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Nintendo Cracks Down on Copying Devices
Adrian Lopez writes "Nintendo is cracking down on mod chips and copying devices with the help of the Hong Kong government. 'The Hong Kong High Court has intervened, at Nintendo's request, to help stop a global distribution operation involving game copying devices and modification chips that violate the copyrights and trademarks of Nintendo DS and Wii. On Oct. 8th, the court ordered the raid of Supreme Factory Limited facilities, through which Nintendo representatives seized more than 10,000 game copying devices and mod chips over the course of three days. The devices seized are used to copy and play Nintendo DS games offered unlawfully over the Internet, and the mod chips allow the play of pirated Wii discs or illegal copies of downloaded Nintendo games.'"
Shhhhhhhh!
Stupidity is the root of all evil.
Try harder next time moron. That joke is old and stupid.
CmdrTaco, we know it's you posting anonymously just so you can mock him. You're not fooling anyone...
Summation 2
hotOFF topic! yea!
In many countries with socialized medicine, the free health care is a basic safety net, but in addition to it one can also purchase private insurance. However, since the private health care industry is competing with the free public system, it must keep costs very low. For example, in Spain, I was paying 200 euro a year for private insurance. Sounds like a win for everyone except those who would let the poor suffer to pad their own wallets.
In many countries one gets a card in the mail every few months to alert them to a routine dental appointment.
Have you ever lived in a country with socialized medicine? Don't knock it if you haven't tried it. In the U.S., I could hardly afford decent health care, but in the countries I've lived in since leaving the U.S., health matters are quite comfortable.
I live in Canada, and we have socialized healthcare. If I call up my doctor, i can get an appointment within days, or the same day if it's actually something that I really need to have looked at on that day. Scheduled appointments are booked in advance. There's no problem getting one. There's a lot of horror stories that get passed around, like long waiting times, and not being able to find a family doctor. Some are true, some are hyperbole, some are outright false. But none of those are as bad as the ones I hear about the US health system. Where even people who have been paying their insurance, are denied payment, because of some inconsistency in the way they filled out the forms, or because a certain type of treatment isn't covered, or because they didn't get pre-approval (for emergency care no less). I probably sound a lot like a certain Michael Moore movie, but to me, that is what I find to be the worst thing about privatized health care. Even if you are paying, and you have insurance, you may not be covered, and you may still not be able to afford treatment when you get sick.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Feel better now? Love the useless posts... like this one
I'm not quite sure what to say. You seem to have a very basic misunderstanding of how health care in other countries works. Government health care does not mean that you can't also have private insurance. Actually, in many countries, all insurance is provided by private companies, even if it's... You know what, this will take too long. I'm not going to explain how this works. I'll just tell you that you obviously don't understand how the system works in other countries or how it could be changed in the US, and I'll encourage you to just educate yourself.
Two points:
1. In almost the same breath that you acknowledge that some stories about your health care problems are hyperbole, you then then spout hyperbole about the US health care system. Don't believe everything you're told.
2. Canada does not honor US patent laws with respect to drugs (it has an 8 year patent period and even allows generics if the brand name cannot fulfill demand). That is why they are so much cheaper in Canada. So much so, that some politicians in the US, that have never passed an economics 101 course, suggest that we buy our drugs from Canada. In other words, that we should also not honor US patent laws with respect to drugs. I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to both extrapolate the effect that decision would have on research and development AND to guestimate the amount the US markets end up subsidizing Canadian health care. If the US were to adopt a socialized health care system, there would be profound consequences in research and development. Perhaps it is worth it, but it's not the simplistic choice you make it out to be.