Who said I was kidding myself into thinking that Nicotine is incidental? I wasn't trying to downplay the role nicotine plays in smoking. All I was trying to get across is that the chemical additives are far, far, worse then the nicotine itself. That and what I said about the actual smoking part being roughly 50% of the addiction is true. Granted, Nicotine keeps you coming back, but i'm not talking about people who haven't smoked or smoked rarely. I'm talking about people who smoke on a regular basis.
What i mean about the actual act of smoking is that The hand to mouth urges is half the problem for smokers who are trying to quit, even when on a the patch or other simular product, the urge to stick something in your mouth causes many people to just forget it and go back to smoking. It's a physical reminder of what their trying to stop doing.
Nicotine free cigarettes would allow you to continue feeding your hand-to-mouth urge while getting your body unhooked from the nicotine. After your body has no physical craving for it, the hand-to-mouth urge will subside afterwards.
Granted, smoking also entails a lot of physcological effects. And the hand-to-mouth feeling may not subside for quite some time. However, at least with roll your own nicotine free cigs, there would be no hook for you to continue doing it. After awhile, it'd get pretty pointless to smoke it.
As far as the "Denial" aspect, i'm fully aware of what i'm doing and what i'm putting into my body. No doubt, nicotine is the hook that brings you back. I never disputed that claim.
Really, it is, it'll help those who are trying to quit by first removing the nicotine out of the cigarettes. Then get the "patch" or something and wean yourself off that way. As your weaning yourself off the nicotine itself, you can still smoke these nicotine free cigarettes, and you can then start to wean yourself from the habit of smoking them.
Normally, when a person wants to quit, they get the patch or something simular and stop buying and smoking cigarettes. You have to give up the act of smoking (which is roughly 50% of the addiction usually) and then simultaniously ween yourself from the nicotine at the _same_ time. With the other process i described above, you can make this a two step approch instead of one leap. It may make it easier for people to quit.
In any case, I smoke. The kind of cigarettes you buy in the store have TONS AND TONS of additive chemicals they use in making them. So to get rid of oh, about 600 chemicals that are NOT needed, I decided not to buy cigarettes from the store. I roll my own with bags of tobacco and filter tubes. I'm willing to wager you could link a major health problem to one of those additive chemicals, if not more.
The additives are their to to make the cigarette burn faster. If they burn faster, you smoke more, you smoke more, you get more addicted, and thus buy more cigarettes. Since i've started rolling my own, I've noticed i smoked far less then I did with store bought cigs.
That and PA got anal with the cigarette taxing, and jacked up the prices of cigs in the state. Needless to say many of people just decided to roll their own like me, it's far cheaper anyway.
Now if they made nicotine-free bagged tobacco for use in rolling your own, i believe this would be the best bet in quitting. Your removing about 600 additive chemicals and the nicotine all in one shot. What's left is just the tobacco itself to wean yourself from gradually. Personally, i'm looking forward to this coming to market....must quit...dammit:)
This will probably get reported the same way as other things related to the RIAA get reported:
"Tonight On News 8, The RIAA leads FBI and Secret Service officers to a college dorm to apprehend a college kid with illegal digital music files. FBI Agent: "Appariently the youth in question also has a great deal of hardcore porn photos and movies as well, what a sick fuck this kid is, not only did he download Britney Spears "...Baby One More Time" hit single, he also wanked to a photoshopped naked picture of her too. We know this because we found a semen stained throw pillow beneith his bed, and a low-res printout of the artist fully naked as well." The incident took place at approxmently 7:30 PST. John Longrow, a witness and close friend of the yet-to-be-named offender gave us this statement after watching his fellow student being apprehended: "I saw the police walking down the hallway and I knew that it must be something serious going on. Right before they kicked down the door, one of the officers pulled out a boom box and played a tape with this awful song on it..."Baby Got Back" you know, just like Master Pain from Kung-Pow: Enter The Fist movie, right before he kicked that other guy's ass. I asked the policemen where he got that nasty ass song, and he said he bootlegged it from the internet and laughed, i found that quite interesting."
In other news: Sharman Networks, owner of the popular Kazaa software and file-swapping service, counter-sues the movie and music industries with antitrust violations. Film at 11"
In any case, most media outlets haven't been too kind to the RIAA to begin with, especially concerning with ther tactics in enforcing their IP. I doubt this will change when the RIAA starts suing/arresting people. It'll just get more airplay in the news media. Mom's and Dads with offspring in the military and 9/11 victums will watch in horror as they wonder where the hell the world is coming to when murderers are running loose on the street, and terrorists are attacking our nation. To think that some scrappy kid with a pc and "illegal" music files could warrent such dramatics...
On the other hand, how exactly are you stealing something off p2p? I'm talking technical here. if John Doe downloads a song from Jane, it's a copy of Jane's copy, of a CD she bought. no one robbed a store holding the cleak at gun point, or shiplifted. Hell, no one is making any money off this. Those who do I could understand why it would be thevery, making profit off of someone elses work.
Not that i'm totally contradicting the meaning of your post, I actually agree with it. it's just that label of calling p2p users "thieves" seems a bit misleading.
He's a college kid, using a internet connection his tuition money help pays for, downloading porn because he's after all just a young man with an abundance in hormones, just like every other youth on the planet...I see this as normal, not creepy heh:)
I probably didn't articulate myself as well as could have, and I appreciate the reply.
Your right about the RIAA picking out test cases, they'll want to make them high profile as a reason to deter other p2p users from engaging in distributing copyrighted works. It's a trump card the RIAA haven't played yet. The question in my head is why not just do it already. If this seems like such a good idea then what's the hold up?
As far as your description of the would-be guy to get nailed in the RIAA's test case of suing an individual, honestly it doesn't sound likely. It sounds like a stereotypial geek your describing. Why on earth would the RIAA pick a person to sue based on hygene and looks? Also, porn isn't exactly illegal. I doubt the porn would even get so much as a blurb in the media, unless it's child porn.
If napster and kazaa and other p2p software has shown us anything, it's that their apps are incrediblely easy to use, which is why their clients have been gaining in popularity in the order of millions of users. These p2p users aren't just geeks. Think of all the different kinds of people who by CD's and DVDs in stores, kids, adults, middle class, upper class, black, white, asian---I'm pretty sure that p2p users as a whole are as diverse in culture and lifestyles as those who shop in stores.
As far as revolts, I wasn't meaning to imply 1960's race riot type of revolts or anything, but there certianly has been a backlash since p2p hit the ground running. This will definately escalate and expand along with the issue at hand until something can be worked out on both sides of the table.
of the million of P2P users out there, most of them are using P2P because they value music and won't like giving up buying CD's
I agree. I bought alot of CD's during the 90's, and I wish i didn't. Today, i still buy the same amount CDs, the only difference is that I buy really GOOD CDs now, instead of 1-3 good track discs.
Personally, I don't like the idea of mp3s or digtal music files to begin with. If i really love a band, I want a pressed CD with lossless sound quality, not mp3 or ogg files. I'd love to be able to browse a label's entire music catalog and have them make me a cd of the tracks i want. And just to be able to buy any album from any band in their entire music catalog.
I just hope something good comes out of all this mess.
Ah, you took the five steps ahead approch to this. I do not doubt that your doomsday end-result isn't likely to happen, on the contrary, it will happen--it's just a matter of time.
However, this thing we call piracy is nothing new. Closed circle casual piracy, like casual sex will always be around, however now we see a change that's been brewing since Napster came to power, we're now seeing MASS piracy, MASS amounts of people engaging in IP violations. This says something about the media conglomos themselves, this says something about how the consumer trend is changing, and this says something about IP/copyright laws in general.
The sides are polarizing, and what used to be a decent civilization of consumers and content creators has now de-evolved into a new "Wild West".
Let them come, Let the RIAA/MPAA start suing consumers who utilize p2p in their spare time. I don't think you fully understand what kind of shit storm that would rain down on the entertainment industry once this starts. Why do you think they've been trying to shutdown the sites instead of suing the users?? Not because they love us, but because of massively BAD PR. There are MILLIONS, and MILLIONS of p2p file swappers....Some old, some young, some with good paying jobs, some without. Some with a grudge against the "man" and some who just want to actually get to know what they are buying before they buy it. And there are others in between.
Once you label all these diverse people as "criminals" or "thieves", or even imply that they are (people in the crossfire for example)they will ALL revolt. And that's not all, there are people in the crossfire here that have nothing to do with p2p that will get hurt too. CD-R taxation, ISP being taxed and therefore the costs are past on to your grandma out in montana on dialup who googles only for cross stich patterns. And when they look at what's going on, they'll blame the person who's behind the jacking of the connection costs--The ISP, and once the ISP gets enough heat on them, then they bitch back at the RIAA/MPAA...then after the news media gets wind of all of this...MORE people try out p2p, and more people see how obnoxious the tactics of the MPAA/RIAA are, and the cycle continues to escalate.
The "general populace" you speak of *is* engaged in this activity.
Far too many people spend time on their polar sides to understand what is going on here. The RIAA is taking fair use away, the MPAA extending copyrights every time they're about to expire, price fixing of CDs, obnoxious bands on payola radio, overly restrictive DRM on CDs, the list goes on and on, but that's just to name a few.
Something has to give or this will fester at a exponetial rate. People will be hunted down and fined/jailed, the RIAA will be bleeding red ink, their will still be fabucated crap on the radio. There will be rallies in the streets and online, mass dissent among consumers, and most of all, new laws that will bring new restrictions on things that we thought were safe.
Look at it this way, the whole p2p idea sprung up out of practically no where, and jetted into the internet's mainstream practically overnight. Yet, the RIAA has been working the same business model for multiple decades. If you don't move fast enough and change enough, your consumers will either fuck you, or leave you. And p2p users who are and who used to be media consumers are doing them both. That tells me that something is wrong on the content holder's side. But that isn't to say they should heed to the "pirate's" wishes, all i'm saying is both sides have better start looking for compromises before it becomes to late.
Well they plan on flying that weapon on drone pilot-less aircraft. Wouldn't take all that much to shoot it down and wreak some microwavin' havoc. The sad part is, if this gets used in (possibly) upcoming iraq war, what's to stop iraq from shooting it down, getting the gun, and targeting on a village that is known to be anti-saddam as punishment...THEN blame it on us?
Yeah, it's far fetched, evil, and sinister. On the other hand, I wouldn't put it past Hussain either.
"Work is also ongoing on the feasibility and utility of placing compact high-power microwave systems aboard various Air Force platforms."
But what is the damage control if that "Ultra big microwave cooking gun" backfires and hits the boat it was lauched from...wow you just fried my battleship! I don't see how this could not affect humans, let along anything living, with commentary like this:
But whereas a typical microwave generates less than 1,500 watts of power, the Air Force researchers are working with equipment that can generate millions of watts of power."
I mean jebus! They put a LEAD SCREEN ON THE WINDOW for a reason. Maybe they'll drop ultra thick lead vests with their propaganda flyers beforehand...On the other hand, this could definately boost the cannibalism industry. Shh, it's part of the economy stimulis package we've all been hearing so much about.:)
That cleared it up pretty much. My basic gut feeling about this was right after all. Customers have a choice (TCPA on/off) but it won't matter because if this thing catches on (which obviously shit's starting to roll down hill now) you evenually be forced to keep it *on* in order to do anything on your PC. Lovely. How about older hardware? If my gut feeling is true, the TCPA enabled apps will probably detect prior-to-TCPA mobo's as *off*.
The bible reference is quite fitting, I had a hunch it was REV 13:17. In any case, thanks for the clarification, now i know who's side i'm on.:)
So can you turn TCPA *off* and *on* like a switch, like a jumper, or bios setting? And can you run Windows, Linux, etc. the same way you always did once TCPA bios's becomes the norm? This may sound painfully obvious, but my head's spinning.
One minate I get the feeling that TCPA is on/off switchable (not on the fly of course), then the next minate by what the AMI guy said in his interview, it's really not.
Yes? No? Maybe? Just a simple answer is all i'm really looking for. If it was already said, I apologize, but I missed it.
I'm pretty shocked that this little game made 9th most played game in the world. Many commments prior to mine say Snood is nothing more then a Bust-A-Move knockoff. Being a former Snood addict, I never played Bust-A-Move, so I couldn't say for sure if it was until i did a google image search of Bust-A-Move screenshots It's kind of hard to deny this point. I first played Snood in my fiancee's dorm at her school where it's extremely popular among the students there. Needless to say, i was hooked for a few months playing it non-stop. After awhile, It turned into a game I play on occasion, to distract myself for a little while.
However, aside from originality issues, the article poses a few points:
* Games of this nature are POPULAR.
* Games of this nature appeal to a broader demographic then the majority of big-selling retail games. Senior citizens all the way down to 6 year olds play these types of puzzle games. It's good for parents, knowing their child won't be exposed to ultra-violance. It's a good alternative to those who are squeemish when it comes to the likes of 3D first person shooters etc.
* Games of this nature are good for passing the time away until you have to do something else.
I don't necessarly agree that Snood and it's developer should be recognized in the game industry with trumpets sounding like the article suggests. However, I do think games *like* Snood should be given more respect and attention to.
The simplicity of Tetris, Snood, Bust-A-Move etc, is one of it's main selling points. They have a very a small learning curve, fun to play, and help pass the time away without getting too involved in the game itself, and they don't require much when it comes to hardware requirements.
But what is their market potential? First things that come to mind are cellphones. These types of games would also encompass atari games, etc. Anything with minimum hardware requirements. Another use for them would be handheld game machines such as GBA and other less popular portables. Games of this type would fit the bill for PDAs as well. Outside of that, nothing else comes to mind off hand.
In any case, I enjoy Snood for the game that it is, and I'd like to see these types of games get a little more recognition. I wouldn't stop playing Counter Strike or Quake over them, but I do believe they have their place in the gaming industry as a whole. With some more orginiality, a little more diverseness, I believe developers who produce games of this nature, in time, will recieve the recognition that they deserve.
Yeah, i was looking for a reply that was longer than two sentences telling me my reasoning was just plain wrong.:) You gave exactly what i was looking for; an easy reference i can wrap my mind around and understand. Thanks!
If Gravity's speed is equal to that of the speed of Light, then how do you explain the pull descrepencies between blackholes and low graivty environments? Go to the moon, you'll notice that the gravitational pull there is much lower than that of Earth's. And Earth's is far far less then a blackhole's gravitational pull.
So how can one say that Gravity's pull is as fast as the speed of Light when Gravity itself doesn't stay constant in different environments? I never heard light not traveling the "speed of light" so it's a bit confusing.
Ao, from what I gather, blackholes have so much gravitational pull that even light can't escape. Which suggests to me that Gravtiy is stronger than light. It would also suggest to me that gravity is is faster than light because of this. I don't have any sources to back this up, all of this is just my train of thought in words here.
I'd appreciate a simple-as-possible answer as to why my train of thinking is wrong, as i said, i'm no scientist, but this topic is interesting none the less:)
Amen, i have the *exact* same rack from the same place, damn, i love compgeeks.
After looking at the IDVR site, i couldn't help to wonder what the difference was. What's the improvement, what's the features? It's a hard drive, all be it, a smaller one than a laptop drive. So what?? This would probably be something worth while for those people who like to build super small PCs, but like you, i'll stick with my racks.
heh, the reason why i got that particular model is because a friend of mine has the same type/brand. So it makes for easy file sharing when i can't lug my PC around. @ $6.95 a rack you can't beat that price/versitility ratio:)
All Part II and Part III widescreen dvds are defective, and will be sold defective until Universal gets the corrected batch out in stores in late Feb 2003. Since you bought yours prior to late Feb 2003, that means your eligable for a product replacement program that Universal will roll out in...you guessed it..late Feb 2003.
Besides the widescreen mishap, R1 discs have a LOT of features to enjoy. I can't find the comparisons of R1 and other region discs, but I have region 1, so i'll list what it says and you can compare for yourself:
BTTF: Part I:
1. The Making Of Back To The Future 2. Making The Trilogy: Chapter 1 3. Outtakes 4. Candid Q&A with Director Robert Zemeckis And Producer Bob Gale 5. Enhanced Conversation with Michael J. Fox. 6. Feature Commentary With Producers Bob Gale and Neil Canton 7. Did You Know That? Universal Animated Anecdotes (pop up factoids throughout the movie, over 150 of them) 8. Deleted Scenes With Commentary By Producer Bob Gale 9. Original Make-Up Tests 10. Production Archives (which include: "Marty McFly's Photo Album, Behind The Scenes Photographs, The Delorean Designs, and Time Travel Designs) 10. Excerpts From The Original Screenplay 11. Theatrical Trailer 12. DVD-ROM Features With Total Axcess Including the original script, exclusive behind the scenes info, interview, excerpts and more 13. Michael J Fox Foundation For Parkinson's Research
BTTF: Part II:
1. The Making Of Back To The Future Part II 2. Making The Trilogy Chapter II 3. Writer/Producer Bob Gale Discusses The Filmmaking Process (production designs, Storyboarding, designing the DeLorean, and time travel) 4. Outtakes 5. Candid Q&A With Producers Bob Gale and Neil Canton 6. Did You Know That? Universal Animated Anecdotes (more pop up factoids) 7. Deleted Scenes With Commentary By Writer/Producer Bob Gale 8. Hoverboard Test 9. Evolution Of Visual Effects Shots 10. Production Archives (including: Marty McFly Photo Album, Behind The Scenes Photographs, Futuristic Designs, and Vehicles Of The Future) 11. Huey Lewis & The News "Power Of Love" Music Video 12. Theatrical Trailer 13. DVD-ROM Features With Total Axcess Including The Original Script.
BTTF: Part III:
1. The Making Of Back To The Future Part III 2. Making The Trilogy: Chapter 3 3. Designing The Town Of Hill Valley 4. Designing The Campaign: Bob Gale discusses the original theatrical advertising and marketing campaign. 5. Outtakes 6. Candid Q&A With Director Robert Zemeckis And Producers Bob Gale And Neil Canton 7. Did You Know That? Universal Animated Anecdotes (more popup factoids) 8. Deleted Scenes With Commentary By Writer/Producer Bob Gale. 9. Production Archives (Including: Marty McFly Photo Album, Behind The Scenes Photographs, Production Designs, The Trilogy Poster Concepts.) 10. The Secrets of the Back To The Future Trilogy. 11. ZZ Top Music Video "Doubleback" 12. Most Frequently Asked Questions, Answered. 13. Theatrical Trailer 14. DVD ROM Features with Total Axcess Including The Original Script.
You got yours at walmart too? I have a theory but i haven't tested it yet.
Could you go to walmart, complain to a manager, and as long as you have a reciept, could you exchange your defective boxset for a corrected version due out in late februrary?
I was thinking of doing this so I didn't have to wait however long Universal decides on shipping the corrected discs out. I figured if i can return my boxset for a complete and corrected version in feb that that would be the ideal way to go. What do you think?
I never returned a dvd, let alone a boxset in this fashion to a retailer before, and i'm unsure that walmart would be able to do this.
I bought widescreen because I wanted to "see" all of the movie--not hacked up pan+scan. I read examples about the differences online and I knew I must have widescreen. And now i get messed up widescreen versions on Part II and III. Isn't that irony? As if the space-time continuium was trying to keep me from seeing the movies like how the director envisioned it.
Your absolutely right, which was the main reason for my post. At first I thought/. just rejected it, no big deal, i just wanted to let the people know beforehand about what i found out afterwards. I'm grateful that/. tacked my post to the dvd review.
You remember the futuristic jacket in Part 2? As I remember his overly long sleves were quite visable throughout that whole shot. However, on the widescreen version a good chunk of his arms were cut off because of the poor framing. It really ruined the scene because that's how most people see that the jacket shrunk to Marty's actual size--his hands plop out the cuffs of the jacket.
I got the BTTF box set as an early xmas gift, and have been waiting for this since DVDs themselves started to become the popular. The stores didn't tell my parents, and Universal's site has nothing on the subject.
I went under the assumption that this would be a perfect DVD set. Mainly because, hey it's on DVD, and in 5.1 Dolby, totally remastered, and in digital form. I'm not a movie buff or dvd critic, but i did notice this flaw without actually looking for it, which is why i went to the 'net for some answers, and forwarded it to slashdot.
I recently saw an ad on TechTV about a new anime show coming entitled: Anime Unleashed.
Quote TechTV Press Release:
"For the first time ever, TechTV's Anime Unleashed will import series and movies from Japan to television viewers in the United States. Anime Unleashed encompasses the many forms of Japanese animation that truly know no boundaries. This program features not just a style of animation, but explores an entire genre where viewers may find sophisticated science fiction, fantasy adventure, romantic comedies, teen dreams or evenadult-only titles. Anime Unleashed exemplifies the difference between its titles and Western animation by exploring the depths of characters and contortions of plot. Viewers will encounter realistic scenarios, complex relationships and flawed personalities. Despite their deficiencies, the subjects of Anime Unleashed are beholden to their desires, their hopes and their dreams."
The format of the show will be in 30min slots, and the premiere starts on Dec. 30th. So mark your calanders and set your tivo's if you go them.
TechTV is also running ads for Anime Unleashed, and i believe(forgive me if i'm wrong) Akira was in the ads was well along with a few other popular anime characters that i don't know off hand.
--
I'm not much of an anime fan myself, but given the choice over general cartoons and anime, i'd go with the latter any time. hopefully this'll be to some interest for someone who's really into this sort of thing. I plan on watching it, just to satisfy my curiousity.
I usually look for the negitive reviews myself. Those can say alot about an item, especially if there is a particular problem that keeps getting posted throughout the comments.
I wouldn't put it past Amazon to pay people or have in-house staff write-up 5 star reviews. Then, have people follow up behind and click "Yes" to "Was this review helpful?" question, just to add insult to injury. No on in their right minds would sit on Amazon writing reviews in order of thousands of comments. If i were a betting man, i'd say about 1/2 of the top 1000 reviewers are staff members, or at the very least, oursourced and paid-for comments
In any case, use the feedback system as a tool, not as a deciding factor. This is where smart comsuming comes into play. Check out independent reviews on the product in question. Check out other various feedback systems such as www.pricegrabber.com etc. Talk to people who may own the product you're looking to buy. Or simply google up "(pruduct here) review" By doing this, you can compare the results side-by-side, and note any discrepencies in feedback posting. That, and you will be better informed afrerwards.
When I out to buy something online that costs me more then $20, i do some hefty research, price comparing, check out return policies, even shipping cost differences from site to site. This may sound anal-retentive, however this is your money we're talking about, and it's a *privledge* to any online store who gets it. You have everything you need right in front of you to do some smart shopping, it'd be a shame to let it go to waste.
In the past 5 years i've bought 4 portable CD players, 2 of which were Sony branded. The first one failed within the first few months. I promptly returned it, went to a different store and got another sony brand, damn thing died in 7 months, Being extra careful to handle it like it was made of glass.
So 2 sony portables down the drain, then I found a lesser known brand by the name of Lenoxx Sound--a total change of pace. These babies are pretty tough to break. Granted, the included headphones turned to shit after a few months (i've noticed this on Lenoxx Sound CD Portables, no biggie though)But the actual players themselves are fantastic. Can't say how much i dropped and banged it up. Eventualy I got a newer one with more anti-skip. However both Lenoxx Sound cd players still work flawlessly today.
I've been finding out that alot of name brand items just go to shit a lot lately, so i've been putting my trust in lesser brands of similar/exact features. I had a Dell 19inch go out on me after 2 years, yet this old (1994 VGA) KLH 15in monitor is like a workhorse, which i use as a second display.
Don't get me started on IBM's older products, their simply rocks when it comes to longativity. I have a pretty damn old Mono VGA PS2 montior that is brighter then my Gateway 19inch, and that thing has to be at least 11 years old. My IBM 760E laptop has been dropped about 3 times already, from about 31/2-4 feet. Cracked the case, the memory cover slid off with the ram flying out of the socket, and the SOB STILL WORKED. Did a thorough scan of the hdd, no errors. LCD was fine. I nearly crapped my pants.
All of this is purely antidotal, but take it for what it's worth.
Case in point, it is getting harder and harder to associate brands with quality products now-a-days. Your best bet is to research the product in question by checking verious web-boards with consumer feedback. Often times enough, you can gauge the quality of a product by doing so. www.pricegrabber.com has a pretty decent feedback system which usally gives buyers (like me)the heads-up of faulty or crappy quality products. Also check out www.consumerreports.com, which sometimes offers good reviews on verious things not just PCs.
In the past, i wasn't very careful with my warrenty cards and the like, but now i'm holding on to my reciepts and mailin' out those cards religously, and i suggest anyone to do the same.
Slashdot Mirror
Who said I was kidding myself into thinking that Nicotine is incidental? I wasn't trying to downplay the role nicotine plays in smoking. All I was trying to get across is that the chemical additives are far, far, worse then the nicotine itself. That and what I said about the actual smoking part being roughly 50% of the addiction is true. Granted, Nicotine keeps you coming back, but i'm not talking about people who haven't smoked or smoked rarely. I'm talking about people who smoke on a regular basis.
What i mean about the actual act of smoking is that The hand to mouth urges is half the problem for smokers who are trying to quit, even when on a the patch or other simular product, the urge to stick something in your mouth causes many people to just forget it and go back to smoking. It's a physical reminder of what their trying to stop doing.
Nicotine free cigarettes would allow you to continue feeding your hand-to-mouth urge while getting your body unhooked from the nicotine.
After your body has no physical craving for it, the hand-to-mouth urge will subside afterwards.
Granted, smoking also entails a lot of physcological effects. And the hand-to-mouth feeling may not subside for quite some time. However, at least with roll your own nicotine free cigs, there would be no hook for you to continue doing it. After awhile, it'd get pretty pointless to smoke it.
As far as the "Denial" aspect, i'm fully aware of what i'm doing and what i'm putting into my body. No doubt, nicotine is the hook that brings you back. I never disputed that claim.
"Of course they came down on him, because they don't want to get hit themselves"
;)
Indeed. "Darwinism" at it's finest, survival of the fittest...and all that good stuff.
Really, it is, it'll help those who are trying to quit by first removing the nicotine out of the cigarettes. Then get the "patch" or something and wean yourself off that way. As your weaning yourself off the nicotine itself, you can still smoke these nicotine free cigarettes, and you can then start to wean yourself from the habit of smoking them.
...must quit...dammit :)
Normally, when a person wants to quit, they get the patch or something simular and stop buying and smoking cigarettes. You have to give up the act of smoking (which is roughly 50% of the addiction usually) and then simultaniously ween yourself from the nicotine at the _same_ time. With the other process i described above, you can make this a two step approch instead of one leap. It may make it easier for people to quit.
In any case, I smoke. The kind of cigarettes you buy in the store have TONS AND TONS of additive chemicals they use in making them. So to get rid of oh, about 600 chemicals that are NOT needed, I decided not to buy cigarettes from the store. I roll my own with bags of tobacco and filter tubes. I'm willing to wager you could link a major health problem to one of those additive chemicals, if not more.
The additives are their to to make the cigarette burn faster. If they burn faster, you smoke more, you smoke more, you get more addicted, and thus buy more cigarettes. Since i've started rolling my own, I've noticed i smoked far less then I did with store bought cigs.
That and PA got anal with the cigarette taxing, and jacked up the prices of cigs in the state. Needless to say many of people just decided to roll their own like me, it's far cheaper anyway.
Now if they made nicotine-free bagged tobacco for use in rolling your own, i believe this would be the best bet in quitting. Your removing about 600 additive chemicals and the nicotine all in one shot. What's left is just the tobacco itself to wean yourself from gradually. Personally, i'm looking forward to this coming to market.
you have a link for that article? It'd be appreciated
This will probably get reported the same way as other things related to the RIAA get reported:
"Tonight On News 8, The RIAA leads FBI and Secret Service officers to a college dorm to apprehend a college kid with illegal digital music files. FBI Agent: "Appariently the youth in question also has a great deal of hardcore porn photos and movies as well, what a sick fuck this kid is, not only did he download Britney Spears "...Baby One More Time" hit single, he also wanked to a photoshopped naked picture of her too. We know this because we found a semen stained throw pillow beneith his bed, and a low-res printout of the artist fully naked as well." The incident took place at approxmently 7:30 PST. John Longrow, a witness and close friend of the yet-to-be-named offender gave us this statement after watching his fellow student being apprehended: "I saw the police walking down the hallway and I knew that it must be something serious going on. Right before they kicked down the door, one of the officers pulled out a boom box and played a tape with this awful song on it..."Baby Got Back" you know, just like Master Pain from Kung-Pow: Enter The Fist movie, right before he kicked that other guy's ass. I asked the policemen where he got that nasty ass song, and he said he bootlegged it from the internet and laughed, i found that quite interesting."
In other news: Sharman Networks, owner of the popular Kazaa software and file-swapping service, counter-sues the movie and music industries with antitrust violations. Film at 11"
In any case, most media outlets haven't been too kind to the RIAA to begin with, especially concerning with ther tactics in enforcing their IP. I doubt this will change when the RIAA starts suing/arresting people. It'll just get more airplay in the news media. Mom's and Dads with offspring in the military and 9/11 victums will watch in horror as they wonder where the hell the world is coming to when murderers are running loose on the street, and terrorists are attacking our nation. To think that some scrappy kid with a pc and "illegal" music files could warrent such dramatics...
Yeah theft is theft, no denying that.
On the other hand, how exactly are you stealing something off p2p? I'm talking technical here. if John Doe downloads a song from Jane, it's a copy of Jane's copy, of a CD she bought. no one robbed a store holding the cleak at gun point, or shiplifted.
Hell, no one is making any money off this. Those who do I could understand why it would be thevery, making profit off of someone elses work.
Not that i'm totally contradicting the meaning of your post, I actually agree with it. it's just that label of calling p2p users "thieves" seems a bit misleading.
He's a college kid, using a internet connection his tuition money help pays for, downloading porn because he's after all just a young man with an abundance in hormones, just like every other youth on the planet...I see this as normal, not creepy heh :)
I probably didn't articulate myself as well as could have, and I appreciate the reply.
Your right about the RIAA picking out test cases, they'll want to make them high profile as a reason to deter other p2p users from engaging in distributing copyrighted works. It's a trump card the RIAA haven't played yet. The question in my head is why not just do it already. If this seems like such a good idea then what's the hold up?
As far as your description of the would-be guy to get nailed in the RIAA's test case of suing an individual, honestly it doesn't sound likely. It sounds like a stereotypial geek your describing.
Why on earth would the RIAA pick a person to sue based on hygene and looks? Also, porn isn't exactly illegal. I doubt the porn would even get so much as a blurb in the media, unless it's child porn.
If napster and kazaa and other p2p software has shown us anything, it's that their apps are incrediblely easy to use, which is why their clients have been gaining in popularity in the order of millions of users. These p2p users aren't just geeks. Think of all the different kinds of people who by CD's and DVDs in stores, kids, adults, middle class, upper class, black, white, asian---I'm pretty sure that p2p users as a whole are as diverse in culture and lifestyles as those who shop in stores.
As far as revolts, I wasn't meaning to imply 1960's race riot type of revolts or anything, but there certianly has been a backlash since p2p hit the ground running. This will definately escalate and expand along with the issue at hand until something can be worked out on both sides of the table.
of the million of P2P users out there, most of them are using P2P because they value music and won't like giving up buying CD's
I agree. I bought alot of CD's during the 90's, and I wish i didn't. Today, i still buy the same amount CDs, the only difference is that I buy really GOOD CDs now, instead of 1-3 good track discs.
Personally, I don't like the idea of mp3s or digtal music files to begin with. If i really love a band, I want a pressed CD with lossless sound quality, not mp3 or ogg files. I'd love to be able to browse a label's entire music catalog and have them make me a cd of the tracks i want. And just to be able to buy any album from any band in their entire music catalog.
I just hope something good comes out of all this mess.
Ah, you took the five steps ahead approch to this. I do not doubt that your doomsday end-result isn't likely to happen, on the contrary, it will happen--it's just a matter of time.
However, this thing we call piracy is nothing new. Closed circle casual piracy, like casual sex will always be around, however now we see a change that's been brewing since Napster came to power, we're now seeing MASS piracy, MASS amounts of people engaging in IP violations. This says something about the media conglomos themselves, this says something about how the consumer trend is changing, and this says something about IP/copyright laws in general.
The sides are polarizing, and what used to be a decent civilization of consumers and content creators has now de-evolved into a new "Wild West".
Let them come, Let the RIAA/MPAA start suing consumers who utilize p2p in their spare time. I don't think you fully understand what kind of shit storm that would rain down on the entertainment industry once this starts. Why do you think they've been trying to shutdown the sites instead of suing the users?? Not because they love us, but because of massively BAD PR. There are MILLIONS, and MILLIONS of p2p file swappers....Some old, some young, some with good paying jobs, some without.
Some with a grudge against the "man" and some who just want to actually get to know what they are buying before they buy it. And there are others in between.
Once you label all these diverse people as "criminals" or "thieves", or even imply that they are (people in the crossfire for example)they will ALL revolt.
And that's not all, there are people in the crossfire here that have nothing to do with p2p that will get hurt too. CD-R taxation, ISP being taxed and therefore the costs are past on to your grandma out in montana on dialup who googles only for cross stich patterns. And when they look at what's going on, they'll blame the person who's behind the jacking of the connection costs--The ISP, and once the ISP gets enough heat on them, then they bitch back at the RIAA/MPAA...then after the news media gets wind of all of this...MORE people try out p2p, and more people see how obnoxious the tactics of the MPAA/RIAA are, and the cycle continues to escalate.
The "general populace" you speak of *is* engaged in this activity.
Far too many people spend time on their polar sides to understand what is going on here. The RIAA is taking fair use away, the MPAA extending copyrights every time they're about to expire, price fixing of CDs, obnoxious bands on payola radio, overly restrictive DRM on CDs, the list goes on and on, but that's just to name a few.
Something has to give or this will fester at a exponetial rate. People will be hunted down and fined/jailed, the RIAA will be bleeding red ink, their will still be fabucated crap on the radio. There will be rallies in the streets and online, mass dissent among consumers, and most of all, new laws that will bring new restrictions on things that we thought were safe.
Look at it this way, the whole p2p idea sprung up out of practically no where, and jetted into the internet's mainstream practically overnight. Yet, the RIAA has been working the same business model for multiple decades. If you don't move fast enough and change enough, your consumers will either fuck you, or leave you. And p2p users who are and who used to be media consumers are doing them both. That tells me that something is wrong on the content holder's side. But that isn't to say they should heed to the "pirate's" wishes, all i'm saying is both sides have better start looking for compromises before it becomes to late.
Well they plan on flying that weapon on drone pilot-less aircraft. Wouldn't take all that much to shoot it down and wreak some microwavin' havoc. The sad part is, if this gets used in (possibly) upcoming iraq war, what's to stop iraq from shooting it down, getting the gun, and targeting on a village that is known to be anti-saddam as punishment...THEN blame it on us?
Yeah, it's far fetched, evil, and sinister. On the other hand, I wouldn't put it past Hussain either.
"Work is also ongoing on the feasibility and utility of placing compact high-power microwave systems aboard various Air Force platforms."
But what is the damage control if that "Ultra big microwave cooking gun" backfires and hits the boat it was lauched from...wow you just fried my battleship! I don't see how this could not affect humans, let along anything living, with commentary like this:
But whereas a typical microwave generates less than 1,500 watts of power, the Air Force researchers are working with equipment that can generate millions of watts of power."
I mean jebus! They put a LEAD SCREEN ON THE WINDOW for a reason. Maybe they'll drop ultra thick lead vests with their propaganda flyers beforehand...On the other hand, this could definately boost the cannibalism industry. Shh, it's part of the economy stimulis package we've all been hearing so much about.:)
haha, where are the mod points when you need them!?
That cleared it up pretty much. My basic gut feeling about this was right after all. Customers have a choice (TCPA on/off) but it won't matter because if this thing catches on (which obviously shit's starting to roll down hill now) you evenually be forced to keep it *on* in order to do anything on your PC. Lovely. How about older hardware? If my gut feeling is true, the TCPA enabled apps will probably detect prior-to-TCPA mobo's as *off*.
:)
The bible reference is quite fitting, I had a hunch it was REV 13:17. In any case, thanks for the clarification, now i know who's side i'm on.
So can you turn TCPA *off* and *on* like a switch, like a jumper, or bios setting? And can you run Windows, Linux, etc. the same way you always did once TCPA bios's becomes the norm? This may sound painfully obvious, but my head's spinning.
One minate I get the feeling that TCPA is on/off switchable (not on the fly of course), then the next minate by what the AMI guy said in his interview, it's really not.
Yes? No? Maybe? Just a simple answer is all i'm really looking for. If it was already said, I apologize, but I missed it.
I'm pretty shocked that this little game made 9th most played game in the world. Many commments prior to mine say Snood is nothing more then a Bust-A-Move knockoff. Being a former Snood addict, I never played Bust-A-Move, so I couldn't say for sure if it was until i did a google image search of Bust-A-Move screenshots It's kind of hard to deny this point. I first played Snood in my fiancee's dorm at her school where it's extremely popular among the students there. Needless to say, i was hooked for a few months playing it non-stop. After awhile, It turned into a game I play on occasion, to distract myself for a little while.
However, aside from originality issues, the article poses a few points:
* Games of this nature are POPULAR.
* Games of this nature appeal to a broader demographic then the majority of big-selling retail games. Senior citizens all the way down to 6 year olds play these types of puzzle games. It's good for parents, knowing their child won't be exposed to ultra-violance. It's a good alternative to those who are squeemish when it comes to the likes of 3D first person shooters etc.
* Games of this nature are good for passing the time away until you have to do something else.
I don't necessarly agree that Snood and it's developer should be recognized in the game industry with trumpets sounding like the article suggests. However, I do think games *like* Snood should be given more respect and attention to.
The simplicity of Tetris, Snood, Bust-A-Move etc, is one of it's main selling points. They have a very a small learning curve, fun to play, and help pass the time away without getting too involved in the game itself, and they don't require much when it comes to hardware requirements.
But what is their market potential? First things that come to mind are cellphones. These types of games would also encompass atari games, etc. Anything with minimum hardware requirements. Another use for them would be handheld game machines such as GBA and other less popular portables. Games of this type would fit the bill for PDAs as well. Outside of that, nothing else comes to mind off hand.
In any case, I enjoy Snood for the game that it is, and I'd like to see these types of games get a little more recognition. I wouldn't stop playing Counter Strike or Quake over them, but I do believe they have their place in the gaming industry as a whole. With some more orginiality, a little more diverseness, I believe developers who produce games of this nature, in time, will recieve the recognition that they deserve.
Yeah, i was looking for a reply that was longer than two sentences telling me my reasoning was just plain wrong. :) You gave exactly what i was looking for; an easy reference i can wrap my mind around and understand. Thanks!
If Gravity's speed is equal to that of the speed of Light, then how do you explain the pull descrepencies between blackholes and low graivty environments? Go to the moon, you'll notice that the gravitational pull there is much lower than that of Earth's. And Earth's is far far less then a blackhole's gravitational pull.
:)
So how can one say that Gravity's pull is as fast as the speed of Light when Gravity itself doesn't stay constant in different environments? I never heard light not traveling the "speed of light" so it's a bit confusing.
Ao, from what I gather, blackholes have so much gravitational pull that even light can't escape. Which suggests to me that Gravtiy is stronger than light. It would also suggest to me that gravity is is faster than light because of this. I don't have any sources to back this up, all of this is just my train of thought in words here.
I'd appreciate a simple-as-possible answer as to why my train of thinking is wrong, as i said, i'm no scientist, but this topic is interesting none the less
Amen, i have the *exact* same rack from the same place, damn, i love compgeeks.
:)
After looking at the IDVR site, i couldn't help to wonder what the difference was. What's the improvement, what's the features? It's a hard drive, all be it, a smaller one than a laptop drive. So what?? This would probably be something worth while for those people who like to build super small PCs, but like you, i'll stick with my racks.
heh, the reason why i got that particular model is because a friend of mine has the same type/brand. So it makes for easy file sharing when i can't lug my PC around. @ $6.95 a rack you can't beat that price/versitility ratio
All Part II and Part III widescreen dvds are defective, and will be sold defective until Universal gets the corrected batch out in stores in late Feb 2003. Since you bought yours prior to late Feb 2003, that means your eligable for a product replacement program that Universal will roll out in...you guessed it..late Feb 2003.
See article for details.
Besides the widescreen mishap, R1 discs have a LOT of features to enjoy. I can't find the comparisons of R1 and other region discs, but I have region 1, so i'll list what it says and you can compare for yourself:
BTTF: Part I:
1. The Making Of Back To The Future
2. Making The Trilogy: Chapter 1
3. Outtakes
4. Candid Q&A with Director Robert Zemeckis And Producer Bob Gale
5. Enhanced Conversation with Michael J. Fox.
6. Feature Commentary With Producers Bob Gale and Neil Canton
7. Did You Know That? Universal Animated Anecdotes (pop up factoids throughout the movie, over 150 of them)
8. Deleted Scenes With Commentary By Producer Bob Gale
9. Original Make-Up Tests
10. Production Archives (which include: "Marty McFly's Photo Album, Behind The Scenes Photographs, The Delorean Designs, and Time Travel Designs)
10. Excerpts From The Original Screenplay
11. Theatrical Trailer
12. DVD-ROM Features With Total Axcess Including the original script, exclusive behind the scenes info, interview, excerpts and more
13. Michael J Fox Foundation For Parkinson's Research
BTTF: Part II:
1. The Making Of Back To The Future Part II
2. Making The Trilogy Chapter II
3. Writer/Producer Bob Gale Discusses The Filmmaking Process (production designs, Storyboarding, designing the DeLorean, and time travel)
4. Outtakes
5. Candid Q&A With Producers Bob Gale and Neil Canton
6. Did You Know That? Universal Animated Anecdotes (more pop up factoids)
7. Deleted Scenes With Commentary By Writer/Producer Bob Gale
8. Hoverboard Test
9. Evolution Of Visual Effects Shots
10. Production Archives (including: Marty McFly Photo Album, Behind The Scenes Photographs, Futuristic Designs, and Vehicles Of The Future)
11. Huey Lewis & The News "Power Of Love" Music Video
12. Theatrical Trailer
13. DVD-ROM Features With Total Axcess Including The Original Script.
BTTF: Part III:
1. The Making Of Back To The Future Part III
2. Making The Trilogy: Chapter 3
3. Designing The Town Of Hill Valley
4. Designing The Campaign: Bob Gale discusses the original theatrical advertising and marketing campaign.
5. Outtakes
6. Candid Q&A With Director Robert Zemeckis And Producers Bob Gale And Neil Canton
7. Did You Know That? Universal Animated Anecdotes (more popup factoids)
8. Deleted Scenes With Commentary By Writer/Producer Bob Gale.
9. Production Archives (Including: Marty McFly Photo Album, Behind The Scenes Photographs, Production Designs, The Trilogy Poster Concepts.)
10. The Secrets of the Back To The Future Trilogy.
11. ZZ Top Music Video "Doubleback"
12. Most Frequently Asked Questions, Answered.
13. Theatrical Trailer
14. DVD ROM Features with Total Axcess Including The Original Script.
You got yours at walmart too? I have a theory but i haven't tested it yet.
Could you go to walmart, complain to a manager, and as long as you have a reciept, could you exchange your defective boxset for a corrected version due out in late februrary?
I was thinking of doing this so I didn't have to wait however long Universal decides on shipping the corrected discs out. I figured if i can return my boxset for a complete and corrected version in feb that that would be the ideal way to go. What do you think?
I never returned a dvd, let alone a boxset in this fashion to a retailer before, and i'm unsure that walmart would be able to do this.
I bought widescreen because I wanted to "see" all of the movie--not hacked up pan+scan. I read examples about the differences online and I knew I must have widescreen. And now i get messed up widescreen versions on Part II and III. Isn't that irony? As if the space-time continuium was trying to keep me from seeing the movies like how the director envisioned it.
Your absolutely right, which was the main reason for my post. At first I thought /. just rejected it, no big deal, i just wanted to let the people know beforehand about what i found out afterwards. I'm grateful that /. tacked my post to the dvd review.
You remember the futuristic jacket in Part 2? As I remember his overly long sleves were quite visable throughout that whole shot. However, on the widescreen version a good chunk of his arms were cut off because of the poor framing. It really ruined the scene because that's how most people see that the jacket shrunk to Marty's actual size--his hands plop out the cuffs of the jacket.
I got the BTTF box set as an early xmas gift, and have been waiting for this since DVDs themselves started to become the popular. The stores didn't tell my parents, and Universal's site has nothing on the subject.
I went under the assumption that this would be a perfect DVD set. Mainly because, hey it's on DVD, and in 5.1 Dolby, totally remastered, and in digital form. I'm not a movie buff or dvd critic, but i did notice this flaw without actually looking for it, which is why i went to the 'net for some answers, and forwarded it to slashdot.
I recently saw an ad on TechTV about a new anime show coming entitled: Anime Unleashed.
Quote TechTV Press Release:
"For the first time ever, TechTV's Anime Unleashed will import series and movies from Japan to television viewers in the United States. Anime Unleashed encompasses the many forms of Japanese animation that truly know no boundaries. This program features not just a style of animation, but explores an entire genre where viewers may find sophisticated science fiction, fantasy adventure, romantic comedies, teen dreams or evenadult-only titles. Anime Unleashed exemplifies the difference between its titles and Western animation by exploring the depths of characters and contortions of plot. Viewers will encounter realistic scenarios, complex relationships and flawed personalities. Despite their deficiencies, the subjects of Anime Unleashed are beholden to their desires, their hopes and their dreams."
The format of the show will be in 30min slots, and the premiere starts on Dec. 30th. So mark your calanders and set your tivo's if you go them.
TechTV is also running ads for Anime Unleashed, and i believe(forgive me if i'm wrong) Akira was in the ads was well along with a few other popular anime characters that i don't know off hand.
--
I'm not much of an anime fan myself, but given the choice over general cartoons and anime, i'd go with the latter any time. hopefully this'll be to some interest for someone who's really into this sort of thing. I plan on watching it, just to satisfy my curiousity.
I usually look for the negitive reviews myself. Those can say alot about an item, especially if there is a particular problem that keeps getting posted throughout the comments.
I wouldn't put it past Amazon to pay people or have in-house staff write-up 5 star reviews. Then, have people follow up behind and click "Yes" to "Was this review helpful?" question, just to add insult to injury. No on in their right minds would sit on Amazon writing reviews in order of thousands of comments. If i were a betting man, i'd say about 1/2 of the top 1000 reviewers are staff members, or at the very least, oursourced and paid-for comments
In any case, use the feedback system as a tool, not as a deciding factor. This is where smart comsuming comes into play. Check out independent reviews on the product in question. Check out other various feedback systems such as www.pricegrabber.com etc. Talk to people who may own the product you're looking to buy. Or simply google up "(pruduct here) review" By doing this, you can compare the results side-by-side, and note any discrepencies in feedback posting. That, and you will be better informed afrerwards.
When I out to buy something online that costs me more then $20, i do some hefty research, price comparing, check out return policies, even shipping cost differences from site to site. This may sound anal-retentive, however this is your money we're talking about, and it's a *privledge* to any online store who gets it. You have everything you need right in front of you to do some smart shopping, it'd be a shame to let it go to waste.
For what it's worth:
In the past 5 years i've bought 4 portable CD players, 2 of which were Sony branded. The first one failed within the first few months. I promptly returned it, went to a different store and got another sony brand, damn thing died in 7 months, Being extra careful to handle it like it was made of glass.
So 2 sony portables down the drain, then I found a lesser known brand by the name of Lenoxx Sound--a total change of pace. These babies are pretty tough to break. Granted, the included headphones turned to shit after a few months (i've noticed this on Lenoxx Sound CD Portables, no biggie though)But the actual players themselves are fantastic. Can't say how much i dropped and banged it up. Eventualy I got a newer one with more anti-skip. However both Lenoxx Sound cd players still work flawlessly today.
I've been finding out that alot of name brand items just go to shit a lot lately, so i've been putting my trust in lesser brands of similar/exact features. I had a Dell 19inch go out on me after 2 years, yet this old (1994 VGA) KLH 15in monitor is like a workhorse, which i use as a second display.
Don't get me started on IBM's older products, their simply rocks when it comes to longativity. I have a pretty damn old Mono VGA PS2 montior that is brighter then my Gateway 19inch, and that thing has to be at least 11 years old. My IBM 760E laptop has been dropped about 3 times already, from about 31/2-4 feet. Cracked the case, the memory cover slid off with the ram flying out of the socket, and the SOB STILL WORKED. Did a thorough scan of the hdd, no errors. LCD was fine. I nearly crapped my pants.
All of this is purely antidotal, but take it for what it's worth.
Case in point, it is getting harder and harder to associate brands with quality products now-a-days. Your best bet is to research the product in question by checking verious web-boards with consumer feedback. Often times enough, you can gauge the quality of a product by doing so. www.pricegrabber.com has a pretty decent feedback system which usally gives buyers (like me)the heads-up of faulty or crappy quality products. Also check out www.consumerreports.com, which sometimes offers good reviews on verious things not just PCs.
In the past, i wasn't very careful with my warrenty cards and the like, but now i'm holding on to my reciepts and mailin' out those cards religously, and i suggest anyone to do the same.
Good luck!