I think there was a lot more to Jeri Ryan than the obvious
Thanks for the link, it's very apt. I'll concede that there could have been some interesting character development based around Seven. The trouble was that Seven was never allowed to actually develop. By that, I mean that she we had a series of "Now I understand humanity a little better," plots but she never did. Every week it was the same old croaky voice delivering the same old stilted and dictionally exacting audio communicational infobursts (or whatever Borgspeak is for "Your inefficient and outdated hew-man conversations.") and the same old "I do not understand" lines. Seven remained substantially the same character from beginning to end, I assume because (as with most of the characters) they couldn't be bothered updating her writer's crib sheet.
Besides, we've seen it all before, and better done, with Data (family and loyalty issues and all) and to a lesser extend with Spock, who was a genuinely fascinating character for any genre.
Finally, there's the inescapable point that Jeri Ryan was cast at least partly because of her tits (I would be PC and say "breasts", but I've been involved in doing some Star Trek CGI, and take it from me, as far as Paramount's creative weasels are concerned, they're "tits", and women are "babes"). I just couldn't see past them - literally or figuratively - to the woman or character behind them. Casting isn't accidental, or random, or blind. When Jeri was on screen, I always felt uncomfortably like I was watching "WWF Bitchslap", and no neural input was expected from me. Just watch the jiggling boobies, fan boy. Ignore the lack of writing or plot. Jiggling boobies. Jiggle jiggle.
Re:Red Dwarf is a much better show
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Voyager Eulogy
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Rob Grant, basically stopped writing episodes
Which is true, but strange, as Grant then went on to write an unrelated series, The Strangerers. Imagine running a cheese grater over your eyeballs, then dunking your head in a bucket of vinegar. That was the first five minutes of The Strangerers. Then it got worse. Much worse.
Meanwhile Doug Naylor has managed to scam the funds for a Red Dwarf movie. Oh dear.
Wow, suddenly I'm feeling nostalgia for Voyager. That's wierd.
You can't honestly tell me that the original Star Trek was that great. I mean, come on!. It was incredibly cheesy, and every single episode ended up with Kirk getting the hook-up with some freaky alien chick
You lie! There was, hang on, um. There was the one with... no, wait... er. Ha! The one where Spock got to play finger hockey with the Romulan tart, and, er, the Gorn (Big Green Lizard) episode. Sure, Kirk fscked it over pretty good, but I don't think it was a female.
Re:Not physicaly possible to travel faster then li
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Voyager Eulogy
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"in Popular Science they discussed how Warp drive IS theoretically possible."
No it's not. You need infinite energy to reach 'c' (speed of light.)
Q spare us from 1st year physics undergrads. Warp drive doesn't move the ship, it moves the universe. Watch more Futurama, or failing that, heed ye the words of Lucy Lawless in the Simpsons: "Look, whenever something like that happens, a wizard did it.";)
OK, to paraphrase the immortal words of Comic Book Guy, "Voyager finale: Wirst. Episode. Ivir."
Re:Biggest problem with the final episode...
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Voyager Eulogy
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Do you think the most powerful warship in the fleet (this is the concept behind the movie), the Enterprise, is going to have any of these cool new weapons that Voyager now possess?
*cough* Genesis torpedo *cough*. "Dang, the protomatter is unstable, Genesis doesn't work. All we're left with is some sort of doomsday weapon..."
Enterprise" Vulcan 2nd officer in Maxim. Funny I have never seen a Vulcan which such a big chest.
Now, now. I'm sure that she has a well rounded character with fullsome potential for growth and development and... ah, screw it... hubba hubba, the purty lady's got big tits, uh huhuhuh, shake it baby, yowza, whoop whoop. And so on. Yes, I too am viewing Enterprise with a great deal of trepidation. If I wanted to watch tits, stereotyped characters and risible plots, I'd watch V.I.P. But perhaps that's the audience they're targetting with Enterprise.
Re:It's only ENTERTAINMENT!
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Sit down... watch the show and enjoy it for what it is. A story.
Well, that's true, Voyager had a story.
Random alien: "Here, use this Sa'Mbeck'Ett device to get home."
Janeway: "No, this week's interpretation of the Prime Directive prohibits all use of Deus Ex Machina."
Borg: "Hoo ha ha! Resistance is futile. Look, just between you and me, I know it isn't, but we don't have a lot to work with here."
Tuvok: "Did you just mix 'I' and 'we' in that last utterance?"
Borg: "Silence! Prepare for assimilation. Get your affairs in order, find a good home for your pets, reverse the polarity of any Deus Ex Machines that you happen to have, and so on. Let us know when you're done, no hurry, take your time. We've got some correspondance to catch up on. Give us a call when you're good and prepared for assimilation, OK?"
7 of 9: "Observe my mammary glands."
Borg: "Wow, I'd sure like to assimilate me a piece of that silicon. Hubba hubba! That's some serious augmentation! Hey, guys, come check out the implants on this drone!"
Janeway: "Good work, Seven. Now, while they're distracted, discount my earlier objection, reverse the polarity of the Deus Ex Machine and use it as a weapon."
Borg: "Note to selves: next time, make a note to selves about Voyager's location before engaging in protracted debate and then being vapourised. Oops, too late. Yeargh!"
Squinty faced Klingon chick: "The Deus Ex Machine burned out. Fortunately, I have figured out how to create Yobbazite Torpedoes out of discarded Chinese takeaway boxes and toenail clippings."
Janeway: "Plus, we all grew as people and learned a valuable lesson about friendship. I love you guys."
Crew: "We love you too, Auntie Cathryn."
Sound about right?
Re:Warp drive silliness : somebody skipped math 10
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Actually, it's not exponential, it's a hand-drawn function that has an asymptote at 10
Actually youngster, it's simply (c * (warp factor ^ 3)). That's Gene Roddenberry canon. All else is heresy. No, I shall not hear you. LA LA LA, CAN'T HEAR YOU.;)
Warp 6 (Fed eco-limit, and cruising speed of TOS Constitution class) = 216 c = 324 years to cover 70k light years.
Warp 8 (TOS Constitution class cannae tak nae more) = 512 c = 136 years.
Warp 9.7726480591882512451878567688828 (just for argument) = 933.333333333333333333 c = 75 years.
Warp 14 (Excelsior transwarp, none of your "conduit" nonsense) = 2744 c = 25 years.
Re:My take on the death of the Trek series...
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the only reason it lasted as long as it did was the wise addition of some T&A to get back the spock ears group
Introducing Jeri Ryan was the correct choice at the time, but I don't know if I'd call it "wise". Not in the long term. Long term, we might look back and view it as cynical, manipulative, exploitative, in fact the worst kind of dumbing down by committee.
Picture the coked up pony-tailed 30-something creative team sweating over their Porche payments. "We need eyeballs! Get some tits in there. And make them big, and not those jiggly round ones. I want tits that you could carry beer glasses around on. Oh, a reason? I dunno, how about making her a Klingon? Got one already, huh? I should really watch the show more. What're those robot things called? Borg, huh? Any objections? OK, dig out a spandex unitard and let's buy us some flesh to fill it."
Re:Last episode mirrored structure of STTNG
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Shuttlecraft. Too small.
No, no, that's old series shuttlecraft you're thinking of. Voyager shuttlecraft are transwarp capable starships with more firepower than a Constitution class cruiser, hyperbongo shielding, 27 parsec scanners, industrial grade trainspotters, cloaks, cargo bays, a gymnasium with sauna, and a wet bar. Or so it seemed, anyway.
The Borg are no longer menacing; they're weak and stupid
Quite. The Borg are basically zombies, and zombies are basically stupid and lame. However, it is possible to make a good zombie film, by showing them as relentless and inexorable. You can knock down a hundred of them, but they'll still keep coming, never tiring, never sleeping, always assimilating. Eventually, they'll wear you down.
Star Trek forgot that. "Resistance is futile" should not be open to debate. The moment they started talking to the Borg, they become a stumbling, moronic joke. By the end of Voyager, the Feds were figuratively tweaking their noses and giving them wedgies. Frankly, I had a lot more sympathy for the industrious Borg than I did for the annoying Feds and their incessant lucky breaks and changing of the rules.
I disagree that tech deus ex machina is inherent to all sci-fi
Quite right. It doesn't have to be that way. If you can forgive the muppets, give Farscape a try. Top quote? "Enough techno babble, gadget girl. Will it work or not?"
By most people's definition, movies are classified as ENTERTAINMENT
Sadly untrue. High production value historical movies are treated as gospel by the vast majority of ill educated (i.e. most) viewers. There is a real and material effect on educators.
I do Scottish Wars of Independence living history, and I spend at least half my time trying to convince incredulous brainwashed public that Wallace didn't wear a kilt, or tartan, or impregnate a 7 year old French princess from 400 miles away. Many of them just flat refuse to believe me - hey, they've seen it in a movie, so it must be true, right?
The developers of GPLed software usually want the security of not having their software used by Microsoft.
Huh? I'd be delighted to have M$ use some of my GPL code. Either they'd have to release their source (anathema!), or I'd happily sue the pants off of them for copyright infringement. Lest we forget, GPL code is copyrighted, not public domain. Copyleft just says "You may use this copyrighted source iff you make your source available with any derived product." No source == copyright infringement == pro bono case and (a bit of) lovely money for me, yum yum.:)
refuses to play in my Sony "Region-free" player. Apparently the scripting language on the DVD now checks to see if the player is Region-free (i.e., region 0) then refuses to play.
Plus the disk reports itself as being region 0 to try and trick the player into setting itself to 0. It's a quick, nasty little bodge, justified only by the "because we can" argument. Fortunately, many players let you set the region manually with a simple handset hack. I chose my LG because the hack code is 314159. Easy as PI.;)
you try unstrapping a shield from your arm and drawing a longsword and see how long it takes
Uh, shields aren't strapped to the arm. With a kite shield, you generally put your arm through a loose strap and grip another strap, but it's about 2 seconds to shed a kite, and another 3 seconds to whip a hand-n-a-half out. It's armour that takes silly amounts of time to put on and take off.
Speaking as a game programmer, most games are meant to be FUN
Speaking as a games programmer and a steel weapon reenactor, I agree completely. Real heavy armour combat is hot, sweaty and bloomin' tiring. Diablo's energy bar is a nice start, but if you're talking realism, the next thing you need to add is a temperature gauge.;)
With a small shield, you could leave it on your bow arm while using a bow. Only a barbarian or paladin could pull that off with a tower shield. Of course, I have very little experience with medieval weapons, myself.:-)
I do.;) Nice idea, but it doesn't work in practice. Shields are gripped by the hand, not held by being strapped to the arm (on kites, you generally put your arm through a strap, but it's not holding it in place). You can get a buckler off your belt in about 3 seconds, or unsling a bossed round shield from your back in around 6 second or a strapped kite from your back in around 8 seconds. Putting on a long mail hauberk takes upwards of 30 seconds (much more if it gets caught in your hair or turns under itself), as does taking it off (and involves you bending on all fours with your arse in the air and doing a very undignified "tinny shimmy"). Field plate armour takes three minutes or more and often requires help. Full plate armour is five minutes+ and a helpful friend.
I'm not anal about the insta-equip in games (if I wanted to do it in real time I'd do it for real), but I'd love to see a game that actually placed inventory items on your avatar as well as equipped ones. Try hauling a spare kite shield, mail hauberk and broad axe around and you'll soon see why. Porters are de rigour for any self respecting hero.;)
(Apologies for the long rant; I've tried to keep it on topic.)
that is neodarwinian fascist nonsense
That's your measured dismissal of the whole nature versus nurture debate then? Nature doesn't get a look in? Nice use of hate words, by the way, and what exactly is your objection to Darwinism?
I am scottish and therefore from a really quite left wing and catholic background
Why the "therefore"? I'm Scottish. I am anti gun, but anti gun control; pro bowhunting but anti hunting with hounds; enjoy violent 'puter games (*ahem* on topic *ahem*) and violent sports, but would like to (personally) punish non consentual violence with public floggings; and am an afficionado both of early mediaeval art and of fetish porn. As you say, we're human beings capable of making our own decisions on a case by case basis, not stereotypes, so "likes violent games and porn" does not automatically mean "is a bit of a bastard". Also, didn't you just say that as humans, we make our own choices? So what does your social and religious upbringing have to do with the views that you choose to express?
I'm particularly puzzled by the dichotemy in you saying that people are capable of making their own choices, but that you will eschew any man who likes violent games and porn. If I enjoy violent games and porn (and I do) does that mean that I can't choose to be a loving, caring, adoring partner? I won't claim that I am (most abusive men claim exactly that), but I will say that I (choose to!) draw a strict line between fantasy and reality.
Here's a statistic anecdote to end on: one of my male friends doesn't particularly enjoy violent games and porn; the rest do. Most of them are in happy long term relationships, about half of them are gay, half of them develop computer games (violent, misogynistic, as dictated by publishers), and with one exception they are all gentle, pacifistic, bright, self aware and very loving and sensitive people. The one who isn't is a charming but selfish and self absorbed gay man with a string of failed relationships. He's the one who doesn't like violent games and porn. Make of that what you will.
Re:A left and a right... the GPL takes it, though!
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about a week after the courts rule that the GPL is unenforceable [...] programmers stop releasing code, and go to work for large corps, and things go back to the Way They Were
Please take the time to actually read about GPL copyleft. Copylefted source is copyrighted. Even if a court rules that the "must give source" clause is void, that doesn't void your copyright. Go ahead and sue.
The nightmare scenario is a really bonkers judge ruling that GPL code is public domain (which it explicitely isn't). However, that would have huge implications for all forms of corporate copyright, so it's hard to see even a US judge going that far.
Amongst all the sound and fury, I'm not seeing anyone asking the simple question: who cares if Linux never takes off on the desktop?
Who cares if Linux never beats Windoze on the desktop? Who cares if it never even beats MacOS? What exactly do we win as individuals if it does? Commercial Linux distros need this to happen, but (sorry guys) if it never happens and they die, Linux still goes on.
Am I happy hacking Linux? Yes. Am I happy using Linux? Yes. Am I happy supporting other happy Linux hackers? Yes. Would I be happy supporting hordes of griping Joe Sixpacks and Suzi Cubicles? No!
Frankly, screw them. Home and corporate users have a real choice right now; that most of them still use M$ just shows that they want to be taken care of, and that applies to corporate IT as well - they want the low risk, works 90% of the time, phone drone support solution. Fine, but I don't ever want Linux to be that solution, because the bigger Linux gets (in every sense), the more it will become like Windoze. Releases will be done to coincide with trade shows and shareholder meetings, not when features are complete.
No, I'm quite happy with Linux the way it is, thanks. Sure, I still have a Windoze boot for games, but I don't see that it makes me a hypocrite because Linux != Windows, and personally I hope it never does.
Nearly every source of energy suffers loss in production like this. If you're going to apply that standard to solar, apply it to other sources as well
Fossil mining powers itself and produces a surplus. PV doesn't - if you built a PV production plant powered by PV arrays, it couldn't even sustain itself, let alone produce arrays for me and thee to use. I can see a clear distinction there.
Unfortunately, that's bad news. Fossil is strictly limited, and all sustainable sources suck badly in the cost/production department, and also need a lot of space. I just hope we get enough nuke plants built before the oil dries up.
Lawlor said. "People that makes these kinds of things have gone too far."
Perhaps someone should point out to him that a fair number of arcade shoot-em-ups are based on movies (either explicitely or rip offs), so the movie industry should be told to cool its jets. For extra giggles, ask him how much of his campaign funding comes (directly or indirectly) from the movie industry.:)
Just as an FYI, in the UK, arcades already have a statuatory mininum age limit of 18. Rumour is, there's an arcade (in Ipswich or Bolton, I forget) that actually enforces it.;)
Most ball-sports are based on war. Should those be outlawed under 18 too?
No, they should be encouraged, because they are real activities involving interaction with real people, and involve real failure and real injury.
For example, I spent yesterday doing theatrical broadsword training. It was great fun, but I'm covered with bruises and scrapes, and I have no illusions about my ability, or the consequences of my actions.
Similarly, I'd prefer kids to be given firing range training with real guns, with associated videos on gunshot wounds and stern lectures on responsibility and safety (note: training != access), rather than have them learn their skilz playing UnrealQuakeLife while hiding their actual guns (and booze and girlie mags and pot) at the back of their closet.
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Thanks for the link, it's very apt. I'll concede that there could have been some interesting character development based around Seven. The trouble was that Seven was never allowed to actually develop. By that, I mean that she we had a series of "Now I understand humanity a little better," plots but she never did. Every week it was the same old croaky voice delivering the same old stilted and dictionally exacting audio communicational infobursts (or whatever Borgspeak is for "Your inefficient and outdated hew-man conversations.") and the same old "I do not understand" lines. Seven remained substantially the same character from beginning to end, I assume because (as with most of the characters) they couldn't be bothered updating her writer's crib sheet.
Besides, we've seen it all before, and better done, with Data (family and loyalty issues and all) and to a lesser extend with Spock, who was a genuinely fascinating character for any genre.
Finally, there's the inescapable point that Jeri Ryan was cast at least partly because of her tits (I would be PC and say "breasts", but I've been involved in doing some Star Trek CGI, and take it from me, as far as Paramount's creative weasels are concerned, they're "tits", and women are "babes"). I just couldn't see past them - literally or figuratively - to the woman or character behind them. Casting isn't accidental, or random, or blind. When Jeri was on screen, I always felt uncomfortably like I was watching "WWF Bitchslap", and no neural input was expected from me. Just watch the jiggling boobies, fan boy. Ignore the lack of writing or plot. Jiggling boobies. Jiggle jiggle.
Which is true, but strange, as Grant then went on to write an unrelated series, The Strangerers. Imagine running a cheese grater over your eyeballs, then dunking your head in a bucket of vinegar. That was the first five minutes of The Strangerers. Then it got worse. Much worse.
Meanwhile Doug Naylor has managed to scam the funds for a Red Dwarf movie. Oh dear.
Wow, suddenly I'm feeling nostalgia for Voyager. That's wierd.
You lie! There was, hang on, um. There was the one with... no, wait... er. Ha! The one where Spock got to play finger hockey with the Romulan tart, and, er, the Gorn (Big Green Lizard) episode. Sure, Kirk fscked it over pretty good, but I don't think it was a female.
- "in Popular Science they discussed how Warp drive IS theoretically possible."
No it's not. You need infinite energy to reach 'c' (speed of light.)Q spare us from 1st year physics undergrads. Warp drive doesn't move the ship, it moves the universe. Watch more Futurama, or failing that, heed ye the words of Lucy Lawless in the Simpsons: "Look, whenever something like that happens, a wizard did it." ;)
OK, to paraphrase the immortal words of Comic Book Guy, "Voyager finale: Wirst. Episode. Ivir."
*cough* Genesis torpedo *cough*. "Dang, the protomatter is unstable, Genesis doesn't work. All we're left with is some sort of doomsday weapon..."
Now, now. I'm sure that she has a well rounded character with fullsome potential for growth and development and... ah, screw it... hubba hubba, the purty lady's got big tits, uh huhuhuh, shake it baby, yowza, whoop whoop. And so on. Yes, I too am viewing Enterprise with a great deal of trepidation. If I wanted to watch tits, stereotyped characters and risible plots, I'd watch V.I.P. But perhaps that's the audience they're targetting with Enterprise.
Well, that's true, Voyager had a story.
Sound about right?
Actually youngster, it's simply (c * (warp factor ^ 3)). That's Gene Roddenberry canon. All else is heresy. No, I shall not hear you. LA LA LA, CAN'T HEAR YOU. ;)
Introducing Jeri Ryan was the correct choice at the time, but I don't know if I'd call it "wise". Not in the long term. Long term, we might look back and view it as cynical, manipulative, exploitative, in fact the worst kind of dumbing down by committee.
Picture the coked up pony-tailed 30-something creative team sweating over their Porche payments. "We need eyeballs! Get some tits in there. And make them big, and not those jiggly round ones. I want tits that you could carry beer glasses around on. Oh, a reason? I dunno, how about making her a Klingon? Got one already, huh? I should really watch the show more. What're those robot things called? Borg, huh? Any objections? OK, dig out a spandex unitard and let's buy us some flesh to fill it."
No, no, that's old series shuttlecraft you're thinking of. Voyager shuttlecraft are transwarp capable starships with more firepower than a Constitution class cruiser, hyperbongo shielding, 27 parsec scanners, industrial grade trainspotters, cloaks, cargo bays, a gymnasium with sauna, and a wet bar. Or so it seemed, anyway.
Quite. The Borg are basically zombies, and zombies are basically stupid and lame. However, it is possible to make a good zombie film, by showing them as relentless and inexorable. You can knock down a hundred of them, but they'll still keep coming, never tiring, never sleeping, always assimilating. Eventually, they'll wear you down.
Star Trek forgot that. "Resistance is futile" should not be open to debate. The moment they started talking to the Borg, they become a stumbling, moronic joke. By the end of Voyager, the Feds were figuratively tweaking their noses and giving them wedgies. Frankly, I had a lot more sympathy for the industrious Borg than I did for the annoying Feds and their incessant lucky breaks and changing of the rules.
Rot in Pieces, Voyager.
Quite right. It doesn't have to be that way. If you can forgive the muppets, give Farscape a try. Top quote? "Enough techno babble, gadget girl. Will it work or not?"
Sadly untrue. High production value historical movies are treated as gospel by the vast majority of ill educated (i.e. most) viewers. There is a real and material effect on educators.
I do Scottish Wars of Independence living history, and I spend at least half my time trying to convince incredulous brainwashed public that Wallace didn't wear a kilt, or tartan, or impregnate a 7 year old French princess from 400 miles away. Many of them just flat refuse to believe me - hey, they've seen it in a movie, so it must be true, right?
Huh? I'd be delighted to have M$ use some of my GPL code. Either they'd have to release their source (anathema!), or I'd happily sue the pants off of them for copyright infringement. Lest we forget, GPL code is copyrighted, not public domain. Copyleft just says "You may use this copyrighted source iff you make your source available with any derived product." No source == copyright infringement == pro bono case and (a bit of) lovely money for me, yum yum. :)
Plus the disk reports itself as being region 0 to try and trick the player into setting itself to 0. It's a quick, nasty little bodge, justified only by the "because we can" argument. Fortunately, many players let you set the region manually with a simple handset hack. I chose my LG because the hack code is 314159. Easy as PI. ;)
Uh, shields aren't strapped to the arm. With a kite shield, you generally put your arm through a loose strap and grip another strap, but it's about 2 seconds to shed a kite, and another 3 seconds to whip a hand-n-a-half out. It's armour that takes silly amounts of time to put on and take off.
Speaking as a games programmer and a steel weapon reenactor, I agree completely. Real heavy armour combat is hot, sweaty and bloomin' tiring. Diablo's energy bar is a nice start, but if you're talking realism, the next thing you need to add is a temperature gauge. ;)
I do. ;) Nice idea, but it doesn't work in practice. Shields are gripped by the hand, not held by being strapped to the arm (on kites, you generally put your arm through a strap, but it's not holding it in place). You can get a buckler off your belt in about 3 seconds, or unsling a bossed round shield from your back in around 6 second or a strapped kite from your back in around 8 seconds. Putting on a long mail hauberk takes upwards of 30 seconds (much more if it gets caught in your hair or turns under itself), as does taking it off (and involves you bending on all fours with your arse in the air and doing a very undignified "tinny shimmy"). Field plate armour takes three minutes or more and often requires help. Full plate armour is five minutes+ and a helpful friend.
I'm not anal about the insta-equip in games (if I wanted to do it in real time I'd do it for real), but I'd love to see a game that actually placed inventory items on your avatar as well as equipped ones. Try hauling a spare kite shield, mail hauberk and broad axe around and you'll soon see why. Porters are de rigour for any self respecting hero. ;)
And let's not forget Microsoft Visual C, which is "more or less" like gcc in the same way that J++ is "more or less" like Java. ;)
(Apologies for the long rant; I've tried to keep it on topic.)
That's your measured dismissal of the whole nature versus nurture debate then? Nature doesn't get a look in? Nice use of hate words, by the way, and what exactly is your objection to Darwinism?
Why the "therefore"? I'm Scottish. I am anti gun, but anti gun control; pro bowhunting but anti hunting with hounds; enjoy violent 'puter games (*ahem* on topic *ahem*) and violent sports, but would like to (personally) punish non consentual violence with public floggings; and am an afficionado both of early mediaeval art and of fetish porn. As you say, we're human beings capable of making our own decisions on a case by case basis, not stereotypes, so "likes violent games and porn" does not automatically mean "is a bit of a bastard". Also, didn't you just say that as humans, we make our own choices? So what does your social and religious upbringing have to do with the views that you choose to express?
I'm particularly puzzled by the dichotemy in you saying that people are capable of making their own choices, but that you will eschew any man who likes violent games and porn. If I enjoy violent games and porn (and I do) does that mean that I can't choose to be a loving, caring, adoring partner? I won't claim that I am (most abusive men claim exactly that), but I will say that I (choose to!) draw a strict line between fantasy and reality.
Here's a statistic anecdote to end on: one of my male friends doesn't particularly enjoy violent games and porn; the rest do. Most of them are in happy long term relationships, about half of them are gay, half of them develop computer games (violent, misogynistic, as dictated by publishers), and with one exception they are all gentle, pacifistic, bright, self aware and very loving and sensitive people. The one who isn't is a charming but selfish and self absorbed gay man with a string of failed relationships. He's the one who doesn't like violent games and porn. Make of that what you will.
Please take the time to actually read about GPL copyleft. Copylefted source is copyrighted. Even if a court rules that the "must give source" clause is void, that doesn't void your copyright. Go ahead and sue.
The nightmare scenario is a really bonkers judge ruling that GPL code is public domain (which it explicitely isn't). However, that would have huge implications for all forms of corporate copyright, so it's hard to see even a US judge going that far.
Amongst all the sound and fury, I'm not seeing anyone asking the simple question: who cares if Linux never takes off on the desktop?
Who cares if Linux never beats Windoze on the desktop? Who cares if it never even beats MacOS? What exactly do we win as individuals if it does? Commercial Linux distros need this to happen, but (sorry guys) if it never happens and they die, Linux still goes on.
Am I happy hacking Linux? Yes. Am I happy using Linux? Yes. Am I happy supporting other happy Linux hackers? Yes. Would I be happy supporting hordes of griping Joe Sixpacks and Suzi Cubicles? No!
Frankly, screw them. Home and corporate users have a real choice right now; that most of them still use M$ just shows that they want to be taken care of, and that applies to corporate IT as well - they want the low risk, works 90% of the time, phone drone support solution. Fine, but I don't ever want Linux to be that solution, because the bigger Linux gets (in every sense), the more it will become like Windoze. Releases will be done to coincide with trade shows and shareholder meetings, not when features are complete.
No, I'm quite happy with Linux the way it is, thanks. Sure, I still have a Windoze boot for games, but I don't see that it makes me a hypocrite because Linux != Windows, and personally I hope it never does.
What's your black-and-white take on lawyers working pro bono then? Vested interest, surely?
Fossil mining powers itself and produces a surplus. PV doesn't - if you built a PV production plant powered by PV arrays, it couldn't even sustain itself, let alone produce arrays for me and thee to use. I can see a clear distinction there.
Unfortunately, that's bad news. Fossil is strictly limited, and all sustainable sources suck badly in the cost/production department, and also need a lot of space. I just hope we get enough nuke plants built before the oil dries up.
Perhaps someone should point out to him that a fair number of arcade shoot-em-ups are based on movies (either explicitely or rip offs), so the movie industry should be told to cool its jets. For extra giggles, ask him how much of his campaign funding comes (directly or indirectly) from the movie industry. :)
Just as an FYI, in the UK, arcades already have a statuatory mininum age limit of 18. Rumour is, there's an arcade (in Ipswich or Bolton, I forget) that actually enforces it. ;)
No, they should be encouraged, because they are real activities involving interaction with real people, and involve real failure and real injury.
For example, I spent yesterday doing theatrical broadsword training. It was great fun, but I'm covered with bruises and scrapes, and I have no illusions about my ability, or the consequences of my actions.
Similarly, I'd prefer kids to be given firing range training with real guns, with associated videos on gunshot wounds and stern lectures on responsibility and safety (note: training != access), rather than have them learn their skilz playing UnrealQuakeLife while hiding their actual guns (and booze and girlie mags and pot) at the back of their closet.