the parent has to buy the game for their child, much harder for little Johnny to fool his parents into buying a game he says is about 'plastic army men' if it has a 'R' rating on the box.
--- Can i borrow your Clue-Stick(tm)? I need to go beat a few people with it...
I've heard all the jokes about Communications majors, and I've laughed at a lot of them. But being a Communications major myself, I'd just like to point out that not all of the majors out there are 4 AM pot smokers (at my school we call them Business majors :)).
:)
And while I haven't been walking to and from labs at 4 AM, I do spend quite a bit of time working at the university TV station (editing, audio, camerawork, etc.), and do the rounds on the radio station as a DJ for two shows.
I realize that this is all horribly irrelevant to the topic. But I felt it proper to clear the air about Communications majors. Yes, I have my aspirations to work in the news media, and no, I haven't been up at 4 AM smoking pot
There are Communications majors who smoke pot and slide by in college, and there are Communications majors who work their asses off and get the experience for the workplace. A college major is only as good as the work you put into it.
--
--
The real Raunchola isn't cool enough to have any imposters
My thoughts exactly! There's too much that's going wrong these days that people attempt to solve with laws.
Thanks for embracing the online revolution. It's nice to see a great band settling down to embrace the technology, instead of fighting it.
-Matthead
-Matthead
Exactly. And that's when I cash in big time! :-)
~Religion is O.K., as long as it gets you laid.
"all they showed were teenagers throwing bottles and getting the rubber bullets they deserved."
If you were surrounded by hundred of police in full riot gear who were arresting peaceful protesters left and right for just BEING there, wouldn't you fight back a little?
I fully appreciate the right to free speech in America, and protests are part of that. I'm sure there was a lot of "non-productive" (read: drunken, "hey lets break stuff", fun but ineffective protests) going on, but to watch the news that would be all you'd think of it.
:) Maybe people would actually start to become interested in issues that affect their every day lives and become educated voters instead of partisian zombies.
I was watching Headline News' coverage of the protests in LA this week...all they showed were teenagers throwing bottles and getting the rubber bullets they deserved. That's it though...no one protesting real issues. I KNOW real issues were being addressed, but the media chooses not to cover it because it's not that interesting to the general public...shooting people with tear gas apparently is...
I wish the media would use their power to cover things that are important instead of the movie-style violence at these conventions, just like the police should use their powers to arrest real trouble makers instead of people who just look like trouble
If Moore's Law really is coming to an end, then maybe the software engineers can start coming to greater social prominence. (gratuitous reference) Hey, maybe that'd help the open source cause! (/gratuitous reference)
"I'm glad you feel qualified to make that decision for every other parent in the country."
The original law was that kids couldn't come in and buy the game. So if you think it's acceptable for your children then you go in and buy the game. I think it makes a lot more sense this way.
>Nobody questions the concept that you have to be 17 to get into an R-rated movie -- everyone understands that's just the way things work.
Really? I have a bunch of European and South American friends who think its a fairly good indication of the repressive, fascist state of America. They love the drinking age, too.
Try "it isn't really a free speech issue; the publication is simply being kept out of the hands of scientists, academics, and members of the media."
The productivity gains are obvious: 140 people taking home a combined $5M a year in wages replaced with a computer system costing $1M. So why did these productivity gains do not show in the bottom line (and thus in the economist study)?
Simple, it turns out that once the accounting system was installed, the managers didn't just sit back and wait until the savings rolled in. To the contrary. They noticed the gains and told their IT people "wow! the savings are enormous. Is there any other such savings lying around?".
The IT people replied "indeed, we could computerize your point-of-sales registers, manage your inventory and payroll as well as upgrade your accounting package to have better tracking of overdue accounts and many other such things".
To which the managers replied "take this $4M dollars we just saved, and go get more programmers, software and hardware so you can carry on!". The savings from these were again reinvested into more programs and more hardware. Further creating more savings and more reinvestment. As you can imagine, this cannot go on forever. At one point or another the IT department will say "at long last, after thirty years of hard work, there is no obvious process left to computerize".
That day the company stops replacing computers and software every year and moves to a slower replacement, upgrade and development cycle. Suddenly there are all these savings that start hitting the bottom line and we go from a "productivity paradox" to the "surprising productivity gains of the new economy".
There is truly no reason to be surprised about either of the two phenomena, as long as you understand the concept of reinvesting 100% of your productivity gains.
I for one am pleased that at least one government is responsible enought to step in to put limits on this bizarrely violent form of brainwashing. I'm speaking now about the Point & Shoot video games with graphic results and no consequences.Are we so naive that we think this has no impact on kids. Probably it would be best that adults not mess with this sh.. either, but it's hard to put the Genie back in the bottle. And even a commie Canuk knows there is a limit to what the state can and should do to protect adults from their own self-abusive behaviour. At least one battlefield psychologist, Colonel David Grossman, sees these "games" as little more that killing simulators that are alarmingly similar to the type used to desensitize solidiers and law enforcement agents -- but without the discipline and supervision that keeps these state-trained killers in check. While I don't agree with all that Grossman says (in fact I think he's a bit shell-shocked himself), he makes good reading and there is audio available here as well.
I wouldn't mind if Clifford Olsen, among others, got the needle. Or a bullet in the head, for that matter.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, British Columbians are the borg. Joy McPhail? Nutbar. The minister responsible for BC Ferries? Come on, how hard can that be? Sheesh. Everyone I know who has gone out there for any length of time become assimilated. They are the borg. If you know what's good for you you'll stay away. You won't listen though. Think about it, BC is really close to Washington and thus Redmond. Ooooh scarrrry!
:wq
The best Beer in the world definitely comes from... BELGIUM (btw, I AM CANADIAN... hmmm two molson commercial ref's in one post). Stella Artois is one of the world's best lagers (Pilsner Urquell, Becks and Heineken also come to mind) and Duvel is in a league of its own... And don't even get me started on Lambics). Love my Bitter too... first glass I ever had was hard to drink, the second was heaven in a glass. Anyone who claims that commercial Canadian Beer is the best in the world has never tried anything but. *Hic* And Rickards Red is Molson Canadian with food colouring.
There always will be a market for faster chips... they are called 'gamers'. True, Windoze/Office might not bog down a GHz, but what about Q3A at 1600 x 1200? As long as there is more power, games will soak it up:)
-={(Astynax)}=-
-={(Astynax)}=-
"Darkness beyond Twilight"
Clinton and Gore have taken credit directly and indirectly for the success in a number of speaches. Many slashdot readers fall into this trap, mostly those with no exposure to economics.
Though I lean more into the Republican camp, I do not believe Bush's proposed budget and tax policies are the best by any means. I think they are largely unnecessary and a tad bit risky. However, contrary to what Al Gore and company claim, Bush is no radical. Neither his proposals, nor his advisors, are going to rock the boat. Especially after they've been run through Congress. When compared with Gore's romance of the various unions, I think he's actually safer in the long run. Gore, while moderate in his campaign, is far more of a committed left winger than Clinton ever was.
I wouldn't be so sure of yourself. I've been through business school, and i know the top schools and below quite well. Also having worked in industry, that is not all I know...I have some perspective here. But enough penis comparisons.
You are right, in that business school tends to be more conservative than some other areas, but to say they're isolated from it is foolish. Sure, you may not see quite so many radical leftists, but most are still solidly democratic. Harvard is certainly no different, in fact, it's "worse" than many.
As for your opinion that they know what they're talking about: Says who? Having been through the system and knowing hundreds of others who have too, I'm singularly unimpressed. I've come the conclusion that the ability to impress other academics is not necessarily indicative of anything other than the ability to impress other academics. I've been through one of the best business school programs in the country, and I don't pretend for a minute that I know even one half as much as some of the people I work with on a daily basis.
You confuse ends and means. There is nothing in the practical or the theoretical definition of conservative or liberal that defines one as being anymore geared towards the greater interests of society than the other. Thus it is totally ridiculous to claim liberalism is consequently necessarily better suited.
On definition alone, neither left nor right is better. It is the particular policies by which one should make that determination.
Hey, inventing the internet is clearly something...
Cheers,
Greg
He was being accused of being a ringleader, OK, but of what?
Did he organize violent protests? Did he incite a riot, or encourage people to throw things at the police? Is he being accused of arranging a peaceful protest?
What is he being charged with? More specific information would be nice...
However, no matter what he's been charged with, $500k bail for a misdemeanor is ludicrous. So is everything about the treatment I've heard of the people there.
Personally, I hope that a nice, big, fat lawsuit is taken out against the police for thier treatment of protesters, and against the judicial system for their part in the illegal imprisonment of the protesters.
Is it just me or is the guy too fried to just make up one syntactically correct sentence without inlaying a bunch of loosely related topics and forgetting what he was taking about in the first place ?
"We know it's been hard to understand - although Metallica would like to blame Napster to cover up our pre-"Load" sex change - I believe it's true that Linux is a fresh, new - hey did you see that hottie across the street - fishtank cleaner."
(Redistribution of this mockery of a Lars Ulrich quote among ameobas is strictly prohibited. Really. Try me. Grr.)
-Billco, Fnarg.com
i>I disagree. In US society, prostitution is illegal, recreational drug use is illegal, professed public atheism can make you a pariah (you can belong to any religion you want in the US, as long as it is Xtianity), the practice of homosexuality is illegal in many states (and verboten in the military), the use of alcohol is forbidden until the age of 21, the state dictates that you must wear a helmet to ride a motorcycle, there are no nipples allowed in US tabloids (oh, the pain and suffering caused by a perky tit!), and anti-intellectualism is rife (this haven of geekdom aside - and, of course, I know there are other exceptions).
Sigh. You don't understand, it's just as illegal in Canada, but they actually pay attention to their laws. When their Constitution changed, it was amazing how quickly most Canadians quickly conformed to the new laws, not just in practice but in thought.
You see, when you live where it gets a tad nippy, conformity and rule of law is kind of critical. And you like government because you have to depend on someone insisting on getting supplies through that pass when it gets snowed over.
And hence, it still makes sense to outlaw violent video games in Canada. I should point out, Albertans aren't really Canadian, they're Texan wannabees, so you should ignore them on the subject. They'd leave if the Yanks were silly enough to take them.
Will in Seattle
Now, where I live (New Jersey, USA), we, in fact, have a law requiring notification of released sex offenders to the neighborhoods where these persons live. It's known colloqually as "Megan's Law" and seems very popular.
Shortly after it was first passed, a "vigilante" attacked the house mentioned and beat up the first person he saw. Turns out the released sex offender wasn't even home at the time.
The problem with these laws is a) it constitutes "double jeapardy" (being punished twice for the same crime - jail time is supposed to be considered full punishment) and b) people are so irrational about this (and, yes, it's a terrible thing) that they wind up committing even more crimes.
Maybe it's different in Canada, but in the US, at least in theory, everyone is supposed to have rights, even the vile disgisting people.
-- I'm not evil, I'm
I think if it gets to the point where the kids are buying things their parents don't know about, or are lying to their parents, then there are bigger problems at hand than who's setting the standards.
We don't need more legal restrictions, we need more responsible parents.
Disclaimer: I'm Canadian
At first glance I was against this.. but then I got to thinking; People that aren't 18 or 19 in this country can't drink Alcohol, (legally). Minors can't rent or buy hardcore porn, or porn of any sort from what I can tell.. Not that it's hard to get by any means. So what's different about slapping a Restricted sticker on a video game? Adults can still buy it, hell, they can buy it for their kids if they want. The lack of standards is kinda worrysome - what constitutes excessive violence - but it's not like the game was banned. (Unless I'm mis-informed over here on the East Coast.)
Those of you who think Canada is socialist / commie should look at your drug and drug testing laws before calling the kettle black. Canada's laws make a great deal more sense IMHO. The post about Canadians valuing the rights of society above was bang on. We believe in Common Sense (tm) up here. There are cops that are assholes here like anywhere else, but for the most part, they're reasonable, as are the judges. Reasonable people that expect to be treated reasonably, I think is a good summary. Tim Horton's for all!
Here's to high taxes and 5 hour hospital waits! *sarcasm*
..don't panic
The bottle on my desk (from Y2K, natch) says 9%. I wish I could remember the name of the (non-lambic) peach stuff I had recently - not sweet at all, just, well, peachy. Most overrated: Chimay. $0.02
Graphic video games are no differant than graphic movies. If the cinematic in your game is pornographic or too violent, treat it as you treat pornographic or violent sequences in the real cinemas. To treat the two as differant is nothing short of hipocrisy, as rampant as that is on /.
I do however, suggest that niether ought to be censored. Why shouldnt I play a video game? Why shouldnt I watch a movie? I have the right to do BOTH! Treat them the same and censor niether.
First, The New York Times, if anything, is more anti-Bush than anti-Gore. If you read it on a regular basis, you'd know this. I dare you to count the number of negative Bush articles and compare them with Gore.
Secondly, Gore is boring and that is an election issue. It is not necessarily irrelevant for a reporter to point out that Gore's speech is utterly uninspiring. Do you deny that Gore being boring can affect the election? Or do you deny the fact that the election outcome is newsworthy? Face it, it is news.
Thirdly, there is _no_ evidence Bush did anything other than smoke a little bit of weed. Almost all of his friends and classmates attest to the fact that he was quite clean cut.
Fourth, Gore has no experience "running" this country. The vice-president's job is to fly around the country and shake hands. I don't call that experience nor his previous jobs necessary proof that he has any of the requisite experience to run an executive office effectively (or even safely).
Fifth, you complain about the media editorializing "news", yet you proclaim that propoganda URL as factual. HAH.
...oh well. You'll just have to wait till Bush gets elected. Have fun kiddo!
We Canadians simply don't feel the pressing need to promote handgun culture that some (note I said SOME) Americans do. And the ferry company has every right to decide which games to have on their boats. After all, this particular type of video game is pretty realistically violent, more so than clicking a mouse to fire the railgun.
Freedom: "I won't!"
The technology to continue Moore's law is already here. Clustering and SMP is the new revolutionary technologies. When we finally reach theoretical maximums that we can't get around, well just double the humber of proccessors a machine can hold every 18 months. Also, if intel if making the same chips for more than two years, it will find ways to make them cheaper. Stagination in one regard will only lead to proliferation in others. Also, redesigning chip architectures will make faster chips.
Sure eventually we will reach the ceiling, but hopefully by then the Seti Project will have discovered life.
--- Justin Dearing http://www.justaprogrammer.net/ We're just programmers.
Alcohol has a flavour, and contrary to popular belief, the purpose of drinking should not always be to get pissed.
Well, actually, pure alcohol is pretty much tasteless...
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
VOTE NADER...heh...he's totally anti-mpaa and anti-riaa
Yes! Please vote for Nader...
...its as good as two votes for Bush!
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
Um, actually, he said "... when I was in congress, I took the initiative in creating the internet."
He can't "call bullshit," because he was the first to bullshit. His lies are well documented.
It's fortunate that he is going to lose this election. I just wish that he would lose to a third party candidate, like Harry Browne.
No comment at this time
Since when is a candidates personality irrelevant? First, it affects the election outcomes greatly. That, in and of itself, makes it newsworthy. Second, a president's personality (or lack thereof) can have an effect on his ability to get the job done--much of the president's power comes not from his direct authority, but rather from his ability to get the ball rolling. An impersonal president who can do nothing but spit out luke-warm words of fear and promise, isn't going to be a particularly effective candidate for any interested party. Bush, whether or not you like his particular policies, has clearly demonstrated the ability to persuade others in the state of Texas.
That being said, i'm not a huge fan of the media either.
Thanks for playing, but she's referring to games
involving a gun controller which you hold and
with which you shoot at targets on the screen.
Presumably games with rocket launcher controllers
would also be banned.
I would, however, *love* to see a good implementation of the 'Knife-in-the-teeth' controller.
No, they appoint their judges in Canada. They don't EVER have elections. Forget about how most judges are appointed in some US states and then have to run for election.
They don't have any elections, period. And, it's a good thing.
You have to understand - Canada is NOT the same as the US. It's totally different.
Will in Seattle
Now, where I live (New Jersey, USA), we, in fact, have a law requiring notification of released sex offenders to the neighborhoods where these persons live. It's known colloqually as "Megan's Law" and seems very popular.
Shortly after it was first passed, a "vigilante" attacked the house mentioned and beat up the first person he saw. Turns out the released sex offender wasn't even home at the time.
Amusing, in that Megan's law was first passed in Washington State (and is named after a girl in Spokane). And we torched the house of the first registered sex offender when he wasn't home, too.
But, it is different in Canada. They really do respect most of their laws, on the whole. Except for the really stupid ones.
Will in Seattle
I'd vote for a potted fern if it was on the ballot... I just hope neither of these two newbies fucks up the country... just maintain the status quo, I'm happy right now and I don't want anything to change.
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
And it takes $40 million to make that movie. And there are more games made than Hollywood movies. And the best games sell way more than 100,000 copies, even on computers. Oh yeah -- let's not even get into Nintendo and Playstation games, since PC games are small potatoes by comparison.
So there, I can invent my own incomplete (and basically arbitrary) premises to prove my own conclusion too. Or I could just point you here or here, or, if that's not enough, here. Hogwash indeed.
Cheers,
Greg
I'm a card carrying member of a political party other than NDP, but I have to say that your suggestion that the Unions run our present government is just plain stupid. Certainly the unions represent a large bloc of voters and are listened to. So does/ is the Fraser institute,,, and the press. You'll be suggesting that Connie Black, the Atilla of Fleet, doesn't have any influence next. Gimme a break.
I agree that BC politics suck. I was involved in model parliament in HS last year, and seeing as the government's bill was to nationalize all universities and schools (they were NDP) we did some studies of countries in Europe (where it has basically worked) and BC (where it hasn't, IIRC). I can only conclude that you're right. BC politics suck. Blame the NDP Party. ;-)
(Yes, I know NDP = New Democratic Party. But so many people refer to them as the NDP Party.)
And, so this isn't completely off-topic, my view is that parents should take responsibility for their kids. You don't want Jonny playing a game like SoF, you make it clear to him that he's not to buy it and you also make clear to him exactly what will happen if he doesn't exercise good judgement.
Worked for me, at least.
-RickHunter
I can understand the notion that community standards or parental quasi-control is a good thing. If for nothing else then mom & dad won't barge into my room and start screaming that I'm polluting myself. I have to question though what we expect of people who turn 18 or 21? Here we have this society that will stop at seemingly nothing to block pictures, sounds, ideas (and sometimes products, like condoms) of more or less any arbitrary 'value' from minors, or in the case of alcohol, adults but not quite. We can't talk about it, debate it, acknowledge that it exists at all. And then the magical day arrives when said child reaches the age of majority and all barriers crumble. Are we rearing a generation of people uniquely unqualfied to function as adults in the world without Mommie's strong hand? What exactly are we protecting these fragile souls from? Turning into us? And before anyone gets all angry about how violent games are rilly rilly bad - I'm not just talking about that one thing.
Protesting is fun, in a way, I guess. You can tell yourself you're making a difference, think that you might be in danger (although you're pretty safe), get riled up with a bunch of other bored folks... hell, when they had those protests in Seattle, a number of the protesters were college kids who joined in when the protestin' got good...
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
I'm not interested in getting in a discussion of the bona-fide definition of bona-fide fascism
Then don't use the word "fascism" if you don't mean it. You may not be interested in the proper definition of fascism, but rational discourse demands it. If you can assign any definition to any word, you might as well have accused the US of fredism as fascism, because the meaning could have been the same. If you need help with the definition, go find a dictionary.
I merely meant to point out that there were a good number of people who would question the r-rating exclusion on grounds of freedom.
Fair enough. But relevance does this have to your friends calling the US fascist? They would be pissed if I called Europe communist or South America a quilt of petty dictators. Why should I not get angry when they cast similar aspersions on my country.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
Did you hear he had skin cancer? http://news.excite.com/news /r/000816/18/politics-mccain
Don't know if you want a guy in the White House who may have a painful, life-threatening ailment. Of course I think a potted fern would make a better prez than either Gore or Bush....
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
There's a lot of "it's the parents' fault, pay more attention to what your kids are doing" stuff being said on /., and,er, is anyone saying this a parent?
Uh, have you ever tried to get a 16-year old to talk to you at all, let alone allow you to confiscate their Eminem CD/copy of SoF? If kids want to play violent games, they're going to find a way to do so, and it's darn hard for a parent to stop them..
So, I don't think restricting sales to 18+ will help, but neither will blaming the parents.
free speach
Did you mean: free speech
Assuming of course that you *can* run SoF as a dedicated Internet game server, what would be the law surrounding having one in BC?
I for one am greatly interested, as I am in the process of starting up a gaming site w. several game servers.........
Would we need to use Adult Check?
Just a thought.....
Feed The Need[goatse.cx]
GWB has done wonderful things for Texas.
We can feel safe and secure at night, knowing that so many convicted murderers are getting what's coming to them on death row.
We know we will have our jobs tomorrow and the next day and the day after that, because Gov. Bush isn't caving in to all the FUD the liberals are spewing about air pollution and such.
And most of all, we know that when, not if, when he is elected President, he will once again make this a Christian nation, starting with getting the baby-killing Satanic warlocks out of our armed forces. God bless Gov. Bush!
...can't finish this right now. My dick's on fire.
Many Americans see Canada as being really socialist (or even, shudder, "Communist") but in reality our political status quo is pretty middle-of-the-road by world standards. Yeah, we have ultra-right parties, and communists, but in general we tend to elect a happy medium (lately, the Liberal Party). The others, in opposition, can exert influence in the House of Commons, just like what happens in the US Congress & Senate.
Yes, we do appoint judges and police chiefs (well, the gov't does). It's probably a good thing too. No Canadian ever became police chief by promising to run all the (insert visible minority here) out of town. No Canadian ever became a judge by promising to be "Maximum Bob".
Freedom: "I won't!"
Did I say any of those countries was absolutely perfect?
I'm not interested in getting in a discussion of the bona-fide definition of bona-fide fascism; I merely meant to point out that there were a good number of people who would question the r-rating exclusion on grounds of freedom. There are a good number of people, like myself, who frequently exchange the wonders of the American economy for the freedom to do what you want in Eastern Europe, despite some other persistent failures there.
In terms of fascism, though: what about good parts of east asia or Jerry Brown's California?
Besides, if nobody complains about movie ratings, then why should we complain about game ratings? Of course I have seen some games that may have been unfairly rated as well, but that may just be because the people who rate them are people who don't take them seriously...
If a government agency, of any type, oversteps it's charter, and exceeds it's authority, then it must be challenged. If that challenge never comes, then the people have lost a little more control over their own lives and handed it over to political appointees that must continually justify their own existence. Appointees that don't answer at the ballot box...
For those that would die defending it, Freedom
has a sweet taste that the protected will never know.
I agree with you on the point that if I had kids, I wouldn't want them playing, but for me that doesn't warrant imposing legal restrictions on the game. I think to do so sends parents the message that someone else will determine what their kids should and shouldn't be exposed to, which I think is more the parent's responsibility. Rather than waste the time of imposing restrictions which will be enforced shakily at best, they should play up the video game rating system and get more information out there so _parents_ can make more informed decisions about what their kids see.
I really liked the point about games being a maturing medium. I agree that to help it mature further, those kinds of distinctions are important to make, but I'd rather see it done in an informative rather than restrictive way.
Libertarians don't say that their involvement stops at the border, they say that it stops with THEMSELVES. They aren't going to send anyone else's children to die in some hellhole. They want to be left alone, and to leave others alone.
If you want to go to the war in the Balkans, buy a rifle, hop on a plane, and start a fucking war. You have no right to force anyone else to support our cause.
Libertarians do want a government that doesn't piss away money fighting other people's battles. All that intervention does is makes one gropu of people marginally happier, and the other group really pissed.
It probably won't be long before the pissed groups (Arabs, etc.) decide to plant a nuke in an American city.
No comment at this time
Yeah, it is nice. What great band are you referring to, though? Metallica music sounds like four chimpanzees leaping up and down in a junkyard.
This is post No. 250 or so in this thread, so there's little hope it will ever be read. But as Lando Calrissian said: Here goes nothing..
Lars (Metallica's drummer) did not do an U-Turn on the matter of downloadable music. His role in the whole affair has been distorted to such a disgusting degree that it pains me to even see his name mentioned in the same sentence as 'Napster'.
As Slashdot reported a month ago, in a Slashdot interview with the man HIMSELF, and not some public relations idiot, he states that it's all about control. Did you hear that?
CONTROL
He doesn't care about the record companies. He hates them as much as everybody else, yeah, even the much-quoted Courtney Love.
As Morpheus famously stated, The Matrix is about control. Record companies, the RIAA, and the MPAA as well, if you want to open that can of worms, are about control. They want to regulate YOUR access to music that they didn't even create. They want to regulate the ARTIST'S means of getting their music to you. They want to CONTROL both the artists and the consumer.
I once worked in a record store - and you know those overpriced CDs you complain about? We sold them for about $13-$14. How much did we pay to the distributors, which in turn were often owned by the same record companies that produced those records? About $12-$13. We were lucky to make little over a dollar per CD sold. That was the price, we couldn't do anything about it - even buying in bulk didn't lower our prices significantly. And from that measly dollar profit, multiplied by however many CDs we sold, of course, the store owner had to pay the people working there (let's say $7/hour, plus the tax on that he/I have to pay, of course), the rent for the store, cost for maintaining the store, utilities, etc. Even CDNOW doesn't sell normal 'newer' CDs much cheaper than your usual store; whereas books can be discounted heavily, CDs are a different matter altogether.
Why? Because the record companies have control over the industry. Mainstream music is tied up by four or five major labels; if you don't get signed to one of them, you have no mainstream chance, your CD will never be distributed to millions of storeshelves all over the country, and the nation's eyeballs will instead be attached to Britney Spear's bellybutton on her next trashy CD, because that's who the record labels are pushing right now.
And now to Lars: Read his interview. What he doesn't want is for others to have control over Metallica's music. Yeah, it's free - but free as in beer does not mean free as in speech! Any student of RMS and ESR should understand it - there's a major difference in attitudes. Freedom to listen/use/whatever software or music doesn't make it free. Music on Napster isn't free - to be honest, it's controlled by Napster's databases. If Napster's VC-controlled bosses decide to introduce a monthly flat fee for using Napster, say, $5... would you do it? Hell, most people would. For five bucks, you can download as much as you want. [of course, with all the other current alternatives popping up, this becomes less and less attractive]. But the fatc of the matter is that Napster's estimated 20 million users would probably go for it - which would, even after fraud, etc, is counted in, account for a multi-million dollar business per month. Why? Because Napster has control over the distribution of that music. That's what Lars doesn't want, that's what they didn't do too much about it when it was just websites and ftp sites, and that's why Napster is a thorn in the eyes of some musicians as well as some record companies: Yeah, sure, the record companies hate the notion of being made obsolete by any little record store with a fast internet connection and a CD burner. Wouldn't you like to come to a store and pick up those CDs for $2 instead of $12? We could burn them for you, at a cost of less than $0.40, and still make more profit than we do now.. and lots of people would go for it, simply for convenience's sake. Many end consumers would simply just download the hit single they heard on the radio, in CD quality, or just get a compilation CD of current hit singles, anyway.
Frightening thoughts for the record companies. Unpleasant thoughts for Lars Ulrich.. because other people are still controlling the distribution channels. And Metallica, like anybody else, were dirt poor for a LONG time. Even now, they don't have as much money as lots of people think: Remember Courtney's rant? The record companies are pocketing 90%++ of the money made of a CD. You're lucky to get less than $1 per CD sold, and then about 40% of that goes to taxes. Etc.
Lars and Metallica distribute some music on their own website. Good for them. They control the music. I think that's the best thing I've heard so far. And once Metallica have finished their record agreements (and you can be CERTAIN that right now Metallica HAVE to produce a certain number of records for their current label or they will get sued like Prince, George Michael, and the Smashing Pumpkins got sued by THEIR record labels), they can start distribuing their own music any way they want.
More power to them, I say. The sooner we get the power to control music away from the record labels, and to the artists themselves, the sooner the entire cultural landscape will change.
Alex T-B
St Andrews
Well, to start off, I didn't use it, they did; I merely referenced them in making a different point about people's opinions.
But since you seem interested in those forms of semantic sparing with which students of philosophy, rhetoric, and the related literary disciples -- of which I once was one -- amuse themselves in times of need:
You may not be interested in the proper definition of fascism
"Terms with histories have no definitions." -Nietzsche (who was stealing from the Swedish Baron von Stromberg, who was reversing von Ranke)
Nietsche's basic point, which has come to be more widely embraced in an age of Quantum Physics, is that the meaning is a very messy thing, and terms change their definitions over time and place, as we learn new things. And sometimes they just don't make 'rational' sense, at least in a strictly definitional sort of way. To wit:
You may not be interested... but rational discourse demands it.
Then reason, I say, must be fascist!
The above is a metaphor -- a term Aristotle once defined as strictly a verb, metaphorien, 'to make things alike.'
What he was suggesting in that definition is that defining things produces the world. You say Reason doth demand that I be interested in 'proper' definitions, I say nay, nought, if Reason doth so dictate, She be a harsh, fascist mistress!
And so our dear readers, if there be any, may decide: either Reason be fascist, or this Fascist demand may not be attributed to reason (but rather to the inaccuracies of your Narrative).
But continuing the exposition:
If you can assign any definition to any word As Kant and Fueurbach pointed out, one may quite certainly do so. Indeed, this is a concept that may be quite familiar to many programmers. A statment such as 'fascism is ..." or "Italy is fascist" reduces to simple variable assignment:
variable X := a := b
...
do (something);
variable X
do (something);
The technical term for such a statement is a "logical coupula," because the first statement is coupled to the second, by means of the "equals" operator.
Of course, the value of the something that you do is highly dependent on the value of a,b,... that you input into the model, especially if you are attempting to model some feature of the real world. But, as our dear Messers. Kart and Fueurbach pointed out, even the purely random iteration of terms can be very useful: In fact, this reminds me of a rather interesting story told to me by the Honorable Roger Gregory, about the GNU compiler. As he relates it, the guys were interested in optimizing their compiler performance, but hadn't come up with any rational and proper way to do so, logically speaking. So what they did instead was this:
* For any given function T, assume the argument 3.
* For ALL one, two, or three-byte instuctions F, test all F(3).
* Throw away all F(3) where the answer is wrong for T.
* For any F(x) such that the answer is correct for the number 3, test and verify for all F(x).
* For all F(x) which test & verify, collect timing data.
And whammo, you've just tested the entire possible instruction set, finding the optimal solutions to everything! Mr. Feuerbach would, indeed, have been quite happy.
However, Mr. Feuerbach did produce quite some anxiety and consternation in the Church of the time when, in The Essence of Christianity, he did declare this very point in opposition to the so-called 'proper truths' of Christianity. Indeed, he went so far to say that we find G-d in iterating through all the (quite improper!) possible definitions of our terms, and that this had been what the (hitherto quite respected) Mr. Hegel had meant in his (rather unreadable) Logic of History and (rather more unreadable) other works.
Moving back to generality, the point is this: language, computer or not, is a simulation. And simulations are not reality. They are tests, challenges, in the most cosmic sense of the term.
Should we return to the fascists?
If you need help with the definition, go find a dictionary.
My OED doth dictate:
Fascism: The principles and organisation of the Fascists.
Fascist: One of a body of Italian nationalists, which was organized in March 1919 to oppose Bolshevism in Italy, and, as the partito nationale fascista, under the leadership of Signor Mussolini assumed control of the Italian government in October 1922; transf. applied to similar organizations in other countries.
Well. There is, indeed, some room here for walking down the slippery slope of saying that Fascism, properly speaking, only occured in countries such-and-such because of their direct relation to Mussolini; and I'm sure a good philologist would remind us that, as fascism first came into existence in 1919, it would be improper to call anything that existed before 1919 fascist.
And, indeed, this would get us out of the hard work of running simulations of reality in our little brains, deciding if and to what extent f(x)=f(y) when, say,
x=Jerry Brown
y=Sig. Benito Mussolini
(apologies to the good Jerry Garcia for stealing the equation from his work)
much less, the much more tedious work of deciding which sub-functions we may need to establish the validity of this claim. Unfortunately for our moral workload, the authority of the OED doth proclaim: and "applied to similar organizations in other countries." Which gets us into the little trenches of deciding what a similar organization is, exactly.
But returning to the origin of this discourse:
But relevance does this have to your friends calling the US fascist? They would be pissed if I called Europe communist or South America a quilt of petty dictators.
I think, rather, not. A number of them would be in the US because, say, they were running from their lives from those same South American despots, or starving under the conditions they caused; or because they found Europe's version of socialism a bit too communist for their tastes. And, like everyone from Feuerbach to our dear GNU programmers, they'd like to try something different.
Why should I not get angry when they cast similar aspersions on my country.
Because, after all, an aspersion, a turn of language, an expression -- see Larry Wall's introduction to the Magic of Perl -- is a magic trick, meant to change the world, should it be the right incantation.
And to oppose such Witchcraft with petty Anger and needless Wrath, be the error of the Mideval Church.
No, our currency says "in God we trust." Note that it doesn't specify which god. My proof: the Supreme Court has ruled that this statement does not violate the first ammendment because it is not specific to any one religion.
I find it incredibly annoying that everyone uses "God" as the name of their particular diety. This practice allows people to believe that any reference to God is a reference to their god, and not the god worshipped by the speaker.
--
...maybe they've got some old "pong" games collecting dust in someone's warehouse that they can put in in place of the ones they take out.
You're using her as bait, Master!
They did manage to piss away half a billion dollars on those useless half-fast catamarans that they are trying to sell now and no-one wants.
You're using her as bait, Master!
Makes sense. You wouldn't show an R-rated violent movie in that public space, so those games don't belong there either. What some people seem to miss, perhaps because they've lost the ability to distinguish 3D rendering from reality, is that video games are motion pictures. Thus they're subject to the same ratings scheme. If you don't like the scheme, protest that, but there is nothing intrinsic that distinguishes a violent game from a violent film. And I say this even though my own introduction to addictive quarter-sucking video games occurred on a BC Ferry about twenty years ago (Space Wars, arguably violent for the time ;).
I was glad when they took the last of the pinball games off the ferries, anyway - trying to play while the boat was on rough water was just no fun. And yet I always kept trying. Now I'm a little wiser, so I sit outside and watch the scenery.
-- Life is short. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly. ~ Robert Doisneau
I didn't know you blew goats. What a nice flame-boyant way to show it.
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
Check out www.indymedia.org for links to the independent media centers that are covering the conventions (with as much access that they can get, which generally means the streets, and the shadow convention..) www.phillyimc.org for RNC and la.indymedia.org for DNC and www.freespeech.org for live and archived TV coverage or get it on Dish Network Channel 9415 ask your local cable company, public access, or public television station, or get it on your BUD (big ugly dish - KU band) Lots of other links for a few live radio/audio broadcasts can be had there...
And even if you dont agree with the politics one way or another (or arn't even from the US/care about the US) then at very least you might find it interesting that the IMC sites are based upon a hacked up version of slash that supports multimedia submissions
Good note. This is a just one highlight of the circus that is happening at the BC Legislature in Victoria,BC Canada.
While I think it is good to discuss free speech, the banning of Soldier of Forture and other games is an act of desparation by a very unpopular provincal(state) government in BC. They sit around 13% in the polls and are looking for an election cause.
Where the US figured out years ago that low taxes and little goverment interference is the way to go, Canada latched on the tired dogma of socialism. Fortunately, Canada has smartened up in the last decade and is in the process of becoming more competitive. But with all movements, there is always an exception. BC happens to be it.
Please, all those religious and non-religious please pray so that BC can finally get an election.
I have a bunch of European and South American friends who think its a fairly good indication of the repressive, fascist state of America.
It must be nice living in one of those countries that are absolutely perfect. If you do a bit of research (you do know how, don't you?) you will find that they only bona-fide fascist states have been in Europe and South America.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
Ummm, actually, that's not what he said. Check the congressional record.
-------------------------------------------------
I bent my wookie
crap, sorry it's here, put too one too many http://
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
Inflammatory? Geez, man. I'm man enough to accept that some people will disagree with me. Guess you're not.
-------------------------------------------------
I bent my wookie
Uh yeah, it's written right there in republican doctrine that you must hate everyone that all non-6 figure/WASPs . That's how they get elected. Uh wait, that doesn't add up. Far more people vote than that (though the numbers are low).
...Did it ever occur to you that two people can have the same end in mind, but a totally different means. The democrats way might be a welfare state, but that doesn't mean they care any more. Hell, that doesn't even mean they care. Remember, they too are trying to get elected?
..anyways, fight flames with flames. good night.
It was amusing to see Bush giving a speech
in Spanish in a rally where Hispanics didn't
bother to show up. The ones holding the
Spanish signs didn't speak a word in Spanish.
The boob does know some Spanish but doesn't
really give a rats ass about the Hispanics
when he's not running for office.
The only problem with this argument is that a lot of parents nowadays really don't seem to care what their kids do. It's sad really, and that's probably why Senator Liberman (as stupid as his idea may be) wants to ban violent video games. Not enough people take them as seriously as they should, and not enough parents spend the amount of time with their children as they should. It's sad really, but that's how things are a lot of the time now. Of course, I still think banning violent games or any type of adult oriented entertainment, whether movies, tv shows, or anything of that nature, is dumb, but I do agree with setting a certain standard for ratings. It just might get parents to take some more responsibility with their kids...
Hogwash. Show stats. I'm not an economist in either industry, but here's my thinking.
100,000 copies of an "A" title computer software game, at $45. That's 4.5mil for the whole title.
10,000,000 tickets of an "A" title cinema release, at $7. That's 70mil for the whole title, and that's just in the theater. Now, 10,000 video tapes. 100,000 video tape rentals. Add any re-release and dollar-theater releases.
Figure 52 weeks with an average of three average games and two average movies each (amortized), and you still aren't close enough that you might think it comes out at all even. Even so, add one blockbuster movie (there's usually three per year), and games are left in the dust.
Oh, or maybe you were talking about gaming, as in gambling. The gaming industry has them both beat. More money flows through the back-water Laughlin Nevada in a month, than will ever be seen by a great movie release. The house only takes a cut, but it's never a losing proposition. Add to that all the government-sponsored state lotteries and off-track betting.
[
Wow. That only serves to increase my desire to live in the Los Angeles area. Hey, do they have "La Fin Du Monde" there?
No snow = positive. (But it's not a long flight to Colorado when I feel the need to ski.)
Few places to play hockey = no big deal to me.
Anyone interested in hiring a Canuck?
As for American beer, there are some good ones. Those that come to mind are: Pete's Wicked Ale, Sam Adams and Jerimiah Red which is available at a Pizza chain whose name escapes me.Call me crazy (and you probably will), but I really like Gennessee.
Then again, I also love Moxie, though I'm sure that's really hard to get in L.A.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Ogg Vorbis is a codec/file format for audio data. Napster is a distribution network built on a combined client/server program. The only thing they have in common is that they're to do with digital audio.
Constitutional prohibition of double jeopardy is meant to prevent multi-layer prosectutions where, when one jurisdiction loses, the state and then federal prosecutors take over. The knock on Megan's law is, AFAIK, a due-process argument, at least in cases of sex offenders convicted before the law was enacted. The question being, it it punishment, or just a regulation, like a concealed-carry permit? N.B. voter registration is public information, posted at polling places in some towns, and I would guess sex offenders were more common, and more in keeping with community standards, than Republicans when I lived in Cambridge.
I wrote parts of this stuff
No. Fighting back is not protesting. Your battle isn't with the police, regardless of how good or how lax they are at their job. You're there to shout about the issues and get the issues on camera. If, somehow, everyone protesting was peaceful, then MAYBE the cameras would focus on the signs and the reasons for the protest rather than the morons trying to get a billy club to the neck. I don't care if you're there to legitimately protest or not, you don't fight back against the police. If they arrest you for just being there, so much the better - now you're a legitimate martyr. Gandhi didn't free India by kicking someone's ass.
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
What about games where you can hold a knife in your teeth? Would they be OK? Is a rocket launcher on a character's shoulder acceptable?
Slashdot - the place where you can look like a genius by restating the obvious
2. While laughably short of anything like an actual conservative fiscal approach, the Republican Congress did not let every pork project get fully funded.
3. Large-scale attempts to explode the budget by enacting new entitlements failed. In part because Republicans sometimes remembered what party they belong to, and in greater part because Hillary handled the medicare expansion proposals so badly.
In other words, the Republicans sucked just enough less than the Democrats, and got a lot of help from a brilliant Fed chairman.
I wrote parts of this stuff
Atticka ----made in Canada
No sig here...
Oh yeah, the libertarians. They make sense. I think we should privatize the police force, too. Reactionaries. Ayn Rand would be pleased.
-------------------------------------------------
I bent my wookie
From my understanding of this topic, all that the BC regulators did was look at the realistic violence portrayed in the game SoF and say
"I dont think kids should be able to purchase this independant of an adult giving them permission."
So what they did was look at how they could legally prevent underage citizens (read: kids) from the purchase and found a Motion Picture rating of 'R' would do the trick.
This is a good thing. Games like SoF should be regulated and kept away from the paws of the "underage". We do the same with graphic movies, and porn, alchohol, driving, smoking, and voting (the most dangerous of all). The restriction now allows parents to have some control over the content that their child is exposed to. If the parents think their child is mature enough and stable enough (read: doesnt fry hamsters in the microwave anymnore) then they can decide to buy it for them.
This is my first post after reading slashdot daily for 6 months. My name is Ryan, and I AM CANADIAN - (ps. to the guy who likes Molsons, your damn skippy we keep the good stuff)
Harder.. Better.. Faster.. Stronger
I haven't drank much Canadian beer since the early
70s but I recalled the best Canadian beer being
the Labatt 50. For those who liked to fart there
was Dow.
Today I'm told that "La Maudite" is the very best.
For those who want to try it you'll have to go to
a Québec Dépanneur. It's very potent stuff, more
alcool than most Canuck beers.
As for our good old American beers. It may not
have much alcool but it's more tasty than molson.
Miller does give an interesting flavor to some
good old chicken Gumbo. Those who disagree
obviously don't know much about beer.
What congressional record, he said it on Good Morning America!
Are you god?
spoo
Yeah I got carded in New York. I was 19 legal in Canada and drinking in the mess since I was 17 (not legally but tolerated). I showed the Waitress my mililtary ID and she brought me a beer. :)
Thank you.
"..don't you eat that yellow snow."
So, Buddha and Confucious didn't show up until at least 1960?
Or would Buddhism, Islam, et al be considered just plain immoral...
Sorry, just had to play devil's advocate...
>;)
-Vel
I live in BC, and I've played Soldier of Fortune, so this is particularly relevant to me.
I've seen lots of movies that were a lot more graphic than SoF and got a lesser rating from the BC Film Classification Board. I'm sure this is due to political pressure from various groups, not any real logical or consistent decision by the film board.
One question, though. Why was SoF ever even submitted to or looked at by the Film Classification Board? Smells like political foul play. Guess that's what one should expect in a province where unions run the government.
But the tricky thing is that I want control of *my* own life as well. I don't want people telling me how I have to live my life.
:) telling me how I should live my life. I have even more problems with people forcing me to live it a certain way.
There is truth in the phrase, "practice what you preach" or "do as you say."
The problem is, a person cannot be perceived as at "upright moral person" to every one. Its along the lines of the axiom, "You can't please everyone."
So we have no choice but to limit the power. That is the only common denominator.
The Constitution Party is a great name but what is their party line on homosexuality? or making no laws with respect to any particular religion?
If the CP had their way, I forsee a prosecution of the non-heterosexual population. Or perhaps I should use a less scary term and say that the CP strongly favors the "rehabilitation" gays and lesbians. But hey, that's ok because in the opinion of the CP its an immoral act.
Then perhaps having children out of wedlock is an immoral thing and should be dealt with appropriately.
Proper instruction for women entering marriage should be that it is their *place* to accept a submissive role to the husband, who becomes the defacto head of the household and the one with the final say on what goes.
I guess that's ok for some people but it isn't for me.
If I'm wrong about the Con Party, do explain...I just have a problem with with people (other than my parents...they have that right
:)
-Vel
P.S. I'm not intentionally trolling here so sorry if it seems that way.
This isn't really a free speech issue -- the game isn't being banned or censored; it's simply kept out of the hands of minors. Is this really such an odd idea? Nobody questions the concept that you have to be 17 to get into an R-rated movie -- everyone understands that's just the way things work. And yet when anyone tries to apply the same concept to games, all the screaming banshee gamers throw a huge temper tantrum. Just because 13-year-olds can play violent games right now doesn't mean that they have the right to. The game industry is maturing from a kid-targeted money machine to a more traditional, artistic form of media, and it's hardly bizarre for the regulations governing it to mature at the same time.
If gamers want to be taken seriously, we need to acknowledge that not all games should be played by everyone. Soldier of Fortune is a very violent game, and if I had kids, I wouldn't want them playing it. By clinging to the notion that all games should be available for everyone, we're forcing developers to only create games that can be sold to anyone -- i.e., kid-friendly games. With a ratings system in place, game manufacturers have the freedom to develop games for any age level, knowing that they'll be rated appropriately and no one can complain that iD and Sony are trying to sell violence to kids.
"Any gov't should be the minimum size and have the minimum power it needs in order to do what the governed cannot do individually (or on a more local gov't level)."
This is the most important point that can be made about the purpose of federal government, IMO.
-Vel
Sticking up for common sense in the Great White North
Anything is appropriate for adults. I buy that. Everything appropriate for kids? I don't agree with that.
There is nothing wrong with a community setting standards. It may in fact by that there is something very wrong with communities that don't.
--- -- - -
Give me LIBERTY, or give me a check.
>How are you supposed to globally trade freely and fairly without your say on a global level? How are you supposed to get tarrif money if you trade freely? Free trade encourages relocation of facilities to other countries, causing people here to lose jobs. If fewer people are working, the income tax would have to be raised, not done away with. As for withdrawing from international organizations, do we really want to have a one-world government? That is what the UN is trying to be. They also take the blame away from countries that want to attack other countries. Look at NATO. The US doesn't take the blame for bombing Yugoslavia, even though we thought it was for the best (live and let live?). It was a NATO action. Then NATO wanted to take over part of the country to "ensure peace" by posting armed targets everywhere. I say get us out of all international organizations. We need to solve our problems here before we take on the rest of the world's.
2000 != 1984 Stupid English people.
If this post is meant as a joke, great. I got a few chuckles.
If it's not, then it's scary.
While the economy in Canada is not as good as the US, Canadian's seem to have a more wholesome society.
Absolutely! I mean, look at Red Green.
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers. -- Pablo Picasso
--
--
Andy
You're right. I just posted first, then thought later. I haven't been following this deal awfully closely, but I think it's cool that Lars does understand mp3 isn't bad in and of itself.
I'm a Napster user and Metallica fan too. I'm no good at making music, though. Metallica, though, is. They've got some good stuff, and some great stuff. I guess that everytime I've heard Lars speak (or rather, see what he spoke), I've come away with the impression that he's never been on Napster, nor does he know why it sprung up. Maybe I'm wrong. I like it though- it [Napster] has certainly broadened my horizons. I've heard a lot of good music that I otherwise might not have come across otherwise.
From the article:Do you think he'll let us distribute the samples via Napster?
-Matthead
-Matthead
This article claims $6.3 billion dollars of revenue for the video game industry in 1998. That include software and hardware. In 1997, the movie industry had total box office revenue of $6.2 billion according to this web page. I don't think that includes popcorn and soda. It definitely doesn't include video rentals and sales. The numbers show that even if the gaming industry isn't as large as the movie industry, it definitely deserves more respect from the press, as the original poster pointed out.
I don't think what Lars and Metallica has done is ironic. I don't see how deciding that they want to feature their music on themusiccom.com instead of Napster as weird or ironic. I don't see how choosing the method of online distribution, one over another, is bad.
For instance, what if an artist ardently hates Napster because of their politics(makes money off of others creative work) but loves the idea of distributing their stuff for free on Gnutella? I think it perfectly reasonable for them to harp and harass Napster to stop distributing their stuff or at least help assist in that effort.
There's a really good reason that Vancouver is also known as Vanstradam ... ever gone downtown? You can get high by walking down a few blocks.
--
I agree with this whole-hartedly. I hate it when reporters spin their biases into articles that are not in the "Opinion" section.
That's amazing about the Gore vs. Bush comments in terms of being boring. Honestly, if GWB hadn't smoked so much crack in his life he might understand the issues enough to talk about them instead of his weekend. I fear what will happen to the US if Bush wins the presidency...boring or not, at least Gore knows how to run a country.
For some facts on the Bush administration , visit: http://www.georgebush2000.com