though after EA's lackluster performance of it's last 3 MMO attempts(Motor City Online, Earth and Beyond, and The Sims Online)
The only reason these have failed is becuase they are cheap ass bastards. I get the impression that E&B has probably a total of maybe four developers based on how much content they can crank out between patches.
Not only that, but the loot tables (table of items to drop when you kill something) are still stored in thousands of individual text files instead of a database. They supposedly just spent *two months* updating the loot tables, and even then they had serious problems that required a week to correct when they could have been corrected in minutes if it were properly done with a database.
I hit cancel all the time, because in my mind, it's my way to say "nevermind that, just let me out".
This dialog comes up on windows 2000 as well if you have Visual C++ installed.
Why can't they make a standard dialog box that takes a string array and returns an int for which button was pressed, so people would stop using the standard OK/Cancel dialog as a shortcut so they don't have to write their own custom dialog box?
I remember reading one of the Dilbert books, Is your computer safe from hackers? where it said that marketing will continue to become more and more manipulative Make money with your website! as it builds upon the shoulders of already tried marketing schemes.
I used to have a Vic-20 printer back around my high school days. Whenever the ribbon started to fade, I got a stamp pad inker and ran it across the ribbon while winding it. Never had to buy a ribbon =)
They (RIAA+MPAA) will pay our government to grant them their own legally-sanctioned police force. Our government will have no choice but to take the cash to keep paying social security.
I also get a lot of "renewal" notifications from other registrars. It's like all the sleazy snail-mailers are learning tricks from the email spammers.
A few good rules to live by:
Never give your credit card number to someone who *calls you* on the phone FOR ANY REASON.
Never log into a website after following a link sent to you in email, ESPECIALLY if it is a site where you conduct $$ business (eBay, PayPal, your bank, etc).
This is a good page. I especially learned a lot from reading the ICQ Chat Logs.
Sometimes I wonder if the companies who finally benefit from the spam even know just how scummy their sources are. If you read this chat log, you will see a guy, Jeff, is gathering leads for mortgage loans from a "very professional company".
In situations like this, I wonder how effective it would be to subvert the spam network by using decoy identities to make contact with these companies and hold them liable for their sources so that the people responsible for setting up the chain of communication to the spammers will be fired.
I've always wondered how much energy could be extracted from all the various RF noise that occurs in a moderately-sized city.
Does "absorbing" energy from the EM field reduce the field's strength? If I put up a thousand receiving antennas to get a 1000x increase in energy extraction, how does that affect the strength of the EM field for other people?
Basically I'm just curious how does the law of thermodynamics work at this level? If I "pull" energy out of the air, does it create a load at the transmitter, or can I only pull out the energy that would have been otherwise dissipated within the volume of space that my antenna occupies?
I remember back in the days when some of the more elite among us would do some very elegant demonstrations of the graphical capabilities of the tiny computer systems at the time.
Where have they gone?
I'd like to see what can be done with today's hardware when it's really pushed to the limits, along with the same style of creativity that these guys had.
Even just some individual demonstrations of what is possible by doing some clever hacking in the Cg context would be awesome.
ISPs sell you connectivity, what right do they have to tell you what you can't do with it? Does your electric company tell you what you can and can't plug in and how many things you can power?
You are incorrect for some states (Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Michigan, Maryland, Delaware, Colorado, Illinois). They have already passed versions of the super-DMCA which effectively changes the law to "that which is not explicitly allowed is forbidden".
I already replied to another poster further up in the thread on this same subject.
Try reading your contract agreement.. If it doesn't mention it.. you are in the clear..
Congratulations! You have just hit the *core* point of the new super-DMCA leglislation that is being enacted within the indivudal states here in the US.
The bill that's being passed effectively changes the law
FROM
"anything not explicitly prohibited is allowed"
TO
"anything not explicitly permitted is forbidden"
Sorry, you don't win anything except a trip to jail (and maybe a label of "enemy combatant") if you keep using your intelligence instead of being a Good Citizen (TM) by keeping your mouth shut and just listening to licensed RIAA-approved music and MPAA-approved movies.
given the current corporation vs. consumer attitudes out there today.
What "attitudes"? Who are you talking about?
The people who go to Startbucks every morning?
The herds who shuffle into and out of Wal Mart by the millions per day?
How about the owners of all of the Lexus's, Mercedes, and BMW's packing the parking lot of the local shopping mall?
Many (if not most) of the Americans who are even well aware of the corporation vs consumer struggle still go on popping open a Pepsi and kicking off their Nikes while flicking on MTV after getting home from seeing the latest Adam Sandler movie.
Remember that we are in a minority here. The majority of the US population here barely even know the details of the USA PATRIOT act, the DMCA, and the super-DMCA. Even those who do understand them are too complacent in their lives to take any action.
Until a future where agents from the (fictional, but not implausible) federally contracted "IPAA" branch of the Office of Homeland Security begins to knock down doors and haul away their Tivo's, CD/DVD Burners, and region free DVD players, people will continue to be apathetic.
Corporations will continue to play on that too -- they are always pushing up against the inclined "apathy asymptote". They are well aware not to cross it if they want to keep the masses pacified while continuing their stealth lobbying efforts to ensure profitibility of their obsolete paradigm.
I think part of the reason for this is that Worldcraft (the Half Life world editor) was very easy and intuitive to use. I learned how to use it in just a couple hours and had already modeled my apartment building within a couple of days =)
I also know a co-worker who modeled our workplace (offices, cubicles, etc). Good thing I'm on his side =)
Slashdot Mirror
When this movie was released there were actually people in Europe that FLEW OVER TO THE USA to watch that movie. Can you believe the insanity?
Don't tell everyone that... Now the MPAA will lobby Congress to restrict all international flights when they release a new movie.
Market Saturation.
Wasn't there a Flinstones commercial that advertised cigarettes?
though after EA's lackluster performance of it's last 3 MMO attempts(Motor City Online, Earth and Beyond, and The Sims Online)
The only reason these have failed is becuase they are cheap ass bastards. I get the impression that E&B has probably a total of maybe four developers based on how much content they can crank out between patches.
Not only that, but the loot tables (table of items to drop when you kill something) are still stored in thousands of individual text files instead of a database. They supposedly just spent *two months* updating the loot tables, and even then they had serious problems that required a week to correct when they could have been corrected in minutes if it were properly done with a database.
The game had so much potential too... =(
Where are you getting new (as you presumed "they" (the MPAA) sets the price) DVDs for $10?
I think the reason they aren't shared on P2P as much as music is because they are 1.4G to share a disc instead of 64M.
You forgot to mention the winners: the laywers.
I hit cancel all the time, because in my mind, it's my way to say "nevermind that, just let me out".
This dialog comes up on windows 2000 as well if you have Visual C++ installed.
Why can't they make a standard dialog box that takes a string array and returns an int for which button was pressed, so people would stop using the standard OK/Cancel dialog as a shortcut so they don't have to write their own custom dialog box?
I remember reading one of the Dilbert books, Is your computer safe from hackers? where it said that marketing will continue to become more and more manipulative Make money with your website! as it builds upon the shoulders of already tried marketing schemes.
I just wonder how long before Specials on Ink Jet refill kits! they start putting ads Long Distance for just 1c per minute! in the middle Spy on your neighbors! of all web content?
I used to have a Vic-20 printer back around my high school days. Whenever the ribbon started to fade, I got a stamp pad inker and ran it across the ribbon while winding it. Never had to buy a ribbon =)
Maybe in 10 years.
They (RIAA+MPAA) will pay our government to grant them their own legally-sanctioned police force. Our government will have no choice but to take the cash to keep paying social security.
I'm not kidding. =/
I also get a lot of "renewal" notifications from other registrars. It's like all the sleazy snail-mailers are learning tricks from the email spammers.
A few good rules to live by:
Jeff, is gathering leads for mortgage loans from a "very professional company".
Should read:
Jeff, is gathering leads for mortgage loans for a "very professional company".
This is a good page. I especially learned a lot from reading the ICQ Chat Logs.
Sometimes I wonder if the companies who finally benefit from the spam even know just how scummy their sources are. If you read this chat log, you will see a guy, Jeff, is gathering leads for mortgage loans from a "very professional company".
In situations like this, I wonder how effective it would be to subvert the spam network by using decoy identities to make contact with these companies and hold them liable for their sources so that the people responsible for setting up the chain of communication to the spammers will be fired.
I've always wondered how much energy could be extracted from all the various RF noise that occurs in a moderately-sized city.
Does "absorbing" energy from the EM field reduce the field's strength? If I put up a thousand receiving antennas to get a 1000x increase in energy extraction, how does that affect the strength of the EM field for other people?
Basically I'm just curious how does the law of thermodynamics work at this level? If I "pull" energy out of the air, does it create a load at the transmitter, or can I only pull out the energy that would have been otherwise dissipated within the volume of space that my antenna occupies?
obviously you want a high-gain antenna on the transmitting end
I seem to recall reading once of a microwave laser or MASER. Was this sci-fi or real? =)
I remember back in the days when some of the more elite among us would do some very elegant demonstrations of the graphical capabilities of the tiny computer systems at the time.
Where have they gone?
I'd like to see what can be done with today's hardware when it's really pushed to the limits, along with the same style of creativity that these guys had.
Even just some individual demonstrations of what is possible by doing some clever hacking in the Cg context would be awesome.
I miss the Amiga. =(
If this law doesn't exist already, it needs to:
The marketing department of any new successful company will expand to consume all available resources.
The telephone company can legally monitor telephone calls for maintenance purposes.
Heh.. The word "maintenance" in your sentence just crys out for double quotes =)
ISPs sell you connectivity, what right do they have to tell you what you can't do with it? Does your electric company tell you what you can and can't plug in and how many things you can power?
You are incorrect for some states (Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Michigan, Maryland, Delaware, Colorado, Illinois). They have already passed versions of the super-DMCA which effectively changes the law to "that which is not explicitly allowed is forbidden".
I already replied to another poster further up in the thread on this same subject.
Try reading your contract agreement.. If it doesn't mention it.. you are in the clear..
Congratulations! You have just hit the *core* point of the new super-DMCA leglislation that is being enacted within the indivudal states here in the US.
The bill that's being passed effectively changes the law
FROM
"anything not explicitly prohibited is allowed"
TO
"anything not explicitly permitted is forbidden"
Sorry, you don't win anything except a trip to jail (and maybe a label of "enemy combatant") if you keep using your intelligence instead of being a Good Citizen (TM) by keeping your mouth shut and just listening to licensed RIAA-approved music and MPAA-approved movies.
Do you realize that you probably just broke the DMCA and/or the super-DMCA if applicable in your state? =)
given the current corporation vs. consumer attitudes out there today.
What "attitudes"? Who are you talking about?
The people who go to Startbucks every morning?
The herds who shuffle into and out of Wal Mart by the millions per day?
How about the owners of all of the Lexus's, Mercedes, and BMW's packing the parking lot of the local shopping mall?
Many (if not most) of the Americans who are even well aware of the corporation vs consumer struggle still go on popping open a Pepsi and kicking off their Nikes while flicking on MTV after getting home from seeing the latest Adam Sandler movie.
Remember that we are in a minority here. The majority of the US population here barely even know the details of the USA PATRIOT act, the DMCA, and the super-DMCA. Even those who do understand them are too complacent in their lives to take any action.
Until a future where agents from the (fictional, but not implausible) federally contracted "IPAA" branch of the Office of Homeland Security begins to knock down doors and haul away their Tivo's, CD/DVD Burners, and region free DVD players, people will continue to be apathetic.
Corporations will continue to play on that too -- they are always pushing up against the inclined "apathy asymptote". They are well aware not to cross it if they want to keep the masses pacified while continuing their stealth lobbying efforts to ensure profitibility of their obsolete paradigm.
Of course, it didn't help Mastercard that the target of their attempted intimidation is the chairman of the EFF
That absolutely kicks ass, especially coming from the chairman...
I've already been paying $25/mo to the EFF; perhaps it's time to increase my monthly donation... =)
I think part of the reason for this is that Worldcraft (the Half Life world editor) was very easy and intuitive to use. I learned how to use it in just a couple hours and had already modeled my apartment building within a couple of days =)
I also know a co-worker who modeled our workplace (offices, cubicles, etc). Good thing I'm on his side =)
I, for one, will welcome our new genetically engineered bovine-arachnid crypto-marxist subterrianian viking overlords.