Not that I trust Washington all that much more, but I'm glad I won't be using an "encryption" standard that Beijing wants its own people to use. Seriously, if they want it so bad, there has to be something wrong with it, some sort of back door to let them crack down on dissidents.
"So if you accept the contract from Microsoft which says "Microsoft gives Joe $5 and Joe promises not to sue Microsoft for the loss of Joe's data," you can't sue them later for the loss of your data. But if you refuse the $5, you can."
Depends on the terms of the agreement. "Oh, gee, damn, Microsoft, I guess I just didn't see that clause in the EULA. Oh well, here's your $5 back." After all, they can't hold you liable for anything else beyond that, can they?
They went sorta public, but the Yamauchi family holds controlling interest and will into the forseeable future. All the other investors are just along for the ride.
PC port. Kinda surprised it didn't also appear on a Sega system, since SC1 was ported to the Genny.
"Road Rash"
Also available on Genny.
"Space Hulk"
PC port.
"Wing Commander 3"
PC port.
"Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo"
Arcade port that had already been done to death on both the SNES and Genny.
And a lot of the other games you mentioned were also available on competitors' boxen as wel. The original PC games that were ported were also pretty damned close to being in the bargin bin at the time of their gracing the 3DO (When did Wing Commander 4 and the abomination that is Star Control 3 come out again?).
"It's not the FMV wasteland that some folks make it out to be."
As someone who more or less missed the PlayStation boat in favor of the N64, it's all an FMV wasteland. Thanks to the Mega Man Anniversary Collection, I played through Mega Man 8 for the first time and... ugh. I also redently picked up an old copy of Mega Man X4 and that, too, has made me wince. I was unhappy when I first played through Final Fantasy VII, one of my very few PlayStation games at the time, and being unhappy with all the FMV (among other things), never realizing that, compared to other PSX games, it's actually done well.
"I haven't talked to them, but if the Nintendo President called me up, I'd definitely answer the phone".
And, IIRC, Yamauchi's response was, with his typical flair, to tell Bill to sit on it and rotate (not in so many words, of course).
Seriously, Yamauchi may not be calling the shots any more, but he and his family still own the company (which is why the headquarters continues to technically be in Japan even though more and more of the shots are called by the Redmond office). I really don't see Nintendo being sold to anybody in my lifetime, let alone to a "young upstart" like Microsoft. Besides, there'd be rabid Nintendo fanboys rioting in the streets.
Not that EA has had a history of being right about Nintendo, mind you. IIRC, they first saw no future in conosle gaming (making the typical pro-PC arguments of a/v quality) and missed the boat for a good deal of the NES's lifetime.
"Canada has the population of California, a bigger land mass, and better broadband penetration than the US (source). Even considering that most Canadians live within a few hundred kilometers of the US/Canada border you're still lagging behind."
Canadian tax dollars stay in Canada. Californian tax dollars leave the state; like all states, it's in a constant battle with Washington over who gets to have how much of a citizen's paycheck, and the feds weigh more. I'd wager that Canadian provinces have a better chance fighting Ottawa in that reguard than US states fighting Washington.
You're not giving credit to how heterogeneous the Canadian population is. Yes, they all live within a few hundred km of the 49th, but even then they're in clumps. We call those clumps "Toronto," "Vancouver," "Montreal," "Calgary" and the like. While California doesn't have as smooth a distribution as the US east of the Mississippi, it can be really hard to tell where the Los Angeles area ends and the San Francisco area begins. See for yourself.
And here's a question: How much would that cable modem cost if you weren't also getting TV service?
... can you pay for the pizza with in-game currency? If not, what's the freakin' point of the command if not to embed advertising? Will subscribers be getting a break on their monthly fees since the game is now ad-supported?
"Well, for one thing they could vote to become a state."
Literally, no, they can't. New states are admitted by acts of Congress, and all the plebicite really does is ask Congress "Pretty please?" It may or may not act as ratification of the US Constitution by the state/territorial/whatever government, but that's more tradition than constitutional law (only needed the first nine to come into effect).
"Just because the states claim the right doesn't mean that they will be allowed the right. Look at gay marriage and slavery."
Two very bad examples. The Constitution requires all states to give "full faith and credit" to the laws of all other states, which is why abolition constitutionally required an amendment and why a nationwide ban on gay marriage will also require a constitutional amendment (which I hope gets shot down in flames).
US law is kinda like UK law in that, at first glance, certain parties can seem to get away with murder. If you glance at the UK government, it looks like the queen can do whatever she pleases, Parliament be damned. In the US, instead of monarchs we have state governments, which can elect to eliminate the constitution outright. It's only looking at the details and nuances of history that we have the current state of affairs. However, just as "can" and "will" are two very different concepts, so are "don't" and "can't."
"But beyond that, it seems that the easiest way to beat this wrap is to take a vacation elsewhere (especially a place that doesn't have high smoking tax or regulation such as D.C., Mexico, or Puerto Rico)"
DC: Where are you going to get your tobacco if not Maryland or Virginia? There are certainly no tobacco farms within the district...
Mexico: "Everything's legal in Mexico! It's the American Way!"
Puerto Rico: government by divine right of Congress. American imperialism at its "best." Just because federal laws may be favorable to doing Activity X in Puerto Rico today doesn't mean it'll be that way tomorrow, and there's little San Juan can do about it.
"Even so, I think the prosecution is going to have a hard time proving that the cigarettes were consumed at all."
The jury will draw its own conclusions when they hear the defendant's cough.
" These styles of cases are going to have to be settled in the federal court system. "
How? Federal courts can only handle person vs. person, state vs. state, person vs. their home state and person vs. feds. Person vs. different state has to be handled in state courts, so sayeth the Eleventh Amendment. The States of Michigan and Washington may dicker about whose courts get to hear the case of Michigan v. Amazon, but there's little the feds can say on the matter.
"The state, upon joining the union, gave up specific rights to regulate interstate commerce that is up to the Federal system."
Only if your a Supreme Court Justice. If you actually read the constitution, you'd see that, yes, it gives the national government power to regulate interstate commerce, but it does not actually, explicitly, take it away from the states, except for certain examples of regulations. I'm really sorry for the self-aggrandizing link, but, well...
What today's Supreme Court believes federalism is and what it meant to the states as they signed up for the Union are two very different things. After all, how many federal judges and justices were even practicing law the last time a state was admitted, let alone out of high school?
" The Federal law currently doesn't allow states to tax imports from other states and has banned any Internet taxes."
No, it doesn't allow tariffs and duties. Use taxes, which are applied reguardless of point of origin, are allowed. If the tax laws said it was 5% for almost everything but 10% for stuff imported from those dirty cheesheads in Wisconsin, then it would be unconstitutional. Michigan isn't taxing importation, they're taxing use.
"I don't see where this individual is required to pay state tax."
That's because you're quoting federal law while looking for a state tax.
"Canada has nothing to do with what we discussing."
From your original post
"Who's calling who imperialists? It was your (USan) ancestors who went over to America and killed all the native people (and flora and fauna)."
You were apparently bringing up what the US did to indigenous peoples and animals on the North American continent in our quest for the Pacific Ocean while conveniently forgetting that other country that somehow managed to make its way to Vancouver using some of the same policies (though perhaps not at the same scale) that the US was using at the time. Back then, it was London calling the shots in British North America, not Ottawa, and you can still find angry voices in the Canadian territories because of some of what happened back then.
And all this because I made a mildly sarcastic remark about the current size of the UK... sheesh...
"Uhh...what's confederation got to do with anything?"
It's the point when you start talking about what "Canada" did to the native populations instead of "British North America," hence the reference to the 49th Parallel.
"It was your (USan) ancestors who went over to America and killed all the native people (and flora and fauna)."
And I suppose none of that happened north of the 49th? Or was confederation retroactive?
"You clearly have not experienced our (UK) transport system,"
As I understand it, you have these things over there called "trains," peculiar devices I've seen pictures of in history books. They're supposed to take you to various places you want to go without road rage and without the FAA doing a cavity search. They may or may not run on time, but the closest thing we have here will take you anyplace you want to go as long as it's Chicago.
"and are not aware that population on our little island is nearly as big as yours."
Um... no. There are about 5 Americans for every Briton. For comparison, there's about 4 Chinese for every American. You might have us on population density, depending on where you look (if you ignore the Boston-Washington coridor), but we've got you in shear numbers by half an order of magnitude.
Slashdot Mirror
Not that I trust Washington all that much more, but I'm glad I won't be using an "encryption" standard that Beijing wants its own people to use. Seriously, if they want it so bad, there has to be something wrong with it, some sort of back door to let them crack down on dissidents.
"So if you accept the contract from Microsoft which says "Microsoft gives Joe $5 and Joe promises not to sue Microsoft for the loss of Joe's data," you can't sue them later for the loss of your data. But if you refuse the $5, you can."
Depends on the terms of the agreement. "Oh, gee, damn, Microsoft, I guess I just didn't see that clause in the EULA. Oh well, here's your $5 back." After all, they can't hold you liable for anything else beyond that, can they?
Bah. They should instead build vertically in order to blot out the sun on the Microsoft campus.
"If EA wants to decrease the number of platforms they support, that's one thing. But just wishing Nintendo away won't make it happen."
But that strategy served Acclaim so well!
They went sorta public, but the Yamauchi family holds controlling interest and will into the forseeable future. All the other investors are just along for the ride.
" Star Control II"
PC port. Kinda surprised it didn't also appear on a Sega system, since SC1 was ported to the Genny.
"Road Rash"
Also available on Genny.
"Space Hulk"
PC port.
"Wing Commander 3"
PC port.
"Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo"
Arcade port that had already been done to death on both the SNES and Genny.
And a lot of the other games you mentioned were also available on competitors' boxen as wel. The original PC games that were ported were also pretty damned close to being in the bargin bin at the time of their gracing the 3DO (When did Wing Commander 4 and the abomination that is Star Control 3 come out again?).
"It's not the FMV wasteland that some folks make it out to be."
As someone who more or less missed the PlayStation boat in favor of the N64, it's all an FMV wasteland. Thanks to the Mega Man Anniversary Collection, I played through Mega Man 8 for the first time and... ugh. I also redently picked up an old copy of Mega Man X4 and that, too, has made me wince. I was unhappy when I first played through Final Fantasy VII, one of my very few PlayStation games at the time, and being unhappy with all the FMV (among other things), never realizing that, compared to other PSX games, it's actually done well.
"I haven't talked to them, but if the Nintendo President called me up, I'd definitely answer the phone".
And, IIRC, Yamauchi's response was, with his typical flair, to tell Bill to sit on it and rotate (not in so many words, of course).
Seriously, Yamauchi may not be calling the shots any more, but he and his family still own the company (which is why the headquarters continues to technically be in Japan even though more and more of the shots are called by the Redmond office). I really don't see Nintendo being sold to anybody in my lifetime, let alone to a "young upstart" like Microsoft. Besides, there'd be rabid Nintendo fanboys rioting in the streets.
Not that EA has had a history of being right about Nintendo, mind you. IIRC, they first saw no future in conosle gaming (making the typical pro-PC arguments of a/v quality) and missed the boat for a good deal of the NES's lifetime.
Need I remind you that Lance Bass Continues to Plague Earth's Surface?
"but please remember they are entirely different dev teams."
This is not WarCraft in space!
I know it's not 3D!
"Tech: hold on, I'll be right there .."
He wouldn't know how to fix the HDD. A true geek would respond with something along the lines of "Duhhhhhh...... I gotta go."
"It would be less insulting to say that South Korea was the about the same size as on of the sothern states."
Depends on how they feel about the South, doesn't it?
- Canadian tax dollars stay in Canada. Californian tax dollars leave the state; like all states, it's in a constant battle with Washington over who gets to have how much of a citizen's paycheck, and the feds weigh more. I'd wager that Canadian provinces have a better chance fighting Ottawa in that reguard than US states fighting Washington.
- You're not giving credit to how heterogeneous the Canadian population is. Yes, they all live within a few hundred km of the 49th, but even then they're in clumps. We call those clumps "Toronto," "Vancouver," "Montreal," "Calgary" and the like. While California doesn't have as smooth a distribution as the US east of the Mississippi, it can be really hard to tell where the Los Angeles area ends and the San Francisco area begins. See for yourself.
And here's a question: How much would that cable modem cost if you weren't also getting TV service?"The NIV and other "modern" bibles are the word of Bob the fallablle translator, not the word of God."
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the New in Greek. Neither of them are English, of any time period.
" I can't believe that Everquest ruled my life for 3 years during high school"
Trust me, it beats the living heck out of high school ruling your life during high school.
... can you pay for the pizza with in-game currency? If not, what's the freakin' point of the command if not to embed advertising? Will subscribers be getting a break on their monthly fees since the game is now ad-supported?
"What more does a geek want?"
Hot grits.
"the festival has gotten outright preachy and boring."
Not at all like the past Star Wars movies, of course.
"Well, for one thing they could vote to become a state."
Literally, no, they can't. New states are admitted by acts of Congress, and all the plebicite really does is ask Congress "Pretty please?" It may or may not act as ratification of the US Constitution by the state/territorial/whatever government, but that's more tradition than constitutional law (only needed the first nine to come into effect).
"Just because the states claim the right doesn't mean that they will be allowed the right. Look at gay marriage and slavery."
Two very bad examples. The Constitution requires all states to give "full faith and credit" to the laws of all other states, which is why abolition constitutionally required an amendment and why a nationwide ban on gay marriage will also require a constitutional amendment (which I hope gets shot down in flames).
US law is kinda like UK law in that, at first glance, certain parties can seem to get away with murder. If you glance at the UK government, it looks like the queen can do whatever she pleases, Parliament be damned. In the US, instead of monarchs we have state governments, which can elect to eliminate the constitution outright. It's only looking at the details and nuances of history that we have the current state of affairs. However, just as "can" and "will" are two very different concepts, so are "don't" and "can't."
"But beyond that, it seems that the easiest way to beat this wrap is to take a vacation elsewhere (especially a place that doesn't have high smoking tax or regulation such as D.C., Mexico, or Puerto Rico)"
DC: Where are you going to get your tobacco if not Maryland or Virginia? There are certainly no tobacco farms within the district...
Mexico: "Everything's legal in Mexico! It's the American Way!"
Puerto Rico: government by divine right of Congress. American imperialism at its "best." Just because federal laws may be favorable to doing Activity X in Puerto Rico today doesn't mean it'll be that way tomorrow, and there's little San Juan can do about it.
"Even so, I think the prosecution is going to have a hard time proving that the cigarettes were consumed at all."
The jury will draw its own conclusions when they hear the defendant's cough.
" These styles of cases are going to have to be settled in the federal court system. "
How? Federal courts can only handle person vs. person, state vs. state, person vs. their home state and person vs. feds. Person vs. different state has to be handled in state courts, so sayeth the Eleventh Amendment. The States of Michigan and Washington may dicker about whose courts get to hear the case of Michigan v. Amazon, but there's little the feds can say on the matter.
"The state, upon joining the union, gave up specific rights to regulate interstate commerce that is up to the Federal system."
Only if your a Supreme Court Justice. If you actually read the constitution, you'd see that, yes, it gives the national government power to regulate interstate commerce, but it does not actually, explicitly, take it away from the states, except for certain examples of regulations. I'm really sorry for the self-aggrandizing link, but, well...
What today's Supreme Court believes federalism is and what it meant to the states as they signed up for the Union are two very different things. After all, how many federal judges and justices were even practicing law the last time a state was admitted, let alone out of high school?
" The Federal law currently doesn't allow states to tax imports from other states and has banned any Internet taxes."
No, it doesn't allow tariffs and duties. Use taxes, which are applied reguardless of point of origin, are allowed. If the tax laws said it was 5% for almost everything but 10% for stuff imported from those dirty cheesheads in Wisconsin, then it would be unconstitutional. Michigan isn't taxing importation, they're taxing use.
"I don't see where this individual is required to pay state tax."
That's because you're quoting federal law while looking for a state tax.
From your original postYou were apparently bringing up what the US did to indigenous peoples and animals on the North American continent in our quest for the Pacific Ocean while conveniently forgetting that other country that somehow managed to make its way to Vancouver using some of the same policies (though perhaps not at the same scale) that the US was using at the time. Back then, it was London calling the shots in British North America, not Ottawa, and you can still find angry voices in the Canadian territories because of some of what happened back then.
And all this because I made a mildly sarcastic remark about the current size of the UK... sheesh...
"Uhh...what's confederation got to do with anything?"
It's the point when you start talking about what "Canada" did to the native populations instead of "British North America," hence the reference to the 49th Parallel.
"It was your (USan) ancestors who went over to America and killed all the native people (and flora and fauna)."
And I suppose none of that happened north of the 49th? Or was confederation retroactive?
"You clearly have not experienced our (UK) transport system,"
As I understand it, you have these things over there called "trains," peculiar devices I've seen pictures of in history books. They're supposed to take you to various places you want to go without road rage and without the FAA doing a cavity search. They may or may not run on time, but the closest thing we have here will take you anyplace you want to go as long as it's Chicago.
"and are not aware that population on our little island is nearly as big as yours."
Um... no. There are about 5 Americans for every Briton. For comparison, there's about 4 Chinese for every American. You might have us on population density, depending on where you look (if you ignore the Boston-Washington coridor), but we've got you in shear numbers by half an order of magnitude.
The insult wasn't intended, but no US citizen was ever executed in the electric chair for sharing fusion information with the British.
"Man that just made my mind grind"
Not as much as mine when I saw a self-styled translation nazi fix a French translation...