"I don't remember where I read it, but MIT actually has more IP's than the whole of China..."
MIT isn't the one trying to limit its users and censor access. Does China have fewer because there's not enough space, or simply because their "Great Firewall" doesn't need all that many public IP addresses?
And when was the last time you saw such a fight with a referee? I'm not talking about some fictional honor duel, I'm talking about situations where at least one of the participants wants to seriously hurt the other for whatever reason.
"there is only a slight chance that the situation will end in death."
If they were rational enough at the time for the possibility to even cross their minds, they're probably rational enough not to get involved in the fight to begin with.
"Also, fist fights are easier to control than a gun."
Control by whom? Again, there are no referees present. The only outside parties who would be interested in controlling the situation would be the crowd, and the crowd doesn't care so long as they get to see blood.
"If a gun is placed against a persons head, it is fairly certain that the situation will result in death."
All the more excitement for the spectators.
"There is a considerable difference in the moral fabric of a person that would advocate the certain death of another person, and a kid egging on a fistfight."
That would assume that the person egging on a fight has different motives and goals than the person egging on a shooting. I belive that if they were civilized enough to try to prevent a shooting, they wouldn't be egging on a fight of any sort to begin with.
"while I do understand the crowd/mob mentality, I don't understand why they would want a person to take another persons life..."
The kids in these crowds don't think that much. They don't think "you know, somebody could really get hurt here," they want to see blood and they want to see it now. Bare hands, gun, it's all bloodsport. Bread and circuses.
"especially when it's the son of the guy fronting the cash for the event."
At that moment, he was just another representative of The Man. And everybody hates The Man and likes to see The Man get what's coming to him.
"You have only to play these games to notice the angry, sociopathic tendencies of many of their participants (e.g. the rampant cheating, trash talking, causing other nuisances, etc.)."
Except is this related to the game, or to the medium in which it is played? All of these tendencies show up on your average IRC host, and if it were the game it would be happening at paintball tournaments as well.
"I can tell everyone that the person that pulled the gun was not part of the BZ team, rather, friends of a certain member of that team.
Some nutcase friend of player pulls a gun and it's counter-strike's fault?"
Did he know the name of this person? If not, did he know the name of their friend the player? Most importantly, has this information passed on to the police?
If the group is truly "zero tolerance" as they claim to be, complaints and sanctions wouldn't stop outside the building's walls. They claim that they "will seek civil and criminal action against those who initiate actions viewed to be detrimental to the well being of others," so where is the link to the police blotter report with the perpetrator's name, reason for arrest and bail hearing date? You don't just ban them from playing a match again, you post the guy's picture, the details of his trial, and exactly how long the guy is spending in jail with a note that says "This could be you!" Wal-Mart does this to shoplifters, and this guy pulled a gun!
Guns don't kill people, idiotic slaps to the wrists kill people. And by not following up on this as rabidly as they should, CXG is showing that they themselves believe that it was their games that were responsible for this guy's actions. It makes one wonder just what CXG thinks of their customers' hobbies as well as their well-being. What they should be doing is showing exactly what the gaming community thinks of this behavior. Or do they think Lieberman is right?
"People sit and spend days and days playing games like this where they learn to shoot at almost anything that might be a threat. Just like an athlete that practices for years to hone their reflexes so they don't have to think about actions, but just do -- or like a musician that practices for years so their skills are sharp -- gamers teach themselves to solve problems with violence and to use weapons quickly and easily."
Except, by your theory, these idiots wouldn't even know how to load a real firearm ("Where's the 'reload' key?") and have no idea what the phrases "single action" and "half action" mean ("Why doesn't it do anything when I press the 'fire' button?"). And even if they did understand what those phrases mean, they should be more likely to accidentally safe the gun instead of arming it ("I pulled the hammer back until I felt it click...").
Of course, they'd have a hard time buying a gun with those felony convictions they racked up driving the way they learned from Need for Speed...
"What about the team mates encouraging him? That's the more worrisome part to me."
Not much different from your typical high school students egging on a fistfight. Of course, nobody bothered to take notice of situations like this until students started to point the guns at each other instead of themselves.
No, my hypothetical tape recorder has no speaker. Instead, a green light that says "It made a sound" lights up when the mechanism detects sound above a certain decibel threshold in the recording.
"Games can be copied to [many] little 210MB CDRs (8cm). Nitendo made things hard but not too hard."
How many 8 cm CD-Rs? Would you say $30.00 worth? And what about the aggrevation of changing discs a bajillion times, how much is that worth? I'd say they made it hard enough...
"It's obvious if you live in Europe, where a lot of houses and buildings are old, and do not provide adequate sound-proofing."
But there are also large swaths of Europe where you won't find a building predating, say, 1919 or 1945. Where does your philosophy stand on the areas that were subject to these two "urban renewal projects?"
The same can be said for the roads you mention. Some are still like that, others were lain out in "the insanity of right angles" after you cleared away the debris.
"(London and Paris -- for instance -- are among the most expensive places on Earth)"
Looking at the ol' the earth at night collage and how lumpy light distribution seems to be around those two urban centers, it would seem that living in those cities is more of a luxury and necessity, with decent amounts of real estate in the countryside available. It would seem that government spending on noise reduction for city dwellers really only forcefully subsidizes urbanization, a trend you should perhaps consider reversing (especially considering the current attitude towards environmentalism in the EU).
"rent is a killer in those cities."
High rent is usually more indicative of people wanting to live there and not necessarily needing to live there.
"Finally, I suspect most european governments are going to finance this simply by giving tax-breaks to people who will overhaul the sound-proofing of their flats and houses, and not tax other home owners."
That's really just a bait-and-switch tactic. It doesn't tax suburban and rual taxpayers directly, but they still see an indirect effect in their taxes by having to make up the loss from the tax breaks given to the urban folks.
"Sometimes I wish the U.S. government wasn't spending so much trying to build up the military and instead redirect those funds to building up the national infrastructure."
What, wasn't there enough pork barrels in today's omnibus spending bill for you? Or doesn't an indoor rain forest in Iowa count?
"and note the UMD optical disc format is "cheaper and faster to manufacturer than ROM", and thus "publisher-friendly""
But is it more important that the media be more publisher friendly, or more crush-test friendly? What about media that's jiggle-friendly? I know it's been said a million times before, but is Sony really going in the right direction media-wise on a device you're supposed to be able to use wherever, whenever? This isn't something that's supposed to sit on a shelf somewhere and collect dust.
There's also the fact that optical media can be easier to pirate/crack. Nintendo seems to have done it right with the GameCube, but is Sony going to be able to do that as well or is there a rude Nokia-esque wake-up call for them in the future?
Oh, and one more question about Sony's handheld all-in-one media device: Are we to expect a device that plays movies about as well as a PlayStation 2?
The functioning is the same (kinda hard to patent a button, unless you're Amazon:) ), but the patent was on the plus-shaped design. That's why they all "look a little different." Everybody was trying to skirt the edge of the patent without actually violating it.
"For those of you that don't know, Nintendo holds an infamous patent on the D-PAD. (The directional pad). This is the reason, why only on Nintendo gaming pads will you find a prefect cross as the D-PAD."
No, they held a patent on that design, dating back from their first use of it in the Game & Watch.vs systems (LCD games that had two circular controllers, each with a plus-shaped directional pad and a single button). The patent expired just in time for Sega to use the design in their Dreamcast controllers.
"There's person in this world who prefers the look of the US SNES? OH MY!! I do not believe it."
Personally, I liked the way the power switch and reset button worked, but the eject lever gets tired after a while.
"US SNES has one advantage over the Japanese/European versions - the plastics stay grey! "
Nope, ours discolor as well. They start out as white with a blueish hue and turn into something... well, about the same color as your typical Super Famicom (a beige/gray kind of color). But the really strange thing is that the different pieces discolor differently; the bottom half of mine is discolored while the top half is fine, and I've also seen ones where the cartridge door is the only part the original color. I'm still not sure how that happens.
"Hope you never EVER consider what any of those look like,"
Oh, quit bitching and go back to playing with your Ngage already (you know, the system for people who don't want to look like they're playing kiddie games).
You're not supposed to look at it, you're supposed to hold it and watch the TV. So long as it's comfortable to hold in your hands, why do looks matter?
Slashdot Mirror
"Adama is now a badass. He killed a Cylon with a fickin' FLASHLIGHT!"
I sure hope the Cylon was covered by Mutual of Omaha...
The ability to host a website is insignificant next to the power of a Slashdotting.
"This is not the URL you were looking for. Move along."
Huh? When did VeriSign turn Site Finder back on?
"The reason? They haven't got a clue.""
As in they don't know why systems are patching themselves, or is this just a general statement of ineptitutde?
"I don't remember where I read it, but MIT actually has more IP's than the whole of China..."
MIT isn't the one trying to limit its users and censor access. Does China have fewer because there's not enough space, or simply because their "Great Firewall" doesn't need all that many public IP addresses?
"The only....ONLY...good thing about Spike TV is MXC."
:)
coughStar Trekcough
Although I must say I'm ready to vote for Captain Tenille for president next year...
"In a fist fight (fought fairly)"
And when was the last time you saw such a fight with a referee? I'm not talking about some fictional honor duel, I'm talking about situations where at least one of the participants wants to seriously hurt the other for whatever reason.
"there is only a slight chance that the situation will end in death."
If they were rational enough at the time for the possibility to even cross their minds, they're probably rational enough not to get involved in the fight to begin with.
"Also, fist fights are easier to control than a gun."
Control by whom? Again, there are no referees present. The only outside parties who would be interested in controlling the situation would be the crowd, and the crowd doesn't care so long as they get to see blood.
"If a gun is placed against a persons head, it is fairly certain that the situation will result in death."
All the more excitement for the spectators.
"There is a considerable difference in the moral fabric of a person that would advocate the certain death of another person, and a kid egging on a fistfight."
That would assume that the person egging on a fight has different motives and goals than the person egging on a shooting. I belive that if they were civilized enough to try to prevent a shooting, they wouldn't be egging on a fight of any sort to begin with.
"while I do understand the crowd/mob mentality, I don't understand why they would want a person to take another persons life..."
The kids in these crowds don't think that much. They don't think "you know, somebody could really get hurt here," they want to see blood and they want to see it now. Bare hands, gun, it's all bloodsport. Bread and circuses.
"especially when it's the son of the guy fronting the cash for the event."
At that moment, he was just another representative of The Man. And everybody hates The Man and likes to see The Man get what's coming to him.
"You have only to play these games to notice the angry, sociopathic tendencies of many of their participants (e.g. the rampant cheating, trash talking, causing other nuisances, etc.)."
Except is this related to the game, or to the medium in which it is played? All of these tendencies show up on your average IRC host, and if it were the game it would be happening at paintball tournaments as well.
"I can tell everyone that the person that pulled the gun was not part of the BZ team, rather, friends of a certain member of that team.
Some nutcase friend of player pulls a gun and it's counter-strike's fault?"
Did he know the name of this person? If not, did he know the name of their friend the player? Most importantly, has this information passed on to the police?
If the group is truly "zero tolerance" as they claim to be, complaints and sanctions wouldn't stop outside the building's walls. They claim that they "will seek civil and criminal action against those who initiate actions viewed to be detrimental to the well being of others," so where is the link to the police blotter report with the perpetrator's name, reason for arrest and bail hearing date? You don't just ban them from playing a match again, you post the guy's picture, the details of his trial, and exactly how long the guy is spending in jail with a note that says "This could be you!" Wal-Mart does this to shoplifters, and this guy pulled a gun!
Guns don't kill people, idiotic slaps to the wrists kill people. And by not following up on this as rabidly as they should, CXG is showing that they themselves believe that it was their games that were responsible for this guy's actions. It makes one wonder just what CXG thinks of their customers' hobbies as well as their well-being. What they should be doing is showing exactly what the gaming community thinks of this behavior. Or do they think Lieberman is right?
"People sit and spend days and days playing games like this where they learn to shoot at almost anything that might be a threat. Just like an athlete that practices for years to hone their reflexes so they don't have to think about actions, but just do -- or like a musician that practices for years so their skills are sharp -- gamers teach themselves to solve problems with violence and to use weapons quickly and easily."
Except, by your theory, these idiots wouldn't even know how to load a real firearm ("Where's the 'reload' key?") and have no idea what the phrases "single action" and "half action" mean ("Why doesn't it do anything when I press the 'fire' button?"). And even if they did understand what those phrases mean, they should be more likely to accidentally safe the gun instead of arming it ("I pulled the hammer back until I felt it click...").
Of course, they'd have a hard time buying a gun with those felony convictions they racked up driving the way they learned from Need for Speed...
"What about the team mates encouraging him? That's the more worrisome part to me."
Not much different from your typical high school students egging on a fistfight. Of course, nobody bothered to take notice of situations like this until students started to point the guns at each other instead of themselves.
"oh you mean you heard it recorded on tape?"
No, my hypothetical tape recorder has no speaker. Instead, a green light that says "It made a sound" lights up when the mechanism detects sound above a certain decibel threshold in the recording.
"Games can be copied to [many] little 210MB CDRs (8cm). Nitendo made things hard but not too hard."
How many 8 cm CD-Rs? Would you say $30.00 worth? And what about the aggrevation of changing discs a bajillion times, how much is that worth? I'd say they made it hard enough...
"Too much iron in your blood!"
Just so long as what the Nevians did in Triplanetary doesn't become a reality, I'm OK.
"It's obvious if you live in Europe, where a lot of houses and buildings are old, and do not provide adequate sound-proofing."
But there are also large swaths of Europe where you won't find a building predating, say, 1919 or 1945. Where does your philosophy stand on the areas that were subject to these two "urban renewal projects?"
The same can be said for the roads you mention. Some are still like that, others were lain out in "the insanity of right angles" after you cleared away the debris.
"(London and Paris -- for instance -- are among the most expensive places on Earth)"
Looking at the ol' the earth at night collage and how lumpy light distribution seems to be around those two urban centers, it would seem that living in those cities is more of a luxury and necessity, with decent amounts of real estate in the countryside available. It would seem that government spending on noise reduction for city dwellers really only forcefully subsidizes urbanization, a trend you should perhaps consider reversing (especially considering the current attitude towards environmentalism in the EU).
"rent is a killer in those cities."
High rent is usually more indicative of people wanting to live there and not necessarily needing to live there.
"Finally, I suspect most european governments are going to finance this simply by giving tax-breaks to people who will overhaul the sound-proofing of their flats and houses, and not tax other home owners."
That's really just a bait-and-switch tactic. It doesn't tax suburban and rual taxpayers directly, but they still see an indirect effect in their taxes by having to make up the loss from the tax breaks given to the urban folks.
"Sometimes I wish the U.S. government wasn't spending so much trying to build up the military and instead redirect those funds to building up the national infrastructure."
What, wasn't there enough pork barrels in today's omnibus spending bill for you? Or doesn't an indoor rain forest in Iowa count?
As if that one bonus stage in Super Mario Sunshine wasn't fustrating enough...
"That being said, PS2 has a great namebrand and this will likely carry over to the PSP. We'll see..."
You mean like the Game Gear carried over the Genesis' great namebrand?
"and note the UMD optical disc format is "cheaper and faster to manufacturer than ROM", and thus "publisher-friendly""
But is it more important that the media be more publisher friendly, or more crush-test friendly? What about media that's jiggle-friendly? I know it's been said a million times before, but is Sony really going in the right direction media-wise on a device you're supposed to be able to use wherever, whenever? This isn't something that's supposed to sit on a shelf somewhere and collect dust.
There's also the fact that optical media can be easier to pirate/crack. Nintendo seems to have done it right with the GameCube, but is Sony going to be able to do that as well or is there a rude Nokia-esque wake-up call for them in the future?
Oh, and one more question about Sony's handheld all-in-one media device: Are we to expect a device that plays movies about as well as a PlayStation 2?
"They may look a little different,"
:) ), but the patent was on the plus-shaped design. That's why they all "look a little different." Everybody was trying to skirt the edge of the patent without actually violating it.
The functioning is the same (kinda hard to patent a button, unless you're Amazon
"For those of you that don't know, Nintendo holds an infamous patent on the D-PAD. (The directional pad). This is the reason, why only on Nintendo gaming pads will you find a prefect cross as the D-PAD."
.vs systems (LCD games that had two circular controllers, each with a plus-shaped directional pad and a single button). The patent expired just in time for Sega to use the design in their Dreamcast controllers.
No, they held a patent on that design, dating back from their first use of it in the Game & Watch
"There's person in this world who prefers the look of the US SNES? OH MY!! I do not believe it."
Personally, I liked the way the power switch and reset button worked, but the eject lever gets tired after a while.
"US SNES has one advantage over the Japanese/European versions - the plastics stay grey! "
Nope, ours discolor as well. They start out as white with a blueish hue and turn into something... well, about the same color as your typical Super Famicom (a beige/gray kind of color). But the really strange thing is that the different pieces discolor differently; the bottom half of mine is discolored while the top half is fine, and I've also seen ones where the cartridge door is the only part the original color. I'm still not sure how that happens.
"Hope you never EVER consider what any of those look like,"
Oh, quit bitching and go back to playing with your Ngage already (you know, the system for people who don't want to look like they're playing kiddie games).
"That thing looks horrible."
You're not supposed to look at it, you're supposed to hold it and watch the TV. So long as it's comfortable to hold in your hands, why do looks matter?