There's an awfully huge difference between 'need' and 'want.' There's also an awfully huge problem with assigning the concept of a 'need' to an entire race.
After all, what an American 'needs' and what, say, a starving Ethopian 'needs' are pretty far apart.
After all, did, say, Sir Richard Branson 'need' to try flying around the world on a hot air balloon? For all we know, aliens did, in fact, make it to the Earth in 1947, but they were the alien version of very bored, very rich folks with too much time on their hands. Or the alien versions of crackpot inventors.
Nah, libraries are already like CRPGs. Young adventurers seeking information from wizened (or withered) old sages (or crones) who then send them on tedious fetch quests.
Why would Microsoft seek protection from patent suits?
Well, when lots of American companies view litegation as a profit center, or a valid 'screw with the other guy's business' tactic, it saves them the hassle.
Novell says 'Hey, we have a patent for X,and Microsoft does something X-like!' and MS has to go through five years of discovery, wrangling and so on, for some judge to say 'Nope, they're different.' And Novell says 'Great, just checking. Hey, we have a patent for Y, and Microsoft does something Y-Like!
Or, put another way, does signing a non-aggression treaty automatically mean that you were planning for war?
But this new Manhunt has taken the snuff film to another level. In the Wii version of Manhunt 2, gamers can perform the physical acts as they would be performed in real life. You don't strangle someone by pushing buttons, you strangle them by strangling them. It can realistically be described as a "snuff film simulator".
As opposed to Red Steel or Zelda: Twilight Princess, where you don't cleave somebody in twain by pressing buttons, but by cleaving them in twain; it can realistically be described as a 'bloody murder simulator.'
Should Manhunt 2 be rated AO? Probably. But unfortunately, AO has a terrible stigma that isn't deserved. Hell, the ESRB's M rating is already pretty much the equal of the MPAA's NC-17 rating; do not allow anybody under 17. As opposed to the MPAA's R rating; under 17 OK if accompanied.
The 'kiss of death' argument assumes that the MPAA controls the entirety of what someone living in the US is allowed to watch. This, at a minimum, completely dismisses the entire adult film industry, as though it did not exist at all.
Well, there are two classifications of movies; that which the MPAA blesses, and "adult films." If something is rated NC-17, most theaters won't carry it. Most stores won't stock it. This is why you don't see NC-17 films at, say, Blockbuster, but tons and tons of 'unrated' films.
What would that show up as on the ingredient list? Looking at a bottle of Canadian Dr Pepper, the 2nd ingreedient is "Sugar/Glucose-Fructose", and no corn syrup is listed anywhere.
Christianity has proscriptions against usury, but no problem with investing and trade; see the parable of the master and three servants.
Islam has some requirements, but there are Sharia-compatible banks and mortgages and what not. They're actually getting pretty popular amoung non-Moslems in North America as well.
But all the Electoral College does is shift the power from the populous states to the unpopulous states. Instead of states with more votes getting the campaign attention, it's the states with more EC seats getting the attention.
Here's an interesting thought; randomize the EC.
Or, in this day and age, do away with it. After all, everybody who cares to can see the debates and what not on the TV or Radio, let alone the Internets.
It was a perfectly good popcorn flick, for starters. And it had some interesting ideas.
And for the record, they wern't whispering to avoid being heard through the vacuum of space. They were whispering because that's what humans do, by instinct, when they know they're being hunted.
As a corallary, and going back to the Linksys example, I've seen, oh, five or six different firmwares for Linksys boxes. I've never seen the Linksys firmware adapted to other hardware.
In other words, chances are that even if somebody else puts out a better version of your opened software, you're still going to be selling the hardware it runs on. Assuming, of course, that your hardware can't be simply replaced with an old computer that somebody has lying around. So, engineer the box properly, and you'll still sell.
Well, in both cases, I'd say that the uniforms had nothing to do with it; Germany in WW2 was a combination of stupid decisions by Hitler, and the general problems with fighting a two-front war.
Vietnam, of course, wasn't even a war. But a lack of clearly defined objectives, and the political will to see them through, doomed that little conflict from the get-go.
Must have misread the OP. In either event, what I was trying to say was 'Uniforms don't win or lose wars; the sorts of armies that produce a certain type of uniform are the sorts of armies that do other things that cause them to tend to win/lose wars.' It could be that an army preoccupied with looking pretty tends to skimp on training and equipment.
You know, I could believe that, but as a correlation, not a causation.
Something along the lines of 'an army that outfits it's personnel with proper uniforms, and pays attention to the details of updating them every once in a while, is also the sort of army that tends to provide personnel with proper training and equipment.'
This, of course, doesn't mean that buying snazzy uniforms instantly jumps your combat efficiency. Somebody, however, has tried this, and hoped it works.
Ah yes, the hypnotic mind-control phalanxes that put pilots to sleep.
(This was an actual explanation put forth by a developer of Civilization: Call to Power about why a bronze-age phalanx could occassionally destroy stealth bombers.)
One of the prevailing theories of how the Cold War was fought by the US was that Reagan forced the USSR into a spending race, and caused the USSR to bankrupt themselves.
By that theory, yes, keeping the amount secret would, in fact, be a good thing to do.
No, actually, it's printed 'on-demand' at the mints. The term you're looking for is 'money supply,' and it's increased or decreased by the Federal Bank more or less at whim.
A few weeks before Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime 2 came out, last summer I believe, I managed to find an MP3 rip of the album online a few weeks before it hit stores. I just couldn't wait, so I grabbed it. "Holy crap," I thought, "this is terribly compressed. Heavily normalized, and the frequencies are all flattened. And the sound levels are terrible; you can barely make out the vocals from the instrumentals."
A few weeks later, I grabbed the retail CD, and discovered, sadly, that the MP3s were a very accurate rip.
Really? back in the day, the British considered the IRA to be 'terrorists,' who specifically bombed 'public places.' Yes, they gave advanced warning. Not a mitigating factor.
They, of course, referred to themselves as the 'Irish Republican Army,' and did a fair chunk of their fundraising in the good old US of A.
So, one man's Soldier is another man's Terrorist, and a third man's charity of choice.
Slashdot Mirror
There's an awfully huge difference between 'need' and 'want.' There's also an awfully huge problem with assigning the concept of a 'need' to an entire race.
After all, what an American 'needs' and what, say, a starving Ethopian 'needs' are pretty far apart.
After all, did, say, Sir Richard Branson 'need' to try flying around the world on a hot air balloon? For all we know, aliens did, in fact, make it to the Earth in 1947, but they were the alien version of very bored, very rich folks with too much time on their hands. Or the alien versions of crackpot inventors.
Nah, libraries are already like CRPGs. Young adventurers seeking information from wizened (or withered) old sages (or crones) who then send them on tedious fetch quests.
Well, when lots of American companies view litegation as a profit center, or a valid 'screw with the other guy's business' tactic, it saves them the hassle.
Novell says 'Hey, we have a patent for X,and Microsoft does something X-like!' and MS has to go through five years of discovery, wrangling and so on, for some judge to say 'Nope, they're different.' And Novell says 'Great, just checking. Hey, we have a patent for Y, and Microsoft does something Y-Like!
Or, put another way, does signing a non-aggression treaty automatically mean that you were planning for war?
Silent Hill 2 involved prolonged scenes of violence, terrible gore, and on-screen rape, straight up front. And merited only an M.
As opposed to Red Steel or Zelda: Twilight Princess, where you don't cleave somebody in twain by pressing buttons, but by cleaving them in twain; it can realistically be described as a 'bloody murder simulator.'
Should Manhunt 2 be rated AO? Probably. But unfortunately, AO has a terrible stigma that isn't deserved. Hell, the ESRB's M rating is already pretty much the equal of the MPAA's NC-17 rating; do not allow anybody under 17. As opposed to the MPAA's R rating; under 17 OK if accompanied.
Woah. WOAH.
You've got a terrible headache. I perscribe painkillers. I've cured the symptoms. Surprise, the problem is a blood clot! You die!
Fixing the symptoms without fixing the underlying problem is often the worst thing to do, actually.
I wonder what would have happened if they'd called the game pretty much anything other than 'Manhunt 2.' Say, 'Asylum' or 'Blackout.'
Well, there are two classifications of movies; that which the MPAA blesses, and "adult films." If something is rated NC-17, most theaters won't carry it. Most stores won't stock it. This is why you don't see NC-17 films at, say, Blockbuster, but tons and tons of 'unrated' films.
What would that show up as on the ingredient list? Looking at a bottle of Canadian Dr Pepper, the 2nd ingreedient is "Sugar/Glucose-Fructose", and no corn syrup is listed anywhere.
Christianity has proscriptions against usury, but no problem with investing and trade; see the parable of the master and three servants.
Islam has some requirements, but there are Sharia-compatible banks and mortgages and what not. They're actually getting pretty popular amoung non-Moslems in North America as well.
But all the Electoral College does is shift the power from the populous states to the unpopulous states. Instead of states with more votes getting the campaign attention, it's the states with more EC seats getting the attention.
Here's an interesting thought; randomize the EC.
Or, in this day and age, do away with it. After all, everybody who cares to can see the debates and what not on the TV or Radio, let alone the Internets.
It was a perfectly good popcorn flick, for starters. And it had some interesting ideas.
And for the record, they wern't whispering to avoid being heard through the vacuum of space. They were whispering because that's what humans do, by instinct, when they know they're being hunted.
For the record, Moore agrees with you; he doesn't characterize what he makes as documentaries.
As a corallary, and going back to the Linksys example, I've seen, oh, five or six different firmwares for Linksys boxes. I've never seen the Linksys firmware adapted to other hardware.
In other words, chances are that even if somebody else puts out a better version of your opened software, you're still going to be selling the hardware it runs on. Assuming, of course, that your hardware can't be simply replaced with an old computer that somebody has lying around. So, engineer the box properly, and you'll still sell.
And, sadly, it's the way that Google helps individuals counter correct, if unpleasant, information.
Just another place to apply spin, I'm afraid.
Says who?
Well, in both cases, I'd say that the uniforms had nothing to do with it; Germany in WW2 was a combination of stupid decisions by Hitler, and the general problems with fighting a two-front war.
Vietnam, of course, wasn't even a war. But a lack of clearly defined objectives, and the political will to see them through, doomed that little conflict from the get-go.
Must have misread the OP. In either event, what I was trying to say was 'Uniforms don't win or lose wars; the sorts of armies that produce a certain type of uniform are the sorts of armies that do other things that cause them to tend to win/lose wars.' It could be that an army preoccupied with looking pretty tends to skimp on training and equipment.
You know, I could believe that, but as a correlation, not a causation.
Something along the lines of 'an army that outfits it's personnel with proper uniforms, and pays attention to the details of updating them every once in a while, is also the sort of army that tends to provide personnel with proper training and equipment.'
This, of course, doesn't mean that buying snazzy uniforms instantly jumps your combat efficiency. Somebody, however, has tried this, and hoped it works.
Ah yes, the hypnotic mind-control phalanxes that put pilots to sleep.
(This was an actual explanation put forth by a developer of Civilization: Call to Power about why a bronze-age phalanx could occassionally destroy stealth bombers.)
This is, of course, the other prevailing theory.
One of the prevailing theories of how the Cold War was fought by the US was that Reagan forced the USSR into a spending race, and caused the USSR to bankrupt themselves.
By that theory, yes, keeping the amount secret would, in fact, be a good thing to do.
No, actually, it's printed 'on-demand' at the mints. The term you're looking for is 'money supply,' and it's increased or decreased by the Federal Bank more or less at whim.
A few weeks before Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime 2 came out, last summer I believe, I managed to find an MP3 rip of the album online a few weeks before it hit stores. I just couldn't wait, so I grabbed it. "Holy crap," I thought, "this is terribly compressed. Heavily normalized, and the frequencies are all flattened. And the sound levels are terrible; you can barely make out the vocals from the instrumentals."
A few weeks later, I grabbed the retail CD, and discovered, sadly, that the MP3s were a very accurate rip.
Really? back in the day, the British considered the IRA to be 'terrorists,' who specifically bombed 'public places.' Yes, they gave advanced warning. Not a mitigating factor.
They, of course, referred to themselves as the 'Irish Republican Army,' and did a fair chunk of their fundraising in the good old US of A.
So, one man's Soldier is another man's Terrorist, and a third man's charity of choice.