But that's what I don't get! How is it so exciting to force someone that's scared you'll fire them to have flirt-have sex with you? I dunno, is it the sex?
the japanese are pretty long-lived, and tend to be pretty small. i heard life expectancy for the japanese drops when they adopt western eating habits (mostly consuming milk) which causes them to grow larger in addition to the fact that the western diet is nutritionally deficient relative to the tradition japanese one. also incidences of all prime causes of early mortality increase: heart disease, etc. Random thought: Maybe their bodies have adapted slightly over millennia to the sorts of foods traditionally available in Japan, and not the sorts of foods traditionally available in the West. Were there always cattle in Japan, or are they more recent? (I know beef is expensive there, anyway)
Yup, cause we all know the more a murderer suffers, the lower the victim count goes. Vengeance is one of the ugliest of human emotions, no matter who we're talking about.
Nazi Germany was an ally to Finland, but they were a bitter enemy afterward. This is why any neo-nazi in Finland is by definition utterly fucking bonkers Know what's even more fucked up? Neo-Nazis in Russia - and there are more than a few. I suppose this can be explained by the way Nazism was portrayed as the direct opposite of socialism, and the hatred of socialism among many there. But know what's even MORE fucked up? "National Bolshevism", a mixture of Nazism and (ostensibly) Bolshevism. Their symbol is the Nazi flag with the black swastika in the center replaced by a black sickle-and-hammer.
Look at just about any piece of creative work and you will find violence and usually a non-psychotic who wrote it. FYI, you probably meant "non-psychopath". Well, maybe not. Perhaps "psycho" is a good compromise.
They have got to be joking. Did Metal Gear honestly escape their attention? (On second thought, that is very appropriate.) As the author implied, he knows he doesn't know all the answers. Give the guy a break.
We could gain traffic by posting boobs or covering other subjects Well, that settles it. "Boobs" will be the new Slashdot subject. Get working on the icon.
Both the Russian and the US governments act abroad for their own interests and against the interests of others. The Russians' actions in this respect are worse than the Americans', in my view, just less effective. Well, you're 110% right that they both act abroad in their own interests. But importantly, Russia doesn't HAVE a global empire - even if you think the Soviet Union was an empire, it's gone now*. The US does. Russia's own interests often counterbalance the US's dominance, and that's an objectively positive thing. And even if Russia were an empire, that doesn't change my point about the reason the media is increasingly focusing on the evils of the Russian government these days.
Side note: I think people - at least in the US, probably in all world powers - have a problem where they can't stop confusing "who's wrong in this context?" with "who's 'worse'?" - a problem perpetually with dire consequences.
*Though some might argue that Russia acts imperialistically towards Chechnya, a valid point.
Yes, I'm not proud to admit it, but in the face of that "Catch 22" I told them that I'd check the inventory in the back, carried the box out to the shrink wrapping machine, re-wrapped it, came back and sold it to them. Luckily they didn't ask where the other box was. That's nothing to be ashamed of. The only thing the costumer cared about was that it was shrink-wrapped... because it was a gift. They probably wouldn't have cared even if you told them.
I'm not one to criticize Wikipedia, but it should never be cited as a source. Trustworthy Wikipedia articles cite their sources. Cite those. If the Wikipedia article doesn't cite sources, then don't count on it being true if it's important to you.
Don't get me wrong, I'm in no way, shape, or form a vinyl fanboi, but vinyl is a medium which prevents postprocessing compression. Lots of people have said this claim can't be true. I don't have any technical insight there. But one thing is for certain: a medium that supposedly limits what you can do is inferior, even if you don't like the things its limiting.
Lois: Thank God everythings alright, I half expected that when we returned you'd owe a lot of money or something. Peter: How do you "half expect" something? Lois: I don't know, it's just a turn of phrase. Peter: How do you turn a phrase? Lois: God you're stupid, thank goodness for that ass.
Yeah, I'm a bit perplexed by all this. I like to assume its just Rockstar's evil corporate layers being corporate layers - you know, being evil. Has anyone outside of Rockstar's legal department said anything? I can't imagine the people who actually make the games have a problem with this Simpsons game.
Heh, and for a very brief moment I thought there might actually be a corporation that refused to bow down to censors because it somehow anomalously cared about freedom of creativity. Granted, I was drunk.
Back in the 90s most stores wouldn't accept returns at all for software if the shrink wrap was broken. At the same time compatibility was much more sketchy, it wasn't uncommon to buy software and have it just not work at all on your computer even running a mainstream OS, etc. Yeah, I returned software to Fry's a number of times using this story: "One of the salespeople TOLD ME it would work on my computer!" Lord knows salesperson incompetence is a believable story at Fry's.
Also, are you implying that today you CAN return software with the shrink wrap broken? I find that surprising, but I haven't tried to return software in a long time.
I don't think you got what I was saying. I wasn't saying "Russia is bad but the US is worse" - an entirely unwinnable argument if "worse" is defined as fewer rights granted to its people. I'm saying that my government wants to dominate the world - something I happen to be entirely against - and Russia is a counterbalance to US hegemony and THIS is why the focus is increasingly on Russia, in direct proportion to how much our relationship has soured at any given point.
You won't find a person who feels less favorably about the Russian government than me, with the probable exception of (some) Russians. But what's a bigger concern for the world today? A Russian government that oppresses its people or a US government that oppresses every inch of the world it can hold on to? Do you think US-loyal Saudi Arabia is better than Russia? Of course you don't, you abhor that country's government too, as do I. But the moment they don't listen to us as much as we'd like them to and they become the new biggest enemy of the United States, I'll support them again foreign aggression unconditionally.
Thankfully, the tide seems to be turning the other way these days.
It's a kinder, gentler authoritarianism - that lets us believe we're a "free" people while jailing a larger proportion of our population than any other industrialized country, and ignoring the clear majority will in favor of universal health care, large-scale restructuring of energy use, and the end of corporate domination of our politics. I agree with your whole post. However, I think this robs the term "authoritarianism" of its meaning. The percentage of people in prison? Okay, that's a good indicator. But controlling people's minds through control of information, and placating people with the illusion of democracy is practically the definition of what authoritarianism isn't.
You need to come up with another term. As a Marxist, I'd use the term "bourgeois liberal democracy", which implies every thing you said, but I don't expect that one to become popular.
If Fox News reported this, you might have a case. But this is Slashdot. But this is headline news in the US. GGP is right that the reason for this focus is to defame (note that there's a difference between defamation and slander) a state that is once again becoming a impediment to the US's desire dominance over all regions of the world. Russia is once again a counterweight, as is China. Funny how we hear all about the evils of the Chinese government all the time too.
Note that I'm not a fan of either of these governments, but I'm much less of a fan - an enemy, in fact - of imperialism. This is what separates an anti-imperialist from a liberal (though they might use the phrase too).
By all means, have your nerdy discussion about the recently dubbed "iCurtain", but GGP made a point that cannot be forgotten. This issue is much bigger than Slashdot. Slashdot is just caught in the stream.
Flamebait? What kind of flaming was I asking for? Is there a division of Slashdotters who hate nothing more than people who don't like spokespeople repeating lies till they become truth I'm not aware of? Maybe the modder thought that "flamebait" meant "flame" but that would still be just as wrong. Maybe if there was a -1 Smart-Ass mod, (s)he could have used that, but there isn't.
Damnit, I want my karma back. But I'll probably just get modded down here as Offtopic.
Well, lets be fair. There's a difference between incremental improvements (consoles) and addons ad nauseum (The Sims). His point remains valid without making him a hypocrite.
America ain't communist, and communism seems to be on the decline. So it is kind of hard to disprove that the red-scare tactics didn't work. I agree completely. The Communist Party used to be a major player in US politics, something we're supposed to forget (probably because it played a hugely positive role). Communist sympathies were indeed very strong in Hollywood, especially among screenwriters. McCarthyism played an essential role in ridding Communists, socialists, radical leftists and their sympathizers of (almost) any influential place in society (by getting rid of anyone who could possibly be counted among them). It succeeded in turning working class sympathies into something like Satanism in the public mind.
McCarthyism was very similar to the Stalinist purges. The latter purged the government of any potential impediments to Stalin's total rule and, just as importantly, reminded everyone to not fuck with him. Here's another very interesting similarity: Stalin's purges were always carried out by some high person in government, but never Stalin himself (at least not publicly). At the end of the purge, this person was always denounced as having taken things too far, turned into a pariah and kicked out of office (if he was lucky).
Slashdot Mirror
Time to call Pizza Hut. :-D
Yup, cause we all know the more a murderer suffers, the lower the victim count goes. Vengeance is one of the ugliest of human emotions, no matter who we're talking about.
Side note: I think people - at least in the US, probably in all world powers - have a problem where they can't stop confusing "who's wrong in this context?" with "who's 'worse'?" - a problem perpetually with dire consequences.
*Though some might argue that Russia acts imperialistically towards Chechnya, a valid point.
I'm not one to criticize Wikipedia, but it should never be cited as a source. Trustworthy Wikipedia articles cite their sources. Cite those. If the Wikipedia article doesn't cite sources, then don't count on it being true if it's important to you.
No, I haven't the slightest clue what I'm talking about.
I can't wait to play Bioshock off an analog vinyl disk. I'll bet the graphics will be AWESOME.
Lois: Thank God everythings alright, I half expected that when we returned you'd owe a lot of money or something.
Peter: How do you "half expect" something?
Lois: I don't know, it's just a turn of phrase.
Peter: How do you turn a phrase?
Lois: God you're stupid, thank goodness for that ass.
Oh, wrong cartoon show...
Yeah, I'm a bit perplexed by all this. I like to assume its just Rockstar's evil corporate layers being corporate layers - you know, being evil. Has anyone outside of Rockstar's legal department said anything? I can't imagine the people who actually make the games have a problem with this Simpsons game.
Heh, and for a very brief moment I thought there might actually be a corporation that refused to bow down to censors because it somehow anomalously cared about freedom of creativity. Granted, I was drunk.
Also, are you implying that today you CAN return software with the shrink wrap broken? I find that surprising, but I haven't tried to return software in a long time.
I don't think you got what I was saying. I wasn't saying "Russia is bad but the US is worse" - an entirely unwinnable argument if "worse" is defined as fewer rights granted to its people. I'm saying that my government wants to dominate the world - something I happen to be entirely against - and Russia is a counterbalance to US hegemony and THIS is why the focus is increasingly on Russia, in direct proportion to how much our relationship has soured at any given point.
You won't find a person who feels less favorably about the Russian government than me, with the probable exception of (some) Russians. But what's a bigger concern for the world today? A Russian government that oppresses its people or a US government that oppresses every inch of the world it can hold on to? Do you think US-loyal Saudi Arabia is better than Russia? Of course you don't, you abhor that country's government too, as do I. But the moment they don't listen to us as much as we'd like them to and they become the new biggest enemy of the United States, I'll support them again foreign aggression unconditionally.
Thankfully, the tide seems to be turning the other way these days.
You need to come up with another term. As a Marxist, I'd use the term "bourgeois liberal democracy", which implies every thing you said, but I don't expect that one to become popular.
Note that I'm not a fan of either of these governments, but I'm much less of a fan - an enemy, in fact - of imperialism. This is what separates an anti-imperialist from a liberal (though they might use the phrase too).
By all means, have your nerdy discussion about the recently dubbed "iCurtain", but GGP made a point that cannot be forgotten. This issue is much bigger than Slashdot. Slashdot is just caught in the stream.
Flamebait? What kind of flaming was I asking for? Is there a division of Slashdotters who hate nothing more than people who don't like spokespeople repeating lies till they become truth I'm not aware of? Maybe the modder thought that "flamebait" meant "flame" but that would still be just as wrong. Maybe if there was a -1 Smart-Ass mod, (s)he could have used that, but there isn't. Damnit, I want my karma back. But I'll probably just get modded down here as Offtopic.
Well, lets be fair. There's a difference between incremental improvements (consoles) and addons ad nauseum (The Sims). His point remains valid without making him a hypocrite.
"Some of these users have subsequently purchased a SECOND legal copy after realizing the issue and were STILL having difficulty" Fixed that for Doug.
McCarthyism was very similar to the Stalinist purges. The latter purged the government of any potential impediments to Stalin's total rule and, just as importantly, reminded everyone to not fuck with him. Here's another very interesting similarity: Stalin's purges were always carried out by some high person in government, but never Stalin himself (at least not publicly). At the end of the purge, this person was always denounced as having taken things too far, turned into a pariah and kicked out of office (if he was lucky).