Here here! Lecture have been taught for 2000 years now, and only in the last 5 or 6 has someone declared laptops essencial. While I am as much of a technophile as the next/.er, I really can't see any place for laptops (personal ones) in traditional study. Maybe if your going to school for IT, or engeneering, and possible even essay classes (english, and such), but not for most studies. Why would I need a laptop for history, or the social sciences, or geology, or bio, or anthropology, or philosophy, or... etc...
In classes where deep attention is needed to grasp the lessons I really don't see a computer as a benefit to anyone. Sure you can appear a technological hipster with you Dell, clacking keys in the back of the classroom, but your clacking is annoying the people who need relative quiet to understand whats being said.
In one of my higher level philosophy classes some nitwit had his silly laptop with him all the time, stuck in IRC, sitting 3" behind me. I swear that bastard almost ended up wearing the damn thing. During midterms the prof even told 'im that he HAD TO leave the bloody thing back in his room. Not during the essay, but during the cram periods and review sessions. He actually raised a stink.
Keep your silly computer for home use, don't inflict it on other people who do not want to listen to your incessent "clicky-clacking".
I personally find a nice gel pen, and a nice note book far superior to any device. Nice, quiet, and a proven means to study.
Really? Let's say I have a GC, last time I checked they really didn't have any online capability of note, much less patchability, or even an HD. Put a large patch on a memory card isn't viable, too expensive.
Now I have a PS2, and enough disposable cash the connection kit. K, now I'm looking for patches... Oops, there aren't any, nor any way to store then, unless I have a crap load of cash for memory cards galore, but then again there are no patches.
Now maybe if I really wanted an Xbox I could patch things. Again counting the fact I want to cough up enough money for the connection kit.
In conclusion, there is ONE console that can have patches. And I really haven't seen any patches released for Xbox games.
So, I will not retract my statement, nor would I if I could. Saying that it is POSSIBLE for ONE console out of three isn't really crushing my argument. I'm sure they could be patched, on that one console, but they aren't, reguardless of what year it is.
I think we're all missing the point. Blizzard can release a patch, while a console publisher CAN'T. So while Bliz can release a relatively bug-free game, then release a couple patches while the obscure bugs come out (personally never experienced a bug in a blizzard game, not counting D2 1.10 beta). While people who buy ETM for whatever console it came out on are stuck with a buggy first release.
With PC games you can compromise on the overhead, make the game good enough so there are no obvious bugs, and be able to release it on a somewhat viable timeline, then just make patches at whim, as the average PC gamer expects. But on a console, you gotta release on a harsher deadline, and can't patch it with any quality.
Hence, as console games get more complex, they will get more buggy than PC games. And thus I only play PC games.
Or see the Titan2 silo by Tuscon, Az. Very nice monument to Cold War paranoia. And of course you can see the Atomic Bomb museum in Alburque[sp!?!] New Mexico, quite amusing and grotesque, with full mock-up of Little Boy and Fat Man, if you care for such things.
I'm of course biased towards my home state, but I'd recommend Kitt Peak in Arizona, you can actually take a tour inside the large solar observitory, and some of the smaller domes. Also Mt. Lemmon is very pretty during the spring, lots of nice desert wild flowers. The solar observitory is also facinating, very big, very neat.
Or if your more into history, go to the Lowell Observitory on Mars Hill in flagstaff, where Percival Lowell discovered pluto, and where he mapped the 'canals' of mars. Also a small meseum where you can vew all sorts of tech from astronomy of the period (1900s). And on certain nights you can do viewing through Lowells old telescope, the one her fist spotted Pluto through. Also very pretty during spring, up in the pines.
I'd also reccoment the Smithsonian, of course, both the Natural History museum, and the Air and Space museum. And the Chicago Museum of Science and Technology.
Missed my point, while I agree that unemployment isn't the best indicator of the standard of living, I disagree with the parents point that global economic equality is a good thing.
I'm not an isolationist, far from it, I see the importance of American influence in the world for our continued viability, but moves such as this vilates this. I don't beleive in globalism for globalisms sake, or equality for equalities sake, I beleive in maximizing the American benefit from global actions. As all healthy countries do.
This "mass outsourcing" crap violates this. There is no American benefit in this, just corporate benefit and stock holder benefit. In the end it is a bad thing for America. I, as a grunt, CAN'T use cheap labor to my benefit, nor would I want to, as it undermines (in the long term) the economy, and thus my buisness. This whole "if you work hard enough, you will prosper" ideology is bullshit, tell it to all of Americas working poor and see what they say. Your comments are not very comforting to all the people who just spent their life saving to go into a feild, just to watch it go away, and now can't get a job that pays enough to reeducate themselves in another job that will probably be exported someplace else in another five years anyway.
That logic is only good for big buisness men looking for an ethical rational to screwing the lives of millions of individuals. I care crap for bottom lines, or how happy a bunch of investors are, screw 'em, their rich, and don't have to try to raise families working at minimum wage just because some rich fat-cat wants to be richer.
Good good, glad you like this 'outsourcing thing', now remember not to complain when your followed by hordes of begging children, or murdered for 5 dollars. Remember this when unemployment jumps 10% and you have to clean toilets just to make enough for something to eat. Yes, we should be like the rest of the world, we already have the corruption and the despotic leadership, now all we need is pervasive poverty and crime. Yep...
We are worth 10 times more than the rest of the world, because we BUY the products. See when American sling their code, they used to get paid, and when they got paid they could buy products that other American made, or support the rest of the worlds economy by buying someone elses products. You see, we kinda control the worlds economy by being such good consumers. But when we don't get paid, we don't consume.
Moving these jobs overseas means less money for American workers, meaning that American workers can't BUY the products produced overseas. Also at the rate these nice indians are going to be paid, they can't buy the products either. So, who does that leave?
And now... I am an American, and say screw other nations, our prosperity comes above all, sacraficing millions of American jobs so a few rich guys can get richer is bad, no matter what alturistic spin you want to apply to it.
Also, may I ask how much money you make? Hmm.. now lets compare this to how much a Mexican or Indian, or Malaysian would make doing it... Good, now take the difference and send it to that country. Do you do that? Or do you just accept your pay check, buy a car, a house, a nice computer with broadband, feed your children good so they grow up strong and don't have to beg/pimp for money... K, then your a hypocrite. Not being purposely insulting, just making a rather strong point.
And I respond, tough shit. As a person working much below his skill level/education in America, I say I DON'T CARE ABOUT INDIA, I come first. I really don't care Apu and his 12 children can make a buck, since I doesn't do me no good if I'm living in a cardboard box.
Wonderful, we're equalizing the worlds wealth, so all of us can be sub-poverty except the CEO folk and big time investors. Am I the only one that fails to see the goodness? Every last American can live in a ghetto, just so some Indians can buy a condo.
Maybe more people would purchase games if there were more new games. Yes there are tons of new games, but NEW games, meaning not bad sequals of decent games. I'm not really talking about DoomIII or HL2, since those have LARGE cult followings (hell, call it religion), and every PC gamer worth his salt is probably going to spring for one or the other, if they live up to expectations, and if said gamers have the upgrade cash. But PC games isn't really that big of a percentage of the overall gaming market, the fault lies in the consoles, as always.
How many NEW games are coming/came out this summer? Not with a 2, 3,4 or 5 appended to them, and not a clone of some other more successful game, I'm betting 2. I really doubt I'm underestimating this low number, might be three for all I know. Why would I want to buy a new game when I already OWN it, same characters, a little clunkier graphics, same story (for the most part). $50 is a lot of money to sink into a game I already own.
I guess this is the same reasoning that the average/.er applies to the RIAA fiasco, maybe if the company was more more original, people would spend money on it. And on the RIAAesque note, I doubt that P2P is a viable scapegoat, the average modern game is HUGE, and most require some tech savvy to copy. With the protections and formats they seriously limit copying to those who REALLY want to do it, and not the masses. The masses will just ignore crap products like "Tomb Raider: Lara gets boobs again!", Resident Evil googalplex, Final Fantasy DCLXVI-XXIII-II
The problem happens when your searching for something obscure. Try finding woodcut illustrations of squid on googe, it is impossible. The more esoteric your search the more qualifiers you need, and google limits the amount of tags you can use.
Sadly, most of the things I search for are obscure.
I noticed that I was getting kinda 'flabby' from just sitting in front of a monitor all day. So I went to the nearest sporting goods store and bought one of the 5lbs one-handed-bar-bell-things. Great to just lift during work, also makes a convenient weapon against obnoxious co-workers.
Also cut down on starchy things. Especially before bed, don't drink beer, or eat bready stuff before falling asleep.
Ride a bike to work, biking has to be the best excersize in the world, not as time consuming (and better for your ankles) as walking, and not as lazy as driving.
And, yes this is now/. cliche, don't be drinkin' the beer at work, drink water, drink beer at home, or while riding your bike.
I really doubt that the police/NSA/FBI/CIA will be standing outside of Frys checking shoppercards. Though if I ever actually used my credit card they could almost connect me. Most stores allow other people to use their cards with other peoples purchases, making the the link VERY weak, since I've used my card for several other peoples purchases, and have used complete strangers cards for mine.
when me and one of my freinds ran some MUDs we ran into this problem, left unchecked they would have devolved into a big OOC chat room, with little or no role-play. And some of the larger MUDs REALLY suffered from the OOC Syndrome. (btw, OOC = Out of Character) with almost every message being a global OOC, with some of the Admins even happy with this, running all manner of OOC games/quizes for free exp.
The nonRP thing is partly because of the Admins, of course, if the admin PCs don't set an example, or reinforce nonRP behaviour, then the online enviroment will devolve into an interactive chat. Or if there is not proper incentive to RP, meaning that experience gathering and item farming is 100% from just plain game interaction, and not social interaction, then people will not roleplay, since it is not required.
Our solution was to make higher-advanment contingent on the admins, meaning you had to RP quests socially to advance. Guilds were also good to enforce RP, since most guilds were controlled by people who knew the admins, and had respected status, they enforced RP within the guilds (all of which were storied) and kicked out non-RP players and blatant PKs, and since not being in a guild wasn't advisable in our MUDs since you were fair game without backing, and got no favors from patron gods.
When I was a god on NeoGeno I offered good items to those who RPed their devotion, and did RP quests, with some in game elements and mobs included, but used within an RP framework. Also having good roleplayers causes it to spread, people want to fit in with clans/guilds who have killer rep and resources, and who RP well, and have a damn good story.
One little code snippet we were working on before we lost our server/interest was to have two classes, RP and non-RP characters, like Bad Trip did with PK/non later in its life. People who pick RP auto-ignore OCC and nonRP globals, gain levels faster, can use better EQ, and have PK free areas. Also the admins would favor the RP people in all global quests, and arguements. The nonRP people would have access to a nonRP channel, but not Tells, and could here globals and such, but not Quest channels. They couldn't Pray, and weren't safe from PK at the healers, unlike the RPers, who were safe from PK there, and there were no penalties on nonRP PKs.
As you can see the whole setup has to be indicative to RP, RP has to be a goal during the actual implementation of the code, AND you have to tweak the social enviroment to make RP better for gaining levels and eq (positive reinforcement). But I really don't think the Sony or anyother MMORPG maker cares if the game is RP or Chat, since you still pay for it, and there are more chat people out there than RP people, so it is a better market.
Personally, when I want RP I'll stick with the remaining MUDs out there, or paper&pen RPGs.
No, you don't have to. I used an alias, so my local Fry's (krogers) think that I am McGilla Guerilla, seriously. Never actually asked for my name, just handed me the form, then the cards. Someone somewhere is compiling that McGilla Guerilla really likes cheap gallon jugs of Vodka and Cheesepuffs. Now that is research.
Seriously though, I would have refused the card if they needed my REAL name and REAL address, and REAL phone number, not so much because of privacy, but because of 'exciting advertising oppertunites".
If you are in a country different from the one you pledge loyalty too, then move to where you are proud of. I don't know about Quebecs issues, but I live in Arizona, where we have TONS of Mexicans running around screaming their pride in their motherland, "La RAZA, La RAZA!" This attitude has never made much sense to me, if you like Mexico (France) so damn much, why don't you just go home? I understand the difference in that most of our Mexican are 2nd Generation max, and a lot of the French Canadians are long time familial residents. I still say, move to where your loyalties lie, otherwise you just sound like a hypocrite.
Yes, you can be proud of your roots, I am proud of my forefathers homeland, but I also am first and foremost and American.
Also, this might be a tangent, America is just as guilty (thank god) of only teaching english, Phoenix even passed a proposition making ESL classes limited, even if the damn superintendent didn't want it, and ignored it. (the will of the voters is often ignored in Arizona, the most backward state!). Also in the state constitution it has a clause that all commerce must be in english, this too is ignored. (IANAL, BTW)
There is a VERY fine line between perserving your culture and looking like a moron. France is skirting over to the moron side, with their protection of their film/music, and their protection of language. Good, keep the damn Americanism at bay, I commend that and wish America could keep itself at bay, but you also have to respect the tastes of the people, and recognize that culture EVOLVES, and in a global society culture is going to mush together. To deny those two things, is to look like a nostalgic old fuddy duddy of a nation.
When I got the Radeon 7500 it costed more, since it was right whan the 9xxx series came out. More a case of bad timing I guess, like I bought my Voodoo4 right when 3dfx went away, smooth.
I don't know where you were shopping for an XP Pro OEM, but mine cost 189, at Fry's, at discount. The mobo was also roughly 189, which is close enough to 200 to me. I just get rid of a crap ECS, had to do VERY odd boot routines to get it to actually boot with mouse/keyboard functions, so I purposely bought the best mobo I could find, just because when I bought the cheapest I paid, through my teeth.
I might of exagerated on the case, counted the cables and such in on it, But good aluminum cases are MORE than 50, with good ventalation, and a a PS higher than 300w. All the 49.99 ones were pure steel, heavy as hell, AND lacked the aesthetics of the one I bought.
Probably should have spent less, but my compy was completely inoperable when I spent the big money. XP pro and the case were extras, Win98se was working just fine in my opinion, and I was going to chop a blowhole into my old case, but just got my grant money, so why not?
Ah yes, everyone was telling me to just buy a new computer, ala Dell or Gateway, which I refuse to do, premade computers have a history of makeing me VERY made, like the my last IBM (a 333mhz) which had a whopping 2 ISA slots, and a single PCI. Know hard it was to find either an ISA SB or Voodoo? Impossible, meaning it was either video card or sound card, not both. That and I would have spent 800 on the compy and still would have had to fork over money for sound and RAM, and XP pro (will not EVER use home again, and PRO is my last MS OS, I'm moving over to Mac or Linux exclusively when foghorn longhorn comes out, but for now Pro is the most stable peice of crap I've ever seen) Also most manufactured PCs use crap parts, and at least now I know exactly what I got.
And then my Packard Bell 66mhz.
800 is pretty unrealistic, since I basically needed a new compy, but built it peicemeal over a year and a half. In retrospect I should have just gone to Alienware.
Isreal is most asuredly run by "crazies" Such claims are no prejudice, such claims can be seen by looking at Israels long history of human rights violations and terrorism. The only reason that Israel isn't considered on the axis of evil is guilt, and the fact that they are already and established good-guy, so what ever they do is legitimate, and what ever the oppressed do fight back is terrorism. But don't claim me biased here, since I fully acknowledge that both sides are bad guys, I just think the side so announced holy (isreal) should get its share of the blaim, they are someplace where no one wants them, they are an occupying nations, forcing themselves on the indigenous population. They are invaders.
And to address your point, THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE WMD, no body SHOULD have WMD. They do, that is all, no RIGHT to have it. And why have it unless your willing to use it? Do you buy a microwave just to sit there, no you buy it to NUKE things.
I personally think, in a perfect world, that Israel should be disolved, just go away. After all they have absolutely no right to that land, historically they slaughtered the people of that territory (i.e. in the Bible), and they continue to do so today, and I find it a shame that some how they have become good guys because of it. At least good guys according to the one world superpower and the U.S. media, not according to the rest of the world.
Screw democracy, if the people of the middle east don't want democracy, then they don't need it. They never have been democratic, so why start now?I guess you can say that they democratically decided against democracy.
If Palestine wants to be another Syria, great. At least they'd have the balls to kick the Israelis out.
Hmm... I do DO agree with your point that a shorter copyright MIGHT cause more creative works per individual. With some reservations of course, but those always exist. This is good, as you said, for creating a MASS of works, but I still don't see quality, which you'd say is within the public opionion. I am an elite snob, and think that some works can be destructive to the public good, and that the public likes them reguardless, and someone should bar them from reaching the mainstream, for the public good. So I don't quite agree with your "open market" assessment, I say quality over quantity.
Needless to say modern copyright law is a farce, no matter which side you want to take. I just wish there was a study, more conclusive than the article here, correlating works to terms (or lack of), but I guess thats impossible since there probably is near infinite amount of material happening in the last 20 years, not because of law but because of greed and technology.
Lets see, 200 for an ASUS, 200 for 1g DDR, 150 for a new case (had a solid steel heat trap), 200 for winXP pro, with a Redhat dual boot (60, so I can finally learn linux, when I get a round to it), 20 for a new modem (cheapo 56k, since my previous one was a AMR, and my backup was an ISA, going to school in a month, not worth broadband). New 60g HD roughly 150, new 52x cd-rom 50, round IDE/floppy cable 30, CD-R about 150. And my one case mod, a biohazard fan grill, $9.99. And I decided that an ATI 7500 was 'good enough' since I can get damn good FPS in UT2k3 with everything set to high, and a "pretty good" FPS in unreal2.
That is $1219.99, on THIS computer. Repeat every two years, and the expense kills you.
I was going to reply to this in person, since this debate has no place in/. But it shall continue.
You obviously are a lawyer or a historian, bringing case law into it, while I am a measely philosophy undergrad, but I will continue in this debate, albeit badly since it is 2:30am here, and I just came home from a LAN party.
K, I disagree with WHENEVER copyrights became immortal, and agree with whenever they existed long enough to fit your ideology, meaning as long as they promoted original creations, but not long-term corporate greed. Don't know Anne from Jefferson, but I do know "proto-modern" copyright laws are preferable to what we have now.
Life terms will do ME more than a mere 25 years, meaning that when I write "treasure island", "fantasia" or what not, it will keep me economically viable for my life. Though, I will admit that a shorted period MAY cause more creativity, if we acknowledge greed as the driving force behind humanity, and not intellect.
Why should the public pay if authors would do so without a copyright? A primary flaw is how do you know that an author would do anything without a copyright, there is no evidence either way, at least in the modern world. In China, where pretty much everything is corrupt, and piracy is rampent, there still is original creation, without copyright law, or at least an inforcement of such.
This is leading to a very off-topic debate, unfortunatly. We are both for different sides of the same coin. This will lead to the modern v. hostoric view of gov't. I say (historically) screw the public, if the public likes something it is not in the states interest. The Post-Modern message did nothing to enrich society, only to ruin it, but yet it is protected, to the detrement of the whole.
So, I'd ask this in person since it is delving OT, are you asking for the public good in a sophist/post-modern way? And also you ignored (by omission) how the public good is actually manifested by copyright laws, I still see no practicle example of a modern copyright causing the production of any work within the public good.
Also, as a philosphical tangent, why should copyright law deviate from the ethics preventing intellectual piracy? Should a copyright protect ethics, since in this postmodern chaos something should protect intellectual property? (see where this is flamebait/OT?)
I get to re-upgrade my computer! I just spent $2k on parts, and now I need another precessor AND another video cards. Seems like just last year I forked over $150 for a new 7500, and now I need something bigger to get over 13fps. Great.
Unfortunatly I was happy with my new system. This is about time to go buy a G5, or just give up and go for an Xbox, so sick of upgrading, must have spend $3000 in the last 3 years, seems a wastte, no?
"Works that would have been produced without copyrights didn't need copyrights as an incentive. Works that would have meaningfully entered the public domain without copyrights didn't need copyrights as an incentive"
A bit circular there. I bet if you completely got rid of copyrights things would still get produced, at the same level. And also just because I copyright something doesn't mean that I wouldn't of produced it in the first place, I really only see copyrights as an ethical enforcement (more later), and a way for bigger "content producers" to protect/make money.
I really see absolutely no "public good" in big corporations keeping copyrights, while the smaller people who would have produced things no matter what would get no protection. I think the public should get 100% protects, and the individual creators, but not "content producers".
Define "enriched" and "public good" for me? I really don't see a single copyright out there that enhances ANYTHING, not a single one. The only enhancement I see is in publishers wallets. Don't tell me that most of the great literary works wouldn't have been made without a copyright, since I would disagree looking at the volume of things make with either a very nice and lax copyright law, or no copyrights what-so-ever (at least until after the fact, like post mortem). But back to it, public good is a tricky term, is Disney producing in the public good, Microsoft, Random House? Who is public, and what is good.
I'm not against copyrights, mind, just for what they were originally, life of the creator, no more (a little big more, okay), no less.
K, my last question, when has a copyright provabaly caused someone to create something that he/she wouldn't of created before, and when has this benefited the public good? Please don't count corporate media, since I don't see ANY public good involved.
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Here here! Lecture have been taught for 2000 years now, and only in the last 5 or 6 has someone declared laptops essencial. While I am as much of a technophile as the next /.er, I really can't see any place for laptops (personal ones) in traditional study. Maybe if your going to school for IT, or engeneering, and possible even essay classes (english, and such), but not for most studies. Why would I need a laptop for history, or the social sciences, or geology, or bio, or anthropology, or philosophy, or... etc...
In classes where deep attention is needed to grasp the lessons I really don't see a computer as a benefit to anyone. Sure you can appear a technological hipster with you Dell, clacking keys in the back of the classroom, but your clacking is annoying the people who need relative quiet to understand whats being said.
In one of my higher level philosophy classes some nitwit had his silly laptop with him all the time, stuck in IRC, sitting 3" behind me. I swear that bastard almost ended up wearing the damn thing. During midterms the prof even told 'im that he HAD TO leave the bloody thing back in his room. Not during the essay, but during the cram periods and review sessions. He actually raised a stink.
Keep your silly computer for home use, don't inflict it on other people who do not want to listen to your incessent "clicky-clacking".
I personally find a nice gel pen, and a nice note book far superior to any device. Nice, quiet, and a proven means to study.
Really? Let's say I have a GC, last time I checked they really didn't have any online capability of note, much less patchability, or even an HD. Put a large patch on a memory card isn't viable, too expensive.
Now I have a PS2, and enough disposable cash the connection kit. K, now I'm looking for patches... Oops, there aren't any, nor any way to store then, unless I have a crap load of cash for memory cards galore, but then again there are no patches.
Now maybe if I really wanted an Xbox I could patch things. Again counting the fact I want to cough up enough money for the connection kit.
In conclusion, there is ONE console that can have patches. And I really haven't seen any patches released for Xbox games.
So, I will not retract my statement, nor would I if I could. Saying that it is POSSIBLE for ONE console out of three isn't really crushing my argument. I'm sure they could be patched, on that one console, but they aren't, reguardless of what year it is.
Hope I don't pay for succumbing to flamebait.
I think we're all missing the point. Blizzard can release a patch, while a console publisher CAN'T. So while Bliz can release a relatively bug-free game, then release a couple patches while the obscure bugs come out (personally never experienced a bug in a blizzard game, not counting D2 1.10 beta). While people who buy ETM for whatever console it came out on are stuck with a buggy first release.
With PC games you can compromise on the overhead, make the game good enough so there are no obvious bugs, and be able to release it on a somewhat viable timeline, then just make patches at whim, as the average PC gamer expects. But on a console, you gotta release on a harsher deadline, and can't patch it with any quality.
Hence, as console games get more complex, they will get more buggy than PC games. And thus I only play PC games.
Or see the Titan2 silo by Tuscon, Az. Very nice monument to Cold War paranoia. And of course you can see the Atomic Bomb museum in Alburque[sp!?!] New Mexico, quite amusing and grotesque, with full mock-up of Little Boy and Fat Man, if you care for such things.
I'm of course biased towards my home state, but I'd recommend Kitt Peak in Arizona, you can actually take a tour inside the large solar observitory, and some of the smaller domes. Also Mt. Lemmon is very pretty during the spring, lots of nice desert wild flowers. The solar observitory is also facinating, very big, very neat.
Or if your more into history, go to the Lowell Observitory on Mars Hill in flagstaff, where Percival Lowell discovered pluto, and where he mapped the 'canals' of mars. Also a small meseum where you can vew all sorts of tech from astronomy of the period (1900s). And on certain nights you can do viewing through Lowells old telescope, the one her fist spotted Pluto through. Also very pretty during spring, up in the pines.
I'd also reccoment the Smithsonian, of course, both the Natural History museum, and the Air and Space museum. And the Chicago Museum of Science and Technology.
Missed my point, while I agree that unemployment isn't the best indicator of the standard of living, I disagree with the parents point that global economic equality is a good thing.
I'm not an isolationist, far from it, I see the importance of American influence in the world for our continued viability, but moves such as this vilates this. I don't beleive in globalism for globalisms sake, or equality for equalities sake, I beleive in maximizing the American benefit from global actions. As all healthy countries do.
This "mass outsourcing" crap violates this. There is no American benefit in this, just corporate benefit and stock holder benefit. In the end it is a bad thing for America. I, as a grunt, CAN'T use cheap labor to my benefit, nor would I want to, as it undermines (in the long term) the economy, and thus my buisness. This whole "if you work hard enough, you will prosper" ideology is bullshit, tell it to all of Americas working poor and see what they say. Your comments are not very comforting to all the people who just spent their life saving to go into a feild, just to watch it go away, and now can't get a job that pays enough to reeducate themselves in another job that will probably be exported someplace else in another five years anyway.
That logic is only good for big buisness men looking for an ethical rational to screwing the lives of millions of individuals. I care crap for bottom lines, or how happy a bunch of investors are, screw 'em, their rich, and don't have to try to raise families working at minimum wage just because some rich fat-cat wants to be richer.
Good good, glad you like this 'outsourcing thing', now remember not to complain when your followed by hordes of begging children, or murdered for 5 dollars. Remember this when unemployment jumps 10% and you have to clean toilets just to make enough for something to eat. Yes, we should be like the rest of the world, we already have the corruption and the despotic leadership, now all we need is pervasive poverty and crime. Yep...
We are worth 10 times more than the rest of the world, because we BUY the products. See when American sling their code, they used to get paid, and when they got paid they could buy products that other American made, or support the rest of the worlds economy by buying someone elses products. You see, we kinda control the worlds economy by being such good consumers. But when we don't get paid, we don't consume.
Moving these jobs overseas means less money for American workers, meaning that American workers can't BUY the products produced overseas. Also at the rate these nice indians are going to be paid, they can't buy the products either. So, who does that leave?
And now... I am an American, and say screw other nations, our prosperity comes above all, sacraficing millions of American jobs so a few rich guys can get richer is bad, no matter what alturistic spin you want to apply to it.
Also, may I ask how much money you make? Hmm.. now lets compare this to how much a Mexican or Indian, or Malaysian would make doing it... Good, now take the difference and send it to that country. Do you do that? Or do you just accept your pay check, buy a car, a house, a nice computer with broadband, feed your children good so they grow up strong and don't have to beg/pimp for money... K, then your a hypocrite. Not being purposely insulting, just making a rather strong point.
And I respond, tough shit. As a person working much below his skill level/education in America, I say I DON'T CARE ABOUT INDIA, I come first. I really don't care Apu and his 12 children can make a buck, since I doesn't do me no good if I'm living in a cardboard box.
Wonderful, we're equalizing the worlds wealth, so all of us can be sub-poverty except the CEO folk and big time investors. Am I the only one that fails to see the goodness? Every last American can live in a ghetto, just so some Indians can buy a condo.
Sorry, I'm an egotistical 1st worlder.
Maybe more people would purchase games if there were more new games. Yes there are tons of new games, but NEW games, meaning not bad sequals of decent games. I'm not really talking about DoomIII or HL2, since those have LARGE cult followings (hell, call it religion), and every PC gamer worth his salt is probably going to spring for one or the other, if they live up to expectations, and if said gamers have the upgrade cash. But PC games isn't really that big of a percentage of the overall gaming market, the fault lies in the consoles, as always.
,4 or 5 appended to them, and not a clone of some other more successful game, I'm betting 2. I really doubt I'm underestimating this low number, might be three for all I know. Why would I want to buy a new game when I already OWN it, same characters, a little clunkier graphics, same story (for the most part). $50 is a lot of money to sink into a game I already own.
/.er applies to the RIAA fiasco, maybe if the company was more more original, people would spend money on it. And on the RIAAesque note, I doubt that P2P is a viable scapegoat, the average modern game is HUGE, and most require some tech savvy to copy. With the protections and formats they seriously limit copying to those who REALLY want to do it, and not the masses. The masses will just ignore crap products like "Tomb Raider: Lara gets boobs again!", Resident Evil googalplex, Final Fantasy DCLXVI-XXIII-II
How many NEW games are coming/came out this summer? Not with a 2, 3
I guess this is the same reasoning that the average
The problem happens when your searching for something obscure. Try finding woodcut illustrations of squid on googe, it is impossible. The more esoteric your search the more qualifiers you need, and google limits the amount of tags you can use.
Sadly, most of the things I search for are obscure.
I noticed that I was getting kinda 'flabby' from just sitting in front of a monitor all day. So I went to the nearest sporting goods store and bought one of the 5lbs one-handed-bar-bell-things. Great to just lift during work, also makes a convenient weapon against obnoxious co-workers.
/. cliche, don't be drinkin' the beer at work, drink water, drink beer at home, or while riding your bike.
Also cut down on starchy things. Especially before bed, don't drink beer, or eat bready stuff before falling asleep.
Ride a bike to work, biking has to be the best excersize in the world, not as time consuming (and better for your ankles) as walking, and not as lazy as driving.
And, yes this is now
I really doubt that the police/NSA/FBI/CIA will be standing outside of Frys checking shoppercards. Though if I ever actually used my credit card they could almost connect me. Most stores allow other people to use their cards with other peoples purchases, making the the link VERY weak, since I've used my card for several other peoples purchases, and have used complete strangers cards for mine.
when me and one of my freinds ran some MUDs we ran into this problem, left unchecked they would have devolved into a big OOC chat room, with little or no role-play. And some of the larger MUDs REALLY suffered from the OOC Syndrome. (btw, OOC = Out of Character) with almost every message being a global OOC, with some of the Admins even happy with this, running all manner of OOC games/quizes for free exp.
The nonRP thing is partly because of the Admins, of course, if the admin PCs don't set an example, or reinforce nonRP behaviour, then the online enviroment will devolve into an interactive chat. Or if there is not proper incentive to RP, meaning that experience gathering and item farming is 100% from just plain game interaction, and not social interaction, then people will not roleplay, since it is not required.
Our solution was to make higher-advanment contingent on the admins, meaning you had to RP quests socially to advance. Guilds were also good to enforce RP, since most guilds were controlled by people who knew the admins, and had respected status, they enforced RP within the guilds (all of which were storied) and kicked out non-RP players and blatant PKs, and since not being in a guild wasn't advisable in our MUDs since you were fair game without backing, and got no favors from patron gods.
When I was a god on NeoGeno I offered good items to those who RPed their devotion, and did RP quests, with some in game elements and mobs included, but used within an RP framework. Also having good roleplayers causes it to spread, people want to fit in with clans/guilds who have killer rep and resources, and who RP well, and have a damn good story.
One little code snippet we were working on before we lost our server/interest was to have two classes, RP and non-RP characters, like Bad Trip did with PK/non later in its life. People who pick RP auto-ignore OCC and nonRP globals, gain levels faster, can use better EQ, and have PK free areas. Also the admins would favor the RP people in all global quests, and arguements. The nonRP people would have access to a nonRP channel, but not Tells, and could here globals and such, but not Quest channels. They couldn't Pray, and weren't safe from PK at the healers, unlike the RPers, who were safe from PK there, and there were no penalties on nonRP PKs.
As you can see the whole setup has to be indicative to RP, RP has to be a goal during the actual implementation of the code, AND you have to tweak the social enviroment to make RP better for gaining levels and eq (positive reinforcement). But I really don't think the Sony or anyother MMORPG maker cares if the game is RP or Chat, since you still pay for it, and there are more chat people out there than RP people, so it is a better market.
Personally, when I want RP I'll stick with the remaining MUDs out there, or paper&pen RPGs.
But unless I am COMPLETELY mistaken, they are in a predominately english speaking country.
Now if only the linux nazis on /. would read thing, and replace the word "mac" with "linux"
No, you don't have to. I used an alias, so my local Fry's (krogers) think that I am McGilla Guerilla, seriously. Never actually asked for my name, just handed me the form, then the cards. Someone somewhere is compiling that McGilla Guerilla really likes cheap gallon jugs of Vodka and Cheesepuffs. Now that is research.
Seriously though, I would have refused the card if they needed my REAL name and REAL address, and REAL phone number, not so much because of privacy, but because of 'exciting advertising oppertunites".
Might be a troll, don't mean it as one though:
If you are in a country different from the one you pledge loyalty too, then move to where you are proud of. I don't know about Quebecs issues, but I live in Arizona, where we have TONS of Mexicans running around screaming their pride in their motherland, "La RAZA, La RAZA!" This attitude has never made much sense to me, if you like Mexico (France) so damn much, why don't you just go home? I understand the difference in that most of our Mexican are 2nd Generation max, and a lot of the French Canadians are long time familial residents. I still say, move to where your loyalties lie, otherwise you just sound like a hypocrite.
Yes, you can be proud of your roots, I am proud of my forefathers homeland, but I also am first and foremost and American.
Also, this might be a tangent, America is just as guilty (thank god) of only teaching english, Phoenix even passed a proposition making ESL classes limited, even if the damn superintendent didn't want it, and ignored it. (the will of the voters is often ignored in Arizona, the most backward state!). Also in the state constitution it has a clause that all commerce must be in english, this too is ignored. (IANAL, BTW)
There is a VERY fine line between perserving your culture and looking like a moron. France is skirting over to the moron side, with their protection of their film/music, and their protection of language. Good, keep the damn Americanism at bay, I commend that and wish America could keep itself at bay, but you also have to respect the tastes of the people, and recognize that culture EVOLVES, and in a global society culture is going to mush together. To deny those two things, is to look like a nostalgic old fuddy duddy of a nation.
When I got the Radeon 7500 it costed more, since it was right whan the 9xxx series came out. More a case of bad timing I guess, like I bought my Voodoo4 right when 3dfx went away, smooth.
I don't know where you were shopping for an XP Pro OEM, but mine cost 189, at Fry's, at discount. The mobo was also roughly 189, which is close enough to 200 to me. I just get rid of a crap ECS, had to do VERY odd boot routines to get it to actually boot with mouse/keyboard functions, so I purposely bought the best mobo I could find, just because when I bought the cheapest I paid, through my teeth.
I might of exagerated on the case, counted the cables and such in on it, But good aluminum cases are MORE than 50, with good ventalation, and a a PS higher than 300w. All the 49.99 ones were pure steel, heavy as hell, AND lacked the aesthetics of the one I bought.
Probably should have spent less, but my compy was completely inoperable when I spent the big money. XP pro and the case were extras, Win98se was working just fine in my opinion, and I was going to chop a blowhole into my old case, but just got my grant money, so why not?
Ah yes, everyone was telling me to just buy a new computer, ala Dell or Gateway, which I refuse to do, premade computers have a history of makeing me VERY made, like the my last IBM (a 333mhz) which had a whopping 2 ISA slots, and a single PCI. Know hard it was to find either an ISA SB or Voodoo? Impossible, meaning it was either video card or sound card, not both. That and I would have spent 800 on the compy and still would have had to fork over money for sound and RAM, and XP pro (will not EVER use home again, and PRO is my last MS OS, I'm moving over to Mac or Linux exclusively when foghorn longhorn comes out, but for now Pro is the most stable peice of crap I've ever seen) Also most manufactured PCs use crap parts, and at least now I know exactly what I got.
And then my Packard Bell 66mhz.
800 is pretty unrealistic, since I basically needed a new compy, but built it peicemeal over a year and a half. In retrospect I should have just gone to Alienware.
Isreal is most asuredly run by "crazies" Such claims are no prejudice, such claims can be seen by looking at Israels long history of human rights violations and terrorism. The only reason that Israel isn't considered on the axis of evil is guilt, and the fact that they are already and established good-guy, so what ever they do is legitimate, and what ever the oppressed do fight back is terrorism. But don't claim me biased here, since I fully acknowledge that both sides are bad guys, I just think the side so announced holy (isreal) should get its share of the blaim, they are someplace where no one wants them, they are an occupying nations, forcing themselves on the indigenous population. They are invaders.
And to address your point, THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE WMD, no body SHOULD have WMD. They do, that is all, no RIGHT to have it. And why have it unless your willing to use it? Do you buy a microwave just to sit there, no you buy it to NUKE things.
I personally think, in a perfect world, that Israel should be disolved, just go away. After all they have absolutely no right to that land, historically they slaughtered the people of that territory (i.e. in the Bible), and they continue to do so today, and I find it a shame that some how they have become good guys because of it. At least good guys according to the one world superpower and the U.S. media, not according to the rest of the world.
Screw democracy, if the people of the middle east don't want democracy, then they don't need it. They never have been democratic, so why start now?I guess you can say that they democratically decided against democracy.
If Palestine wants to be another Syria, great. At least they'd have the balls to kick the Israelis out.
Hmm... I do DO agree with your point that a shorter copyright MIGHT cause more creative works per individual. With some reservations of course, but those always exist. This is good, as you said, for creating a MASS of works, but I still don't see quality, which you'd say is within the public opionion. I am an elite snob, and think that some works can be destructive to the public good, and that the public likes them reguardless, and someone should bar them from reaching the mainstream, for the public good. So I don't quite agree with your "open market" assessment, I say quality over quantity.
Needless to say modern copyright law is a farce, no matter which side you want to take. I just wish there was a study, more conclusive than the article here, correlating works to terms (or lack of), but I guess thats impossible since there probably is near infinite amount of material happening in the last 20 years, not because of law but because of greed and technology.
Lets see, 200 for an ASUS, 200 for 1g DDR, 150 for a new case (had a solid steel heat trap), 200 for winXP pro, with a Redhat dual boot (60, so I can finally learn linux, when I get a round to it), 20 for a new modem (cheapo 56k, since my previous one was a AMR, and my backup was an ISA, going to school in a month, not worth broadband). New 60g HD roughly 150, new 52x cd-rom 50, round IDE/floppy cable 30, CD-R about 150. And my one case mod, a biohazard fan grill, $9.99. And I decided that an ATI 7500 was 'good enough' since I can get damn good FPS in UT2k3 with everything set to high, and a "pretty good" FPS in unreal2.
That is $1219.99, on THIS computer. Repeat every two years, and the expense kills you.
I was going to reply to this in person, since this debate has no place in /. But it shall continue.
You obviously are a lawyer or a historian, bringing case law into it, while I am a measely philosophy undergrad, but I will continue in this debate, albeit badly since it is 2:30am here, and I just came home from a LAN party.
K, I disagree with WHENEVER copyrights became immortal, and agree with whenever they existed long enough to fit your ideology, meaning as long as they promoted original creations, but not long-term corporate greed. Don't know Anne from Jefferson, but I do know "proto-modern" copyright laws are preferable to what we have now.
Life terms will do ME more than a mere 25 years, meaning that when I write "treasure island", "fantasia" or what not, it will keep me economically viable for my life. Though, I will admit that a shorted period MAY cause more creativity, if we acknowledge greed as the driving force behind humanity, and not intellect.
Why should the public pay if authors would do so without a copyright? A primary flaw is how do you know that an author would do anything without a copyright, there is no evidence either way, at least in the modern world. In China, where pretty much everything is corrupt, and piracy is rampent, there still is original creation, without copyright law, or at least an inforcement of such.
This is leading to a very off-topic debate, unfortunatly. We are both for different sides of the same coin. This will lead to the modern v. hostoric view of gov't. I say (historically) screw the public, if the public likes something it is not in the states interest. The Post-Modern message did nothing to enrich society, only to ruin it, but yet it is protected, to the detrement of the whole.
So, I'd ask this in person since it is delving OT, are you asking for the public good in a sophist/post-modern way? And also you ignored (by omission) how the public good is actually manifested by copyright laws, I still see no practicle example of a modern copyright causing the production of any work within the public good.
Also, as a philosphical tangent, why should copyright law deviate from the ethics preventing intellectual piracy? Should a copyright protect ethics, since in this postmodern chaos something should protect intellectual property? (see where this is flamebait/OT?)
I get to re-upgrade my computer! I just spent $2k on parts, and now I need another precessor AND another video cards. Seems like just last year I forked over $150 for a new 7500, and now I need something bigger to get over 13fps. Great.
Unfortunatly I was happy with my new system. This is about time to go buy a G5, or just give up and go for an Xbox, so sick of upgrading, must have spend $3000 in the last 3 years, seems a wastte, no?
"Works that would have been produced without copyrights didn't need copyrights as an incentive. Works that would have meaningfully entered the public domain without copyrights didn't need copyrights as an incentive"
A bit circular there. I bet if you completely got rid of copyrights things would still get produced, at the same level. And also just because I copyright something doesn't mean that I wouldn't of produced it in the first place, I really only see copyrights as an ethical enforcement (more later), and a way for bigger "content producers" to protect/make money.
I really see absolutely no "public good" in big corporations keeping copyrights, while the smaller people who would have produced things no matter what would get no protection. I think the public should get 100% protects, and the individual creators, but not "content producers".
Define "enriched" and "public good" for me? I really don't see a single copyright out there that enhances ANYTHING, not a single one. The only enhancement I see is in publishers wallets. Don't tell me that most of the great literary works wouldn't have been made without a copyright, since I would disagree looking at the volume of things make with either a very nice and lax copyright law, or no copyrights what-so-ever (at least until after the fact, like post mortem). But back to it, public good is a tricky term, is Disney producing in the public good, Microsoft, Random House? Who is public, and what is good.
I'm not against copyrights, mind, just for what they were originally, life of the creator, no more (a little big more, okay), no less.
K, my last question, when has a copyright provabaly caused someone to create something that he/she wouldn't of created before, and when has this benefited the public good? Please don't count corporate media, since I don't see ANY public good involved.