In case you've forgotten, we don't refer to people like you as grammar Nazi's out of respect.
The only things thats sad is that you've used up a couple of bytes of my bandwidth, and couldn't think of anything more useful or interesting to say than that I missed an apostrophe in my sig.
Convert any society into a tool. 5 Easy Steps!
on
China's All-Seeing Eye
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· Score: 2, Interesting
1. Put in place censors at information bottlenecks, so as to allow favorable idea to spread and strengthen through collaboration, while dividing dissenters, and forcing them to compete individually.
2. Implement a system to track the populations activities and communications, automatically approximating individual allegiances and beliefs.
4. Obfuscate justice process, then gradually and subtly modify it in such a way as to discourage dissent, and encourage blind allegiance. Making use of information gleaned from step two justify all changes using system implemented in step one
5. use your new self-subjugating population as a tool to do your bidding
Depending on an individuals mindset, you could say that nothing is a weapon until its implemented as such.
Under this interpretation the lead pipe and hammer would only be spooky after which it was clear that they'd be used as weapons, which I think is a pretty reasonable conclusion.
Expanding this back to the original subject matter, devices that can reasonably be assumed will be used as weapons, such as guided bombs and whatnot could justifiably be called "creepy", while something like a hammer, or even a rifle purchased for recreation could not.
While were all dwelling on analogies, what if we were to apply your analysis to a more direct conflict, such as a fist fight?
If your opponent is throwing punches, you can defend yourself all you want, but unless you can strike back, the only question is how long you can last before you inevitably break.
Come to think of it, if you consider your analogies more carefully, you'll see that both are fundamentally flawed. Lets say a serial killer is on the loose, would you feel safe if all you had was the polices assurance that they'd try to protect you in the event of an attack, or would you rather have them collect evidence from previous attacks, and attempt track down and take out the killer preemptively? As for your reference to the antiquated, and soon to be extinct Record labels, of course we'd rather have them on the defensive, considering we're there adversaries.
I guess you inadvertently summed it up yourself:
the only time an offensive posture looks like a good defense is when you are on the side being more aggressive
I agree, if your fighting someone, and excellent strategy is only going to look "good" if your the one using it...
Forgive me for being so blunt, but this is/., if nowhere else on the internet, here I can rest assured that I'm not the only one that would do without ANY of those things you listed if it came between them and a computer.
You may only have to buy one console for 4 players, but thats still more expensive than using PC's, which the players will without a doubt already have. To say you need a $1200+ computer to game is a gross exaggeration, nearly any standard desktop purchased today will play all but the most graphically intense games. add a $100 dollar graphics card, and most modern computers will play ANY game. The only people who'll need even a single high end graphics card are those that want to play all current games, AND play everything but crysis on maximum settings (for those who don't know, crysis is sort of a hybrid game / computer torture test).
Not to mention, 4 players on PC's each enjoy relatively silky frame rates, high resolutions, persistence of customized controls and settings, and (with some creativity) the ability to access their entire libraries of games without needing to lug around any fragile cd's. Where as 4 console players are often forced to play on 320x240 ~15cm chunk of crt from ~2m away, using disks that often get scratched or lost.
I own a 360 myself, but when playing any game that requires individual screens for each player, I'll choose multiplayer on my PC over my console any day.
Also, this is somewhat beside the point, but given the number of hours most/. readers spend at their computers, whats wrong with spending 1200 dollars on a decent one? Sure, nearly every part in it will be outdated in 3-6 years, but compared to what most people spend on fueling and maintaining their cars, thats not so much to ask if you use it daily.
Oh, he'll let you buy it, he just won't authorize it to display anything unless your a good consumer and do as your told with it.
(and don't even think about letting anyone else look at it or **gasp** buy it from you)
As far as I'm concerned,
if a crime is discovered by any means, than the offender should be open to prosecution. If the crime is discovered in the process of some illegal action, then that action should be punished independently of the crime.
My only concerns are of the fairness of punishing someone for a crime of theirs that was only discovered because they did the right thing by calling attention to a more serious crime.
Slashdot Mirror
Exploding CPU
In case you've forgotten, we don't refer to people like you as grammar Nazi's out of respect.
The only things thats sad is that you've used up a couple of bytes of my bandwidth, and couldn't think of anything more useful or interesting to say than that I missed an apostrophe in my sig.
I'll believe it when I see it.
1. Put in place censors at information bottlenecks, so as to allow favorable idea to spread and strengthen through collaboration, while dividing dissenters, and forcing them to compete individually.
2. Implement a system to track the populations activities and communications, automatically approximating individual allegiances and beliefs.
4. Obfuscate justice process, then gradually and subtly modify it in such a way as to discourage dissent, and encourage blind allegiance. Making use of information gleaned from step two justify all changes using system implemented in step one
5. use your new self-subjugating population as a tool to do your bidding
Under this interpretation the lead pipe and hammer would only be spooky after which it was clear that they'd be used as weapons, which I think is a pretty reasonable conclusion.
Expanding this back to the original subject matter, devices that can reasonably be assumed will be used as weapons, such as guided bombs and whatnot could justifiably be called "creepy", while something like a hammer, or even a rifle purchased for recreation could not.
If your opponent is throwing punches, you can defend yourself all you want, but unless you can strike back, the only question is how long you can last before you inevitably break.
Come to think of it, if you consider your analogies more carefully, you'll see that both are fundamentally flawed. Lets say a serial killer is on the loose, would you feel safe if all you had was the polices assurance that they'd try to protect you in the event of an attack, or would you rather have them collect evidence from previous attacks, and attempt track down and take out the killer preemptively? As for your reference to the antiquated, and soon to be extinct Record labels, of course we'd rather have them on the defensive, considering we're there adversaries.
I guess you inadvertently summed it up yourself:
the only time an offensive posture looks like a good defense is when you are on the side being more aggressive
I agree, if your fighting someone, and excellent strategy is only going to look "good" if your the one using it...
Forgive me for being so blunt, but this is /., if nowhere else on the internet, here I can rest assured that I'm not the only one that would do without ANY of those things you listed if it came between them and a computer.
Realistically, Zero
You may only have to buy one console for 4 players, but thats still more expensive than using PC's, which the players will without a doubt already have. To say you need a $1200+ computer to game is a gross exaggeration, nearly any standard desktop purchased today will play all but the most graphically intense games. add a $100 dollar graphics card, and most modern computers will play ANY game. The only people who'll need even a single high end graphics card are those that want to play all current games, AND play everything but crysis on maximum settings (for those who don't know, crysis is sort of a hybrid game / computer torture test).
Not to mention, 4 players on PC's each enjoy relatively silky frame rates, high resolutions, persistence of customized controls and settings, and (with some creativity) the ability to access their entire libraries of games without needing to lug around any fragile cd's. Where as 4 console players are often forced to play on 320x240 ~15cm chunk of crt from ~2m away, using disks that often get scratched or lost.
I own a 360 myself, but when playing any game that requires individual screens for each player, I'll choose multiplayer on my PC over my console any day.
Also, this is somewhat beside the point, but given the number of hours most /. readers spend at their computers, whats wrong with spending 1200 dollars on a decent one? Sure, nearly every part in it will be outdated in 3-6 years, but compared to what most people spend on fueling and maintaining their cars, thats not so much to ask if you use it daily.
Oh, he'll let you buy it, he just won't authorize it to display anything unless your a good consumer and do as your told with it. (and don't even think about letting anyone else look at it or **gasp** buy it from you)
As far as I'm concerned, if a crime is discovered by any means, than the offender should be open to prosecution. If the crime is discovered in the process of some illegal action, then that action should be punished independently of the crime. My only concerns are of the fairness of punishing someone for a crime of theirs that was only discovered because they did the right thing by calling attention to a more serious crime.