Perhaps in the U.K., but from the info I can find about U.S. machines they do use a random number generator as opposed to a pre-determined script of outcomes. For an overview check out: How Slot Machine's Work.
What I really want to know is what kind of royalties do game designers get from the casino? Do the basically lease the machine? Do the designers get a cut of the proceeds? Considering a good run of machines is about 500 units, they've got to be doing something other than selling them to make their money.
Umm... correct me if I'm wrong, but the time to buy a stock in a company that you feel is a "good company" is when the stock does take a dramatic drop after a press release like this. Especially if people get panicky over them "losing" a deal that wasn't that profitable for them in the first place...
It's not identity theft, but just today I got a call from the title company that is handling the closing on the sale of my house, and lo and behold there are three judgements attatched to my house. Apparently there is another couple with my exact name and my ex-wifes middle name. Apparently they don't pay their rent or the judgements against them. Unfortunately, the attorney's for the plaintiffs against them (on three separate occasions unbeknownst to me) did a simple name lookup and found property with a name similar to the deadbeats and said, "Hey, when they sell their house... give the money to us!" I spoke to the courthouse, and they had no idea how I should go about fixing it. Now, I have to pay for an attorney to get everything cleared up... for the county's mistake! Infuriating.
Didn't these people ever play Oregon Trail or the Carmen Sandiego games? I mean, come on! I'm 26 years old and I rememember playing these games in elementary school. And (I know, it's not a game--but it did have a cute turtle) who can forget LOGO programming? Tons of fun for everyone.
Yes, but would you be as pissed if you spent $2000.00 on a TV with the same great picture quality , with the understanding that you could use the $1000.00 you saved on your own set of speakers?
Yes, but the consequences... I just really dislike the possibility of spending a significant portion of my life in jail because my interpretation of a law was different than another person's.
The possibilty of spending 5 years in jail (or paying thousands of dollars in legal fees to stay out) just because a vaguely worded law seemed to allow my "fair use" of something, but didn't mean that at all to someone who interpreted it differently (due to differing political or personal ethical leanings) is just really scary...
It seems strange that we, as a people, would allow laws to become so complex that even the attorneys (who have been specifically trained in the law) would have trouble giving a specific "bright line" definition of when something is Fair Use, or not. How can a layman ever know if he is breaking the law if an attorney can't even say when a "line has been crossed"?
Technically, with Freenet, someone can place illegal files on your computer. But of course, you wouldn't know that. With Freenet your are more like the phone company, a common carrier. Someone can definitely break the law by using the phone. But, the phone company doesn't have to tell all of its customers that the phone could be a privacy, security, or legal risk. Nor can the phone company be held liable for the data that crosses over its network. Freenet, too, should have this same consideration. It is merely a method of transmitting information over a network. Just because you run a node, doesn't mean that you should be required to monitor everything that passes through your part of the network. That is what privacy is all about.
I realize that the phone company does have to make itself available to law enforcement for legal taps, but in the case of Freenet this isn't even really possible (or at least practical). But just because somehing can have insidious uses doesn't mean that it has to be specifically regulated. I can stab someone with a fork. We don't need to have laws saying that fork manufacturers should have to tell people that it might be possible to injure someone with a fork. And certainly the fork manufacturer shouldn't be held liable if someone does. Make stabbing someone illegal, not making forks.
No, it doesn't. But forcing them to add disclaimers before downloading and to get the users consent (and supposedly they would need to log these consents for their own protection) to avoid going to jail seems a bit over-the-top to me, doesn't it you?
It sounds exactly like Freenet. Freenet is designed specifically to allow people to store information on your machine that you are unaware of. It is encrypted so you don't know what it is. It clearly falls under the definition of enabling software--as does almost any other Internet technology.
Should someone have to place their information on a completely public list, just to own a domain name? I'm sorry, but I don't think so. If someone wants to start a web site criticizing a particularly powerful individual, group, or organization, should they have to publicly display their proper name, address, and contact telephone numbers? It just seems like a very bad idea to me.
And FTP. Microsoft Windows file sharing? Cisco routers running TFTP? A weblog such as slashdot even allows 3rd parties to store data on the hosts computer... Do they need to jump through the.gov's hoops or go to jail for runing a weblog?
I know that this is stretching their intent, but this law is horribly written and seems to lack a fundamental understanding of how the Internet works.
This bill goes after people who allow "enabling" software to be jailed for up to five years if they don't jump through the proper hoops. It is not just going after people who upload copyrighted material. Try reading the law that you are supporting.
Looks like more hoops for p2p software developers to jump through to stay out of jail...
7 `` 1822. Notice and consent relating to certain soft- 8 ware 9 ``(a) Whoever knowingly offers enabling software for 10 download over the Internet and does not-- 11 ``(1) clearly and conspicuously warn any person 12 downloading that software, before it is downloaded, 13 that it is enabling software and could create a secu- 14 rity and privacy risk for the user's computer; and 15 ``(2) obtain that person's prior consent to the 16 download after that warning; 17 shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 18 6 months, or both.
Looks like Freenet is labeled as "enabling software" under terms of the proprosed law.
19 ``(b) As used in this section, the term `enabling soft- 20 ware' means software that, when installed on the user's 21 computer, enables 3rd parties to store data on that com- 22 puter, or use that computer to search other computers' 23 contents over the Internet.''.
The proposed law also seeks to impose up to a 5 year jail term for registering a domain using false information... Bad stuff.
Sorry, just quoting the page at Vertigo where they say " Now, in July 2003, Vertigo Software, Inc. is releasing Quake II.NET, a port of the C-language based engine to Visual C++ with a.NET managed heads-up display."
Of course, now that I have actually downloaded the source and run `grep -r ++` in the source directory, I see my error...:-)
Did an emerge sync, emerge development-sources, and did an xconfig (love the new xconfig) and configured with pretty standard options (added crypto/ipsec stuff). Running great on my IBM Thinkpad A21m (for the last 30 minutes anyway).
Slashdot Mirror
Am I the only one that immediately thought that the screenshots were missing an "L" on the end? Wow, it just occured to me... I'm getting old.
If you think Argon will kick it's ass, wait until Aragorn gets ahold of it.
What I really want to know is what kind of royalties do game designers get from the casino? Do the basically lease the machine? Do the designers get a cut of the proceeds? Considering a good run of machines is about 500 units, they've got to be doing something other than selling them to make their money.
Reminds me of a Dilbert comic... found a link to it.
Umm... correct me if I'm wrong, but the time to buy a stock in a company that you feel is a "good company" is when the stock does take a dramatic drop after a press release like this. Especially if people get panicky over them "losing" a deal that wasn't that profitable for them in the first place...
Bah! Tim was an enchanter... not a wizard! :-)
:-)
Umm... must stay on topic... Uh... Bunnies are cool?
It's not identity theft, but just today I got a call from the title company that is handling the closing on the sale of my house, and lo and behold there are three judgements attatched to my house. Apparently there is another couple with my exact name and my ex-wifes middle name. Apparently they don't pay their rent or the judgements against them. Unfortunately, the attorney's for the plaintiffs against them (on three separate occasions unbeknownst to me) did a simple name lookup and found property with a name similar to the deadbeats and said, "Hey, when they sell their house... give the money to us!" I spoke to the courthouse, and they had no idea how I should go about fixing it. Now, I have to pay for an attorney to get everything cleared up... for the county's mistake! Infuriating.
Didn't these people ever play Oregon Trail or the Carmen Sandiego games? I mean, come on! I'm 26 years old and I rememember playing these games in elementary school. And (I know, it's not a game--but it did have a cute turtle) who can forget LOGO programming? Tons of fun for everyone.
Yes, but would you be as pissed if you spent $2000.00 on a TV with the same great picture quality , with the understanding that you could use the $1000.00 you saved on your own set of speakers?
And as of this post, Final Fantasy XIII has its first mention as well.
The possibilty of spending 5 years in jail (or paying thousands of dollars in legal fees to stay out) just because a vaguely worded law seemed to allow my "fair use" of something, but didn't mean that at all to someone who interpreted it differently (due to differing political or personal ethical leanings) is just really scary...
It seems strange that we, as a people, would allow laws to become so complex that even the attorneys (who have been specifically trained in the law) would have trouble giving a specific "bright line" definition of when something is Fair Use, or not. How can a layman ever know if he is breaking the law if an attorney can't even say when a "line has been crossed"?
Kids will always find ways to outsmart their parents. It's called progress!
I realize that the phone company does have to make itself available to law enforcement for legal taps, but in the case of Freenet this isn't even really possible (or at least practical). But just because somehing can have insidious uses doesn't mean that it has to be specifically regulated. I can stab someone with a fork. We don't need to have laws saying that fork manufacturers should have to tell people that it might be possible to injure someone with a fork. And certainly the fork manufacturer shouldn't be held liable if someone does. Make stabbing someone illegal, not making forks.
No, it doesn't. But forcing them to add disclaimers before downloading and to get the users consent (and supposedly they would need to log these consents for their own protection) to avoid going to jail seems a bit over-the-top to me, doesn't it you?
Correction, sorry. I believe it 6 months for "enabling" software, and 5 years for using false information to register a domain name.
It sounds exactly like Freenet. Freenet is designed specifically to allow people to store information on your machine that you are unaware of. It is encrypted so you don't know what it is. It clearly falls under the definition of enabling software--as does almost any other Internet technology.
Should someone have to place their information on a completely public list, just to own a domain name? I'm sorry, but I don't think so. If someone wants to start a web site criticizing a particularly powerful individual, group, or organization, should they have to publicly display their proper name, address, and contact telephone numbers? It just seems like a very bad idea to me.
I know that this is stretching their intent, but this law is horribly written and seems to lack a fundamental understanding of how the Internet works.
Or people who don't want to have their information harvested by spammers/scammers...
This bill goes after people who allow "enabling" software to be jailed for up to five years if they don't jump through the proper hoops. It is not just going after people who upload copyrighted material. Try reading the law that you are supporting.
Looks like Freenet is labeled as "enabling software" under terms of the proprosed law.
The proposed law also seeks to impose up to a 5 year jail term for registering a domain using false information... Bad stuff.
Of course, now that I have actually downloaded the source and run `grep -r ++` in the source directory, I see my error... :-)
Did an emerge sync, emerge development-sources, and did an xconfig (love the new xconfig) and configured with pretty standard options (added crypto/ipsec stuff). Running great on my IBM Thinkpad A21m (for the last 30 minutes anyway).