They also never talk about how, as theories go, evolution (as the origin of species) is pretty weak.
Only to those who don't understand it and who have not studied it.
It does a decent job at explaining things, but has anyone seen it make a real prediction?
No rabbit fossils will ever be found in precambrian strata.
If a transposon is found in both whales and cows, it will also be found in hippos.
Both are predictions of evolution theory. Should a contradictory observation be made for either one, it would cause great problems for the theory.
Then, the other side won't entertain any idea that doesn't jive with their interpretation of the Bible.
The problem is that they have defined anything that contradicts what they think happened as "a lie", even if it happens to be observed reality that they are denying. Moreover, a frightening number of them actually think that there is a real conspiracy of biologists to destroy Christianity; that evolution is some deliberate attempt to undermine Christian teachings. This kind of paranoia isn't easily countered -- they're just too irrational to reason.
And when they discover an unresolved issue with evolution, they attack it with glee.
You mean "perceived unresolved issue with evolution". There are a number of creationists who still think that the second law of thermodynamics says that evolution is impossible.
They escalate the problem up to lawyers and politicians, who generally couldn't tell a proof from a theory from a fact from a conjecture...and you get crap attempts at compromise like the sticker in the front of the book.
Funny you should mention lawyers. One of the "greats" in the creationist movement is a man who wrote a book called Darwin on Trial where he uses his expert knowledge to point out the flaws in Darwin's theory. This man's field of expertise that clearly renders him qualified to speak on matters fundamental to biology? He's a trial lawyer!
It's hard to discuss science when the opposing side clearly has no interest in science whatsoever.
And some, in their haste to tell "their side," never mention unresolved issues with evolution, such as fossil record biases and the homochirality of certain molecules...
Why not similar disclaimers on all other science texts? One for gravitational theory, one for the theory of relativity, one for atomic theory?
Why single out evolution?
It only states that Evolution is a theory regarding the origin of living things
Actually, it's a theory regarding the origin and diversity of species. Evolution does not cover the ultimate origins of life, and the disclaimer is misleading in its wording.
The motive is transparent by virtue of the fact that no one is asking for similar disclaimers for other theories, such as atomic theory, gravitational theory or germ theory.
If that weren't enough, a look at the groups behind the disclaimers should remove all doubt of motive.
And my point here is that SecuROM did not make piracy of the game any more annoying. The warez released, released by EMPORiO, did not require that anyone crack the SecuROM protection on the retail box set.
The noCD workaround that was released on Saturday doesn't make pirating the game easier. It still requires a valid Steam account, and it still requires that the installed game be "unlocked" through Steam before it can be played. The SecuROM protection is nothing more than a hinderance to a number of legitimate buyers who found that their optical disc readers weren't playing nice to the CD check hack that Vivendi had foisted upon them. Pirates had been playing the game without any such troubles since the day of its release.
They have Steam, which is effective enough at piracy prevention. Yes, HL2 was warezed the day of its release. Funny how the SecuROM workaround wasn't out for another four days after that.
The SecuROM protection clearly did absolutely nothing whatsoever to stop piracy. Steam is a decent piracy prevention tool, even if it isn't perfect, but it's clearly good enough that SecuROM doesn't add anything useful whatsoever.
Except that the only CD crack out there doesn't make pirating the game any easier. The warez release was out BEFORE the working noCD crack, extracted from the gcf files in the Steam directory. The noCD crack just drops in the Steam-download version of hl2.exe (which has no CD check) when a user attempts to launch the game via Steam. The user still has to obtain the game and unlock the content via Steam registration.
The CD crack, in this case, is utterly worthless and whoever made the call to use it should be shot.
Is that so bad? Valve has decided that running such a crack places you in the banned category. Simple solution, don't run the crack and keep your CD handy.
That's very good advice for the people who use the crack because SecuROM won't play nice with their DVD-RW drive.
And I'm sure that Valve is in the right for this, even though I could find nothing in the game's EULA that forbids the use of noCD cracks.
I can't imagine how they're going to damage-control it either.
The only warez release of which I'm aware doesn't use Steam, and as such Valve can't deactivate those installs. The noCD crack is popular amongst people who are annoyed by the CD check and by those who are unable to get past the CD check due to hardware problems (SecuROM does not play nice with a lot of optical drives). The crack still requires that the user have an authenticated and unlocked installation of the game, so it's not really much of an aid for piracy -- at least, no more so than someone giving out their account information to let other people download the Steam-download version of the game.
If Valve is banning accounts just for using the noCD crack, they are going to have a lot of justifiably irate people bitching at them, with very little damage done to pirates. I know that if my account gets banned over noCD crack use (it hasn't, and I've not heard from anyone on fileforums who reports bannination either), I will not only demand a full refund for my game, but I will openly promote the piracy of every title that Valve makes in the future.
Let me guess, you're using the version that doesn't require Steam to be running at all, right?
The one where the AI is disabled on every map load (unless you use an autoexec.cfg file to work around that)?
I have to wonder who is really getting banned here. I wasn't aware of any 'warez' release of the game beyond EMPORiO's, and that one didn't use Steam so Valve can't deactivate anything on it.
It doesn't make any sense because CD checks like SecuROM and SafeDisc only inconvenience legitimate users, who might not have their CD with their laptop or might even find that the particular permutation of the CD checking software used is incompatable with their optical disc reader. This is a common problem, and many game companies completely blow off user complaints regarding this issue.
Then there's the issue of many CD checks (though not the latest SecuROM) requiring full Administrator rights on the computer, which forces security-minded users to compromise accepted security practices.
Meanwhile, the warez d00dz are playing without any problems because SecuROM/SafeDisc/etc protections are typically cracked before the game's release, and in the few cases where it's not, it takes less than a week before the protection is hacked off or otherwise circumvented.
I wrote a nice long rant about it long ago in the Deus Ex: Invibile War forum
I'm operating on the assumption that "CD-Key hack" means circumventing the need to have the !$$%^! CD in the drive to launch the game.
I can't access the forum right now to see if anyone is complaining about being banned for that reason, however I have been using the noCD crack since it was released (Saturday, IIRC) and I have not been banned, nor has anyone on the forum where the crack was first released said that they were banned.
I even looked through Half-Life 2's EULA, and I could not find a single statement that would seem to forbid the use of CD keys. Seems as though Valve really does not have just cause for banning accounts on that basis alone.
I actually looked at the EULA, and while I might have missed something, I don't recall seeing anything about a restriction on bypassing the SecuROM check. As such, people who are banned simply for using the noCD workaround (if anyone has actually been banned for such a thing) might have a solid argument.
I'm using a noCD crack found from www.gamecopyworld.com (which still requires that the game be authenticated and unlocked via Steam), and I've not been banned.
No one on the forum where the crack first surfaced has reported a banning for using it either. I suspect that Valve is not actually going after those who are just using the noCD crack, and instead are going after those using bogus CD keys, though I have to wonder exactly how Steam didn't catch legitimate CD keys beforehand. I'm not entirely certain what criteria they are using for banning, because the forums are down now.
If my account gets banned because I used a tool to bypass an intrusive and unnecessary restriction on a game that I legally obtained, I will personally track down Gabe and drive a crowbar into his skull.
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They also never talk about how, as theories go, evolution (as the origin of species) is pretty weak.
Only to those who don't understand it and who have not studied it.
It does a decent job at explaining things, but has anyone seen it make a real prediction?
No rabbit fossils will ever be found in precambrian strata.
If a transposon is found in both whales and cows, it will also be found in hippos.
Both are predictions of evolution theory. Should a contradictory observation be made for either one, it would cause great problems for the theory.
Then, the other side won't entertain any idea that doesn't jive with their interpretation of the Bible.
The problem is that they have defined anything that contradicts what they think happened as "a lie", even if it happens to be observed reality that they are denying. Moreover, a frightening number of them actually think that there is a real conspiracy of biologists to destroy Christianity; that evolution is some deliberate attempt to undermine Christian teachings. This kind of paranoia isn't easily countered -- they're just too irrational to reason.
And when they discover an unresolved issue with evolution, they attack it with glee.
You mean "perceived unresolved issue with evolution". There are a number of creationists who still think that the second law of thermodynamics says that evolution is impossible.
They escalate the problem up to lawyers and politicians, who generally couldn't tell a proof from a theory from a fact from a conjecture...and you get crap attempts at compromise like the sticker in the front of the book.
Funny you should mention lawyers. One of the "greats" in the creationist movement is a man who wrote a book called Darwin on Trial where he uses his expert knowledge to point out the flaws in Darwin's theory. This man's field of expertise that clearly renders him qualified to speak on matters fundamental to biology? He's a trial lawyer!
It's hard to discuss science when the opposing side clearly has no interest in science whatsoever.
And some, in their haste to tell "their side," never mention unresolved issues with evolution, such as fossil record biases and the homochirality of certain molecules...
Perhaps you could explain this?
I am referring to a theory within the context of science. Attempting to swap in a different definition of theory is the fallacy of equivocation.
But it can't be proven either; therefore it is not a fact. What is left for it to be then? Either a theory or a simple lie;
False dichotomy. "Theory" and "true statement" are not synonyms, therefore not all statements that are not theories are not lies.
True. But then which other theory would be fact?
Currently there is only one theory. Falsify that, and the only scientific explanation becomes "unknown", until a new theory is devised.
Why not similar disclaimers on all other science texts? One for gravitational theory, one for the theory of relativity, one for atomic theory?
Why single out evolution?
It only states that Evolution is a theory regarding the origin of living things
Actually, it's a theory regarding the origin and diversity of species. Evolution does not cover the ultimate origins of life, and the disclaimer is misleading in its wording.
One is fact, one is fiction.
False dichotomy fallacy. Both could be fiction.
The motive is transparent by virtue of the fact that no one is asking for similar disclaimers for other theories, such as atomic theory, gravitational theory or germ theory.
If that weren't enough, a look at the groups behind the disclaimers should remove all doubt of motive.
creationism is also just a theory, not a fact. not saying it isn't true eitherway, but it's impossible to prove wrong,
If "creationism" cannot ever be proven wrong, then it is not a theory. All theories must, by definition, be hypothetically falsifiable.
Creationism is not, despite the ranting of religious nutcases who have no understanding of the scientific method whatsoever, a "theory".
Guess Bevets, walktingall and Mike_71 won't be showing up.
More than 10. They made the Total Recall game, and they were doing it well before that, too.
Actually, I always called it "Ack! Lame!"
And my point here is that SecuROM did not make piracy of the game any more annoying. The warez released, released by EMPORiO, did not require that anyone crack the SecuROM protection on the retail box set.
The noCD workaround that was released on Saturday doesn't make pirating the game easier. It still requires a valid Steam account, and it still requires that the installed game be "unlocked" through Steam before it can be played. The SecuROM protection is nothing more than a hinderance to a number of legitimate buyers who found that their optical disc readers weren't playing nice to the CD check hack that Vivendi had foisted upon them. Pirates had been playing the game without any such troubles since the day of its release.
They have Steam, which is effective enough at piracy prevention. Yes, HL2 was warezed the day of its release. Funny how the SecuROM workaround wasn't out for another four days after that.
The SecuROM protection clearly did absolutely nothing whatsoever to stop piracy. Steam is a decent piracy prevention tool, even if it isn't perfect, but it's clearly good enough that SecuROM doesn't add anything useful whatsoever.
Except that Valve already set a prescedent by NOT having CD checks on Steam-based titles in the past.
That's why this one caught quite a few people off-guard.
That should be that the CD check is worthless, not the crack.
Except that the only CD crack out there doesn't make pirating the game any easier. The warez release was out BEFORE the working noCD crack, extracted from the gcf files in the Steam directory. The noCD crack just drops in the Steam-download version of hl2.exe (which has no CD check) when a user attempts to launch the game via Steam. The user still has to obtain the game and unlock the content via Steam registration.
The CD crack, in this case, is utterly worthless and whoever made the call to use it should be shot.
Is that so bad? Valve has decided that running such a crack places you in the banned category. Simple solution, don't run the crack and keep your CD handy.
That's very good advice for the people who use the crack because SecuROM won't play nice with their DVD-RW drive.
And I'm sure that Valve is in the right for this, even though I could find nothing in the game's EULA that forbids the use of noCD cracks.
A crack's only use is to circumvent legitmate copyright protection.
Or to make a game work because SecuROM/SafeDisc doesn't play nice with your particular optical drive.
Or to prevent a compromising of system security for those CD check methods that require full Administrator rights.
And tell me how not wanting to put the disc in the drive to play a game that I have legally purcahsed is not "legitimate".
I can't imagine how they're going to damage-control it either.
The only warez release of which I'm aware doesn't use Steam, and as such Valve can't deactivate those installs. The noCD crack is popular amongst people who are annoyed by the CD check and by those who are unable to get past the CD check due to hardware problems (SecuROM does not play nice with a lot of optical drives). The crack still requires that the user have an authenticated and unlocked installation of the game, so it's not really much of an aid for piracy -- at least, no more so than someone giving out their account information to let other people download the Steam-download version of the game.
If Valve is banning accounts just for using the noCD crack, they are going to have a lot of justifiably irate people bitching at them, with very little damage done to pirates. I know that if my account gets banned over noCD crack use (it hasn't, and I've not heard from anyone on fileforums who reports bannination either), I will not only demand a full refund for my game, but I will openly promote the piracy of every title that Valve makes in the future.
Let me guess, you're using the version that doesn't require Steam to be running at all, right?
The one where the AI is disabled on every map load (unless you use an autoexec.cfg file to work around that)?
I have to wonder who is really getting banned here. I wasn't aware of any 'warez' release of the game beyond EMPORiO's, and that one didn't use Steam so Valve can't deactivate anything on it.
However, this is *not allowed by the EULA*
I went through Half-Life 2's EULA, but I must have missed it. Could you quote the portion that specifically bans noCD cracks?
It doesn't make any sense because CD checks like SecuROM and SafeDisc only inconvenience legitimate users, who might not have their CD with their laptop or might even find that the particular permutation of the CD checking software used is incompatable with their optical disc reader. This is a common problem, and many game companies completely blow off user complaints regarding this issue.
2 06 570&hl=rant
Then there's the issue of many CD checks (though not the latest SecuROM) requiring full Administrator rights on the computer, which forces security-minded users to compromise accepted security practices.
Meanwhile, the warez d00dz are playing without any problems because SecuROM/SafeDisc/etc protections are typically cracked before the game's release, and in the few cases where it's not, it takes less than a week before the protection is hacked off or otherwise circumvented.
I wrote a nice long rant about it long ago in the Deus Ex: Invibile War forum
http://forums.ionstorm.com/index.php?showtopic=
I'm operating on the assumption that "CD-Key hack" means circumventing the need to have the !$$%^! CD in the drive to launch the game.
I can't access the forum right now to see if anyone is complaining about being banned for that reason, however I have been using the noCD crack since it was released (Saturday, IIRC) and I have not been banned, nor has anyone on the forum where the crack was first released said that they were banned.
I even looked through Half-Life 2's EULA, and I could not find a single statement that would seem to forbid the use of CD keys. Seems as though Valve really does not have just cause for banning accounts on that basis alone.
I actually looked at the EULA, and while I might have missed something, I don't recall seeing anything about a restriction on bypassing the SecuROM check. As such, people who are banned simply for using the noCD workaround (if anyone has actually been banned for such a thing) might have a solid argument.
Not that Valve will do anything.
I'm using a noCD crack found from www.gamecopyworld.com (which still requires that the game be authenticated and unlocked via Steam), and I've not been banned.
No one on the forum where the crack first surfaced has reported a banning for using it either. I suspect that Valve is not actually going after those who are just using the noCD crack, and instead are going after those using bogus CD keys, though I have to wonder exactly how Steam didn't catch legitimate CD keys beforehand. I'm not entirely certain what criteria they are using for banning, because the forums are down now.
If my account gets banned because I used a tool to bypass an intrusive and unnecessary restriction on a game that I legally obtained, I will personally track down Gabe and drive a crowbar into his skull.