As an example, in Washington State people in certain portions of the Olympia area will not be able to receive their TV signals over the air due to the mountains blocking the signal; a problem that didn't occur with analog TV.
People always say that bipedal robots are impractical, but if you look at the majority of animals on earth, they get around by 2, 4, 6 or more legs, there's good reason for that; maybe in the modern day a bipedal robot is impractical but if your technology was advanced enough to make robots that were bipedal or quadrupedal it would make good sense. Treads and wheels are great for getting around on level ground, or nearly level ground; but going up 90 degree slopes as large as you are are more or less impossible. Bipeds or quadrupeds can climb if there are handholds or if they can reach the top of their target while standing; basically getting about with hands and/or feet is fairly ideal if you want your machines to go just about anywhere they want to, the only better option is flight really. The only thing that makes bipedal or quadrupedal robots impractical is the state of modern technology, not that their method of moving about is flawed.
Look, you can't force people to listen to what you are saying, this individual apparently has already been told his way of doing things is a problem and has not listened. I love my friends and family, I really do, but I'm not going to enable bad behavior (that's exactly the wrong thing to do); I'll tell them I think it's a bad idea, a horrible idea, but unless it is directly harming me, there's not much I can do other than to tell them what a bad idea it is. If your friends won't listen, then there isn't anything else you can do for them, other than to help them once they are asking for help with the problem (and not the "help get me some more " sort of help).
The point is that he can't really do anything for his friend, other than tell him that he doesn't like him like this and he'll stop being his friend if he doesn't stop. You can't force people to do what you want, even if they are your friends.
But ultimately, this man is an adult; certainly his friends should do everything possible to talk him out of it, but if he is unwilling to listen, it is his life to fuck up, not theirs. I've known a lot of people in my college "career" who made very poor decisions; one of my friends stole from school and was caught, another dropped out to try and become a professional poker player in Vegas (despite being in no way dominant at local poker tourneys, he failed); their choices were all bad, but they were the choices of adults, this young man had decided he likes video games better than real life, and if he won't listen to reason then he will just have to see the consequences of his choice.
My friend who stole from the university was expelled (though the charges were dropped) and learned his lesson, he's trying to get into a "lesser" school to finish his degree and is more focused than ever; the guy who tried to play professional poker has gone back to school after becoming (briefly) homeless, they didn't decide to change their lives until they saw negative consequences in their lives and decided they didn't like them and it will be the same for this man too. When he starts to see that he is losing real life friends, that he is failing school and is expelled because of it or when he's forced to move back home or become homeless, then he'll finally come around and I doubt he will before that. It's sad but true, real life consequences are the best way to slap someone across the face and tell them they're stupid.
Look, the fact of the matter is that, according to the original post, the individual doesn't believe it's a problem and gets physically violent when people try to stop him...talking probably won't work. My advice, try one last serious talk with him; get a bunch of his friends together (much like an intervention) and see if you can't convince him. That said, ultimately it is his life to fuck up or make successful if he wants to; as long as he is still paying his rent and other bills that you guys agreed pay you, you can't really provide any sort of ultimatum other than "I won't be your friend anymore." If he fucks it all up, he fucks it all up and he will pay the consequences, not anyone else; he's an adult and failure is an option in life.
"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;"
Article I, Section 8, first paragraph
Pay close attention there, "provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States"; in short, if vehicle emissions are part of the "general Welfare" of the United States then Congress can indeed regulate emissions.
Exactly! Just because the "escorts" supposedly only provide conversation and arm candy doesn't mean that's how it actually goes down; I'd bet that at least 90% of all "escorts" are prostitutes.
There are actually multiple versions of creationism, and it's entirely possible that some respondents were confused (the article is deliberately misleading, take a look at the sidebar reference); Creationism does not necessarily rule out evolution, all it says is that a divine being or beings created life and the universe, it is entirely possible that creatures evolved from the creation of life and the universe, though some people use it to assert that the universe was created as it currently is. Intelligent Design asserts that not only did a god or gods created life, but they also deliberately designed it, that is, we have not evolved since our creation.
He's not completely right, but he sort of is; while there are some great services on the internet (such as news aggregators, video broadcasts sites like Hulu and many others) and other very useful sites, there's also a lot of useless shit on the internet. Twitter is blogging for lobotomized chimpanzees, such as Ashton Kutcher (and no I don't give a damn if I spelled it right); 90% of videos are worthless, in terms of artistry and entertainment; and there are tons of boring, useless sites and attack sites.
All of that said, he's still an idiot; but the Sony CEO "gets it" more than this asshat and we really shouldn't listen to the guy. Just because one guy at an organization says something, doesn't mean everyone agrees; a lot of people forget that corporations are just a group of human beings, and each human being within the organization may have a different opinion on the topic. Just because he has the employee badge, doesn't mean everyone at Sony thinks that.
There's a major difference here though; nobody honestly thinks fast food or junk food is healthy for you. For decades the Tobacco industry did its very very best to keep studies showing that smoking or chewing tobacco is bad for you out of the public eye; the fact of the matter is that people know that fast food and a sedentary lifestyle are bad for them. They know it's bad for their kids too; but they either don't care enough to change things or don't have the time to change things. You can't force people to stop eating food they like and stop playing video games just by taxing them and a PSA isn't going to change any minds either.
The vast majority of jobs in the US no longer require large amounts of physical activity; so the fat person is no more or less productive than a healthy individual from a taxes and consumer standpoint. At best, you could argue that the obese individual takes more sick days or something like that, but even that is sort of a thin argument.
Why bother to pay them off and polish it up, when they can shut them down? Let's be honest here, if SquareEnix wanted to make a new Chrono Trigger, they would and "buying off" some fan hack is not a good way to do it. The story looked terrible, the graphics looked dated...so what would they have to do to bring it to their standards? Every fucking thing; if they'd have to redo absolutely everything, then why would they pay someone a million dollars to make it?
There's another factor here too; if you pay some fans for a fanhack and then make a new game (or remake their fanhack) then other people will look at it as a way to make money AND ensure their favorite games get sequels. It's a bad idea all around and a bad policy as it invites others to try and ruin your game series and get paid for it. If you were them, would you pay the guys that made the fanhack? Hell no.
Nice argument, but do you have the stats to prove it? If Chrono Trigger is more popular than the Fallout series, how many copies did it sell? A quick internet search doesn't turn up information.
Even then though, that ignores a rather central fact: just because a sequel of Fallout 3 does well in today's market, doesn't mean a sequel to Chrono Trigger will do well in today's market. The market for non MMO western RPGs is much more wide-open than the Japanese RPG market, which is flooded with titles. Fallout 3 is exploiting a hole in the market, while Chrono Trigger might just be another title swimming amongst many. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Chrono Trigger and Fallout, but comparing how successful they would be in today's market is not necessarily a good choice.
I personally enjoy throwing objects at the homless, and would never accept their dirty, filthy organs. Now if you offered me organs coming from the working poor, I would take up your offer in an instant!
You do realize that the ESC used in stem cell research were already going to be destroyed, right? ESC has uses other than stem cell research and those other uses get first pick, the ESC used for stem cell research are scheduled to be destroyed shortly thereafter because they would otherwise begin to breakdown.
Not to mention that there is no ethical problem with using ESC; unless you have an ethical problem with killing bacteria using anti-bacterial soap or cleaners. ESC are just a collection of cells; hardly any closer to being a human being than the bacteria on your kitchen counter. The fact of the matter is that most opponents to ESC use are either ill-informed or serving a political agenda that wishes to oppose anything close to abortion because it might weaken their anti-abortion stance.
While companies may be catering more to the "casual" gamer more than they once did, most companies are still very much focusing on the "hardcore" crowd. Look at the Wii's catalogue of games, and then compare it to the size of the PS3 or 360 catalogue of games. People may be buying more Wiis than they are the 360 or PS3, but people are buying more GAMES for the PS3 or 360 on a per person basis and that's what third party developers are looking for. They couldn't care less what console sells more, they care which console gets them more game sales. Don't get me wrong, third party developers are definitely putting out more "casual" games; but those casual games aren't going to completely replace developer's games or even (I think) be the main focus of big developers as the casual market spends less on games and purchases fewer games. Many casual Wii owners are quite happy to own Wii Sports and purchase nothing else; 3rd party developers aren't going to focus on these individuals.
...and BYU is the Mormon's "pet school". The only good thing that comes out of BYU are music students and teachers; everyone else might as well have a degree in cheese doodles. Of course, it doesn't matter since they'll just live in Utah and get work there, where the Mormon church holds sway.
I know you're probably a troll...but I'll respond anyway. Just because our spies haven't gotten caught doesn't mean we don't have any. It probably just means we have better spies...or allies just let our spies go when they find them.
Just because someone messed up doesn't mean you need to be nice to them; I guarantee you that if you asked any ethicist or checked in a book of ethics, there is no section that says you need to help someone out if they made a mistake. Taking advantage of that mistake certainly isn't wrong either; if you're playing chess and your opponent leaves themselves wide open to checkmate, is it unethical to take advantage of that? Of course not. Why then would it be different with a video game? Because you spend more time with it? If losing some gold is enough to make you want to stop playing the game, then you aren't having fun with it anyway and should go do something else. All of that said, applying ethics to selling items in an MMORPG is fucking stupid; get a life, MMOs aren't important enough to apply ethics to.
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As an example, in Washington State people in certain portions of the Olympia area will not be able to receive their TV signals over the air due to the mountains blocking the signal; a problem that didn't occur with analog TV.
...the Eyetoy? Remember the Eyetoy? A little camera-based system that let you use body movements to do things? How well did that sell? Oh yeah...huh.
...huh?
People always say that bipedal robots are impractical, but if you look at the majority of animals on earth, they get around by 2, 4, 6 or more legs, there's good reason for that; maybe in the modern day a bipedal robot is impractical but if your technology was advanced enough to make robots that were bipedal or quadrupedal it would make good sense. Treads and wheels are great for getting around on level ground, or nearly level ground; but going up 90 degree slopes as large as you are are more or less impossible. Bipeds or quadrupeds can climb if there are handholds or if they can reach the top of their target while standing; basically getting about with hands and/or feet is fairly ideal if you want your machines to go just about anywhere they want to, the only better option is flight really. The only thing that makes bipedal or quadrupedal robots impractical is the state of modern technology, not that their method of moving about is flawed.
Look, you can't force people to listen to what you are saying, this individual apparently has already been told his way of doing things is a problem and has not listened. I love my friends and family, I really do, but I'm not going to enable bad behavior (that's exactly the wrong thing to do); I'll tell them I think it's a bad idea, a horrible idea, but unless it is directly harming me, there's not much I can do other than to tell them what a bad idea it is. If your friends won't listen, then there isn't anything else you can do for them, other than to help them once they are asking for help with the problem (and not the "help get me some more " sort of help).
The point is that he can't really do anything for his friend, other than tell him that he doesn't like him like this and he'll stop being his friend if he doesn't stop. You can't force people to do what you want, even if they are your friends.
If this guy wasn't focused enough to stop playing a video game, would you want him as your surgeon? How about your pharmacist? I didn't think so.
But ultimately, this man is an adult; certainly his friends should do everything possible to talk him out of it, but if he is unwilling to listen, it is his life to fuck up, not theirs. I've known a lot of people in my college "career" who made very poor decisions; one of my friends stole from school and was caught, another dropped out to try and become a professional poker player in Vegas (despite being in no way dominant at local poker tourneys, he failed); their choices were all bad, but they were the choices of adults, this young man had decided he likes video games better than real life, and if he won't listen to reason then he will just have to see the consequences of his choice.
My friend who stole from the university was expelled (though the charges were dropped) and learned his lesson, he's trying to get into a "lesser" school to finish his degree and is more focused than ever; the guy who tried to play professional poker has gone back to school after becoming (briefly) homeless, they didn't decide to change their lives until they saw negative consequences in their lives and decided they didn't like them and it will be the same for this man too. When he starts to see that he is losing real life friends, that he is failing school and is expelled because of it or when he's forced to move back home or become homeless, then he'll finally come around and I doubt he will before that. It's sad but true, real life consequences are the best way to slap someone across the face and tell them they're stupid.
Look, the fact of the matter is that, according to the original post, the individual doesn't believe it's a problem and gets physically violent when people try to stop him...talking probably won't work. My advice, try one last serious talk with him; get a bunch of his friends together (much like an intervention) and see if you can't convince him. That said, ultimately it is his life to fuck up or make successful if he wants to; as long as he is still paying his rent and other bills that you guys agreed pay you, you can't really provide any sort of ultimatum other than "I won't be your friend anymore." If he fucks it all up, he fucks it all up and he will pay the consequences, not anyone else; he's an adult and failure is an option in life.
"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;"
Article I, Section 8, first paragraph
Pay close attention there, "provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States"; in short, if vehicle emissions are part of the "general Welfare" of the United States then Congress can indeed regulate emissions.
Exactly! Just because the "escorts" supposedly only provide conversation and arm candy doesn't mean that's how it actually goes down; I'd bet that at least 90% of all "escorts" are prostitutes.
There are actually multiple versions of creationism, and it's entirely possible that some respondents were confused (the article is deliberately misleading, take a look at the sidebar reference); Creationism does not necessarily rule out evolution, all it says is that a divine being or beings created life and the universe, it is entirely possible that creatures evolved from the creation of life and the universe, though some people use it to assert that the universe was created as it currently is. Intelligent Design asserts that not only did a god or gods created life, but they also deliberately designed it, that is, we have not evolved since our creation.
He's not completely right, but he sort of is; while there are some great services on the internet (such as news aggregators, video broadcasts sites like Hulu and many others) and other very useful sites, there's also a lot of useless shit on the internet. Twitter is blogging for lobotomized chimpanzees, such as Ashton Kutcher (and no I don't give a damn if I spelled it right); 90% of videos are worthless, in terms of artistry and entertainment; and there are tons of boring, useless sites and attack sites.
All of that said, he's still an idiot; but the Sony CEO "gets it" more than this asshat and we really shouldn't listen to the guy. Just because one guy at an organization says something, doesn't mean everyone agrees; a lot of people forget that corporations are just a group of human beings, and each human being within the organization may have a different opinion on the topic. Just because he has the employee badge, doesn't mean everyone at Sony thinks that.
There's a major difference here though; nobody honestly thinks fast food or junk food is healthy for you. For decades the Tobacco industry did its very very best to keep studies showing that smoking or chewing tobacco is bad for you out of the public eye; the fact of the matter is that people know that fast food and a sedentary lifestyle are bad for them. They know it's bad for their kids too; but they either don't care enough to change things or don't have the time to change things. You can't force people to stop eating food they like and stop playing video games just by taxing them and a PSA isn't going to change any minds either.
The vast majority of jobs in the US no longer require large amounts of physical activity; so the fat person is no more or less productive than a healthy individual from a taxes and consumer standpoint. At best, you could argue that the obese individual takes more sick days or something like that, but even that is sort of a thin argument.
Why bother to pay them off and polish it up, when they can shut them down? Let's be honest here, if SquareEnix wanted to make a new Chrono Trigger, they would and "buying off" some fan hack is not a good way to do it. The story looked terrible, the graphics looked dated...so what would they have to do to bring it to their standards? Every fucking thing; if they'd have to redo absolutely everything, then why would they pay someone a million dollars to make it?
There's another factor here too; if you pay some fans for a fanhack and then make a new game (or remake their fanhack) then other people will look at it as a way to make money AND ensure their favorite games get sequels. It's a bad idea all around and a bad policy as it invites others to try and ruin your game series and get paid for it. If you were them, would you pay the guys that made the fanhack? Hell no.
Nice argument, but do you have the stats to prove it? If Chrono Trigger is more popular than the Fallout series, how many copies did it sell? A quick internet search doesn't turn up information.
Even then though, that ignores a rather central fact: just because a sequel of Fallout 3 does well in today's market, doesn't mean a sequel to Chrono Trigger will do well in today's market. The market for non MMO western RPGs is much more wide-open than the Japanese RPG market, which is flooded with titles. Fallout 3 is exploiting a hole in the market, while Chrono Trigger might just be another title swimming amongst many. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Chrono Trigger and Fallout, but comparing how successful they would be in today's market is not necessarily a good choice.
Yeah, but children's soccer balls can be much smaller than regulation.
I personally enjoy throwing objects at the homless, and would never accept their dirty, filthy organs. Now if you offered me organs coming from the working poor, I would take up your offer in an instant!
You do realize that the ESC used in stem cell research were already going to be destroyed, right? ESC has uses other than stem cell research and those other uses get first pick, the ESC used for stem cell research are scheduled to be destroyed shortly thereafter because they would otherwise begin to breakdown.
Not to mention that there is no ethical problem with using ESC; unless you have an ethical problem with killing bacteria using anti-bacterial soap or cleaners. ESC are just a collection of cells; hardly any closer to being a human being than the bacteria on your kitchen counter. The fact of the matter is that most opponents to ESC use are either ill-informed or serving a political agenda that wishes to oppose anything close to abortion because it might weaken their anti-abortion stance.
While companies may be catering more to the "casual" gamer more than they once did, most companies are still very much focusing on the "hardcore" crowd. Look at the Wii's catalogue of games, and then compare it to the size of the PS3 or 360 catalogue of games. People may be buying more Wiis than they are the 360 or PS3, but people are buying more GAMES for the PS3 or 360 on a per person basis and that's what third party developers are looking for. They couldn't care less what console sells more, they care which console gets them more game sales. Don't get me wrong, third party developers are definitely putting out more "casual" games; but those casual games aren't going to completely replace developer's games or even (I think) be the main focus of big developers as the casual market spends less on games and purchases fewer games. Many casual Wii owners are quite happy to own Wii Sports and purchase nothing else; 3rd party developers aren't going to focus on these individuals.
...and BYU is the Mormon's "pet school". The only good thing that comes out of BYU are music students and teachers; everyone else might as well have a degree in cheese doodles. Of course, it doesn't matter since they'll just live in Utah and get work there, where the Mormon church holds sway.
I know you're probably a troll...but I'll respond anyway. Just because our spies haven't gotten caught doesn't mean we don't have any. It probably just means we have better spies...or allies just let our spies go when they find them.
Just because someone messed up doesn't mean you need to be nice to them; I guarantee you that if you asked any ethicist or checked in a book of ethics, there is no section that says you need to help someone out if they made a mistake. Taking advantage of that mistake certainly isn't wrong either; if you're playing chess and your opponent leaves themselves wide open to checkmate, is it unethical to take advantage of that? Of course not. Why then would it be different with a video game? Because you spend more time with it? If losing some gold is enough to make you want to stop playing the game, then you aren't having fun with it anyway and should go do something else. All of that said, applying ethics to selling items in an MMORPG is fucking stupid; get a life, MMOs aren't important enough to apply ethics to.
Bull. I've worked for Microsoft as a contractor and never met a Mormon in the place.