Not since they started giving everyone the "white glove" treatment, no...but I admit, that's a personal choice because I value my freedom more than the convenience of setting it aside and getting on a plane. It just surprises me so many people are willing to do whatever they're told in the name of "safety".
What also surprises me is how much society at large just puts up with this crap. What the hell has to happen before people start taking to the streets, TV and internet service being interrupted? Starting to really seem like it...
If a relationship is to the point of a person needing to track their significant other's movements with a GPS device, why do people even bother continuing the relationship? Seems to me that suspicion of that magnitude is pretty much in itself a sign of a failed relationship. I mean, if there's no trust, what's the point of the relationship at all? Why not just end the relationship and go your own way? People get divorced or break up every single day...it's not the end of the world.
If you don't know, then why do you comment on it? The voter irregularities in WI are well documented, a simple Google search would return any answers you need.
Why do you think they picked that county to be the place where they 'found' those votes? The head of the [quote]non-partisan[/quote] election board for that area is an ex-GOP aide and there's little oversight. This is the county that 'had' 96.7% turnout in 2004. Yeah, right. Australia has compulsory voting and can't crack 95%.
You know, I read both books by Winston Groom (Forrest Gump and Gump and Co.) and I'm surprised they didn't just do one anyway. The movie is nothing like the book at all, even down to the base characterizations. I'm surprised they didn't try to go the Lawnmower Man route, disregard the original author, and do it anyway. It's not like they're worried about looking like assholes or anything...
While I'm not a programmer myself, I have friends that are/were, and based on their descriptions and stories, it's always seemed like code reviews end up an antagonistic process instead of the collaborative one it's supposed to be. Maybe it's just the luck of the draw in finding a good group, but I've heard of some serious snark going on between programmers that disagree with each others styles of coding. Something as simple as indents driving people to the point of blows, etc...
Then again, maybe those stories were notable because of the antagonism and the good experiences are forgotten? Everyone seems to remember the negative, human nature 101...
Hollywood's been doing this for years, they call it Hollywood Accounting. For instance, Rain Man, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Batman (1988), and Forrest Gump all lost money on paper, despite the fact that they took in HUGE amounts of money at the box office.
Why it's allowed, I have no idea. Just another sign of corruption in our regulatory bodies and government...
Don't worry, I'm sure the WI Republicans are working on a way to ensure that we never have to deal with these stupid elections again anyway. They're already hard at work trying to turn the WI Supreme Court from an elected position to an appointed one. Actually, I think it's more accurate to say a "bought" one, in light of recent evidence that Walker's illegal campaign contributors were given jobs in exchange for their donations, and that's ignoring Brian Deschane, the DUI wonder, and Hopper's 22 year old girlfriend, who magically beat out an entire field of qualified applicants for a position that she was paid $10,000 more a year for then her predecessor, for no justifiable reason whatsoever.
Maybe I'm not seeing the whole picture here, but what difference does it make, from the perspective of the game publisher, whether I play the game for 2 years, using the services provided, or I play the game for 1 year and someone else plays the game for another extra year?
It makes a difference because in their eyes they equate anyone experiencing the content without getting it directly from them as a lost sale, while at the same time being willfully ignorant of the fact that stuff like this does more to inhibit sales of a game than piracy or used sales EVER did.
I remember a time when games where made to be fun in single player mode. Some of them had a multiplayer mode that didn't requre internet access.
I know, I miss single player games, too. Especially single player first person shooters. What does the average nonRPG clock in at nowadays, 6 hours of single player gameplay? Maybe 10 at the most?
I'm betting in a few years single player modes are going to be nothing but the multiplayer with bots, like Brink. I'm tired of it, after playing through Modern Warfare 2 in two sittings, I vowed to never buy another game with less than 10 hours of single player gameplay. It's just not worth it to me. Better to "borrow it" on the pirate bay, honestly, because once you've been teabagged by a 12 year old yelling racial slurs into the microphone in one shooter's multiplayer, you've pretty much experienced all of them.
I love the "nobody will create anything anymore" argument.
There are many people out there that have the drive to create regardless of compensation, be it literature, music, artwork, movies, games, applications. There are thousands upon thousands of free alternatives to pretty much anything out there. There are even scores and scores of free to play MMO's out there now, and that's something people never saw as being a truly viable option for a mainstream game.
Big Content really needs to understand that they don't hold a monopoly on entertainment anymore, and now that so many people have broadband and reasonably good bandwidth, we don't need their mode of delivery necessarily, either. They need to understands this, but they won't, because their business model is built upon antiquated ideas and the arrogance of "just throw whatever we want at consumers and they'll have to buy it because there's no other option". 10 years ago maybe, but today, they're sorely mistaken.
Drugs are expensive in this country because the companies are building in the cost of a future lawsuit.
Drugs are expensive in this country because there are no checks on drugs prices.
If the drugs were expensive because of a high cost of production, then they would be expensive regardless of the market they're being sold in, but that's not the case. The same drugs that cost $5.00 per pill here are sold for the equivalent of.50 cents in other countries, because the $5.00 price point would price it out of the market there. It's the same reason why a DVD of a particular movie costs $20 here in the states, but you go somewhere in Southeast Asia and you can buy a legit copy of the exact same film for $5....if the movie cost the equivalent of $20 there, nobody would ever buy it.
For everything else, just stop being that person's friend, neighbor, customer, or employee.
But how does that solve the problem of our legal system being used by the big dogs as an impediment to justice instead of facilitating it? There needs to be fairness in the courts. Like anything else having to do with our government anymore, all too often cases are decided not by what is just but instead by who has the most money to throw at the problem. Consider what happens whenever Apple's Lawyer Brigade fires off a Cease and Desist letter; a lot of the time, that in itself is enough to scare someone into submission, because regardless if the person is technically right, the odds of them actually getting justice are slim to none. It goes against the entire spirit of equality in the eyes of the law.
Of course the simple answer will always be a glib "the world sucks, just find another job/friend/partner/whatever", but it does nothing to solve the problems that cause these situations in the first place. What incentive is there for a rich company or person to not break the law? Why should the individual respect a legal system that metes out justice according to the amount of capital the participants have?
Slashdot Mirror
Not since they started giving everyone the "white glove" treatment, no...but I admit, that's a personal choice because I value my freedom more than the convenience of setting it aside and getting on a plane. It just surprises me so many people are willing to do whatever they're told in the name of "safety".
What also surprises me is how much society at large just puts up with this crap. What the hell has to happen before people start taking to the streets, TV and internet service being interrupted? Starting to really seem like it...
I always knew that whole presumption of innocence thing was a waste of time.
Break out the Precogs! Everyone is suspect!
If a relationship is to the point of a person needing to track their significant other's movements with a GPS device, why do people even bother continuing the relationship? Seems to me that suspicion of that magnitude is pretty much in itself a sign of a failed relationship. I mean, if there's no trust, what's the point of the relationship at all? Why not just end the relationship and go your own way? People get divorced or break up every single day...it's not the end of the world.
If you don't know, then why do you comment on it? The voter irregularities in WI are well documented, a simple Google search would return any answers you need.
Waukesha is a (D) precinct? Since when?
Why do you think they picked that county to be the place where they 'found' those votes? The head of the [quote]non-partisan[/quote] election board for that area is an ex-GOP aide and there's little oversight. This is the county that 'had' 96.7% turnout in 2004. Yeah, right. Australia has compulsory voting and can't crack 95%.
You know, I read both books by Winston Groom (Forrest Gump and Gump and Co.) and I'm surprised they didn't just do one anyway. The movie is nothing like the book at all, even down to the base characterizations. I'm surprised they didn't try to go the Lawnmower Man route, disregard the original author, and do it anyway. It's not like they're worried about looking like assholes or anything...
While I'm not a programmer myself, I have friends that are/were, and based on their descriptions and stories, it's always seemed like code reviews end up an antagonistic process instead of the collaborative one it's supposed to be. Maybe it's just the luck of the draw in finding a good group, but I've heard of some serious snark going on between programmers that disagree with each others styles of coding. Something as simple as indents driving people to the point of blows, etc...
Then again, maybe those stories were notable because of the antagonism and the good experiences are forgotten? Everyone seems to remember the negative, human nature 101...
Hollywood's been doing this for years, they call it Hollywood Accounting. For instance, Rain Man, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Batman (1988), and Forrest Gump all lost money on paper, despite the fact that they took in HUGE amounts of money at the box office.
Why it's allowed, I have no idea. Just another sign of corruption in our regulatory bodies and government...
Don't worry, I'm sure the WI Republicans are working on a way to ensure that we never have to deal with these stupid elections again anyway. They're already hard at work trying to turn the WI Supreme Court from an elected position to an appointed one. Actually, I think it's more accurate to say a "bought" one, in light of recent evidence that Walker's illegal campaign contributors were given jobs in exchange for their donations, and that's ignoring Brian Deschane, the DUI wonder, and Hopper's 22 year old girlfriend, who magically beat out an entire field of qualified applicants for a position that she was paid $10,000 more a year for then her predecessor, for no justifiable reason whatsoever.
Forward, WI! Right back to Tamany Hall!
Maybe I'm not seeing the whole picture here, but what difference does it make, from the perspective of the game publisher, whether I play the game for 2 years, using the services provided, or I play the game for 1 year and someone else plays the game for another extra year?
It makes a difference because in their eyes they equate anyone experiencing the content without getting it directly from them as a lost sale, while at the same time being willfully ignorant of the fact that stuff like this does more to inhibit sales of a game than piracy or used sales EVER did.
I remember a time when games where made to be fun in single player mode. Some of them had a multiplayer mode that didn't requre internet access.
I know, I miss single player games, too. Especially single player first person shooters. What does the average nonRPG clock in at nowadays, 6 hours of single player gameplay? Maybe 10 at the most?
I'm betting in a few years single player modes are going to be nothing but the multiplayer with bots, like Brink. I'm tired of it, after playing through Modern Warfare 2 in two sittings, I vowed to never buy another game with less than 10 hours of single player gameplay. It's just not worth it to me. Better to "borrow it" on the pirate bay, honestly, because once you've been teabagged by a 12 year old yelling racial slurs into the microphone in one shooter's multiplayer, you've pretty much experienced all of them.
With this attitude, you will be back to watching TV soon, hero. There will be nothing to play :)
Wanna bet?
I love the "nobody will create anything anymore" argument.
There are many people out there that have the drive to create regardless of compensation, be it literature, music, artwork, movies, games, applications. There are thousands upon thousands of free alternatives to pretty much anything out there. There are even scores and scores of free to play MMO's out there now, and that's something people never saw as being a truly viable option for a mainstream game.
Big Content really needs to understand that they don't hold a monopoly on entertainment anymore, and now that so many people have broadband and reasonably good bandwidth, we don't need their mode of delivery necessarily, either. They need to understands this, but they won't, because their business model is built upon antiquated ideas and the arrogance of "just throw whatever we want at consumers and they'll have to buy it because there's no other option". 10 years ago maybe, but today, they're sorely mistaken.
And they wonder why people pirate games...who the hell is going to pay money for something they don't even own? Ridiculous...
Let's see, contribute to the creation of a superbug, or wash my fucking socks? Decisions, decisions...
I remember watching that...man, I miss TechTV. G4 blows...everything is video games and cops reruns. What a waste.
Yeah, because if Google's known for one thing, it's privacy. Come on.
Wish someone would have told me back in 1998 :(
Will anyone ever create a social network firmly rooted in personal privacy? Are the two mutually exclusive?
Where'd he record that, Silent Hill? Jesus, I won't sleep for days...
People had really scratchy voices back in those days...
Yeah, really. What is this, 1998? Is Limp Bizkit still the coolest band in the universe?
What's Facebook?
Drugs are expensive in this country because the companies are building in the cost of a future lawsuit.
Drugs are expensive in this country because there are no checks on drugs prices.
If the drugs were expensive because of a high cost of production, then they would be expensive regardless of the market they're being sold in, but that's not the case. The same drugs that cost $5.00 per pill here are sold for the equivalent of .50 cents in other countries, because the $5.00 price point would price it out of the market there. It's the same reason why a DVD of a particular movie costs $20 here in the states, but you go somewhere in Southeast Asia and you can buy a legit copy of the exact same film for $5....if the movie cost the equivalent of $20 there, nobody would ever buy it.
For everything else, just stop being that person's friend, neighbor, customer, or employee.
But how does that solve the problem of our legal system being used by the big dogs as an impediment to justice instead of facilitating it? There needs to be fairness in the courts. Like anything else having to do with our government anymore, all too often cases are decided not by what is just but instead by who has the most money to throw at the problem. Consider what happens whenever Apple's Lawyer Brigade fires off a Cease and Desist letter; a lot of the time, that in itself is enough to scare someone into submission, because regardless if the person is technically right, the odds of them actually getting justice are slim to none. It goes against the entire spirit of equality in the eyes of the law.
Of course the simple answer will always be a glib "the world sucks, just find another job/friend/partner/whatever", but it does nothing to solve the problems that cause these situations in the first place. What incentive is there for a rich company or person to not break the law? Why should the individual respect a legal system that metes out justice according to the amount of capital the participants have?