Three different ways to make no money off your labors...
What will they think of next...
Re:What can be done about terrorism?
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More On Tragedy
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Commercial aircraft should be equipped with remote control overrides that can be actuated by the pilot and by air traffic control.
That is, ATC should be able to fly a plane remotely in the event they believe the controls have become compromised.
This certainly won't prevent terrorism and doesn't guarantee that disasters like yesterday's won't recur, but at least it would give ATC a fighting chance to get the aircraft out of the way of mass population.
The answer to all your questions is typically no, because most game providers' terms of service explicitly prohibit the buying and selling of in-game items, services, and characters.
Thus, any claim arising from such a transaction would be unactionable.
the people that are buyign [sic] this stuff, at any price, are the same people that play Quake in god mode and look up all the cheat codes for a game before they even install it. It's sad but their will alwasy be an aspect of society that will want to cheat or get an advantage no matter what the cost.
You make it seem as if there's some real-world morality issue here. Remember it's just a game.
The people who are buying items, services, or characters for games like Diablo, Ultima, Asheron's Call, Everquest, etc. are doing it because it's their way of having fun; it's their way of enjoying the game. As long as it doesn't interfere with others' ability to enjoy the game (and if it does, it's arguably a fault of the game's design, not of the purchaser), why should it matter to you?
The fact is, these people are just playing a sort of game within the game: pushing the limits of the system within the parameters allowed (or at least, not explicitly disallowed) by the game's designers. Think Kobayashi Maru (sp?) and Captain Kirk (though there the "unfair" advantage was brains, not cash).
Morality is kind of irrelevant here. If you're upset because people can buy the best items in role-playing games online, then you are just role-playing a victim yourself:-)
You raise some good points about the risks of overemphasis of computers in youth/education. However, I can't agree that "computers are not a part of a healthy childhood."
This is a rather absolute statement. As with most experiences, aren't balance and moderation the key here?
A kid who does nothing but play outside the first 12 years of his life is going to have some handicaps to overcome, also.
Computers are not a part of a healthy childhood. As a computer scientist, I have seen nothing to indicate that people who were exposed to computers early in life gain any advantage over those who are introduced to them in the workplace or university. Often, long time users are at a disadvantage due to an unwillingness to learn new things about the machine.
This is unacceptable behavior of people for people of any temperament, getting paid any salary.
It's ridiculous that these "LEIN" checks are not audited, and that those audits themselves are not audited.
I'm pretty lenient when it comes to cookies and giving out my e-mail address and other sorts of "soft" privacy intrusions, but this is (obviously) unacceptable by any standard.
I don't know about you guys, but I have been appending a signed, audio MD5 hash of my words to the end of every sentence I've uttered for the past 5 years.
There are some downsides, but I rest assured that everyone knows it is the real me when I speak.
I think the advent of PKZIP in the late 80's proved that users were willing to convert their existing compressed archives en masse to a new format, if there were sufficient benefits to the conversion (remember the mass BBS file transition from good old.ARC?).
Granted, compressing the average.ZIP takes a lot less time than encoding the average.MP3, but should something really come along and one-up.MP3 in file quality or size, there will no doubt be dozens of tools to do this conversion for you in the background.
Baseball isn't getting more scientific -- it's getting more American.
There's nothing more American than trying to build a better mousetrap, and that's all these folks are aiming to do: improve the players and improve the game.
If you forward your home phone number to your summer home in the south of France, and a telemarketer calls you, you are still responsible for the long distance charges. It is always, in some sense, your choice to pick up the handset and receive the call (especially with the advent of Caller ID and Privacy Manager-type features).
By the same token, why should spammers be responsible for charges associated with junk e-mail that gets forwarded to a pager alias? Presumably there's nothing stopping the user from filtering the pages (either with their own software or with their paging service provider's software).
At first glance, the issue seems to be that no "postage" is being paid for this junk pager mail, but perhaps the real (or more readily addressable) problem is that paging service providers' filter software/access control/etc. is not up to snuff?
--
"Shayna, Shayna, Shayna. They bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into -- I say, let 'em crash!"
Any IT manager out there worth his or her salt should ask Microsoft for an extension, begging and pleading for time. Then immediately put together a task force to reduce their company's dependance [sic] on Microsoft's products. Maybe not completely (they do have a monopoly, you know),...
Isn't the whole issue that it's not really practical for most IT organizations to give up dependence on MS products; that in many cases these "worth-their-salt" IT managers would be faced with the prospect of essentially abandoning millions of dollars of existing IT infrastructure to save thousands of dollars on licensing fees?
And supposing the company could successfully migrate to a MS-independent infrastructure, what good is going to a.pdf/.rtf-based document standard (e.g.) if you're the only company using it?
Anyway you slice it, abandoning MS is too losing a proposition to be practical in the average workplace's IT department. That's why federal intervention was (is) necessary.
The partnership between Nintendo and Microsoft was originally not limited to protocols/conventions for networked game play.
Nintendo execs had been in talks with Microsoft's XBox product team to license selections from the back-catalog of Nintendo games for sale as XBox "Arcade Classics" titles, much like Namco, Bally et al. had done for a few Windows entertainment titles.
The first planned release was a Nintendo-branded XBox port of the original NES Super Mario Brothers trilogy.
Apparently, the talks ended when Microsoft insisted on bundling Bowser with the OS.
Good article on current flywheel innovations
on
Flywheel UPS
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· Score: 1
Think carbon fiber and 100,000rpm...
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.05/flywheel.h tml
Sources familiar with the policy note that ID checks will only be necessary for customers who opt not to purchase the companion $29.95 Extended Service Plan for their new game purchases.
Slashdot Mirror
What will they think of next ...
That is, ATC should be able to fly a plane remotely in the event they believe the controls have become compromised.
This certainly won't prevent terrorism and doesn't guarantee that disasters like yesterday's won't recur, but at least it would give ATC a fighting chance to get the aircraft out of the way of mass population.
eBay seems to be pulling these auctions; at least they have a soul.
Why not try and propose a solution to the debacle we're going to face in the near-term, rather than parrot your overzealous liberal peers?
Someone had to "work" (in some sense), to procure that money that paid for you take a dive (or in Diablo's case, for that Perfect Skull).
Thus, any claim arising from such a transaction would be unactionable.
Nice, but everyone knows the real money is in metamod shilling.
You make it seem as if there's some real-world morality issue here. Remember it's just a game.
The people who are buying items, services, or characters for games like Diablo, Ultima, Asheron's Call, Everquest, etc. are doing it because it's their way of having fun; it's their way of enjoying the game. As long as it doesn't interfere with others' ability to enjoy the game (and if it does, it's arguably a fault of the game's design, not of the purchaser), why should it matter to you?
The fact is, these people are just playing a sort of game within the game: pushing the limits of the system within the parameters allowed (or at least, not explicitly disallowed) by the game's designers. Think Kobayashi Maru (sp?) and Captain Kirk (though there the "unfair" advantage was brains, not cash).
Morality is kind of irrelevant here. If you're upset because people can buy the best items in role-playing games online, then you are just role-playing a victim yourself :-)
Is exactitude a necessary condition for the knowledge of true nature?
The series
will never quite converge in our lifetimes but I don't think we need to see infinity to get a pretty good idea of where it's heading.Perhaps truth (in the cosmic sense) is overrated ...
Personally, I'd like to see the brightest young minds continue to have access to well-produced commercial music.
This is a rather absolute statement. As with most experiences, aren't balance and moderation the key here?
A kid who does nothing but play outside the first 12 years of his life is going to have some handicaps to overcome, also.
Is this observation or regret?
It's ridiculous that these "LEIN" checks are not audited, and that those audits themselves are not audited.
I'm pretty lenient when it comes to cookies and giving out my e-mail address and other sorts of "soft" privacy intrusions, but this is (obviously) unacceptable by any standard.
Yeah, go ahead and mod this redundant ;-)
There are some downsides, but I rest assured that everyone knows it is the real me when I speak.
Granted, compressing the average .ZIP takes a lot less time than encoding the average .MP3, but should something really come along and one-up .MP3 in file quality or size, there will no doubt be dozens of tools to do this conversion for you in the background.
-- Shout outs to .ARJ, .LZH, .LHA (C) Yoshi, and .PAK
Now we just need to find the Perspex Pillar and the Golden Bail of Prosperity and the Wikkit Gate shall be restored!
There's nothing more American than trying to build a better mousetrap, and that's all these folks are aiming to do: improve the players and improve the game.
By the same token, why should spammers be responsible for charges associated with junk e-mail that gets forwarded to a pager alias? Presumably there's nothing stopping the user from filtering the pages (either with their own software or with their paging service provider's software).
At first glance, the issue seems to be that no "postage" is being paid for this junk pager mail, but perhaps the real (or more readily addressable) problem is that paging service providers' filter software/access control/etc. is not up to snuff?
--
"Shayna, Shayna, Shayna. They bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into -- I say, let 'em crash!"
And supposing the company could successfully migrate to a MS-independent infrastructure, what good is going to a .pdf/.rtf-based document standard (e.g.) if you're the only company using it?
Anyway you slice it, abandoning MS is too losing a proposition to be practical in the average workplace's IT department. That's why federal intervention was (is) necessary.
It turns out that this set-up also provides superior protection against Libyan nuclear terrorists and crewcut browbeating types.
Proof positive that the Leprechaun film series was a thinly-veiled allegory, years ahead of its time both cinematically and politically.
Nintendo execs had been in talks with Microsoft's XBox product team to license selections from the back-catalog of Nintendo games for sale as XBox "Arcade Classics" titles, much like Namco, Bally et al. had done for a few Windows entertainment titles.
The first planned release was a Nintendo-branded XBox port of the original NES Super Mario Brothers trilogy.
Apparently, the talks ended when Microsoft insisted on bundling Bowser with the OS.
Think carbon fiber and 100,000rpm ...
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.05/flywheel.h tml
Sources familiar with the policy note that ID checks will only be necessary for customers who opt not to purchase the companion $29.95 Extended Service Plan for their new game purchases.