I would like to remind everyone here that the driver in question was breaking the law regarding how fast you can drive your automobile. I agree the methods are Orwellian but the guy execeeded 77 mph. This sort of driving seems unsafe to me.
Now, with regards to the ruling, this is probably a temporary setback to Acme. There are cameras watching people in the UK and Florida already, and talk of it elsewhere. Satellites can catch farmers defrauding the government. This sort of thing will only grow more commonplace.
Before all of you grow paranoid (and before this gets modded as Troll or worse...), let me remind you that in every instance those at the center of controversy were breaking established laws. Find me a case where an innocent man/woman was nailed by Orwellain survelliance and then I might feel for them.
I have some advice for the new producers of BG, based on observation of original Battlestar Galactica and Galactica 1980 .
It is not plausible that three Vipers take off at the same time every time.
It goes against the laws of physics that Cylon ships always explode the same way.
The above also applies to Colonial Vipers.
If the Cylons have been around for a thousand, hell even a hundred years, their targeting software should be BETTER. It took us six years or so to go from Doom to UT.
In real life there will not be a nearby agricultural settlement when the Cylons nuke your aggro ships.
It is not permissible to use the above storyline twice.
Deus ex machina is not allowed!
Please read above in case you missed it.
Do not create a military relying solely on aircraft carriers.
Do not make these carriers so weak that a couple of laser blasts to the bridge causes them to explode in three entirely separate places.
Microns, Centons, and Sectons are not interchangeable.
If the Cylons knew that their Centurions couldn't aim for crap they would have (logically) programmed them to charge the enemy and then self-destruct.
Laser turrets and missile turrets are not interchangeable.
Why is the sole shielding available to an advanced carrier some steel welded to the front of the ship. Cain order electromagnetic shields up, why didn't anyone else do this?
Why do so many freighters look like the Gemini freighter?
Didn't that aggro ship get killed twice?
Where do the raw materials come from to continually replace destroyed Vipers?
Why is the proportion of White to Black so horribly horribly unbalanced. Are the Capricans racist?
Any particular reason that fighters armed with lasers have "hundred-megon" loads?
How can an advanced society have absolutely no defense against an air raid? Were they using the National Missile Defense System? An episode established that the computers were tampered with? Are there no sysadmins? Stupid NT/IIS handed Caprica to the Cylons then?
It seems everyone here is lamenting the tendency to bring studd back from the dead, as it were. Frankly, if it's done right, I don't think it's a problem. Look at Star Trek. Everyone (except some TNG diehards) agrees that Wrath of Khan was the best feature ever made, even though it came some thirteen years after the series was cancelled. The feature films continued the original story and introduced to a whole new generation of fans.
I started watching Battlestar Galactica and other old series on the Sci-Fi Channel back in the mid-90's. All of these old "discarded" series have been extremely popular. Yes, they were corny, yes the f/x were cheesy, but they were fun! The danger here is that good ol' FOX will screw with it. Battlestar Galactica 90210 or some crap like that.
All I'm saying is, don't immediately knock it just because it's old or is being dredged up. I'm a history major (19th Century Europe), and I have to say that the old stuff is often a lot better (and yes, I know that it's mostly false nostalgia).
I first got hooked on the whole Civ series with Colonization, back in 1994. I still play it to this day. When Civ2 came out, it took an entire summer from me (anyone else build a 200mil+ civ on Deity)? As with Col, I still play it today.
The real question is, does Civ3 or any other game have that kind of staying power these days? Alpha Centauri was unquestionably a fine technical achievement, but who still plays it now? Also, with the advances in gaming design, will Civ3 be as customizable as Civ2. People could do darn near anything to Civ2. Just some thoughts.
I imagine this is grossly redundant, not to mention overly obvious, but what does this really matter?
I have been a loyal Tigers fan for a generation (They'll be good someday!), and I have always either watched them on TV (Tele-vision for those that don't know) or listened to them on the radio (a box that receives radio waves. These radio waves carry news, music, and sports). These mediums are generally free-of-charge, particularly radio. Why would one want to download Real Player (and actually install it), pay $30 or whatever for "Gold Service" (screwed in style) and then pay a flat fee for games. We can already listen to these games for free. Common sense folks, there's a world outside the box (no flames, get up and look).
At the risk of opening myself up to attack, let me say a few things about this:
This guy was doing something that, while not illegal, certainly appeared to be. The information he got could be used to commit an illegal act, he said as much himself.
To all those that compare America to a police state and to Nazi Germany, let's examine this:
First of all, America is a democratic society. As Voltaire said, people get the government they deserve. You have the power to change what's going on if you don't like it. Vote, write letters, work on campaigns. No one will stop you from doing this.
Second, you have considerable freedom. Look outside the box, there's more to life than your computer. You can get up and go just about anywhere without restriction. You can buy what you want, live where you want. If you get nailed for acting suspiciously that's your problem. If someone was poking around my house after I was robbed and I didn't know them I'd be suspicious too.
Lastly, I have to address these Nazi Germany comparisons. National Socialist Germany was the ultimate embodiment of evil in this century, if not all time. Their policies led to the genocide of six million Jews and the largest war in history (thirty-five to fifty million deaths). They threw millions of people into concentration camps where they received in bare essentials. Don't even think about getting a lawyer, he'd been in the camp with you. Don't even try to tell me it's anything like that in America.
The bottom line is stop griping. Things are reasonably alright over here. You know the govermemt is paranoid; don't provoke it!
Slashdot Mirror
I would like to remind everyone here that the driver in question was breaking the law regarding how fast you can drive your automobile. I agree the methods are Orwellian but the guy execeeded 77 mph. This sort of driving seems unsafe to me.
Now, with regards to the ruling, this is probably a temporary setback to Acme. There are cameras watching people in the UK and Florida already, and talk of it elsewhere. Satellites can catch farmers defrauding the government. This sort of thing will only grow more commonplace.
Before all of you grow paranoid (and before this gets modded as Troll or worse...), let me remind you that in every instance those at the center of controversy were breaking established laws. Find me a case where an innocent man/woman was nailed by Orwellain survelliance and then I might feel for them.
It is not plausible that three Vipers take off at the same time every time.
It goes against the laws of physics that Cylon ships always explode the same way.
The above also applies to Colonial Vipers.
If the Cylons have been around for a thousand, hell even a hundred years, their targeting software should be BETTER. It took us six years or so to go from Doom to UT.
In real life there will not be a nearby agricultural settlement when the Cylons nuke your aggro ships.
It is not permissible to use the above storyline twice.
Deus ex machina is not allowed!
Please read above in case you missed it.
Do not create a military relying solely on aircraft carriers.
Do not make these carriers so weak that a couple of laser blasts to the bridge causes them to explode in three entirely separate places.
Microns, Centons, and Sectons are not interchangeable.
If the Cylons knew that their Centurions couldn't aim for crap they would have (logically) programmed them to charge the enemy and then self-destruct.
Laser turrets and missile turrets are not interchangeable.
Why is the sole shielding available to an advanced carrier some steel welded to the front of the ship. Cain order electromagnetic shields up, why didn't anyone else do this?
Why do so many freighters look like the Gemini freighter?
Didn't that aggro ship get killed twice?
Where do the raw materials come from to continually replace destroyed Vipers?
Why is the proportion of White to Black so horribly horribly unbalanced. Are the Capricans racist?
Any particular reason that fighters armed with lasers have "hundred-megon" loads?
How can an advanced society have absolutely no defense against an air raid? Were they using the National Missile Defense System? An episode established that the computers were tampered with? Are there no sysadmins? Stupid NT/IIS handed Caprica to the Cylons then?
Ugh, end rant.It seems everyone here is lamenting the tendency to bring studd back from the dead, as it were. Frankly, if it's done right, I don't think it's a problem. Look at Star Trek. Everyone (except some TNG diehards) agrees that Wrath of Khan was the best feature ever made, even though it came some thirteen years after the series was cancelled. The feature films continued the original story and introduced to a whole new generation of fans.
I started watching Battlestar Galactica and other old series on the Sci-Fi Channel back in the mid-90's. All of these old "discarded" series have been extremely popular. Yes, they were corny, yes the f/x were cheesy, but they were fun! The danger here is that good ol' FOX will screw with it. Battlestar Galactica 90210 or some crap like that.
All I'm saying is, don't immediately knock it just because it's old or is being dredged up. I'm a history major (19th Century Europe), and I have to say that the old stuff is often a lot better (and yes, I know that it's mostly false nostalgia).
I first got hooked on the whole Civ series with Colonization, back in 1994. I still play it to this day. When Civ2 came out, it took an entire summer from me (anyone else build a 200mil+ civ on Deity)? As with Col, I still play it today.
The real question is, does Civ3 or any other game have that kind of staying power these days? Alpha Centauri was unquestionably a fine technical achievement, but who still plays it now? Also, with the advances in gaming design, will Civ3 be as customizable as Civ2. People could do darn near anything to Civ2. Just some thoughts.
I imagine this is grossly redundant, not to mention overly obvious, but what does this really matter?
I have been a loyal Tigers fan for a generation (They'll be good someday!), and I have always either watched them on TV (Tele-vision for those that don't know) or listened to them on the radio (a box that receives radio waves. These radio waves carry news, music, and sports). These mediums are generally free-of-charge, particularly radio. Why would one want to download Real Player (and actually install it), pay $30 or whatever for "Gold Service" (screwed in style) and then pay a flat fee for games. We can already listen to these games for free. Common sense folks, there's a world outside the box (no flames, get up and look).
Chazzf
At the risk of opening myself up to attack, let me say a few things about this:
This guy was doing something that, while not illegal, certainly appeared to be. The information he got could be used to commit an illegal act, he said as much himself.
To all those that compare America to a police state and to Nazi Germany, let's examine this:
First of all, America is a democratic society. As Voltaire said, people get the government they deserve. You have the power to change what's going on if you don't like it. Vote, write letters, work on campaigns. No one will stop you from doing this.
Second, you have considerable freedom. Look outside the box, there's more to life than your computer. You can get up and go just about anywhere without restriction. You can buy what you want, live where you want. If you get nailed for acting suspiciously that's your problem. If someone was poking around my house after I was robbed and I didn't know them I'd be suspicious too.
Lastly, I have to address these Nazi Germany comparisons. National Socialist Germany was the ultimate embodiment of evil in this century, if not all time. Their policies led to the genocide of six million Jews and the largest war in history (thirty-five to fifty million deaths). They threw millions of people into concentration camps where they received in bare essentials. Don't even think about getting a lawyer, he'd been in the camp with you. Don't even try to tell me it's anything like that in America.
The bottom line is stop griping. Things are reasonably alright over here. You know the govermemt is paranoid; don't provoke it!
Chazz