... But TPB is making money off of advertising... are they going to share THOSE profits with the people whose content they're using. I don't know if you've ever recorded an album, but it takes WORK and studios are very EXPENSIVE. If anyone is making money off of someones hard work, in any field, they should kick down some cash. If TPB can't do that then they are no better than any other entity ripping off musicians. The Labels/Studios don't always pay people back either. A very common story is of a label signing a band, recording an album, selling the records and recording a 0 profit or a negative balance after the fact. Usually accompanied by highly inflated charges for promotion, merchandise, recording time, etc... So basically the band worked for free or ended up owing after the fact. So far 3 separate bands I know have been signed and have not gotten any money and one owes about $30,000 still. So if you want TPB to adopt the same practice then they should really go out and demand money from artists for all of the promotion their doing.
this creative accounting and predatory signing of artists appears to be common.
Nobody in the US does this, or at least not anybody i've ever seen during visits to stores in 14 different states and DC. Really, It's very common here in Canada and as well in a few places I've been in California. It's especially common for restaurants.
... I wonder why most "ethnic"/traditional cultures believe that "fat is beautiful" ? Which ethnicities, definitely not mine. In mine(chinese) being too skinny isn't that attractive, being too plump is not attractive, being dark isn't either. So no tanning. I can't recall off the top of my head any asian culture that admires being fat. I think you're referring to a handful of African cultures? Traditional European ideals vary, by location and time. I think it has to do with local food conditions. In times of want, plump is beautiful. In times of plenty a more thinner but robust build is desired.
I could understand Cal's concern if different IC's were used, or if code was re-flashed. But if the two machines had the same circuit diagram, same components, and code, this penalty seems zealous. I live in California, and it's painful to see bureaucratic zealots nominally on my side, but being far from reasonable. This particular error on the part of the voting machine company appears to be on the level of a failure to file necessary paperwork. The contract didn't say "penalties only if re-flashed", instead it mentions any modifications needs to eb examined and approved. If you signed that contract you must be an idiot to do this substitution. You have to be strict or else you have more "diebolds". Any and all changes must be examined. All penalties assessed would be based on contract law. Paperwork is how a legalist society is run. It's not like jumping through hoops is new to government contractors.
Where do you live? My understanding was that in the US the merchant agreements with the credit card companies prevented differential pricing. I think I read though that Australia passed legislating preventing this type of agreement and allowing differential prices. Canada. Agreements vary but our outlined a provision forbidding extra charges but a cash rebate was okay.
and credit card companies will yank your merchant account if your store does this and is found out. Depends on your contract and jurisdiction. My parents did it for years but in the form of variable rebates. 10% for cash 5% for credit. the lady who processed the merchant account was a regular customer ans she never said anything.
Hmmm, I have about $150,000 of debt to three separate institutions, and not a single one of them is a credit card company. Well, not counting credit cards paid off within 30 days with no finance charges as "debt." I have about $50,000 available on my cards, and use it like a convenient checkbook that pays me money for using it and takes nothing from me in return. Anyone not using credit cards for all possible purchases is losing money. Many non chain stores will discount you ~4.0% for using cash. So unless you make back more the 4% you sometimes lose money using credit. The 4% is the amount the credit company charges the merchant. Which is in fact where a large part of the credit companies revenue comes from.
Could someone please tell me how TPB is somehow offering some new business model for the people who make the music? New business model? it's really the old business model. A third party distributes your music and you don't see a dime for it(sometimes you owe them for it) and you make your money from performances, merch, and promotional considerations. 90+% musicians live this way. All TPB is doing is applying the same treatment to the ~10% who actually got something back from that third party. That ~10% isn't really hurt that much either. The stones may make a few million on a new album but they'd make a few hundred million on tour. It's only a problem if your a talentless lazy slut who doesn't tour often. Perhaps if your a studio musician it hurts you more, but all my musician friends don't see a dime and some have been signed. In fact some of those signed now owe money and got nothing in return.
Umm, I know he's trying to say that Metallica lost. However, Napster was closed down and turned into a less popular subscription service and file sharing was dealt a harsh blow that it took a while to recover from. They definitely lose that court case. Metallica won the smaller case and lost the larger war of digital piracy, at least so far. The difference here is that Prince actually has been embracing the internet and consumer rights in general. This situation isn't as clearly a case of "dinosaur fights the inevitable," and it certainly doesn't mean that TPB will be able to survive it. Metallica's career also declined. No way of knowing if it was the bad PR among their key demographics or if they were already growing unpopular beforehand. It's likely a little of both.
They tried the same thing here in my State: so far it's been voted down. Our Governor claimed that the State could bring in an extra 50 million a year if they taxed such services. That would only work for a year or so, because all the people like me would immediately look for greener pastures. I mean, for crying out loud, if the goal is to efficiently remove the ability of in-state companies to avail themselves of local software talent, this is a great idea. From any other perspective, it's just mind-bogglingly stupid. Sort of like simcity, where you raise the tax the day before the end of the month.
Calories in greater than calories out => gain weight. Calories in less than calories out => lose weight.
At least, that's how I thought it worked. I decided late last year, as a new years resolution, to start Operation Flab. My weight had crept up, ours is not a physically active field to begin with, and middle age (I'm 46) didn't help.
I've made some healthier choices in my diet, cut back on portions, exercise vigorously 3 times a week, and have lost significant weight. I feel 100% better. There is no magic: I didn't gain it overnight, and I'm not going to lose it overnight either. Heroics never work, because too great a lifestyle/diet change will never last.
I didn't bother with a health club membership or anything like that. My sole expense was an MP3 player....laura Eating out is a source of a great deal of calories for me. I gained 20 lbs in the last year and a half due to having a steady relationship where I wine and dine her often. The problem is the portions are meant to be filling for a average Canadian (who is a bit hefty). I also end up eat one and a half meals as my Gf doesn't usually finish her meals. so she's more or less the same petite girl she was before while I got a bit rounder. We've started going out less and ordering less and I dropped 5 lbs in a month with no additional effort.
Portions and calorie values of most fast foods are huge too, restraint food i just as bad. A big mac with cheese is 705, I should be taking in ~1700 or so the big mac is ~2/5 of my calories for the day. A soda is 190 for a "can", a big bottle is about 400. Fries have about 350 for a "small". thus a big mac meal is almost as much calories I should eat in a day. I shudder to think how many calories a Greek platter of potatoes, lamb, pan fried vegies, and greek salad is. Especially since My favorite Greek place gives portions for 3 people in every plate.
Ah, no. That's like saying consuming mass makes you fat, as if there is no difference in the result of drinking a kilo of of water versus drinking a kilo of Thai ice tea.
What makes you fat are high glycemic carbohydrates, like potatoe products and sugars. There is a subtly your missing. The reason simple sugars make you fat easier then similar caloric intake of protein is that they breakdown more easily. Protein requires a lot energy to break down into a usable form while sugars require less effort. But it's not so simple as to say "Protein good, Sugar bad". A good mix of the two (look up any ethnic diet for a fair mix) in "just big enough" portions will keep you thin. No sugar/starch and lots of protein may have other health effects.
Lie detectors can be used in investigations but not in trials. There's a real, significant difference there. Actually, they aren't considered scientifically sound enough to be entered into most courts. certain US jurisdictions will allow it or a polygraph expert to testify or test to be conducted in front of juries. defense councils occasionally use them in jury cases. So no they aren't strictly forbidden and thats is one of the problems. As well their prominence in Media give them drastically undue weight to a jury of my peers.
Lie Detectors are still occasionally used and can be presented in the US. The basic premise behind them is very tenuous but they continued to be used. What they tell you is several physical indicators of stress which may or may not correlate to telling a lie. Nobody has proved a strong correlation but they continues to be used in the US.
You haven't looked outside recently or gone by a Home Depot to see the crap that came up from Mexico, I see. I'm in Canada, all we get from south of the border are Americans.
Yes -- I've seen enough anime at this point to come to the conclusion that 95% of it is utter crap. But from what I've seen the best 5% is also significantly better than the best 5% of US animation. This is true, but it's like comparing the top 5% of Japanese Haiku's to the top 5% of Memphis Gangster rap. Anime is a much broader medium in japan then animated films are in america. It'd be a fairer comparison to compare it to films in general or series. The reason Japan is so anime heavy is because initially they lacked a lot of the resources to stage high quality live action television, so artists used animation to bridge the gap between their vision and what is possible. Animation in America is created to be childrens media mostly. Very limited, patronizing and only occasionally break out of this box.
I do enjoy a lot of japanese animation, films like grave of fireflies rival any story that live action films have ever told. Princess Mononoke is very interesting too and anythign from studio Ghibli is infinitely superior to anything the mouse has ever released both stylistically and morally.
Plot, character development, basically anime tends to be quality entertainment. They are not like american cartoons which AFAIK are still affected by the McCarthy era standards. Anime tends to stand on it's own as well as much life action television. It's hard to explain, and I never fully understood why anime is taken so seriously by the creators. I have always thought of it like this, japan is relatively small country, and that being so I *think* they resort to anime as it requires less surface area to create. Your failing for the mis-representative sample fallacy. Like immigrants, the ones that make it to our shores tend to be the top half of the quality bell curve. We don't run into the other half because no one cares enough to sub/dub/import/torrent it. Just like Not all Chinese are hard working and mild mannered but enough Chinese immigrants are to spread that stereo type (I'm Chinese please don't racism mod me). The effort required to sub/dub/torrent helps filter the crap just as the effort required to actually immigrate filters less willing people. There is a lot of crappy anime too.
I sort of like the idea that great people require "interesting upbringings" and the heavily filtered world we give to kids these days will just make more sheeple. You really do need to teach your kids more then to read, write and simple math. Much of the old stories (brothers grim and other fables) had violence, death, and loss. I think it might scare your children but when they grow up they need to deal with violence, death and loss. Thus they need soem grounding in how to deal with these. The vacuous entertainment they are presented is just too empty.
The development of the internet has changed the way information flows in that traditional media no longer controls what information is being communicated en masse The web 2.0 and information dissemination has come up a lot lately around where I work as well as everywhere else. I don't think there can be much control. It's like a swarm of Locusts. Massive numbers of autonomous units acting in sort of a predictable unified way. It seems to be acting mostly as a electronic lynch mob. The whole lord of the flies ideas rears it's head, once the normal limiting factors of society is removed you have nothing keeping us form regressing to tribal entities.
That is a serious depressing story. Playing with someone like that is awful. I feel the fact the Drews were not going to be punished in any way to be sort of unjust but I'm sort of uncertain of this mob mentality is really how to go about it. Sure public shamming and the economic and social ruin of their lives seems about right but what happens when someone takes it a step further? It's so mixed up.
Also, it's odd that people on slashdot are so quick to encourage massive funding for NASA, because of the technology they develop, yet disparage military spending, which includes a lot of advanced R&D. Also, NASA is a PR friendly way to fund ballistics research. Making a bomb is one thing, making somethign to deliver the bomb accurately 20,000 km away is a harder engineering problem.
I wasn't saying that you did say the PS3 was innovative, in fact I very pointedly criticising you for saying that what hardcore gamers didnt like about the wii is that it isnt innovative, but then were silent on the innovation angle while praising the PS3. this struck me as at least sloppy argument, for if hardcore gamers are turned off by the the lack of innovation in the wii, then why are they so turned on by Halo 3? No so much the lack of innovation but the lack of polish/depth. "Shallow and a sense of deja vu". Perhaps I wasn't elegant in getting that point across. Shallow does not imply lack of innovation only that the game itself isn't very "deep". Ideally you want "easy to learn, difficult to master." Most Wii games except Zelda, RE:4, Metroid, Mario Galaxy, and maybe Mario Strikers are "easy to learn, nothing to master". Thats what drives away the hardcore.
Motion-based and other non-standard controllers are nothing new, granted, but the wiimote is the first to do such a good job of allowing seamless integration of motion into the game. (well into a well-designed game. I found Red Steel to be almost unplayable poorly exectuted in this dept.) Thats true, all in the implementation. It does a much better job of it then Nintendo's true first attempt( Power Glove). So far they've only used it to be a substitute for other devices. Sometimes well, sometimes not. Undoubtedly there will come a game like katamary damacy that revolutionizes how we use the wii mote like Katamary damacy did for the dual sticks. And We'll wonder why no one else ever thought of that. It'll fun, and unique. I have enjoyed some time with my wii. Your right, I enjoy precision more then newness.
I personally agree that there shouldn't be a console'winner.' except maybe between the 360 and PS3. they do pretty much the same things. shrug They could do the same things, but currently their 3rd party support vary enough that they are still separate entities. 360 for western style games like MAss Effect, PS3 for Japanese oriented games like FF XIII.
I agree, good games do not necessarily need to be innovative. What i was getting at was you level a criticism against the wii, that its games aren't all that innovative, that interesting control-scheme != gaming innovation.
*You can't tell me anything in Rayman hasn't been done in numerous arcades and other machines. Ditto with the majority of the rest of the library. They use the wii mote either as a *really clumsy mouse, a sort of slow light gun, replace button mashing with vigorous shaking etc.. Some do it better then others but it isn't all that new. The under lying game play *is old, as old as gaming. Thats what we object to the shallowness and sense of deja vu
And yet the PS3 is spared from this criticism. Which is silly. You start talking about innovation, but then when pressed say that its not about innovation. so what exactly are you saying? How are the games in the PS3 library not subject to the same "as old as gaming" criticism? Sorry about the double post, but upon review I've noticed I didn't say anything about the PS3 games being innovative or that I desired innovation and didn't say the wii games can't be fun. I think I was pretty consistent but I may be wrong. I've been saying a lot that the games that have held my attention do not do so because they are innovative. The games people are are claiming as innovative have all been done before or done better elsewhere. I've also been very very against the idea that one platform should "win". Thus when people come out and say "yeah PS3, 360 is the s0xx0rs because it doesn't innovate" I more or less have to come out with a diatribe how "wii isn't really innovative either".
And yet the PS3 is spared from this criticism. Which is silly. You start talking about innovation, but then when pressed say that its not about innovation. so what exactly are you saying? How are the games in the PS3 library not subject to the same "as old as gaming" criticism? No ones claims the Ps3 is highly innovative. Thus nothing to critique. The PS3 is mostly Ps2 games with prettier lights, rounder round objects, and busier environments. Many Wii games are the simple Atari/NES games with a wii mote. The under lying play mechanic is taken directly from those early games. What is Rayman? a collection of NES games with a wii mote Warioware? Atari games with a wii mote. Elebits? Shooting gallery + wii mote. Zelda:TP? Zelda:OT with wii mote. Ratchet and Clank:future? Ratchet and clank: UYA with more eye candy. Restance? Quake but prettier. Halo 3? Quake with tea bagging. Mass Effect? KOTOR with alien sex. Assasins Creed? GTA 1100 AD. FFXII? Nethack with a storyline. RE4:wii? RE1 with better controls. Heavenly sword? God of war with tits. God of War? Devil may cry but better. Devil may Cry? Final Fight but better. Final Fight? Bad Dudes but better.
As you said innovation isn't a vital part of a fun game, it helps sometimes but it's not essential. But so many Wii proponents harp the innovation angle. I want to point out that no in fact it's not that novel. It's a light gun, it's a laggy mouse and keyboard (Quake), and It's a replacement for mashing buttons thus far. Done well it's pretty fun (Mario Party 8) but not innovative.
Slashdot Mirror
... But TPB is making money off of advertising... are they going to share THOSE profits with the people whose content they're using. I don't know if you've ever recorded an album, but it takes WORK and studios are very EXPENSIVE. If anyone is making money off of someones hard work, in any field, they should kick down some cash. If TPB can't do that then they are no better than any other entity ripping off musicians. The Labels/Studios don't always pay people back either. A very common story is of a label signing a band, recording an album, selling the records and recording a 0 profit or a negative balance after the fact. Usually accompanied by highly inflated charges for promotion, merchandise, recording time, etc... So basically the band worked for free or ended up owing after the fact. So far 3 separate bands I know have been signed and have not gotten any money and one owes about $30,000 still. So if you want TPB to adopt the same practice then they should really go out and demand money from artists for all of the promotion their doing.this creative accounting and predatory signing of artists appears to be common.
... I wonder why most "ethnic"/traditional cultures believe that "fat is beautiful" ? Which ethnicities, definitely not mine. In mine(chinese) being too skinny isn't that attractive, being too plump is not attractive, being dark isn't either. So no tanning. I can't recall off the top of my head any asian culture that admires being fat. I think you're referring to a handful of African cultures? Traditional European ideals vary, by location and time. I think it has to do with local food conditions. In times of want, plump is beautiful. In times of plenty a more thinner but robust build is desired.Calories in less than calories out => lose weight.
At least, that's how I thought it worked. I decided late last year, as a new years resolution, to start Operation Flab. My weight had crept up, ours is not a physically active field to begin with, and middle age (I'm 46) didn't help.
I've made some healthier choices in my diet, cut back on portions, exercise vigorously 3 times a week, and have lost significant weight. I feel 100% better. There is no magic: I didn't gain it overnight, and I'm not going to lose it overnight either. Heroics never work, because too great a lifestyle/diet change will never last.
I didn't bother with a health club membership or anything like that. My sole expense was an MP3 player.
Portions and calorie values of most fast foods are huge too, restraint food i just as bad. A big mac with cheese is 705, I should be taking in ~1700 or so the big mac is ~2/5 of my calories for the day. A soda is 190 for a "can", a big bottle is about 400. Fries have about 350 for a "small". thus a big mac meal is almost as much calories I should eat in a day. I shudder to think how many calories a Greek platter of potatoes, lamb, pan fried vegies, and greek salad is. Especially since My favorite Greek place gives portions for 3 people in every plate.
What makes you fat are high glycemic carbohydrates, like potatoe products and sugars. There is a subtly your missing. The reason simple sugars make you fat easier then similar caloric intake of protein is that they breakdown more easily. Protein requires a lot energy to break down into a usable form while sugars require less effort. But it's not so simple as to say "Protein good, Sugar bad". A good mix of the two (look up any ethnic diet for a fair mix) in "just big enough" portions will keep you thin. No sugar/starch and lots of protein may have other health effects.
Lie Detectors are still occasionally used and can be presented in the US. The basic premise behind them is very tenuous but they continued to be used. What they tell you is several physical indicators of stress which may or may not correlate to telling a lie. Nobody has proved a strong correlation but they continues to be used in the US.
I do enjoy a lot of japanese animation, films like grave of fireflies rival any story that live action films have ever told. Princess Mononoke is very interesting too and anythign from studio Ghibli is infinitely superior to anything the mouse has ever released both stylistically and morally.
I sort of like the idea that great people require "interesting upbringings" and the heavily filtered world we give to kids these days will just make more sheeple. You really do need to teach your kids more then to read, write and simple math. Much of the old stories (brothers grim and other fables) had violence, death, and loss. I think it might scare your children but when they grow up they need to deal with violence, death and loss. Thus they need soem grounding in how to deal with these. The vacuous entertainment they are presented is just too empty.
That is a serious depressing story. Playing with someone like that is awful. I feel the fact the Drews were not going to be punished in any way to be sort of unjust but I'm sort of uncertain of this mob mentality is really how to go about it. Sure public shamming and the economic and social ruin of their lives seems about right but what happens when someone takes it a step further? It's so mixed up.
I'll show you my perpetual motion machines if you show me your perfect autonomous garbage collector. You go first.
*You can't tell me anything in Rayman hasn't been done in numerous arcades and other machines. Ditto with the majority of the rest of the library. They use the wii mote either as a *really clumsy mouse, a sort of slow light gun, replace button mashing with vigorous shaking etc.. Some do it better then others but it isn't all that new. The under lying game play *is old, as old as gaming. Thats what we object to the shallowness and sense of deja vu
And yet the PS3 is spared from this criticism. Which is silly. You start talking about innovation, but then when pressed say that its not about innovation. so what exactly are you saying? How are the games in the PS3 library not subject to the same "as old as gaming" criticism? Sorry about the double post, but upon review I've noticed I didn't say anything about the PS3 games being innovative or that I desired innovation and didn't say the wii games can't be fun. I think I was pretty consistent but I may be wrong. I've been saying a lot that the games that have held my attention do not do so because they are innovative. The games people are are claiming as innovative have all been done before or done better elsewhere. I've also been very very against the idea that one platform should "win". Thus when people come out and say "yeah PS3, 360 is the s0xx0rs because it doesn't innovate" I more or less have to come out with a diatribe how "wii isn't really innovative either".
As you said innovation isn't a vital part of a fun game, it helps sometimes but it's not essential. But so many Wii proponents harp the innovation angle. I want to point out that no in fact it's not that novel. It's a light gun, it's a laggy mouse and keyboard (Quake), and It's a replacement for mashing buttons thus far. Done well it's pretty fun (Mario Party 8) but not innovative.