Ok, first things first. I never said I "Bought it". I do think that was part of the original intent in not fixing it, to make botting a little less trivial to implement. Another reason would be that, because PS2 players can't alt-tab and go browsing, they didn't want PC players able to do it. You're whole argument was that SE was too incompetent to fix it, I disagreed.
Second, I didn't start the WoW vs FFXI comparison. You did. You said it looked like crap, I said I disagreed. It's apples and oranges. Go and compare the two all you want, make all the statements you want about resolution, whatever... it doesn't really matter. I still think FFXI looks better than WoW. Since that's an opinion, you conceited jackass, I simply can't be wrong. Get it? Oh, and yeah, I did get the possible resolutions wrong, but hey, I was at work and had no access to the FFXI Config tool, and didn't feel like looking it up. 1024x1024 looks great on my PC, like I've said. You don't have to agree with me, since you're also entitled to you're opinion. However, lots of people who have played both FFXI and WoW have said the same thing... That FFXI looks better to them, and WoW looks goofy and cartoony.
Still have to wonder why its so important to you to bash this game, Anonymous Coward (hey, mind if I just call you Coward?). I mean, come on, Coward. I'll take the time to defend this game because I play and enjoy it. The only reason why I can see you taking this amount of time to bash it is because you're a sad, lonely, angry person who gets off on insulting other people. Hey, you deploy red herrings, I'll deploy ad hominem attacks.
"You do understand that all the excuses Square-Enix have given are complete bullshit, right?"
I understand what you're saying, I simply disagree. I think you are an angry, angry person who is extending far too much effort to bash a game you obviously don't care for. Why do you expend that effort? Just for the sake of arguing? To piss on other people's parades? Sad. Please feel free to move on. You may just find a life outside of being bitter.
So, what's your point in comparing those screenshots? That has nothing to do with what I said. You said, "looks like crap" I said I disagree. And then, what, you try to prove my opinion wrong by taking some random FFXI screenshot (where, frankly you can't see very much) and comparing it to a much larger screenshot of WoW (which, frankly, looks like Candyland on acid)... is that supposed to convince me, suddenly, that you are right? Hardly. As I said, it looks great on my machine. As far as running at 640x480... yeah, of course it won't look as nice. That's why anyone running a "modern machine" is going to be running at least 800X600. In fact, most machines made in the last few years should have no problems running at the highest resolution, which, in my opinion, blows WoW out of the water. And, yes, I've played both.
Even if I agreed that WoW looked better, it doesn't have any bearing to my statement that FFXI looks great. Lots of games look better than FFXI, in my opinion. It's just that FFXI looks pretty darned good to me. Also, as far as graphics go, it's not all about textures and resolutions. It's also about aesthetics. In my opinion, FFXI has WoW, and most other MMO's, beat on that. Throw as many screenshots as you want at me, I won't change my mind.
Now, as far as multiplatform, it seems obvious that we're going to continue to disagree here. The PC and PS2 versions are different enough that I consider that multiplatform, keeping in mind that the client has to remain very similar on both platforms, and the 360 is a port of the PC version if its a port of anything. Go on and rant all you want about me being wrong, AC. It won't budge me from thinking I'm right.
Now, are we done with this? I have other things to do.
Other folks have covered the ALT+TAB thing, so I'll tackle a couple of other things in your post.
First, that it looks like crap: I have to disagree. The game looks fantastic on my PC. The only way you can say that it looks the same as the PS2 is if you use all the lowest settings on the PC.
Second, that it requires a game controller to play: I've never used a gamepad, except when I've tried the PS2 version. Keyboard works just fine for me, thanks. I don't even need the mouse.
As far as it not being multiplatform... its one application that runs on multiple platforms. Multiplatform. PC/XBOX/PS2 all play together on the same servers, seamlessly. What is your definition of Multiplatform, that FFXI doesn't fit into it?
Good points, and that brings up an interesting issue... in a long-term mixed-gender crew, how do you deal with sexual assault, rape, abuse, etc? For that matter, how do you deal with fights, escalated arguments, and murder? People can really rub each other the wrong way, and when you have people in a confined space for that long, they won't be able to get away from the folks that are annoying them.
My advice is, make it possible that people can have absolute privacy if they choose during their downtime. Send a counselor out with them, too, to actively defuse any situations before they get out of control. And have clearly defined procedures on how to deal with criminal activity. Maybe even build a brig into the ship, or have an area that can be turned into a brig if needed
Having spent a grand total of 30 minutes reading up on it, I hereby declare myself to be an expert on "Bat-Shit Crazy Lawyers". In my expert opinion, the subject is, indeed, Bat-Shit Crazy. I recommend he be commited to the nearest Looney Bin, Wacky Shack, or Nut house.
I've seen reps refer to it both ways. Heck, if you go to their website, the logo reads "Final Fantasy XI Online". Either way, I don't really care
So, how do you define "very few"? Hundreds of thousands of active accounts (not counting multiple characters on one account) is "very few"? Maybe it seems that way now, but pre-WoW this was huge. Last statistics I heard that I considered reliable were something like 600 thousand people playing. Peak was more than that, sure, but 600k is nothing to laugh about. Even if it's currently "only" half of that, it's still a massive number of folks playing. I'd say the numbers are closer to half a million, though. There's no way you can honestly consider half a million people to be "very few", can you? Less than the top five (WoW, Lineage 1&2, Second Life, Runescape, if I remember right... could be wrong) doesn't mean that FFXI is a ghost town. Servers are still packed, trust me.
Also, SE are developing more Online games, and rumors abound about a new MMO, though details are scarce. I'm not talking about Fantasy Earth (which fell through), but they've confirmed that they are working on a new one.
What I think is that maybe they haven't developed more FF MMORPGs because this one has met with unexpected success. If they developed one at the three year mark, all they would have done was split their customer base at its peak while doubling support costs.
I agree with you though. SE has made statements before that they've ended up retracting. That's a good thing, though, if they're willing to change course to avoid making a big mistake. Do you have a link to that statement about FF games going MMO-only? I can't find one.
"Remember how Square-Enix announced that FFX was going to be the last single-player Final Fantasy and that all other Final Fantasies after that were going to be multi-player online games?"
No, I don't. Do you have a source for that? I remember them saying the exact opposite, that FFXI would be online but they would continue making single-player games, though I could be wrong
"How many people here can even name the Final Fantasy MMORPG correctly, let alone ever played it for more than a few months?"
You mean Final Fantasy XI Online? Yeah, I've been playing that since the NA release back in 2003. So, going on four years. And I can say that as many people play this game today as they did back then. While the population has declined somewhat from it's high point (I think that was 2004?), there are still hundreds of thousands who play. Any time I log in to my server, there are between 2000-3500 players on, depending on the time of day. Now, that may not seem like a lot by WoW standards, but it's still an impressive amount of people playing. Especially when you consider that the game is five years old. I don't think saying that "very few people still play it" is accurate.
Furthermore, FFXI still receives a lot of support from SE. They recently implemented the Special Task Force, dedicated to tracking down cheaters and real-money-trade folks, and have been making fantastic strides... to the tune of well over 10,000 accounts permanently banned over the last several months for cheating. They're still releasing new content for their last expansion, including new missions, quests, and chocobo racing. They keep on tweaking the game mechanics to adapt to the current player base (new signet enhancements make it easier to level a lower-level character without a full party, for example).
SE is on record saying that as long as people continue to play FFXI, they will support it. I believe them. I think they take a lot of pride in the world they've created, and they want it to continue for as long as it possibly can.
I had the exact opposite experience, at a left turn, while waiting for a green arrow. The light stayed red forever. I was about the fourth car back. The second car back was a cop. The first car was obviously too terrified to turn, even after about 10 minutes of waiting for that damned light to change. The cop eventually got out and told the driver to move his damned ass, as the light was obviously not working. He then went down the line and told each of us that, if the light was still red when we got up there, to go ahead and go (carefully) through.
Reminds me of something my wife was telling me... it used to be, those who made patterns for crafts (knitting, cross-stitch, whatever) could make some money off of selling them. That started to go downhill when photocopiers became common, and even moreso now that you can just scan and upload and distribute them with no real cost to yourself.
Not that most folks on/. really know or care what happens to the poor pattern designers:)
I just avoid going to movies that are "kid-friendly" (anything pixar, for example) during a time when there are likely to be more kids around. Midnight showings are good for that.
As far as just putting your phone on vibrate... no, just turn it off. Those incredibly bright flashes of light as people check their phones is nearly as distracting as the ringing itself. My opinion, if you can't spend 2 hours without a phone, then just wait for the damned movie to come out on DVD.
I agree completely. You get someone who makes 30,000 a year and has a net worth of, say, 5000 and a guy who makes 5 million a year and has a net worth of 15 million who both do the same thing and face a $2000 fine, obviously the first person is going to have a much, much harder time paying that. The second guy can just laugh it off.
We should replace all fines with community service. If some rich bastard needs to spend 100+ hours cleaning crap off the side of the roads, delivering meals to invalads, and scrubbing the graffiti off of buildings, he might be much more reluctant to face the same penalty again, regardless of wealth. If it's a corporation, then the board all get community service.
It will never, ever happen, though. The rich and powerful will never set up a system that doesn't favor the rich and powerful, and the poor's only solution is to revolt. Which will make new folks rich and powerful, who will set up another system that favors them, etc. etc.
If malaria gets wiped off the map, that's more time and resources these folks would have to spend on developing farmlands, hospitals, roads, schools, etc. All of which would greatly improve their lives signifigantly. You'd see a sharp spike in population as folks continue to have kids at the same rate, but after a couple of generations that would start to slow down. Getting rid of malaria really seems to be a win/win situation.
The above, of course, is just my opinion and may or may not be true:)
Yeah, I have to agree... When I went to read the wiki on this, I was amazed to find out exacly how bad this disease is... 300-400 million infected each year, 1-3 million of those who end up dead, and probably millions more with permanent brain damage. There may be negative side effects, but its really hard to imagine the cure being worse than the disease.
Unless, of course, the parasite adapts to the new super-mosquitos and create a new, super malaria that is more infectious with a higher mortality rate.
But wrong on a few counts. There are so many reasons to keep things locked down. Data security is the main one. There is also support issues, regulatory issues, etc. For example... traders don't get to use IM where I work. Know why? Because the SEC wants to be able to pull records of all financial instructions, and our traders wanted to send trade instructions to each other via IM. We had no way at that time to record IM's, and no way to confirm that an IM was actually read by the person it was sent to in a timely manner.
This is kind of interesting, from the article:
"When you find that people have broken rules, the best thing to do is try to figure out why and to learn from it."
Sorry, no. When you find out that people have broken the rules, you write them up or you fire them, depending on the severity of the situation. What if the rule that was broken was someone carting around an unencrypted "backup" of a customer database on a thumbdrive, which he lost? Where I work, that's three major rules broken right there. If that happened, that person would be fired immediately.
Corporations aren't stupid. Hidebound, maybe, and slow to change, but if something is forbidden, there is usually a really good reason for it. Also, IT does not run the company, in most cases. Follow the chain of command up high enough, and you'll find IT's bosses. If you have a tool that you need or want, then petition for change. Don't do an end-run around the guys that are trying to keep you working, you're only going to hamstring yourself in the end.
The major problem is, people are making their decisions based on commercials or salesmen that promise an easy, 100% reliable solution to an existing problem. Then they run to IT to complain when the product doesn't perform the way it was supposed to. This makes extra work for an IT department that is probably already overworked. You want to play with toys, play with them on your own gear, not the corporate gear.
That said, a wise CIO is going to pay attention to what the employees say they need to find out:
a): If they really need it
b): If there isn't something better or already in-house that can fill that need
c): Is it safe to use, and what are the support requirements.
The important thing then is to tell the end user, No, you can't have that because of: ___, and give them an actual reason, instead of just telling them "against policy"
I can sympathise with you here, especially on the comedy stuff. Certain types of humor is just too "real" and embarrasing to me. I can see why it's funny, but I just squirm when it's on. Pretty much anything involving prank calls to real people, for example, or candid-camera situations... can't handle them. And that applies to a lot of drama-overloaded "reality" tv as well. Flavor of Love is a decent into hell that culminates in I Love New York. Just the commercials for those shows makes me uncomfortable.
My wife was really into "Who Wants to Be a Superhero" a while back, and we were talking about why I couldn't watch it with her. I finally just told her, "I feel the shame that those people should be feeling"
So, to each their own. I prefer my comedy totally absurd and non-reality based. Like Monty Python, etc.
They would recieve it, start going through it, and it would be like this:
"Got it, got it, got it, that's new, got it, got it... gross, delete that! Got it, got it... is that even legal?!"
Anyway, I think it would be a comfort to most people to think that, after they're gone, people don't think of them as a massive pervert. Thus, deleting the porn:)
I was a big BG fan both before and after the recall. After the big "kids could choke on this!" hoopla, they started releasing those toys with slightly modified missiles, with an extra plastic peice to stop it from actually leaving the toy after being "fired". It would move maybe an eighth of an inch or so.
I did what any kid would do in that situation. I took the toy apart, cut off the extra plastic (with a knife I heated up on the stove, no less... easier to cut plastic that way) and immediately shot my brother in the eye with it.
I'd like to hear how he qualifies that, especially the seperation of church and state comment. How exactly is freedom of religion under attack in today's environment? What recent court rulings are curtailing freedom of speech re: religion?
It's easy to just throw a statement like that out there without backing it up.
As far as who directs it, how they butcher the story, etc. etc... I can honestly say that I don't care all that much. All I really care about is that they make Smaug look really, incredibly cool, and have him kick major ass. In fact, if they just have 60 minutes of Smaug flying around and burning stuff, I'd go and see that.
What? I like dragons
In all honesty, though, I'd rather the movie not be made at all then to see it made poorly. But, sadly, the quality of the storytelling doesn't enter into it when the moguls see dollar signs
That's a very good point.
I've talked to my wife about this... according to her, many girls in high school, and young women just out of high school, actually WANT to get pregnant, for a variety of reasons. Which may include any combination of the following:
1. To keep a man in a relationship with them
2. To have something that will love them and that they can dote on
3. To feel more like a grownup
4. To get "free welfare" so they don't have to work (yes, I actually knew someone who got pregnant for this reason... sick, huh?)
Thing is, not too many high-school or college age boys really want to be daddies. Male contraceptives like this are a safeguard (though, not 100%) against this kind of life-altering event. It's happened to both my brothers, and to my brother-in-law. Not that they don't love their kids, of course, but before they were born, they didn't want to be a parent quite yet. Now they're stuck still having to associate with women that they stopped having a romantic relationship with years ago, simply because they're the mother of their child. Oh, and paying tons of child support.
Simple rule of thumb... If you don't want to have kids, don't trust the woman's contraceptives. Bring your own. Because sometimes women lie, or make mistakes (like taking antibiotics while on the pill, which reduces it's effectiveness. That could be a nice surprise) or whatever. And, having two kinds of birth control (yours and hers) while still not 100% effective, lowers the odds even further of an "accident" happening.
No, it should be legal. It's all about freedom of the press, after all. I just wish the media would pay as much attention to politicians and corporations as they do to celebrities. What Britney Spears does has remarkably little effect on my life. I'd rather know what the people who hold the power are up to. Shine a little light on them, keep them humble and watching their steps.
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Second, I didn't start the WoW vs FFXI comparison. You did. You said it looked like crap, I said I disagreed. It's apples and oranges. Go and compare the two all you want, make all the statements you want about resolution, whatever... it doesn't really matter. I still think FFXI looks better than WoW. Since that's an opinion, you conceited jackass, I simply can't be wrong. Get it? Oh, and yeah, I did get the possible resolutions wrong, but hey, I was at work and had no access to the FFXI Config tool, and didn't feel like looking it up. 1024x1024 looks great on my PC, like I've said. You don't have to agree with me, since you're also entitled to you're opinion. However, lots of people who have played both FFXI and WoW have said the same thing... That FFXI looks better to them, and WoW looks goofy and cartoony.
Still have to wonder why its so important to you to bash this game, Anonymous Coward (hey, mind if I just call you Coward?). I mean, come on, Coward. I'll take the time to defend this game because I play and enjoy it. The only reason why I can see you taking this amount of time to bash it is because you're a sad, lonely, angry person who gets off on insulting other people. Hey, you deploy red herrings, I'll deploy ad hominem attacks.
I understand what you're saying, I simply disagree. I think you are an angry, angry person who is extending far too much effort to bash a game you obviously don't care for. Why do you expend that effort? Just for the sake of arguing? To piss on other people's parades? Sad. Please feel free to move on. You may just find a life outside of being bitter.
So, what's your point in comparing those screenshots? That has nothing to do with what I said. You said, "looks like crap" I said I disagree. And then, what, you try to prove my opinion wrong by taking some random FFXI screenshot (where, frankly you can't see very much) and comparing it to a much larger screenshot of WoW (which, frankly, looks like Candyland on acid)... is that supposed to convince me, suddenly, that you are right? Hardly. As I said, it looks great on my machine. As far as running at 640x480... yeah, of course it won't look as nice. That's why anyone running a "modern machine" is going to be running at least 800X600. In fact, most machines made in the last few years should have no problems running at the highest resolution, which, in my opinion, blows WoW out of the water. And, yes, I've played both.
Even if I agreed that WoW looked better, it doesn't have any bearing to my statement that FFXI looks great. Lots of games look better than FFXI, in my opinion. It's just that FFXI looks pretty darned good to me. Also, as far as graphics go, it's not all about textures and resolutions. It's also about aesthetics. In my opinion, FFXI has WoW, and most other MMO's, beat on that. Throw as many screenshots as you want at me, I won't change my mind.
Now, as far as multiplatform, it seems obvious that we're going to continue to disagree here. The PC and PS2 versions are different enough that I consider that multiplatform, keeping in mind that the client has to remain very similar on both platforms, and the 360 is a port of the PC version if its a port of anything. Go on and rant all you want about me being wrong, AC. It won't budge me from thinking I'm right.
Now, are we done with this? I have other things to do.
First, that it looks like crap: I have to disagree. The game looks fantastic on my PC. The only way you can say that it looks the same as the PS2 is if you use all the lowest settings on the PC.
Second, that it requires a game controller to play: I've never used a gamepad, except when I've tried the PS2 version. Keyboard works just fine for me, thanks. I don't even need the mouse.
As far as it not being multiplatform... its one application that runs on multiple platforms. Multiplatform. PC/XBOX/PS2 all play together on the same servers, seamlessly. What is your definition of Multiplatform, that FFXI doesn't fit into it?
My advice is, make it possible that people can have absolute privacy if they choose during their downtime. Send a counselor out with them, too, to actively defuse any situations before they get out of control. And have clearly defined procedures on how to deal with criminal activity. Maybe even build a brig into the ship, or have an area that can be turned into a brig if needed
Declaring yourself an expert is easy, I love it!
Sure like to be snide, don'tcha? :)
I've seen reps refer to it both ways. Heck, if you go to their website, the logo reads "Final Fantasy XI Online". Either way, I don't really care
So, how do you define "very few"? Hundreds of thousands of active accounts (not counting multiple characters on one account) is "very few"? Maybe it seems that way now, but pre-WoW this was huge. Last statistics I heard that I considered reliable were something like 600 thousand people playing. Peak was more than that, sure, but 600k is nothing to laugh about. Even if it's currently "only" half of that, it's still a massive number of folks playing. I'd say the numbers are closer to half a million, though. There's no way you can honestly consider half a million people to be "very few", can you? Less than the top five (WoW, Lineage 1&2, Second Life, Runescape, if I remember right... could be wrong) doesn't mean that FFXI is a ghost town. Servers are still packed, trust me.
Also, SE are developing more Online games, and rumors abound about a new MMO, though details are scarce. I'm not talking about Fantasy Earth (which fell through), but they've confirmed that they are working on a new one.
What I think is that maybe they haven't developed more FF MMORPGs because this one has met with unexpected success. If they developed one at the three year mark, all they would have done was split their customer base at its peak while doubling support costs.
I agree with you though. SE has made statements before that they've ended up retracting. That's a good thing, though, if they're willing to change course to avoid making a big mistake. Do you have a link to that statement about FF games going MMO-only? I can't find one.
No, I don't. Do you have a source for that? I remember them saying the exact opposite, that FFXI would be online but they would continue making single-player games, though I could be wrong
"How many people here can even name the Final Fantasy MMORPG correctly, let alone ever played it for more than a few months?"
You mean Final Fantasy XI Online? Yeah, I've been playing that since the NA release back in 2003. So, going on four years. And I can say that as many people play this game today as they did back then. While the population has declined somewhat from it's high point (I think that was 2004?), there are still hundreds of thousands who play. Any time I log in to my server, there are between 2000-3500 players on, depending on the time of day. Now, that may not seem like a lot by WoW standards, but it's still an impressive amount of people playing. Especially when you consider that the game is five years old. I don't think saying that "very few people still play it" is accurate.
Furthermore, FFXI still receives a lot of support from SE. They recently implemented the Special Task Force, dedicated to tracking down cheaters and real-money-trade folks, and have been making fantastic strides... to the tune of well over 10,000 accounts permanently banned over the last several months for cheating. They're still releasing new content for their last expansion, including new missions, quests, and chocobo racing. They keep on tweaking the game mechanics to adapt to the current player base (new signet enhancements make it easier to level a lower-level character without a full party, for example).
SE is on record saying that as long as people continue to play FFXI, they will support it. I believe them. I think they take a lot of pride in the world they've created, and they want it to continue for as long as it possibly can.
Once again, we prove our vast superiority over the monkeys!
...
Apes! I meant apes!
dammit...
I had the exact opposite experience, at a left turn, while waiting for a green arrow. The light stayed red forever. I was about the fourth car back. The second car back was a cop. The first car was obviously too terrified to turn, even after about 10 minutes of waiting for that damned light to change. The cop eventually got out and told the driver to move his damned ass, as the light was obviously not working. He then went down the line and told each of us that, if the light was still red when we got up there, to go ahead and go (carefully) through.
Not that most folks on /. really know or care what happens to the poor pattern designers :)
As far as just putting your phone on vibrate... no, just turn it off. Those incredibly bright flashes of light as people check their phones is nearly as distracting as the ringing itself. My opinion, if you can't spend 2 hours without a phone, then just wait for the damned movie to come out on DVD.
We should replace all fines with community service. If some rich bastard needs to spend 100+ hours cleaning crap off the side of the roads, delivering meals to invalads, and scrubbing the graffiti off of buildings, he might be much more reluctant to face the same penalty again, regardless of wealth. If it's a corporation, then the board all get community service.
It will never, ever happen, though. The rich and powerful will never set up a system that doesn't favor the rich and powerful, and the poor's only solution is to revolt. Which will make new folks rich and powerful, who will set up another system that favors them, etc. etc.
If malaria gets wiped off the map, that's more time and resources these folks would have to spend on developing farmlands, hospitals, roads, schools, etc. All of which would greatly improve their lives signifigantly. You'd see a sharp spike in population as folks continue to have kids at the same rate, but after a couple of generations that would start to slow down. Getting rid of malaria really seems to be a win/win situation. The above, of course, is just my opinion and may or may not be true :)
Unless, of course, the parasite adapts to the new super-mosquitos and create a new, super malaria that is more infectious with a higher mortality rate.
This is kind of interesting, from the article:
"When you find that people have broken rules, the best thing to do is try to figure out why and to learn from it."
Sorry, no. When you find out that people have broken the rules, you write them up or you fire them, depending on the severity of the situation. What if the rule that was broken was someone carting around an unencrypted "backup" of a customer database on a thumbdrive, which he lost? Where I work, that's three major rules broken right there. If that happened, that person would be fired immediately.
Corporations aren't stupid. Hidebound, maybe, and slow to change, but if something is forbidden, there is usually a really good reason for it. Also, IT does not run the company, in most cases. Follow the chain of command up high enough, and you'll find IT's bosses. If you have a tool that you need or want, then petition for change. Don't do an end-run around the guys that are trying to keep you working, you're only going to hamstring yourself in the end.
The major problem is, people are making their decisions based on commercials or salesmen that promise an easy, 100% reliable solution to an existing problem. Then they run to IT to complain when the product doesn't perform the way it was supposed to. This makes extra work for an IT department that is probably already overworked. You want to play with toys, play with them on your own gear, not the corporate gear.
That said, a wise CIO is going to pay attention to what the employees say they need to find out:
a): If they really need it
b): If there isn't something better or already in-house that can fill that need
c): Is it safe to use, and what are the support requirements.
The important thing then is to tell the end user, No, you can't have that because of: ___, and give them an actual reason, instead of just telling them "against policy"
My wife was really into "Who Wants to Be a Superhero" a while back, and we were talking about why I couldn't watch it with her. I finally just told her, "I feel the shame that those people should be feeling"
So, to each their own. I prefer my comedy totally absurd and non-reality based. Like Monty Python, etc.
"Got it, got it, got it, that's new, got it, got it... gross, delete that! Got it, got it... is that even legal?!"
Anyway, I think it would be a comfort to most people to think that, after they're gone, people don't think of them as a massive pervert. Thus, deleting the porn :)
I did what any kid would do in that situation. I took the toy apart, cut off the extra plastic (with a knife I heated up on the stove, no less... easier to cut plastic that way) and immediately shot my brother in the eye with it.
Good times. Good times.
It's easy to just throw a statement like that out there without backing it up.
What? I like dragons
In all honesty, though, I'd rather the movie not be made at all then to see it made poorly. But, sadly, the quality of the storytelling doesn't enter into it when the moguls see dollar signs
1. To keep a man in a relationship with them
2. To have something that will love them and that they can dote on
3. To feel more like a grownup
4. To get "free welfare" so they don't have to work (yes, I actually knew someone who got pregnant for this reason... sick, huh?)
Thing is, not too many high-school or college age boys really want to be daddies. Male contraceptives like this are a safeguard (though, not 100%) against this kind of life-altering event. It's happened to both my brothers, and to my brother-in-law. Not that they don't love their kids, of course, but before they were born, they didn't want to be a parent quite yet. Now they're stuck still having to associate with women that they stopped having a romantic relationship with years ago, simply because they're the mother of their child. Oh, and paying tons of child support.
Simple rule of thumb... If you don't want to have kids, don't trust the woman's contraceptives. Bring your own. Because sometimes women lie, or make mistakes (like taking antibiotics while on the pill, which reduces it's effectiveness. That could be a nice surprise) or whatever. And, having two kinds of birth control (yours and hers) while still not 100% effective, lowers the odds even further of an "accident" happening.
Yep, totally right. Free press being legal doesn't make other, now criminal acts legal.
No, it should be legal. It's all about freedom of the press, after all. I just wish the media would pay as much attention to politicians and corporations as they do to celebrities. What Britney Spears does has remarkably little effect on my life. I'd rather know what the people who hold the power are up to. Shine a little light on them, keep them humble and watching their steps.
Excuse me, I have a large man wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket knocking on my door. Be right back.
I won't need to quit if I keep goofing round on Slashdot...