The once Senator & future President has expressed a desire to shut down some of the most egregious abuses of power that Mr. Bush came up with. But the difference between Camp X-ray, warrantless wiretaps of phone calls, and monitoring of online traffic is a sliding scale of outrage - many more people care about Gitmo than about the wiretaps, and many more people care about the wiretaps than online monitoring. Like everything else in life, it's about ordering your priorities.
Legally speaking, in the US, men of any race had the right to vote in the US for a long time before white women did.
And practically speaking, minorities have a much better representation (in the federal government, at least) than women. As in, while African-Americans make up 12% of the voting population, they make up just over 7% of the current Congress. Women make up about 51% of the population, but only 16% of the Congress.
The first problem is that input devices get a lot of handling and wear out (except for IBM Model M keyboards, which seem to last forever.)
I thought this was the GP's point - older keyboards, especially, were big, heavy... and lasted forever. Most companies don't make them like that anymore, because it's expensive, and if their major industry is peripherals, they'd put themselves out of business. The fact that older, reliable items like the Model M can't be used without some kind of adaptor is irritating - virtually every tower is going to have a keyboard plugged into it, so why not have a dedicated port for it?
I'm assuming you were going to end that sentence with 'a woman President.'. I just feel the need to point out that, in every way that matters for a leader, there's a much bigger difference genders than between races.
At the risk of being pedantic...why use the smaller gun on the larger attacker? I'd go with an 8 gauge and a bottle of whiskey, both antique
You'd use the 12 gauge on the human, and the 20 gauge on the dino. Despite what Mr. Crichton would have you believe, Velociraptors were only about 40 pounds - my dog's bigger. Now, some Deinonychus would approach 150 - but with a very small skull, a 20 gauge is still more than sufficient to cause immediate death when applied directly to the forehead.
If you go to the cheapest supplier, you'd best be prepared for the quality to be terrible.
All military contracts are lowest-bidder. By your arguement, none of the planes should fly, none of the guns should shoot, and none of the bombs explode.
This obviously isn't the case - there's no fundamental problem with going for the lowest bidder for a particular project... as long as the standards are strict and are enforced.
I'll guarentee there was a quality-control standard on the purity of the materials in these batteries. The fact that they're an apparent fire hazard is proof that either the standards were not enforced, or they weren't set properly to begin with.
This is the big problem I have with indestrucible NPCs of any sort - at least once in the game, it'll detract from the immersion. I understand that having a "NPC A just died, load/quit?" dialog is irritating, and the Fallout 2 solution (If certain NPC dies, you have to wander around until you stumble upon the right place to pick up the main questline) would also draw complaints... well, it seems like the Bethesda solution is the worst of the three for game realism.
Fallout 2, in addition to the Good/Bad Karma scale, also had character 'titles' which were earned by specific actions. 'Child-Killer' was a huge pain in the ass - no matter how many good things you did, you couldn't ever get rid of everybody in post-nuclear San Fransisco knowing about that one 12-year-old pickpocket you shot in the second town. And it had some serious impact - certain quests would just never be available.
The radscorpions bother me. They're way too hard to kill, compared to the rest of the giant mutant animals.
In 1 & 2, radscorpions were early level monsters that could be killed, with a bit of effort, by a character just starting the game. They were just barely above the rats.
But in 3, they've got more health than a Centaur or a basic Super Mutant.
"A social and political ideology with the primary guiding principle that the state or nation is the highest priority, rather than personal or individual freedoms...."
doesn't describe the rhetoric from 'strong on defense' from both the US and the UK.
Oh, fuck off. I have friends and family who grew up under genuinely repressive authoritarian regimes. (Russia, Poland, E Germany, Yugoslavia/Serbia.) Sorry for the abuse by that's just not just stupid, it's offensive too.
Oh, right, the "well, somebody else had it worse, so we're not really doing that bad" defense.
The GP begins an interesting discussion of some details of the recent crash / credit crunch by asserting that Gordon Brown is bringing about a world fascist regime. Observing that this is the statement of a nutter isn't ad-hominem, it's an observation.
Exactly.
It should be quite obvious that Mr. Brown is only responsible for trying to make the UK into a fascist state. Each nation can only be responsible for itself.
It has to be understood that not many people really care about the cameras here, apart from the traffic cameras which really irritate drivers. The reason is that it's quite difficult to find ways to abuse the power they give.
Wait until they're being used to track protest organizers... err, I mean riot inciters.
At least for the plastic ones, since I estimate (by tossing a few Orks into a half-full measuring cup) that it would be about 35 bucks to make 10 Boyz, which you can get in a 10-pack for 22.50 from GW. That's not to mention that I'm sure the resolution on their 3-dollar-a-ml models aren't quite as good as a plastic model from a mold.
Although it's certainly possible that I'd consider having some custom parts made this way, depending on what kind of plastic they're using.
Tiberium had a really interesting concept - a FPS that involved a lot of allied units that your character directed to a limited extent. It would have been more like an RTS that had a camera fixed on a specific unit - which is certainly something new.
The reason that's more a challenge than a flaw is the degree of AI that both your enemies and your allies would require - it's not impossible to do, but it might cost more than EA is willing to pay for a C&C quasi-sequel.
Well, according to the relevant statues, the first type of infringer isn't a pirate (and no, I don't care what Webster's says, the legal definition is different.) He's a copyright infringer, but not a pirate. At least, that's my understanding and no I'm not a lawyer.
There's not so much a differing (legal) definition of copyright infringment versus piracy - it's all, really, copyright infringment. The difference between doing it for yourself, doing it for your friends, and doing it for money is the difference between a civil and criminal case. (Although a civil case can still be brought in criminal cases - no possibility of jail time, but the amount that the copyright holder will get back is likely larger.)
It's not taking down the large scale operations I have a problem with, it's applying the same law in an area where it really shouldn't be applied that causes me to let out a "wtf".
This is a good point, which is also the reason that judges have a lot of latitude in assigning penalties in cases like this. It's unlikely that a guy making games for his friends is going to have a stall at the local flea market - the assumption is going to be that someone who has a setup like that is doing it for profit.
That being said, we don't really have evidence in this particular case yet - just what Activision has said about it. But I know that a number of flea markets I've gone to throughout the years have featured the same guy, month after month & year after year, selling somewhat suspect looking product. If it's a game that I know comes in a specific jewel case, but it's in a more generic looking case, with different graphics (or graphics that just look off), I'd have to assume that it's not legit. Which always make me wonder - why doesn't this happen more often?
Personal-use pirates, who make a copy of the game for themselves, and perhaps a few friends, do it because they don't want to pay for the game. They might be able to afford it anyway, but (at least a fair number) will purchase at least some games legitimately.
Assuming Activision's info is correct, this guy is more likely a sidewalk vendor who made dozens of game copies to sell for his personal profit.
While both are committing the same violations of the law, the intent of profit in the second case makes it much more likely that the court will find in Activision's favor, and that they will get a big pile of money (or, at least, all the money this guy has.) Moreso, while you can find wishy-washy support for the first class of pirate all over the place, only a very tiny segment of people are going to tell you the second guy isn't doing anything wrong.
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The once Senator & future President has expressed a desire to shut down some of the most egregious abuses of power that Mr. Bush came up with. But the difference between Camp X-ray, warrantless wiretaps of phone calls, and monitoring of online traffic is a sliding scale of outrage - many more people care about Gitmo than about the wiretaps, and many more people care about the wiretaps than online monitoring. Like everything else in life, it's about ordering your priorities.
Which is what you are about to become.
And practically speaking, minorities have a much better representation (in the federal government, at least) than women. As in, while African-Americans make up 12% of the voting population, they make up just over 7% of the current Congress. Women make up about 51% of the population, but only 16% of the Congress.
I thought this was the GP's point - older keyboards, especially, were big, heavy... and lasted forever. Most companies don't make them like that anymore, because it's expensive, and if their major industry is peripherals, they'd put themselves out of business. The fact that older, reliable items like the Model M can't be used without some kind of adaptor is irritating - virtually every tower is going to have a keyboard plugged into it, so why not have a dedicated port for it?
I'm assuming you were going to end that sentence with 'a woman President.'. I just feel the need to point out that, in every way that matters for a leader, there's a much bigger difference genders than between races.
You'd use the 12 gauge on the human, and the 20 gauge on the dino. Despite what Mr. Crichton would have you believe, Velociraptors were only about 40 pounds - my dog's bigger. Now, some Deinonychus would approach 150 - but with a very small skull, a 20 gauge is still more than sufficient to cause immediate death when applied directly to the forehead.
Well, putting it out in a trash can indoors is definitely the wrong way...
All military contracts are lowest-bidder. By your arguement, none of the planes should fly, none of the guns should shoot, and none of the bombs explode.
This obviously isn't the case - there's no fundamental problem with going for the lowest bidder for a particular project... as long as the standards are strict and are enforced.
I'll guarentee there was a quality-control standard on the purity of the materials in these batteries. The fact that they're an apparent fire hazard is proof that either the standards were not enforced, or they weren't set properly to begin with.
This is the big problem I have with indestrucible NPCs of any sort - at least once in the game, it'll detract from the immersion. I understand that having a "NPC A just died, load/quit?" dialog is irritating, and the Fallout 2 solution (If certain NPC dies, you have to wander around until you stumble upon the right place to pick up the main questline) would also draw complaints... well, it seems like the Bethesda solution is the worst of the three for game realism.
Fallout 2, in addition to the Good/Bad Karma scale, also had character 'titles' which were earned by specific actions. 'Child-Killer' was a huge pain in the ass - no matter how many good things you did, you couldn't ever get rid of everybody in post-nuclear San Fransisco knowing about that one 12-year-old pickpocket you shot in the second town. And it had some serious impact - certain quests would just never be available.
I think this is an important lesson. China can make great rifles, but terrible pistols.
In 1 & 2, radscorpions were early level monsters that could be killed, with a bit of effort, by a character just starting the game. They were just barely above the rats.
But in 3, they've got more health than a Centaur or a basic Super Mutant.
I just ran down next to the nuke, and then went and made a sandwich.
So I saved about 30 extra button-presses, and I got a sammich.
"A social and political ideology with the primary guiding principle that the state or nation is the highest priority, rather than personal or individual freedoms. ..."
doesn't describe the rhetoric from 'strong on defense' from both the US and the UK.
Oh, right, the "well, somebody else had it worse, so we're not really doing that bad" defense.
Your mastery of logic astounds me.
I said he was going to try, not that he was going to succeed. There's an important difference.
And depending on how striclty you construe it, the UK could be a fascist state already.
Fuck you for using them to push your police-state agenda.
Exactly.
It should be quite obvious that Mr. Brown is only responsible for trying to make the UK into a fascist state. Each nation can only be responsible for itself.
Wait until they're being used to track protest organizers... err, I mean riot inciters.
At least for the plastic ones, since I estimate (by tossing a few Orks into a half-full measuring cup) that it would be about 35 bucks to make 10 Boyz, which you can get in a 10-pack for 22.50 from GW. That's not to mention that I'm sure the resolution on their 3-dollar-a-ml models aren't quite as good as a plastic model from a mold.
Although it's certainly possible that I'd consider having some custom parts made this way, depending on what kind of plastic they're using.
The reason that's more a challenge than a flaw is the degree of AI that both your enemies and your allies would require - it's not impossible to do, but it might cost more than EA is willing to pay for a C&C quasi-sequel.
Because none of the many lists of best novels include any science fiction, westerns, or mysteries.
There's not so much a differing (legal) definition of copyright infringment versus piracy - it's all, really, copyright infringment. The difference between doing it for yourself, doing it for your friends, and doing it for money is the difference between a civil and criminal case. (Although a civil case can still be brought in criminal cases - no possibility of jail time, but the amount that the copyright holder will get back is likely larger.)
This is a good point, which is also the reason that judges have a lot of latitude in assigning penalties in cases like this. It's unlikely that a guy making games for his friends is going to have a stall at the local flea market - the assumption is going to be that someone who has a setup like that is doing it for profit.
That being said, we don't really have evidence in this particular case yet - just what Activision has said about it. But I know that a number of flea markets I've gone to throughout the years have featured the same guy, month after month & year after year, selling somewhat suspect looking product. If it's a game that I know comes in a specific jewel case, but it's in a more generic looking case, with different graphics (or graphics that just look off), I'd have to assume that it's not legit. Which always make me wonder - why doesn't this happen more often?
Personal-use pirates, who make a copy of the game for themselves, and perhaps a few friends, do it because they don't want to pay for the game. They might be able to afford it anyway, but (at least a fair number) will purchase at least some games legitimately.
Assuming Activision's info is correct, this guy is more likely a sidewalk vendor who made dozens of game copies to sell for his personal profit.
While both are committing the same violations of the law, the intent of profit in the second case makes it much more likely that the court will find in Activision's favor, and that they will get a big pile of money (or, at least, all the money this guy has.) Moreso, while you can find wishy-washy support for the first class of pirate all over the place, only a very tiny segment of people are going to tell you the second guy isn't doing anything wrong.