"ensure a hidden surveillence camera is running while you're gone"
Make sure that camera was manufactured before 1997, and has never been brought in for service or repair. Because any camera released after that has a chip in it which broadcasts everything the camera sees to the nearest government listening post (it continues to broadcast even when you think the camera is off!).
This paranoid rant was brought to you by A Raving Lunatic... and Cheerios.
You go with Apple, you're dealing with Apple. Go with Dell, and you're dealing with Dell... and Microsoft. These people don't need to worry about weird licensing agreements and whatnot.
On the other hand, I'd prefer to see the money go towards some actual teachers and textbooks, since they do a much more effective job of teaching then laptops do.
Of course he would. "Why the hell am I just standing here holding a nine-pound bad of sand? This is stupid!" I think a woman would react much the same way when holding a bag of sand for no reason.
Personally, I can hold a baby for extremely long periods of time without complaining, since babies are so much cuter then bags of sand.
When you log into Final Fantasy XI, it has a little statement on it saying something along the lines of, "This game is fun, but please don't forget your friends and family." Maybe because of this lawsuit. Of course, that doesn't stop me from playing it whenever I get the chance. But as far as addictive goes, I can stop playing when I want to (I often go for days without playing, because I have other stuff to do). Not that games can't be addicting, but its not like the game companies drive out and give you a free shot of heroin every time you play.
I'm not sure about that. I might be perfectly willing to kill myself if HAL launches into his rendition of "Daisy". On an infinite loop. "Stop singing, HAL!" "I'm afraid I can't do that Dave. Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do..."
"Racial characteristics are genetically determined."
Physical racial characteristics, yes. But not social or religious characteristics. Hitler's program of extermination was based as much on social and religious differences as it was the minimally different racial characteristics of the Jewish people. I only mentioned that in response to this statement you made: "How is this position different than Hitler maintaining that humans beings without certain genetic traits are unworthy of life?" (emphasis mine). I was simply trying to point out that Hitler wasn't only considering genetic differences when he targeted the Jews.
"You really do need to read some biology texts" And you really need to try to understand what I wrote before you post an inflammatory reply.
"Your argument bascially boils down to: A human being is only worthy of life once it has reached an arbitrarily selected point in its normal biological development."
Nope. My argument was "until it has a brain, it's debatable as to whether or not it even counts as a human being."
You sure like bringing up Hitler. Hitler was probably never very concerned with genetics. He was concerned with race (as defined by racial characteristics i.e. skin tone) and ethnic background.
And no, I did not reiterate your post. I pointed out what I considered to be two flaws in your argument. Also, saying that, at some point a fetus WILL develop a brain and a distinct personality is akin to saying that, at some point that fetus WILL die of old age. How does that apply to the argument "does a fertilised egg count as a person from the moment of conception"? Also, the statement, "Therefore, you have determined that human beings at an arbitrary stage of development are unworthy of life" is incorrect. I said it was debatable. I never said I agreed or disagreed. But I'll run with that just for the hell of it. My skin is alive. It has human DNA. But if you were able to remove some of my skin cells and keep them alive in a petri dish, I would not consider that a human being. Similarly, if a person believes that you need a functioning brain to be considered a human being, then the zygote floating around it's mother's uterus is, in essence, no different then any other group of cells. It's just tissue. The fact that it could develop these traits later (it could also fail to develop these traits and get flushed from the mother's body - this happens quite often) has nothing to do with what it is now.
It's a common misconception to call someone who is pro-choice a "pro-abortionist". Most "pro-choice" people that I know don't go around encouraging pregnant women to have abortions. None of the pro-choice women I know have ever had an abortion.
In regards to your comment about a fertilized egg being a human being, well... I think that depends on what you mean. Is it genetically distinct from its parents? Yes. Does it contain human DNA? Yes. Is it a person? Debatable. A fertilized egg does not have a brain, a personality, or any sense of its environment. Is it possible to lack these qualities and still be considered human? That's a matter of viewpoint.
Just make sure to use some Wyoming to wipe that Jersey off of your Utah.
Re:WHY TELL US YOU ARE ATHEIST???
on
Chimera Twins Story
·
· Score: 5, Funny
Probably it was just a joke. The statement: "Thank god I'm an atheist" implies that the person believes in god.
Then again, maybe its because he is an atheist and wants people to be aware that there are differing viewpoints. A great many Christians in the US seem to think that everyone else in the country is also a Christian. Stating that you're an atheist is similar to driving around with a Jesus fish on your car.
And, just as an FYI, warning an atheist about hell has about as much effect as telling the average adult that if they misbehave, Santa won't bring them any presents. In other words, none.
Such authentication would have to be on the client side, not the server side, if you wanted to protect your privacy. Maybe some sort of adult verification plug in on your browser. Then, when you hit a server with adult content, the server checks the client to verify that you are of age and the client says, "yup, my user's and adult. Let him in." and the server allows access. Another option would be something like the.kids domain, where a kid can't see anything outside of that domain but a logged in adult has full run of the net. Both solutions would probably be pretty easy to hack, but those are 2 possible ways surfing with as much anonymity as you have today. Of course, option 1 would require cooperation from the porno vendors... which would never happen. And it still doesn't address the spam issue. In my opinion, the very best option is to have the PC out in a family room or something. Don't let your kids have their own PC until they can buy one on their own. Don't allow them to surf when you aren't home, and lock down the PC to make sure they comply. And, when they are online, check on them every once in a while. It's good to see what your kids are up to, and there are sites much more dangerous then porno sites out there.
Pervs will get it anyway. They are insidious that way. Actually, I'm pretty sure if there was a comprehensive list of kiddie porn sites that 2 things would happen: 1: Most ISP's would voluntarily block those sites 2: The kiddie porn sites would simply switch hosting on a regular basis (like they do now) to keep one step ahead of law enforcement and blocking policies.
The problem that I have with this is that it seems to put the responsibility for determining what is and is not legal in the hands of people who are not qualified to make that decision. So, if I have vacation pics of my kids at the beach, they might decide to block the site just to be on the safe side.
Coming from a corporate environment, I have to say that "Nosy Nellies" are a pretty big problem. People like to know stuff about their co-workers, bosses, etc. So, they look stuff up, and then they hit the rumor mill. I do HR support, and I know of at least five cases where we fired someone for illegally accessing data (off of the HR database). Most of those were tech workers who were supporting HR machines and thought they'd find out what their co-workers made. I know of about a dozen more cases where HR had to talk to people who were looking up information on their co-workers, and were harrasing them with it. And this is all very recent (last few years). Five years ago, I'd never heard of this kind of problem.
That would be for the best, I think. Of course, the sleazier "brokers" would tell you that someone is looking up your information, and then offer to sell you their information. Actually, I would like to see a law that anyone who gathers personally identifiable information on an individual has to gain your permission before selling it. That would put a lot of these people out of business. I know, I know, we shouldn't throw laws at every problem... but I consider personal privacy important enough for legislation.
Whistling? I just scream loudly and continually until the telemarketer hangs up. Doesn't decrease my volume of calls, though... but why would I want it to? It's so fun!
Re:good stroy lines... where are you!?
on
Infinite Games?
·
· Score: 1
Sorry, I misunderstood. When you said FF3, I thought you meant the US release (which was the Japanese FF6). Like most US gamers, I played the first FF, and then skipped to FF4 (Released in the US as FF2). I've never even seen FF3 (I don't care for ROMS, so that means I never got to play it). And what I meant by storage (i.e. CD's instead of carts) was that developers could go into a lot more detail with their stories (Every NPC can say 3 or 4 things instead of just one, more npc's, more background stories). They could take the time to add a lot more depth.
I do understand what you mean, though. It would be like comparing a movie like Independence Day to a movie like Shawshank Redemption. While I.D. was fun, I watched it once and never cared to see it again, whereas I've watched Shawshank several times, and I'm still impressed by the powerful story.
Shawshank does not use a whole lot of FX. However, they don't skimp on the imagery, either. And they use the musical score to great effect. Direction and presentation have a lot to do with how "good" a movie is. Imagine Shawshank with the same script, actors, etc. but change the director to someone like Ed Wood. You would have one hell of a crappy movie when done.
I guess my point would be that there were good and bad games 10 years ago, and there are good and bad games now. But while many companies do focus on glitz over playability, there are still many companies that produce all-around high quality games.
Re:good stroy lines... where are you!?
on
Infinite Games?
·
· Score: 1
The whole FF series (and other games as well) have gotten much better looking, and much worse playing over the years
Sorry, I have to disagree. When I hear people complain about how new games (like FFX) are so much worse then old games (Like FF6) I wonder what points they are comparing on. I've played both thoroughly, and both have excellent storylines and character development.
In my opinion, the overall plotlines intoday's RPGs have the same general quality as the plotlines of older RPGs. Some are good, some are bad. That will never change.
As for everything else, added graphics capability can give characters a wider range of motion, and therefore they can display more emotion without speaking. Also, the addition of voice acting and facial expression, along with more actual dialog (written and spoken) gives me a greater sense of each character.
Higher storage allows for greater narrative license in the unfolding of the story itself, whereas older RPG's had to skip over many of the backgrounds and details of the people and towns.
In my opinion, today's games tend to have better character development, very good storylines, more intriguing sub-plots, and an overall look-and-feel that is at least as good as the old-school games.
That dart sounds painful... but in my school, kids would hide behind trapper keepers, an effective shield against any blow gun.
No, for absolute destructive power (and eye-removal potential) I always favored a thick rubber band and heavy-duty wire paper-clip. The clip can be bent appropriately with just a couple of quick twists, and can easily go through a cardboard box at a range of 10'.
Actually, I still have a number of scars on my hands from "misfires" (an incorrectly bent clip catches on the band and whips back, sometimes puncturing the shooter's hand)
Yes, we had something of an arms race in grade school:)
Slashdot Mirror
"ensure a hidden surveillence camera is running while you're gone"
Make sure that camera was manufactured before 1997, and has never been brought in for service or repair. Because any camera released after that has a chip in it which broadcasts everything the camera sees to the nearest government listening post (it continues to broadcast even when you think the camera is off!).
This paranoid rant was brought to you by A Raving Lunatic... and Cheerios.
You go with Apple, you're dealing with Apple. Go with Dell, and you're dealing with Dell... and Microsoft. These people don't need to worry about weird licensing agreements and whatnot.
On the other hand, I'd prefer to see the money go towards some actual teachers and textbooks, since they do a much more effective job of teaching then laptops do.
Of course he would.
"Why the hell am I just standing here holding a nine-pound bad of sand? This is stupid!"
I think a woman would react much the same way when holding a bag of sand for no reason.
Personally, I can hold a baby for extremely long periods of time without complaining, since babies are so much cuter then bags of sand.
Who wants to lay bets as to when they first get robbed?
Did they get them some high-tech security?
When you log into Final Fantasy XI, it has a little statement on it saying something along the lines of, "This game is fun, but please don't forget your friends and family." Maybe because of this lawsuit. Of course, that doesn't stop me from playing it whenever I get the chance. But as far as addictive goes, I can stop playing when I want to (I often go for days without playing, because I have other stuff to do). Not that games can't be addicting, but its not like the game companies drive out and give you a free shot of heroin every time you play.
And they were sooo close to a Pay 'n Spray.
No,if you're Checkov, then that's "Wussian" inventor.
I'm not sure about that. I might be perfectly willing to kill myself if HAL launches into his rendition of "Daisy". On an infinite loop.
"Stop singing, HAL!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that Dave. Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do..."
"Racial characteristics are genetically determined."
Physical racial characteristics, yes. But not social or religious characteristics. Hitler's program of extermination was based as much on social and religious differences as it was the minimally different racial characteristics of the Jewish people. I only mentioned that in response to this statement you made: "How is this position different than Hitler maintaining that humans beings without certain genetic traits are unworthy of life?" (emphasis mine). I was simply trying to point out that Hitler wasn't only considering genetic differences when he targeted the Jews.
"You really do need to read some biology texts"
And you really need to try to understand what I wrote before you post an inflammatory reply.
"Your argument bascially boils down to: A human being is only worthy of life once it has reached an arbitrarily selected point in its normal biological development."
Nope. My argument was "until it has a brain, it's debatable as to whether or not it even counts as a human being."
You sure like bringing up Hitler. Hitler was probably never very concerned with genetics. He was concerned with race (as defined by racial characteristics i.e. skin tone) and ethnic background.
And no, I did not reiterate your post. I pointed out what I considered to be two flaws in your argument. Also, saying that, at some point a fetus WILL develop a brain and a distinct personality is akin to saying that, at some point that fetus WILL die of old age. How does that apply to the argument "does a fertilised egg count as a person from the moment of conception"?
Also, the statement, "Therefore, you have determined that human beings at an arbitrary stage of development are unworthy of life" is incorrect. I said it was debatable. I never said I agreed or disagreed. But I'll run with that just for the hell of it.
My skin is alive. It has human DNA. But if you were able to remove some of my skin cells and keep them alive in a petri dish, I would not consider that a human being. Similarly, if a person believes that you need a functioning brain to be considered a human being, then the zygote floating around it's mother's uterus is, in essence, no different then any other group of cells. It's just tissue. The fact that it could develop these traits later (it could also fail to develop these traits and get flushed from the mother's body - this happens quite often) has nothing to do with what it is now.
It's a common misconception to call someone who is pro-choice a "pro-abortionist". Most "pro-choice" people that I know don't go around encouraging pregnant women to have abortions. None of the pro-choice women I know have ever had an abortion.
In regards to your comment about a fertilized egg being a human being, well... I think that depends on what you mean. Is it genetically distinct from its parents? Yes. Does it contain human DNA? Yes. Is it a person? Debatable. A fertilized egg does not have a brain, a personality, or any sense of its environment. Is it possible to lack these qualities and still be considered human? That's a matter of viewpoint.
Just make sure to use some Wyoming to wipe that Jersey off of your Utah.
Probably it was just a joke. The statement: "Thank god I'm an atheist" implies that the person believes in god.
Then again, maybe its because he is an atheist and wants people to be aware that there are differing viewpoints. A great many Christians in the US seem to think that everyone else in the country is also a Christian. Stating that you're an atheist is similar to driving around with a Jesus fish on your car.
And, just as an FYI, warning an atheist about hell has about as much effect as telling the average adult that if they misbehave, Santa won't bring them any presents. In other words, none.
Such authentication would have to be on the client side, not the server side, if you wanted to protect your privacy. Maybe some sort of adult verification plug in on your browser. Then, when you hit a server with adult content, the server checks the client to verify that you are of age and the client says, "yup, my user's and adult. Let him in." and the server allows access. .kids domain, where a kid can't see anything outside of that domain but a logged in adult has full run of the net.
Another option would be something like the
Both solutions would probably be pretty easy to hack, but those are 2 possible ways surfing with as much anonymity as you have today.
Of course, option 1 would require cooperation from the porno vendors... which would never happen. And it still doesn't address the spam issue.
In my opinion, the very best option is to have the PC out in a family room or something. Don't let your kids have their own PC until they can buy one on their own. Don't allow them to surf when you aren't home, and lock down the PC to make sure they comply. And, when they are online, check on them every once in a while. It's good to see what your kids are up to, and there are sites much more dangerous then porno sites out there.
I wouldn't worry. She's out getting her breasts enlarged, anyway.
Pervs will get it anyway. They are insidious that way.
Actually, I'm pretty sure if there was a comprehensive list of kiddie porn sites that 2 things would happen:
1: Most ISP's would voluntarily block those sites
2: The kiddie porn sites would simply switch hosting on a regular basis (like they do now) to keep one step ahead of law enforcement and blocking policies.
The problem that I have with this is that it seems to put the responsibility for determining what is and is not legal in the hands of people who are not qualified to make that decision. So, if I have vacation pics of my kids at the beach, they might decide to block the site just to be on the safe side.
Coming from a corporate environment, I have to say that "Nosy Nellies" are a pretty big problem. People like to know stuff about their co-workers, bosses, etc. So, they look stuff up, and then they hit the rumor mill.
I do HR support, and I know of at least five cases where we fired someone for illegally accessing data (off of the HR database). Most of those were tech workers who were supporting HR machines and thought they'd find out what their co-workers made.
I know of about a dozen more cases where HR had to talk to people who were looking up information on their co-workers, and were harrasing them with it. And this is all very recent (last few years). Five years ago, I'd never heard of this kind of problem.
That would be for the best, I think. Of course, the sleazier "brokers" would tell you that someone is looking up your information, and then offer to sell you their information.
Actually, I would like to see a law that anyone who gathers personally identifiable information on an individual has to gain your permission before selling it. That would put a lot of these people out of business. I know, I know, we shouldn't throw laws at every problem... but I consider personal privacy important enough for legislation.
Whistling? I just scream loudly and continually until the telemarketer hangs up. Doesn't decrease my volume of calls, though... but why would I want it to? It's so fun!
Sorry, I misunderstood. When you said FF3, I thought you meant the US release (which was the Japanese FF6). Like most US gamers, I played the first FF, and then skipped to FF4 (Released in the US as FF2). I've never even seen FF3 (I don't care for ROMS, so that means I never got to play it).
And what I meant by storage (i.e. CD's instead of carts) was that developers could go into a lot more detail with their stories (Every NPC can say 3 or 4 things instead of just one, more npc's, more background stories). They could take the time to add a lot more depth.
I do understand what you mean, though. It would be like comparing a movie like Independence Day to a movie like Shawshank Redemption. While I.D. was fun, I watched it once and never cared to see it again, whereas I've watched Shawshank several times, and I'm still impressed by the powerful story.
Shawshank does not use a whole lot of FX. However, they don't skimp on the imagery, either. And they use the musical score to great effect. Direction and presentation have a lot to do with how "good" a movie is. Imagine Shawshank with the same script, actors, etc. but change the director to someone like Ed Wood. You would have one hell of a crappy movie when done.
I guess my point would be that there were good and bad games 10 years ago, and there are good and bad games now. But while many companies do focus on glitz over playability, there are still many companies that produce all-around high quality games.
The whole FF series (and other games as well) have gotten much better looking, and much worse playing over the years
Sorry, I have to disagree. When I hear people complain about how new games (like FFX) are so much worse then old games (Like FF6) I wonder what points they are comparing on. I've played both thoroughly, and both have excellent storylines and character development.
In my opinion, the overall plotlines intoday's RPGs have the same general quality as the plotlines of older RPGs. Some are good, some are bad. That will never change.
As for everything else, added graphics capability can give characters a wider range of motion, and therefore they can display more emotion without speaking. Also, the addition of voice acting and facial expression, along with more actual dialog (written and spoken) gives me a greater sense of each character.
Higher storage allows for greater narrative license in the unfolding of the story itself, whereas older RPG's had to skip over many of the backgrounds and details of the people and towns.
In my opinion, today's games tend to have better character development, very good storylines, more intriguing sub-plots, and an overall look-and-feel that is at least as good as the old-school games.
"The Tooth Fairy is known for leaving money in exchange for children's teeth... doesn't make her real.
What?! She's not real? Dammit!
So much for my retirement teeth.
That dart sounds painful... but in my school, kids would hide behind trapper keepers, an effective shield against any blow gun.
:)
No, for absolute destructive power (and eye-removal potential) I always favored a thick rubber band and heavy-duty wire paper-clip. The clip can be bent appropriately with just a couple of quick twists, and can easily go through a cardboard box at a range of 10'.
Actually, I still have a number of scars on my hands from "misfires" (an incorrectly bent clip catches on the band and whips back, sometimes puncturing the shooter's hand)
Yes, we had something of an arms race in grade school
Actually, I was joking. I forgot to use my /sarcasm switch :)
What's funny is that I was modded up as informative, and not a single mod for "funny"
....why do I still suck?
Relax. It's not you. Everyone else has a speed hack, wallhack or aim bot, and the top people usually have all three.