I'm going the other route... I'm keeping my GBA SP, and then will use it for trade-in credit when the DS comes out.
Have fun trading it in for the $20 credit you'll get at that point. The best time to get rid of the GBA is now, while the trade-in prices are relatively high. Dump the store credit on a gift card or something and let it sit until November. I sold mine for cash (minor emergency) but didn't lose a whole lot as I still have the GBA Player for my Cube. Lucky thing, too-- I'd have kicked myself if I'd missed Mario vs. Donkey Kong.
As long as we're plugging, Bubba Ho-Tep should be out on DVD soon, if not already. I didn't get the chance to see it in the theaters, but I'll be picking it up.
To echo another poster's sentiment, though, I'd really appreciate a DVD set of Brisco County, Jr. That was a good series.
One of the cardinal rules of sneaking around is to act like you own the place you're breaking in to. That way it's very unlikely people will question you. The same goes for traveling with expensive stuff-- don't be self-conscious about it, because it will show. The trained thief knows how to discern between the guy nonchalantly walking by (who likely has nothing of value) and the guy casting panicked stares around him (who, in all likelihood, is either loaded or stoned-- money either way).
A lot of people are advocating the carriage of weaponry, and I can't agree with that. Just act calm, like nothing on your person is worth being hassled over, and you'll be fine.
Incidentally, I used to traipse around downtown Erie back in my college days carrying a whole hell of a lot of heavy crap-- typically college books, cell phone, Game Boy, a PDA for a brief time, and other miscellaney. I quickly learned the value of a) miniaturizing and b) wearing clothes with lots of pockets. My favorite winter coat has 10 pockets, 4 of which are positively huge. When I had all my gear in it, including gloves and hat, it must have weighed at least six pounds; I remember it would always tip over whatever rack I hung it on. Something to think about, I guess.
Looking at the blurb, I immediately thought of C&C Generals, actually. Not having read the article, or knowing anything about Hears of Iron, I'd imagine HoI was an alternate-history type game (the only examples I can think of off the top of my head being the deplorable Ring of Red for PS2 and the somewhat more tolerable Sakura Taisen series), and as long as it was clearly delineated that it wasn't to be taken seriously, I would hope China's gov't would have its collective head far enough out of its ass to allow it.
Playing devil's advocate, however, I can see why China wouldn't like the portrayal of Tibet/Taiwan/etc. as independent states. It would be like the US trying to raise a stink over a game that showed 21st century America as two nations-- the North and the South. You cannot with a straight face tell me that there would not be someone in Congress shouting to high heaven about a game that even thought the South could have won the war (if it weren't explicitly a Civil War sim to begin with). Though to tell you the truth, it certainly would be an interesting premise: "SimConfederacy! The South has won the war and seceded from the USA, now what? You decide!"
As for your mention about increased vulnerability to terrorism, China is relatively safe because of the Wall. (/kidding) I suspect that the maps in C&C were not drawn to be geographically accurate so much as they were made to challenge the player; but of course, I only watched a buddy play, so I don't really know.
The article says he got the sentence for identity theft, not spamming. So while we can't execute him, we can blame him for those asinine CitiBank commercials with the overdubbed voices.
Even if a pickpocket steals from thousands of people over his lifetime, he is only guilty of many counts of petty theft. He doesn't graduate to grand larceny after a certain cumulative dollar amount.
Playing devil's advocate here (literally, I suppose): Why not?
A pickpocket steals from twenty people, gets caught, gets thrown in jail for a year. When he gets out, he steals from fifty people (because he knows better about how not to get caught) before landing in the stir again, this time for two years. Whereupon he gets out and repeats the cycle AGAIN, sucking up more and more of the taxpayer's money (for cops to catch him, DA et al to prosecute him, jailers to house him, etc.). At what point should we assume he won't learn his lesson and just let him rot? And if we should give him infinite continues (as it were), why bother when he's just going to go out and do it all over again?
I don't think the death penalty really should be applied to spammers/script kiddies/et al, but my patience is not infinite either. Neither, I suspect, is anyone else's. At a certain point in a career criminal's life, it should be "game over" and he sits in jail 'till the end of time. (Let's not take it to the extreme of twenty years for your third speeding ticket-- that's just plain absurd; anything on the level of a traffic violation or parking ticket would probably be exempt.)
The injection of "a massive dose of moral fiber" is precisely what's dumped our country into the proverbial shitter, to make a pun. I may only have been around since 1980, but my mom never told me about any abortion-clinic bombings, religious persecution in America, or violent intolerance of non-mainstream people in her day. Maybe she sheltered me, but let's be totally honest here-- since the mid-80s, more work has been put into legislating morality than has been put into solving the root cause of the problem-- ignorance.
Don't legislate morality. Make ignorance*, and the neglect to alleviate ignorance, illegal.
(* Ignorance being defined as willingly not learning, or simply not bothering to learn. Ignorance being defined as separate from genuine and unavoidable lack of intelligence, ie. Down's Syndrome et al.)
You know, for some reason I find the fact that your link led to an error page the first time I tried it to be extremely amusing. (Worked the second time, actually, which makes it less funny, but, yeah...)
An IP by itself is not sufficient evidence to uniquely identify a person. It must be used in combination with timestamped logs from a verifiable source, possibly a packet sniffer or the like. Additionally, it requires the cooperation of the ISP to search its own logs to match the IP and time to a user.
Having worked at a major cable ISP, I can tell you they did not keep DHCP logs past about a week prior. Though they were in the midst of transitioning to a new server monitoring system when I left, so I'm not sure if that's still the case or if it's the case for all ISPs.
If the RIAA came to an ISP demanding their DHCP logs, John Doe case or no, I doubt the judge would issue the subpoena when the only evidence the RIAA has is a number and a time. More than that, the number might still point to several people; if the judge is tech-savvy at all he/she will know how easy it is to slip onto an unsecured wireless network. A search warrant would have to be issued to the house, both to check for the infringing work as well as any possible way for the number to be proven wrong-- and AFAIK warrants are almost never issued that broadly. (Again, IANAL-- I worked tech support and was fired for apparently having a working brain. Most of what I know about warrants and subpoenas comes from CSI and Law & Order, so I'm probably egregiously wrong-- feel free to correct my understanding.)
I was in college, and from 2001-2002 I spent an hour a week helping a priest from the theology department learn how to use his computer. I went over the basics of the Internet and eventually moved on to a few higher-level topics... when I graduated, he was still pretty shaky. Since I live in Erie again now, I caught up with him and he's easily one of the most advanced users among the theologicians.
But the important thing is that he said I should use him as a reference on my resume, and because of his recommendation I landed two jobs since graduation. I'm really grateful that I decided to do it, and I thank him every time I see him.
The problem is it's probably a lot safer to spread the caffeine dosage over a time than to just downt he pill immediately. I'm probably in the minority here, but I have to be really desperate to chug a Red Bull or any other drink. Usually I just take sips over time and go from there-- a single can takes me anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour to finish, normally. I used to do this because of the taste of the drink, but now it's pretty much like any other beverage; Red Bull is actually pretty good, once you get used to it.
In an emergency (3AM call to fix servers which have fallen upon some horrible explosive tragedy), a caffeine pill is preferable. For coding over a stretch, however, I'd say one was better off with a drink or two to have over time.
I know the comment about dnb was intended to be a joke-- or at least it sounds like it was-- but for me, sometimes listening happy hardcore or goa can really help me get into a productive mode. If there's a really big project I have to tackle (like, say what I have to do this afternoon ^_^) I'll usually fire up one of the Electronica stations on iTunes and go with that. I can usually go for about six or eight hours listening to it, aided by the occasional sip of caffeine.
Someday once I have more money I think I might like to take a trip down to Brazil, for the club scene. Of course, by that time I might be so accustomed tot he music that I'd wonder why I didn't bring my laptop. ^_^
So basically, we can say stuff and we'll understand it, but since we make it a point that what we're saying isn't the absolute truth and in fact could be absolutely wrong, it becomes so ambiguous to the point where we never actually say anything really rude, we just kind of imply it.
(Heh, I get your point, I was making the dumbed-down version of the joke.)
No, the reason XS Games and other companies are still cranking out PS1 software is the combination of Sony no longer requiring licensing fees for the software (IIRC), and because there's a cheap buck to be made in porting games which four years ago would never have passed Sony inspection, but squeak through now because Sony feels, "hey, who's really going to buy it now? Everyone who matters already has a PS2 and it's not like we'll be losing money or anything."
Sadly, I was one of those people... picked up a copy of "High School League Dodge Ball" or something (not the good one from about a year ago), was pleasantly surprised to see it was an anime-styled game, and then got disgusted with the awful play control and sold it back two weeks later for $7.
EA won't be able to afford that exclusive contract forever.
Yes, they can. Madden's sales alone are right now just about enough, even with Sega/Sony/MS/et al. eating away at it. If and when the exclusivity deal goes through, Madden's sales go through the roof, EA saves even more money by cutting back on engine development, and they'll have far more than enough in the coffers after three years to extend the deal for as long as they care to.
We all assume that EA will use this as an excuse for cutting back on development, and we might be right. But to be perfectly frank, they might not. They might just use the scads of money they get from this deal to develop a revolutionary new engine for NFL games, one light-years beyond anything Sega or Sony could develop in the same time. But I wouldn't hold my breath.
I'm not as interested in college football, unfortunately; my school's team (Gannon Golden Knights) isn't in any of them, to the best of my knowledge.
Hm. I never thought of that, actually. This has been going on ever since I got the car, however, and I just had the tires replaced in February. I'm still going to take it to the garage tonight or tomorrow, but I'll take this info into account, too.
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I'm going the other route... I'm keeping my GBA SP, and then will use it for trade-in credit when the DS comes out.
Have fun trading it in for the $20 credit you'll get at that point. The best time to get rid of the GBA is now, while the trade-in prices are relatively high. Dump the store credit on a gift card or something and let it sit until November. I sold mine for cash (minor emergency) but didn't lose a whole lot as I still have the GBA Player for my Cube. Lucky thing, too-- I'd have kicked myself if I'd missed Mario vs. Donkey Kong.
As long as we're plugging, Bubba Ho-Tep should be out on DVD soon, if not already. I didn't get the chance to see it in the theaters, but I'll be picking it up.
To echo another poster's sentiment, though, I'd really appreciate a DVD set of Brisco County, Jr. That was a good series.
One of the cardinal rules of sneaking around is to act like you own the place you're breaking in to. That way it's very unlikely people will question you. The same goes for traveling with expensive stuff-- don't be self-conscious about it, because it will show. The trained thief knows how to discern between the guy nonchalantly walking by (who likely has nothing of value) and the guy casting panicked stares around him (who, in all likelihood, is either loaded or stoned-- money either way).
A lot of people are advocating the carriage of weaponry, and I can't agree with that. Just act calm, like nothing on your person is worth being hassled over, and you'll be fine.
Incidentally, I used to traipse around downtown Erie back in my college days carrying a whole hell of a lot of heavy crap-- typically college books, cell phone, Game Boy, a PDA for a brief time, and other miscellaney. I quickly learned the value of a) miniaturizing and b) wearing clothes with lots of pockets. My favorite winter coat has 10 pockets, 4 of which are positively huge. When I had all my gear in it, including gloves and hat, it must have weighed at least six pounds; I remember it would always tip over whatever rack I hung it on. Something to think about, I guess.
Looking at the blurb, I immediately thought of C&C Generals, actually. Not having read the article, or knowing anything about Hears of Iron, I'd imagine HoI was an alternate-history type game (the only examples I can think of off the top of my head being the deplorable Ring of Red for PS2 and the somewhat more tolerable Sakura Taisen series), and as long as it was clearly delineated that it wasn't to be taken seriously, I would hope China's gov't would have its collective head far enough out of its ass to allow it.
Playing devil's advocate, however, I can see why China wouldn't like the portrayal of Tibet/Taiwan/etc. as independent states. It would be like the US trying to raise a stink over a game that showed 21st century America as two nations-- the North and the South. You cannot with a straight face tell me that there would not be someone in Congress shouting to high heaven about a game that even thought the South could have won the war (if it weren't explicitly a Civil War sim to begin with). Though to tell you the truth, it certainly would be an interesting premise: "SimConfederacy! The South has won the war and seceded from the USA, now what? You decide!"
As for your mention about increased vulnerability to terrorism, China is relatively safe because of the Wall. (/kidding) I suspect that the maps in C&C were not drawn to be geographically accurate so much as they were made to challenge the player; but of course, I only watched a buddy play, so I don't really know.
Yusuf Mehdi, a Microsoft VP... ...and former Iraqi Information Minister...
The article says he got the sentence for identity theft, not spamming. So while we can't execute him, we can blame him for those asinine CitiBank commercials with the overdubbed voices.
Even if a pickpocket steals from thousands of people over his lifetime, he is only guilty of many counts of petty theft. He doesn't graduate to grand larceny after a certain cumulative dollar amount.
Playing devil's advocate here (literally, I suppose): Why not?
A pickpocket steals from twenty people, gets caught, gets thrown in jail for a year. When he gets out, he steals from fifty people (because he knows better about how not to get caught) before landing in the stir again, this time for two years. Whereupon he gets out and repeats the cycle AGAIN, sucking up more and more of the taxpayer's money (for cops to catch him, DA et al to prosecute him, jailers to house him, etc.). At what point should we assume he won't learn his lesson and just let him rot? And if we should give him infinite continues (as it were), why bother when he's just going to go out and do it all over again?
I don't think the death penalty really should be applied to spammers/script kiddies/et al, but my patience is not infinite either. Neither, I suspect, is anyone else's. At a certain point in a career criminal's life, it should be "game over" and he sits in jail 'till the end of time. (Let's not take it to the extreme of twenty years for your third speeding ticket-- that's just plain absurd; anything on the level of a traffic violation or parking ticket would probably be exempt.)
The injection of "a massive dose of moral fiber" is precisely what's dumped our country into the proverbial shitter, to make a pun. I may only have been around since 1980, but my mom never told me about any abortion-clinic bombings, religious persecution in America, or violent intolerance of non-mainstream people in her day. Maybe she sheltered me, but let's be totally honest here-- since the mid-80s, more work has been put into legislating morality than has been put into solving the root cause of the problem-- ignorance.
Don't legislate morality. Make ignorance*, and the neglect to alleviate ignorance, illegal.
(* Ignorance being defined as willingly not learning, or simply not bothering to learn. Ignorance being defined as separate from genuine and unavoidable lack of intelligence, ie. Down's Syndrome et al.)
You know, for some reason I find the fact that your link led to an error page the first time I tried it to be extremely amusing. (Worked the second time, actually, which makes it less funny, but, yeah...)
An IP by itself is not sufficient evidence to uniquely identify a person. It must be used in combination with timestamped logs from a verifiable source, possibly a packet sniffer or the like. Additionally, it requires the cooperation of the ISP to search its own logs to match the IP and time to a user.
Having worked at a major cable ISP, I can tell you they did not keep DHCP logs past about a week prior. Though they were in the midst of transitioning to a new server monitoring system when I left, so I'm not sure if that's still the case or if it's the case for all ISPs.
If the RIAA came to an ISP demanding their DHCP logs, John Doe case or no, I doubt the judge would issue the subpoena when the only evidence the RIAA has is a number and a time. More than that, the number might still point to several people; if the judge is tech-savvy at all he/she will know how easy it is to slip onto an unsecured wireless network. A search warrant would have to be issued to the house, both to check for the infringing work as well as any possible way for the number to be proven wrong-- and AFAIK warrants are almost never issued that broadly. (Again, IANAL-- I worked tech support and was fired for apparently having a working brain. Most of what I know about warrants and subpoenas comes from CSI and Law & Order, so I'm probably egregiously wrong-- feel free to correct my understanding.)
Leads to his Kings of Chaos recruitment page. No blogging software there at all.
Seriously.
I was in college, and from 2001-2002 I spent an hour a week helping a priest from the theology department learn how to use his computer. I went over the basics of the Internet and eventually moved on to a few higher-level topics... when I graduated, he was still pretty shaky. Since I live in Erie again now, I caught up with him and he's easily one of the most advanced users among the theologicians.
But the important thing is that he said I should use him as a reference on my resume, and because of his recommendation I landed two jobs since graduation. I'm really grateful that I decided to do it, and I thank him every time I see him.
But what does that have to do with snorting?
Clearly, he was on coke when he posted it.
[michaelmoore.com] seems also to be down. I was trying to access it after the Cannes result, and thought the US government had censored it...
That, my friend, takes a special kind of paranoia.
I, for one, welcome our non-self-preservationist overlords.
The problem is it's probably a lot safer to spread the caffeine dosage over a time than to just downt he pill immediately. I'm probably in the minority here, but I have to be really desperate to chug a Red Bull or any other drink. Usually I just take sips over time and go from there-- a single can takes me anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour to finish, normally. I used to do this because of the taste of the drink, but now it's pretty much like any other beverage; Red Bull is actually pretty good, once you get used to it.
In an emergency (3AM call to fix servers which have fallen upon some horrible explosive tragedy), a caffeine pill is preferable. For coding over a stretch, however, I'd say one was better off with a drink or two to have over time.
I know the comment about dnb was intended to be a joke-- or at least it sounds like it was-- but for me, sometimes listening happy hardcore or goa can really help me get into a productive mode. If there's a really big project I have to tackle (like, say what I have to do this afternoon ^_^) I'll usually fire up one of the Electronica stations on iTunes and go with that. I can usually go for about six or eight hours listening to it, aided by the occasional sip of caffeine.
Someday once I have more money I think I might like to take a trip down to Brazil, for the club scene. Of course, by that time I might be so accustomed tot he music that I'd wonder why I didn't bring my laptop. ^_^
So basically, we can say stuff and we'll understand it, but since we make it a point that what we're saying isn't the absolute truth and in fact could be absolutely wrong, it becomes so ambiguous to the point where we never actually say anything really rude, we just kind of imply it.
(Heh, I get your point, I was making the dumbed-down version of the joke.)
I'd have cussed him out in Atheism. Which is pretty hard, because none of the words exist.
It's easier than cursing in Agnostic, where you can say stuff, but nobody's sure what you said.
In addition to whatever else my sibling posters might say, Thomas Edison founded GE. You have a valid point, but next time please check your facts.
Now I can read how they do something I will be never be able to do. Maybe I can impress chicks with teh knowledge of this. Oh, wait...
Hey, it worked for the jocks in high school.
You've been waiting to use that joke since the first EQ was released, haven't you?
No, the reason XS Games and other companies are still cranking out PS1 software is the combination of Sony no longer requiring licensing fees for the software (IIRC), and because there's a cheap buck to be made in porting games which four years ago would never have passed Sony inspection, but squeak through now because Sony feels, "hey, who's really going to buy it now? Everyone who matters already has a PS2 and it's not like we'll be losing money or anything."
Sadly, I was one of those people... picked up a copy of "High School League Dodge Ball" or something (not the good one from about a year ago), was pleasantly surprised to see it was an anime-styled game, and then got disgusted with the awful play control and sold it back two weeks later for $7.
EA won't be able to afford that exclusive contract forever.
Yes, they can. Madden's sales alone are right now just about enough, even with Sega/Sony/MS/et al. eating away at it. If and when the exclusivity deal goes through, Madden's sales go through the roof, EA saves even more money by cutting back on engine development, and they'll have far more than enough in the coffers after three years to extend the deal for as long as they care to.
We all assume that EA will use this as an excuse for cutting back on development, and we might be right. But to be perfectly frank, they might not. They might just use the scads of money they get from this deal to develop a revolutionary new engine for NFL games, one light-years beyond anything Sega or Sony could develop in the same time. But I wouldn't hold my breath.
I'm not as interested in college football, unfortunately; my school's team (Gannon Golden Knights) isn't in any of them, to the best of my knowledge.
Hm. I never thought of that, actually. This has been going on ever since I got the car, however, and I just had the tires replaced in February. I'm still going to take it to the garage tonight or tomorrow, but I'll take this info into account, too.