The thing is, while games for nintendo systems, especially games produced by nintendo themselves, tend to be very refined and lots of fun, they are rarely revolutionary.
Donkey Kong- Created the demand for the coin op industry beyond Space Invaders
Super Mario Brothers- changed sidescrollers to adventure games.
Metroid and Metroid Prime- changed the objectives and styles of almost all of the titles in the adventure genre. Allowed fighting to be incorporated into a adventure title effectively.
Zelda series- opened up long form adventure from the Zorg era to the adventure era.
Mario 64- showed a 3D platformer that acutally works well enough to not annoy you to death.
Goldeneye- Issued in the console FPS as an alternatice to PC for FPS fans.
Pikmin- truly original and fun, must be experienced to understand
F-zero - the fastest and most maddening racing game, EVER. Period.
Besides all of that, Nintendo started connectivity to your portable, a slew of failed technologies that were at least ballsy like the Virtual Boy (a failure, but not conceptually), and four controllers for your console. It has spawned more come-and-gone genres than Xbox and PS2 have right now.
Look you can say a lot about Nintendo, but saying that they are not revolutionary is really uninformed. They built the home console industry.
Look, you need to face facts that the reason why more people buy PS2s and the Xbox is because THEY LIKE SPORTS GAMES. Sports games drive the PS2... and honestly, they are highly unoriginal... "Hey guys! This version has John Madden 'Crazy mode' where he gets drunk and rambles on it! $49.99!" Most PS2 owners I know have three games, they have a Madden, GTA, and Vice City. That is not original. What do they plan on purchasing? Madden and GTA.
Look, say what you will about Nintendo, and how it is getting "eaten alive," but Nintendo is a single corportation that is getting attacked by the two largest, cash rich software/media companies on the planet. Realisticly, Nintendo is stronger than it ever was. It is just that Sony and Microsoft know that games are the new exclusive entertainment of our generation, and they need to OWN THIS MARKET PERMANENTLY. That means money no object. Both Sony and Microsoft have stolen developers out from under 'Tendo for BILLIONS. Yes, billions with a 'B.' Now tell me Nintendo is not competetive when the competition does a cash buyout of your friends for a checks that add up to billions.
Lets see how your little company would do against the two premiere "endless money" giants. Two corporations that didn't start by making playing cards and childrens toys, but instead showed up because they had BILLIONS in their back pocket.
When you think about that, Nintendo might be the scrappiest and toughest company on the planet.
On the other hand, I've got to agree with the Governator, if for different reasons. I'm not sure if this is within the power of the commission that did it, for whatever benefit. This kind of power creep is exactly the kind of thing citizens should oppose.
Yeah, but currently the power creep is from the cell phone companies. These restrictions look more like lemon laws than anything.
Ask yourself this: What if you bought a cell with a contract that said it had essential coverage, and it didn't (as often cell companies do)? What if you got crappy reception at your own home even though it clearly says that you are clearly in the footprint? What could you do?
The answer? NOTHING FOR A YEAR. Buy another contract and pray. Smells like bull to me.
Long, long ago in the United States, things such as electrical power, natural gas lines, phone service, and other major mass entities were declared utilities.
Cell phones, through daily use, are becoming more and more important to daily life, and although we have lived without them, we have also lived without electricity as well... so don't even argue that right now. Currently due to tricks that the entire industry uses, they are continuing to charge the same rates for an older technology that is more ubiquitous. The value and cost of cell is dropping. The prices are not. Does that sound like good trade to you? Cell phones, under certain circumstances should be regulated like any other utility, due to the fact that they are a necessity, and they are currently price gouging.
Simply put, if everyone makes you sign up for a year, then you are screwed. The power company CAN'T do that. The POTS phone company cannot do that to you. They are regulated. Granted they are regulated monopolies, but at the same time, if there are only a few major cell carriers left in a few years, you are in the same boat.
Yes, there are alternatives. You can buy cell packages in all different manners. However, if you want one with good coverage outside of an urban market where altrernatives are plentiful, you not only have to pay, and most likely you have to be restricted by contracts.
It is a service. You pay for it. All of the air conditioning services don't come over and tell you that you need to sign a year contract and pay whether you use your A/C or not. The plumber doesn't make you sign a contract. There is no fine print in a plumber. There is no automatic withdrawl, or shady account management.
These days cell telephones are important for the succesful completion of the vast majority of business tasks. Collusion, or restriction of cell phone services by the way of binding contracts or other such behaviors should be considered predatory practice, and it ultimately restricts free trade.
That is why you need some slight regulation. After all, this isn't price restricting... it just sounds like cell phone lemon laws.
Why Final Fantasy failed.
on
Shrek 2 How-To
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· Score: 5, Interesting
Pixar and Dreamworks, as far as I know, haven't tried to do a non-cartoony movie, but even with knowing how good their teachnology and artists are, it would be quite hard to compare to the level of detail the FF movie had.
Look, it is CG. It is, for many years at this rate of technology, going to look like CG if you do the entire movie in it. You can either play with it or you can look like a clown trying to ignore it.
I think that the biggest problem with Final Fantasy was the fact that it did look animated. There was too much seriousness going on with animated characters. It just didn't sell as a human drama. It wasn't a human drama. It WAS A CG DRAMA. This is the difference between the best film you've ever seen, and being up front row with the worst play you've ever seen. The play is still more immersive.
The movie was, in a nut shell, as well thought out as one would making Shindler's List an animated movie... or telling Frank Zappa to keep it clean, straightforward, and don't go over anyone's head. Even Mizayaki doesn't try to give a 'most realistic looking people' project. And he does animation like a master.
Final Fantasy the movie failed because it played to all of the disadvantages, and none of the advantages of the medium. ART is never about, "toning it down."
"Let's impress people by how real we can make it."
NO! NO! NO! Bad idea! Comics and animated characters are loved for their elasticity and style. You just don't try to make a style that is "indistinguishable from normal." That is playing to all of the disadvantages, and none of the advantages of the medium. Good actors don't try to be "normal." They try to be extraordinary. All good art tries the same.
If they wanted drama, good acting, and suspense, they should stick with real actors.
If you want unreality... elasticity... uniqueness... style and art, then you go with an animated medium.
Final Fantasy was shortsighted. They thought the cutscenes in the game could be a movie. It is like saying, "let's remake the Godfather movies, but use CG instead of actors! Make it real serious! That'll show this CG is a serious medium!"
Currently, the DOE has so many clean up sites, not because the nuclear energy projects were not successful and profitable, but the fact that the DOE is required, COME WHAT MAY, to take care of any finality issue with a nuclear based energy company. So the companies have a whopping zero cost for failure or liability, and remember, we're talking nuclear.
So, when they think their operating costs get too high, or they just don't want to do it anymore, the nuclear companies can literally drop what they are doing right there, walk out, and it is all a Department of Energy (DOE) problem from then on. Guess what? DAMN NEAR EVERY ONE OF THEM DOES. That is their little perk. This stuff is too dangerous without permanent government supervision. The US doesn't want some weird Iranian group that they don't trust buying up their workplace (because if anyone is going to sell something to Iranians we don't trust, by god, it should be bought direct from the US government), and after all, businessmen don't care what they have to do as long as they get the cash for doing it. So, as a protection, they have no responsibility for their nuclear actions.
"We leaked some sludge? WHOOPS. That's it, it is now too expensive with the lawyers. Close shop. Call the DOE. It is their child now. Thanks for the BILLIONS, and see ya later, suckers!"
The best analogy would be that the government would now be responsible for auto manufacturing recalls. "Sorry we made some bad cars. Call the government, it is their problem now."
At the same time it is a Good Thing (TM) because if they have these logs as court evidence, and Diebold had leaked any information regarding rigging the voting machines, then it will hopefully get national media attention.
Some people go to court.
Democracy, either way, gets a nice kick back again towards a more fair system.
I personally fear the Diebold machines. But I would mistrust anything that wouldn't let me verify online what my results were, and with a paper copy.
The other day at a gas pump my cell phone went off and I picked it up as I was pumping. This woman looked at me like I was going to die. She ran over and said, "you're really taking your life in your hands doing that. Where I come from there are all sorts of warnings on things, and I think it is against the law to do it."
I started laughing. She looked at me like I was an idiot. So I asked her why, knowing all the people that think this. "Cause it could cause a shock. And the cell phone waves can ignite the gas if the phone is faulty." I started lauging again. I told her we are standing underneath a radio tower that is kicking out so much power that you can hear it two states away.
She just got mad, and said "suit yourself."
I told her it was an urban legend and it is not the cause of pump fires.
People, if you payed attention in science class it really isn't that hard to figure out.
Do two things:
1. Always fill your gas can for the lawnmower on the ground. It has nothing to do with a cell phone. It has to do with the static charge in the car from rolling all the time. You don't want to ground the car through the gas can.
2. I always touch the gas pump. I figure when I am getting out of the car and it is time to get gas, just touch the grounded metal part od the nozzle holder when you pull out the nozzle, and charge that might have been there on you would be over with. It's probably stupid, but I do it anyway. Call me stupid, I guess.
I am not even sure of the science of this one, I just do it. But more people die from filling the lawnmower gas can on the back of their pickup. And even gas cans these days are plastic. I don't even think you can get a metal one in under five gallons.
A musket is a historical weapon that has no relevence to today. What about all of the school mascots with Roman spears or Tomahawks?
Here is what I am trying to say, the school has a policy about glorifying violence. Intimidating clothing is part of it.
No one is going to put on a tricorn hat and go on a school rampage with a muzzle loader. So your argument is baloney.
However, people wearing shirts with the silhouette of a modern firearm might just be considered a intimidating. Our children go to school to learn, not be intimidated by classmates that act as though they might shoot people, or glorify violence with their fourteen year old understanding of the world. If you have a problem with that, I suggest you have some children before your reply, it might change your attitude.
Should the school also allow shirts that say "I will strangle your mother if you look at me again"? After all, in this country you can say and express what you want!
See? In any society, even a free one, there is a responsibility, and a line to be drawn. Even in America there is a line. The line is a lot deeper than most countries, but there is still a line. That is to let other people live with freedom from tyranny, oppression, religion, and fear.
Look, I see a world of better ideas about what good these things can do. Stop looking at all of the negatives.
First of all, it would help explore the tops of large building areas if need be, or could be used to cover larger high areas for search and rescue. What if a person was trapped on a cliff on a deep woods rescue? You could definitely use one to spot a way down to get them. What about just to check power lines for damage? Or to look at endangered bird nests in an inobtrusive way?
There are a lot of times where a helicopter is expensive, not available, or cannot be flown. This is a great tool to work in between those parameters, where right now, we have nothing.
A lot of you start thinking about the worst part of a purpose... like delivering a tiny bomb or spying on people. That just isn't the way it always goes.
This is why these laws won't work. If somebody is going to commit something illegal, he'll probably enter the country illegally. Probably through the porous mexican border or the huge coastline that the US has.
Actually, the truth is that you are wrong. The hijackers entered the United States via real and honest US Visas. Many of the people arrested in the US for terrorist related activities have been abusing the system via student visas. Sorry, but even as a liberal that I may be, this is an incorrect and erroneous assumption. In other words, you're wrong.
Secondly, this is downright disrespectful. Detractors will argue that it's for the safety of the US. Well, I really don't see how it'll help. Once the dude is in the country, and has committed the offence, this sort of system is absolutely worthless. Effort should be put into preventing these sort of tragedies. Efforts like putting more effort into the Israel Palestine crisis, managing Iraq more effectively, stop being so patriachal and showing more respect to the citizens of the world.
This is a Customs, INS, and border issue. Please don't drag in geo-politics into it. The police cannot find and ferret out people who are planning the murder of innocents if they don't know who they are. That means you must take a picture. Whoop de doo.
I for one, will be taking my tourist dollars elsewhere. Where the authorities respect me. Where I'm not treated like a criminal and people realise that not everybody is out to get them.
Fine then. Look, America was the biggest free entrance country in the world for the longest time. Those days are over. If you complain about being harassed by photos, all the while knowing with certainty that people are trying to get in the USA are definitely planning MASS MURDER on an UNPRECEDENTED SCALE, then you have your priorities out of whack. You must understand none of this would have changed if not for the MASS MURDER of some three thousand citizens and foreign nationals one Tuesday morning.
I am a known liberal. Doesn't mean that I am stupid, and need to hug a man with a dynamite belt for the sake of making others feel less inconvenienced.
If you are insulted that you might be seen as a terrorist, I would suggest you stop projecting the worst on people. What if your kinsmen were killed out of nowhere? What would you think? Look, think about your own people. What if they were murdered?
This is not Geo-Politics as everyone says. This is religious extremism that mannifests itself in murder. For all of you people out there that say the USA caused all of the problems in this 'War on Terror' stuff, then when did the USA found Wahhabist Extremism. After all, this extremism is the cause of it.
Please, someone refute me on this. I would like people to tell me how policies from a nation half a world away can cause people to strap on explosives to themselves and attempt genocide. Explain that to me. Explain how we made the Ayatollahs. How we literally MADE THEM. If we tipped their culture, then tell me how much we had to push, because it looks like the beating of a moth's wing from where I am standing.
But please, refute me. I would love to hear this one, how the USA destroyed a mighty culture of peace and tolerance.
The cost of hardware will never approach zero like he says it was, unless all innovation is stifled, and all technology is perfect. Like we are only going to be working on 3 gig processors in the future, like technology is a commodity like milk or butter.
This is an insane assumption... and you would think that a billionaire would have a better grasp on basic economics.
Why would I want to play Tribes 3 or UT 2k4 when I can play Halo 2 in a couple of months, and perhaps have to spend a couple hundred bucks to get the new machine?
Beacause everyone knows, Halo is "the GREATEST" (Tribes rip-off). Christ, I was playing Tribes so long ago that Microsoft wasn't even in the games business, but instead wanted to sell you a joystick with their one crappy game as their strategy. People are already screaming of the death of the PC as a gaming platform when they do a rehash of an idea that came out FOUR FREAKING YEARS AGO?
Halo? Played it. It sucked. UT 2k4 is where it is at. It was there for all the poor saps that finally discovered that there are sometimes VEHICLES AND MULTIPLAY IN A FPS.
That was five years ago people. Welcome to the future.
Speaking of vehicles, in order to save you fanboys from losing your minds, I won't even discuss the Battlefield games... it would hurt you too much.
So why is PC gaming dead again? Someone please sit me down and explain it to me. I gotta know.
Could it be that six out of seven IT professionals are moody bastards that have no social skills, and believe the world owes them something because they appear to be smart?
That would be my guess.
It deserves to die for crimes to humanity.
on
TiVo Will Die
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· Score: 3, Funny
YES, Tivo is dead.
My prescient mind, armed with my incredible understanding of market economics (from my hours in high school econ, and the occasional Wall Street Journal articles) predicts the downfall of this device... and here's why:
It works too well, has real value, and makes watching television easy in a glut of channels, all the while searching for programs you like.
That just sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Nobody ever became rich giving the public what they wanted... people became rich selling patches, add-ons, and ancillary crap to something that hardly worked, suckering in the customer with the hope that THIS WAS THE THING THAT WAS ACTUALLY GOING TO WORK WELL THIS TIME.
Tivo needs to get Ron Popeil on the phone, and let him break it down for them.
See? Get with the new economics! You don't make millions anymore giving the customers what they want! You have to release a crappy, non-transparent technology and then CHARGE THEM FOR UPDATES! Please. You need to think like Gates to survive these days. The money is not in giving them what they want. The money is in giving them something that doesn't work that they think will work, and then charging them huge bucks to GET IT TO WORK RIGHT AFTER ten generations later.
Tivo should die for getting it right the first time. This is America people. Our economy would collapse if we produced products that actually worked, where would all of the tech support workers be? All of the patch engineers? More importantly, where are all the freaking extra charges that make you a Fortune 500 company when you innovate and give the public what they want in a good product?
Face it. It is just like health care. The money ain't in the cure, the money is in the medicine.
Tivo screwed up. They deserve to die for NOT screwing their customers.
I think that the marketing of their games is going to be a bigger deal next time around.
After all, at this next E3 Nintendo said it will be showing the new console. That is an interesting statement from a company like Nintendo that is not that interested in change.
I believe the next console war will seriously be over on-line play. It has already started, and Nintendo now knows that, and it can't be so insane that it doesn't understand it.
Show a little respect. Nintendo can't purchase Viacom or DirecTV on a whim like Sony and Microsoft can, so for a game company that JUST MAKES GAMES, they're still holding up. Pretty respectable considering that they are going up against the cash cows of all media.
I know I'll buy a Nintendo. The games play well. Microsoft has spent too much money on games like Halo, that I have already played before. Playstation spends money on games that I have no urge to play whatsoever.
There is a man that is sending American sons of to war because of personal reasons, and they are dying. This is not a good thing.
Screw your little fiscal policy issues. In war (and we are at war, people) often you have to make decisions that are not in the perfect interest to accomplish a greater goal.
My greater goal is to end this war and the man that started it long before I worry about some B.S. intern scandal and mudslinging.
In case you're wondering, I openly advocate not voting in the hopes that the current political climate will "go away" (not exist because the people no longer recognize it) and we can start with a fresh system.
You, you nepotistic, self-imposed king! Go away! I will do nothing to stop you! I refuse to vote in aims that you will stop what you are doing! I will now lie on the floor in front of you!
Slashdot Mirror
Contrary to your "arm the world is fine" statement, let me counter your argument with a little known fact.
China is not exactly run by the people of China, moreso than many other countries that do have nuclear capability.
History has shown that when a country is controlled by one person or an elite few, the distance to the sword in any situation is shortened.
Democracies generally promote peace with the "hell no you're not taking my son!" argument.
Think about it.
The thing is, while games for nintendo systems, especially games produced by nintendo themselves, tend to be very refined and lots of fun, they are rarely revolutionary.
Donkey Kong- Created the demand for the coin op industry beyond Space Invaders
Super Mario Brothers- changed sidescrollers to adventure games.
Metroid and Metroid Prime- changed the objectives and styles of almost all of the titles in the adventure genre. Allowed fighting to be incorporated into a adventure title effectively.
Zelda series- opened up long form adventure from the Zorg era to the adventure era.
Mario 64- showed a 3D platformer that acutally works well enough to not annoy you to death.
Goldeneye- Issued in the console FPS as an alternatice to PC for FPS fans.
Pikmin- truly original and fun, must be experienced to understand
F-zero - the fastest and most maddening racing game, EVER. Period.
Besides all of that, Nintendo started connectivity to your portable, a slew of failed technologies that were at least ballsy like the Virtual Boy (a failure, but not conceptually), and four controllers for your console. It has spawned more come-and-gone genres than Xbox and PS2 have right now.
Look you can say a lot about Nintendo, but saying that they are not revolutionary is really uninformed. They built the home console industry.
Look, you need to face facts that the reason why more people buy PS2s and the Xbox is because THEY LIKE SPORTS GAMES. Sports games drive the PS2... and honestly, they are highly unoriginal... "Hey guys! This version has John Madden 'Crazy mode' where he gets drunk and rambles on it! $49.99!" Most PS2 owners I know have three games, they have a Madden, GTA, and Vice City. That is not original. What do they plan on purchasing? Madden and GTA.
Look, say what you will about Nintendo, and how it is getting "eaten alive," but Nintendo is a single corportation that is getting attacked by the two largest, cash rich software/media companies on the planet. Realisticly, Nintendo is stronger than it ever was. It is just that Sony and Microsoft know that games are the new exclusive entertainment of our generation, and they need to OWN THIS MARKET PERMANENTLY. That means money no object. Both Sony and Microsoft have stolen developers out from under 'Tendo for BILLIONS. Yes, billions with a 'B.' Now tell me Nintendo is not competetive when the competition does a cash buyout of your friends for a checks that add up to billions.
Lets see how your little company would do against the two premiere "endless money" giants. Two corporations that didn't start by making playing cards and childrens toys, but instead showed up because they had BILLIONS in their back pocket.
When you think about that, Nintendo might be the scrappiest and toughest company on the planet.
On the other hand, I've got to agree with the Governator, if for different reasons. I'm not sure if this is within the power of the commission that did it, for whatever benefit. This kind of power creep is exactly the kind of thing citizens should oppose.
Yeah, but currently the power creep is from the cell phone companies. These restrictions look more like lemon laws than anything.
Ask yourself this: What if you bought a cell with a contract that said it had essential coverage, and it didn't (as often cell companies do)? What if you got crappy reception at your own home even though it clearly says that you are clearly in the footprint? What could you do?
The answer? NOTHING FOR A YEAR. Buy another contract and pray. Smells like bull to me.
Long, long ago in the United States, things such as electrical power, natural gas lines, phone service, and other major mass entities were declared utilities.
Cell phones, through daily use, are becoming more and more important to daily life, and although we have lived without them, we have also lived without electricity as well... so don't even argue that right now. Currently due to tricks that the entire industry uses, they are continuing to charge the same rates for an older technology that is more ubiquitous. The value and cost of cell is dropping. The prices are not. Does that sound like good trade to you? Cell phones, under certain circumstances should be regulated like any other utility, due to the fact that they are a necessity, and they are currently price gouging.
Simply put, if everyone makes you sign up for a year, then you are screwed. The power company CAN'T do that. The POTS phone company cannot do that to you. They are regulated. Granted they are regulated monopolies, but at the same time, if there are only a few major cell carriers left in a few years, you are in the same boat.
Yes, there are alternatives. You can buy cell packages in all different manners. However, if you want one with good coverage outside of an urban market where altrernatives are plentiful, you not only have to pay, and most likely you have to be restricted by contracts.
It is a service. You pay for it. All of the air conditioning services don't come over and tell you that you need to sign a year contract and pay whether you use your A/C or not. The plumber doesn't make you sign a contract. There is no fine print in a plumber. There is no automatic withdrawl, or shady account management.
These days cell telephones are important for the succesful completion of the vast majority of business tasks. Collusion, or restriction of cell phone services by the way of binding contracts or other such behaviors should be considered predatory practice, and it ultimately restricts free trade.
That is why you need some slight regulation. After all, this isn't price restricting... it just sounds like cell phone lemon laws.
Pixar and Dreamworks, as far as I know, haven't tried to do a non-cartoony movie, but even with knowing how good their teachnology and artists are, it would be quite hard to compare to the level of detail the FF movie had.
Look, it is CG. It is, for many years at this rate of technology, going to look like CG if you do the entire movie in it. You can either play with it or you can look like a clown trying to ignore it.
I think that the biggest problem with Final Fantasy was the fact that it did look animated. There was too much seriousness going on with animated characters. It just didn't sell as a human drama. It wasn't a human drama. It WAS A CG DRAMA. This is the difference between the best film you've ever seen, and being up front row with the worst play you've ever seen. The play is still more immersive.
The movie was, in a nut shell, as well thought out as one would making Shindler's List an animated movie... or telling Frank Zappa to keep it clean, straightforward, and don't go over anyone's head. Even Mizayaki doesn't try to give a 'most realistic looking people' project. And he does animation like a master.
Final Fantasy the movie failed because it played to all of the disadvantages, and none of the advantages of the medium. ART is never about, "toning it down."
"Let's impress people by how real we can make it."
NO! NO! NO! Bad idea! Comics and animated characters are loved for their elasticity and style. You just don't try to make a style that is "indistinguishable from normal." That is playing to all of the disadvantages, and none of the advantages of the medium. Good actors don't try to be "normal." They try to be extraordinary. All good art tries the same.
If they wanted drama, good acting, and suspense, they should stick with real actors.
If you want unreality... elasticity... uniqueness... style and art, then you go with an animated medium.
Final Fantasy was shortsighted. They thought the cutscenes in the game could be a movie. It is like saying, "let's remake the Godfather movies, but use CG instead of actors! Make it real serious! That'll show this CG is a serious medium!"
Currently, the DOE has so many clean up sites, not because the nuclear energy projects were not successful and profitable, but the fact that the DOE is required, COME WHAT MAY, to take care of any finality issue with a nuclear based energy company. So the companies have a whopping zero cost for failure or liability, and remember, we're talking nuclear.
So, when they think their operating costs get too high, or they just don't want to do it anymore, the nuclear companies can literally drop what they are doing right there, walk out, and it is all a Department of Energy (DOE) problem from then on. Guess what? DAMN NEAR EVERY ONE OF THEM DOES. That is their little perk. This stuff is too dangerous without permanent government supervision. The US doesn't want some weird Iranian group that they don't trust buying up their workplace (because if anyone is going to sell something to Iranians we don't trust, by god, it should be bought direct from the US government), and after all, businessmen don't care what they have to do as long as they get the cash for doing it. So, as a protection, they have no responsibility for their nuclear actions.
"We leaked some sludge? WHOOPS. That's it, it is now too expensive with the lawyers. Close shop. Call the DOE. It is their child now. Thanks for the BILLIONS, and see ya later, suckers!"
The best analogy would be that the government would now be responsible for auto manufacturing recalls. "Sorry we made some bad cars. Call the government, it is their problem now."
Sure, but the point is most porn spam is asking you to visit site foo-bar or something like that. Or maybe buy a product from some place.
And anyway, the sites that the spammers link to can always plead ignorance. *shrug*
Hey, I asked these spammers to help me out, but they did not stick to the rules. Don't blame us.
"I just hired the hitman to kill my wife for cash, I didn't do it. Don't blame me!"
At the same time it is a Good Thing (TM) because if they have these logs as court evidence, and Diebold had leaked any information regarding rigging the voting machines, then it will hopefully get national media attention.
Some people go to court.
Democracy, either way, gets a nice kick back again towards a more fair system.
I personally fear the Diebold machines. But I would mistrust anything that wouldn't let me verify online what my results were, and with a paper copy.
The other day at a gas pump my cell phone went off and I picked it up as I was pumping. This woman looked at me like I was going to die. She ran over and said, "you're really taking your life in your hands doing that. Where I come from there are all sorts of warnings on things, and I think it is against the law to do it."
I started laughing. She looked at me like I was an idiot. So I asked her why, knowing all the people that think this. "Cause it could cause a shock. And the cell phone waves can ignite the gas if the phone is faulty." I started lauging again. I told her we are standing underneath a radio tower that is kicking out so much power that you can hear it two states away.
She just got mad, and said "suit yourself."
I told her it was an urban legend and it is not the cause of pump fires.
People, if you payed attention in science class it really isn't that hard to figure out.
Do two things:
1. Always fill your gas can for the lawnmower on the ground. It has nothing to do with a cell phone. It has to do with the static charge in the car from rolling all the time. You don't want to ground the car through the gas can.
2. I always touch the gas pump. I figure when I am getting out of the car and it is time to get gas, just touch the grounded metal part od the nozzle holder when you pull out the nozzle, and charge that might have been there on you would be over with. It's probably stupid, but I do it anyway. Call me stupid, I guess.
I am not even sure of the science of this one, I just do it. But more people die from filling the lawnmower gas can on the back of their pickup. And even gas cans these days are plastic. I don't even think you can get a metal one in under five gallons.
So there you go.
I'm looking forward to a nanoforge.
I can finally get that flying car that I've been promised since 1947.
"Hey! I remember that there was this show once called Farscape, and... Ughhh"
What's next - Lucasfilm is cancelling Episode III!!?!?
One can only hope.
That will be the most resentful seven dollars I will ever spend. I feel forced to finish it all.
A musket is a historical weapon that has no relevence to today. What about all of the school mascots with Roman spears or Tomahawks?
Here is what I am trying to say, the school has a policy about glorifying violence. Intimidating clothing is part of it.
No one is going to put on a tricorn hat and go on a school rampage with a muzzle loader. So your argument is baloney.
However, people wearing shirts with the silhouette of a modern firearm might just be considered a intimidating. Our children go to school to learn, not be intimidated by classmates that act as though they might shoot people, or glorify violence with their fourteen year old understanding of the world. If you have a problem with that, I suggest you have some children before your reply, it might change your attitude.
Should the school also allow shirts that say "I will strangle your mother if you look at me again"? After all, in this country you can say and express what you want!
See? In any society, even a free one, there is a responsibility, and a line to be drawn. Even in America there is a line. The line is a lot deeper than most countries, but there is still a line. That is to let other people live with freedom from tyranny, oppression, religion, and fear.
Remember those?
We are talking about herbicide resistant grasses.
So here's the worst case scenario:
"AIIIIEEEE!! My Roundup isn't working! We're all doomed! Now I will have to weed by hand! (Runs away in fear)"
Call me when they make a lawnmower resistant grass. Then I'll panic.
Look, I see a world of better ideas about what good these things can do. Stop looking at all of the negatives.
First of all, it would help explore the tops of large building areas if need be, or could be used to cover larger high areas for search and rescue. What if a person was trapped on a cliff on a deep woods rescue? You could definitely use one to spot a way down to get them. What about just to check power lines for damage? Or to look at endangered bird nests in an inobtrusive way?
There are a lot of times where a helicopter is expensive, not available, or cannot be flown. This is a great tool to work in between those parameters, where right now, we have nothing.
A lot of you start thinking about the worst part of a purpose... like delivering a tiny bomb or spying on people. That just isn't the way it always goes.
Those poor bastards-
Today, people said that they worked an average of eight hours to get a half hour episode done.
Well when they make 125k an episode, that only comes out to a measely $15,625 per hour.
What they are asking for? 194k per episode.
That comes down to a pitiful $24,250 per hour.
Think about the extra overtime! That is really going to run ya at time and a half!
This is why these laws won't work.
If somebody is going to commit something illegal, he'll probably enter the country illegally. Probably through the porous mexican border or the huge coastline that the US has.
Actually, the truth is that you are wrong. The hijackers entered the United States via real and honest US Visas. Many of the people arrested in the US for terrorist related activities have been abusing the system via student visas. Sorry, but even as a liberal that I may be, this is an incorrect and erroneous assumption. In other words, you're wrong.
Secondly, this is downright disrespectful. Detractors will argue that it's for the safety of the US. Well, I really don't see how it'll help. Once the dude is in the country, and has committed the offence, this sort of system is absolutely worthless. Effort should be put into preventing these sort of tragedies. Efforts like putting more effort into the Israel Palestine crisis, managing Iraq more effectively, stop being so patriachal and showing more respect to the citizens of the world.
This is a Customs, INS, and border issue. Please don't drag in geo-politics into it. The police cannot find and ferret out people who are planning the murder of innocents if they don't know who they are. That means you must take a picture. Whoop de doo.
I for one, will be taking my tourist dollars elsewhere. Where the authorities respect me. Where I'm not treated like a criminal and people realise that not everybody is out to get them.
Fine then. Look, America was the biggest free entrance country in the world for the longest time. Those days are over. If you complain about being harassed by photos, all the while knowing with certainty that people are trying to get in the USA are definitely planning MASS MURDER on an UNPRECEDENTED SCALE, then you have your priorities out of whack. You must understand none of this would have changed if not for the MASS MURDER of some three thousand citizens and foreign nationals one Tuesday morning.
I am a known liberal. Doesn't mean that I am stupid, and need to hug a man with a dynamite belt for the sake of making others feel less inconvenienced.
If you are insulted that you might be seen as a terrorist, I would suggest you stop projecting the worst on people. What if your kinsmen were killed out of nowhere? What would you think? Look, think about your own people. What if they were murdered?
This is not Geo-Politics as everyone says. This is religious extremism that mannifests itself in murder. For all of you people out there that say the USA caused all of the problems in this 'War on Terror' stuff, then when did the USA found Wahhabist Extremism. After all, this extremism is the cause of it.
Please, someone refute me on this. I would like people to tell me how policies from a nation half a world away can cause people to strap on explosives to themselves and attempt genocide. Explain that to me. Explain how we made the Ayatollahs. How we literally MADE THEM. If we tipped their culture, then tell me how much we had to push, because it looks like the beating of a moth's wing from where I am standing.
But please, refute me. I would love to hear this one, how the USA destroyed a mighty culture of peace and tolerance.
Riiight.
That would make sense in bizarro world.
The cost of hardware will never approach zero like he says it was, unless all innovation is stifled, and all technology is perfect. Like we are only going to be working on 3 gig processors in the future, like technology is a commodity like milk or butter.
This is an insane assumption... and you would think that a billionaire would have a better grasp on basic economics.
When exactly does Xbox2 come out?
Four words for the guy that wrote this article:
Half-Life 2... Doom 3.
Yeah, it's dead.
Why would I want to play Tribes 3 or UT 2k4 when I can play Halo 2 in a couple of months, and perhaps have to spend a couple hundred bucks to get the new machine?
Beacause everyone knows, Halo is "the GREATEST" (Tribes rip-off). Christ, I was playing Tribes so long ago that Microsoft wasn't even in the games business, but instead wanted to sell you a joystick with their one crappy game as their strategy. People are already screaming of the death of the PC as a gaming platform when they do a rehash of an idea that came out FOUR FREAKING YEARS AGO?
Halo? Played it. It sucked. UT 2k4 is where it is at. It was there for all the poor saps that finally discovered that there are sometimes VEHICLES AND MULTIPLAY IN A FPS.
That was five years ago people. Welcome to the future.
Speaking of vehicles, in order to save you fanboys from losing your minds, I won't even discuss the Battlefield games... it would hurt you too much.
So why is PC gaming dead again? Someone please sit me down and explain it to me. I gotta know.
Could it be that six out of seven IT professionals are moody bastards that have no social skills, and believe the world owes them something because they appear to be smart?
That would be my guess.
YES, Tivo is dead.
My prescient mind, armed with my incredible understanding of market economics (from my hours in high school econ, and the occasional Wall Street Journal articles) predicts the downfall of this device... and here's why:
It works too well, has real value, and makes watching television easy in a glut of channels, all the while searching for programs you like.
That just sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Nobody ever became rich giving the public what they wanted... people became rich selling patches, add-ons, and ancillary crap to something that hardly worked, suckering in the customer with the hope that THIS WAS THE THING THAT WAS ACTUALLY GOING TO WORK WELL THIS TIME.
Tivo needs to get Ron Popeil on the phone, and let him break it down for them.
See? Get with the new economics! You don't make millions anymore giving the customers what they want! You have to release a crappy, non-transparent technology and then CHARGE THEM FOR UPDATES! Please. You need to think like Gates to survive these days. The money is not in giving them what they want. The money is in giving them something that doesn't work that they think will work, and then charging them huge bucks to GET IT TO WORK RIGHT AFTER ten generations later.
Tivo should die for getting it right the first time. This is America people. Our economy would collapse if we produced products that actually worked, where would all of the tech support workers be? All of the patch engineers? More importantly, where are all the freaking extra charges that make you a Fortune 500 company when you innovate and give the public what they want in a good product?
Face it. It is just like health care. The money ain't in the cure, the money is in the medicine.
Tivo screwed up. They deserve to die for NOT screwing their customers.
I think that the marketing of their games is going to be a bigger deal next time around.
After all, at this next E3 Nintendo said it will be showing the new console. That is an interesting statement from a company like Nintendo that is not that interested in change.
I believe the next console war will seriously be over on-line play. It has already started, and Nintendo now knows that, and it can't be so insane that it doesn't understand it.
Show a little respect. Nintendo can't purchase Viacom or DirecTV on a whim like Sony and Microsoft can, so for a game company that JUST MAKES GAMES, they're still holding up. Pretty respectable considering that they are going up against the cash cows of all media.
I know I'll buy a Nintendo. The games play well. Microsoft has spent too much money on games like Halo, that I have already played before. Playstation spends money on games that I have no urge to play whatsoever.
Personally I love Tribes, but the whole feel of onslaught smells like Tribes to me.
I guess that Tribes, after years of being out, is finally dead and buried, and the dream of Tribes Vengeance is going to be swept under the rug by UT.
That is the way that it feels to me. All of the vehicles and weaponry just smell like Tribes, especially all of the movement, and all of the speed.
These are desperate times.
They call for desperate measures.
There is a man that is sending American sons of to war because of personal reasons, and they are dying. This is not a good thing.
Screw your little fiscal policy issues. In war (and we are at war, people) often you have to make decisions that are not in the perfect interest to accomplish a greater goal.
My greater goal is to end this war and the man that started it long before I worry about some B.S. intern scandal and mudslinging.
In case you're wondering, I openly advocate not voting in the hopes that the current political climate will "go away" (not exist because the people no longer recognize it) and we can start with a fresh system.
You, you nepotistic, self-imposed king! Go away! I will do nothing to stop you! I refuse to vote in aims that you will stop what you are doing! I will now lie on the floor in front of you!
Great plan.